RTX A500 vs Iris Xe MAX Graphics

Place in the ranking	621	307
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	14.13	20.22
Architecture	Generation 12.1 (2020−2021)	Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code name	DG1	GA107
Market segment	Laptop	Workstation
Release date	31 October 2020 (4 years ago)	10 November 2021 (3 years ago)

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores	768	2048
Core clock speed	300 MHz	1440 MHz
Boost clock speed	1650 MHz	1770 MHz
Manufacturing process technology	10 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	25 Watt	60 Watt
Texture fill rate	79.20	113.3
Floating-point processing power	2.534 TFLOPS	7.25 TFLOPS
ROPs	24	32
TMUs	48	64
Tensor Cores	no data	64
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	16

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Interface	PCIe 4.0 x4	PCIe 4.0 x8
Width	no data	1-slot
Supplementary power connectors	no data	None

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory type	LPDDR4X	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	4 GB
Memory bus width	128 Bit	64 Bit
Memory clock speed	2133 MHz	1750 MHz
Memory bandwidth	68.26 GB/s	112.0 GB/s
Shared memory	-	-

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectors

No outputs

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX	12 (12_1)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	6.4	6.7
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	3.0	3.0
Vulkan	1.2	1.3
CUDA	-	8.6

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

Iris Xe MAX Graphics 5.11

RTX A500 17.55
+243%

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

Iris Xe MAX Graphics 1971

RTX A500 6769
+243%

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

Full HD	27 −233%	90−95 +233%
1440p	17 −224%	55−60 +224%
4K	15 −233%	50−55 +233%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

18−20

−233%

60−65
+233%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	27−30 −233%	90−95 +233%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	19 −242%	65−70 +242%
Battlefield 5	35−40 −233%	120−130 +233%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	21−24 −226%	75−80 +226%
Cyberpunk 2077	18−20 −233%	60−65 +233%
Far Cry 5	27−30 −233%	90−95 +233%
Far Cry New Dawn	30−35 −213%	100−105 +213%
Forza Horizon 4	75−80 −242%	260−270 +242%
Hitman 3	24 −233%	80−85 +233%
Horizon Zero Dawn	60−65 −228%	200−210 +228%
Metro Exodus	57 −233%	190−200 +233%
Red Dead Redemption 2	33 −233%	110−120 +233%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	35−40 −224%	120−130 +224%
Watch Dogs: Legion	65−70 −238%	230−240 +238%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	27−30 −233%	90−95 +233%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	6 −200%	18−20 +200%
Battlefield 5	35−40 −233%	120−130 +233%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	21−24 −226%	75−80 +226%
Cyberpunk 2077	18−20 −233%	60−65 +233%
Far Cry 5	27−30 −233%	90−95 +233%
Far Cry New Dawn	30−35 −213%	100−105 +213%
Forza Horizon 4	75−80 −242%	260−270 +242%
Hitman 3	23 −226%	75−80 +226%
Horizon Zero Dawn	60−65 −228%	200−210 +228%
Metro Exodus	43 −226%	140−150 +226%
Red Dead Redemption 2	30−35 −213%	100−105 +213%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	33 −233%	110−120 +233%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	27−30 −228%	95−100 +228%
Watch Dogs: Legion	65−70 −238%	230−240 +238%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	27−30 −233%	90−95 +233%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	18−20 −233%	60−65 +233%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	21−24 −226%	75−80 +226%
Cyberpunk 2077	18−20 −233%	60−65 +233%
Far Cry 5	27−30 −233%	90−95 +233%
Forza Horizon 4	75−80 −242%	260−270 +242%
Hitman 3	21 −233%	70−75 +233%
Horizon Zero Dawn	26 −227%	85−90 +227%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	29 −228%	95−100 +228%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18 −233%	60−65 +233%
Watch Dogs: Legion	65−70 −238%	230−240 +238%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

−240%

85−90
+240%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	21−24 −241%	75−80 +241%
Far Cry New Dawn	16−18 −224%	55−60 +224%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−12 −218%	35−40 +218%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	8−9 −238%	27−30 +238%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	12−14 −233%	40−45 +233%
Cyberpunk 2077	6−7 −200%	18−20 +200%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −208%	40−45 +208%
Forza Horizon 4	50−55 −233%	180−190 +233%
Hitman 3	14−16 −221%	45−50 +221%
Horizon Zero Dawn	21−24 −226%	75−80 +226%
Metro Exodus	18−20 −233%	60−65 +233%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	20 −225%	65−70 +225%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−12 −218%	35−40 +218%
Watch Dogs: Legion	70−75 −233%	240−250 +233%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

18−20

−242%

65−70
+242%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	10−12 −218%	35−40 +218%
Far Cry New Dawn	8−9 −238%	27−30 +238%
Hitman 3	7−8 −243%	24−27 +243%
Horizon Zero Dawn	50−55 −227%	170−180 +227%
Metro Exodus	10−11 −200%	30−33 +200%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	11 −218%	35−40 +218%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	7−8 −243%	24−27 +243%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	5−6 −220%	16−18 +220%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6 −220%	16−18 +220%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −200%	3−4 +200%
Far Cry 5	6−7 −200%	18−20 +200%
Forza Horizon 4	14−16 −233%	50−55 +233%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	11 −218%	35−40 +218%
Watch Dogs: Legion	4−5 −200%	12−14 +200%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

10−12

−218%

35−40
+218%

This is how Iris Xe MAX Graphics and RTX A500 compete in popular games:

RTX A500 is 233% faster in 1080p
RTX A500 is 224% faster in 1440p
RTX A500 is 233% faster in 4K

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	5.11	17.55
Recency	31 October 2020	10 November 2021
Chip lithography	10 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	25 Watt	60 Watt

Iris Xe MAX Graphics has 140% lower power consumption.

RTX A500, on the other hand, has a 243.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, and a 25% more advanced lithography process.

The RTX A500 is our recommended choice as it beats the Iris Xe MAX Graphics in performance tests.

Be aware that Iris Xe MAX Graphics is a notebook card while RTX A500 is a workstation one.

Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.