Arc B390: A Game-Changer or Just Another GPU?

Authors at WCCF Tech conducted tests of the Arc B390 graphics core in the new Intel Core Ultra 3 processors. These tests were performed on a Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 laptop provided by Intel itself at CES 2026. At the heart of this laptop is the Core Ultra X9 388H processor with a top-tier iGPU. The laptop is configured with a base TDP rating of 25W, PL1 set at 85W, and PL2 at 95W. In games, as the authors say, the laptop generally did not consume more than 50W.

Regarding performance, for iGPU, it is excellent. As can be seen, in Cyberpunk 2077, you can get more than 70 fps with ray tracing. However, this is with a frame generator. Without it, but with XeSS in Balance mode and medium settings, it turns out to be around 100 fps. There are also results in other games. It is important to note that all this is without a frame generator.

• Forza Horizon 5 (Full HD/Ultra/XeSS Q) – 68 fps
• F1 25 (Full HD/High/XeSS B) – 104 fps
• Doom The Dark Ages (Full HD/High/XeSS B) – 58 fps
• Borderlands 4 (1200p/High/XeSS B) – 50 fps
• Ghost of Tsushima (Full HD/High/XeSS B) – 53 fps
• Assassins Creed Shadows (Full HD/Medium/XeSS B) – 58 fps
• Battlefield 6 (Full HD/High/XeSS B) – 48 fps

The results can be called outstanding for an energy-efficient processor class. Moreover, the authors compared these results with the Radeon 8060S in the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 and Arc 140V in the Core Ultra Lunar Lake lineup. In Cyberpunk 2077 (Full HD, Medium, FSR 3 Balanced), the leader was expectedly the Radeon 8060S, which showed 112 fps. However, Arc B390 was not far behind, producing 99 fps. For comparison, Arc 140V produced only 56 fps. That is, the new iGPU is twice as fast as Intel’s previous solution, even though last fall Intel themselves spoke of only a 50% increase.

It is also worth noting that the AMD processor operated at 54W TDP, that is, it was far from its peak of 120W. But in such a comparison, we see results under equal conditions. By the way, this shows that AMD a year ago, even on the old generation architectures, released an APU with a graphics core comparable in energy efficiency to what Intel has now released. However, these are processors from different segments, so they will not be direct competitors. Unfortunately, there is no comparison with the Radeon 890M, but this iGPU is usually only slightly faster than the Arc 140V. Let us recall, Intel recently, on the occasion of the release of new CPUs, for the first time in a long time decided on a public jab towards AMD.