AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP vs NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile occupy very different corners of the GPU landscape, separated by process generation, architectural philosophy, and intended use case. The data shows a decisive performance advantage for the NVIDIA part in the available cross-benchmarks, yet the AMD card remains a relevant baseline for legacy desktop workloads. This analysis breaks down where each GPU wins, how their architectures diverge, and what the benchmark scores actually indicate for prospective users.

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark results paint a clear picture: the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile wins every head-to-head comparison in this dataset. In the two shared tests, the A4000 Mobile dominates both compute and graphics API workloads. The AMD RX 580 2048SP does not secure a single victory across the available comparative benchmarks, with a wins tally of 0 against 2 for the NVIDIA card.

However, the AMD card’s strengths lie outside direct performance comparison. Its 68th percentile ranking among all GPUs, compared to the A4000 Mobile’s 66th percentile, indicates that the RX 580 2048SP sits slightly higher in overall standing within the broader GPU population. This is notable given its age and desktop-oriented design. The AMD card also offers a dual-slot form factor with a 1x 8-pin power connector, making it a straightforward drop-in for standard desktop builds, whereas the A4000 Mobile is a portable device with power connectors listed as "None" and display outputs that are dependent on the host laptop.

For compute-heavy tasks like OpenCL, the A4000 Mobile is the clear winner, achieving over three times the score of the RX 580 2048SP. For Vulkan gaming workloads, the NVIDIA part again leads, though by a smaller margin. The AMD card’s value appears in its role as a legacy desktop solution, particularly for systems that require DVI output or multiple DisplayPort connections, which the A4000 Mobile cannot offer due to its portable-device-dependent outputs.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two GPUs is generational. The AMD RX 580 2048SP is built on the Polaris 20 chip using GCN 4.0 architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. This older design comprises 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 24.6 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile, in contrast, uses the GA104 chip with Ampere architecture, built on Samsung’s 8 nm process. It packs 17,400 million transistors into a 392 mm² die, achieving a significantly higher density of 44.4 million per square millimeter.

The feature set diverges sharply. The A4000 Mobile includes 40 ray tracing cores and 160 tensor cores, reflecting its modern Ampere design with DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) support. The RX 580 2048SP has neither RT nor tensor cores, limiting it to DirectX 12 (12_0). Both support OpenGL 4.6, but the NVIDIA card supports Vulkan 1.4 while the AMD card is limited to Vulkan 1.3. The memory subsystem also differs: the AMD card uses 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, while the NVIDIA card uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on the same bus width, resulting in 224.0 GB/s versus 384.0 GB/s bandwidth respectively.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two shared benchmarks reveal a substantial performance gap. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 580 2048SP scores 29,668, while the RTX A4000 Mobile scores 97,178. This represents a deltaPct of -69.5%, meaning the AMD card delivers less than a third of the NVIDIA card’s compute performance. This is a massive margin, indicative of the A4000 Mobile’s 17.20 TFLOPS FP32 throughput versus the RX 580’s 5.259 TFLOPS, along with its higher memory bandwidth.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the gap narrows but remains decisive. The RX 580 2048SP scores 38,666, while the A4000 Mobile scores 73,002, a deltaPct of -47%. The AMD card performs relatively better in Vulkan than in OpenCL, likely due to its 1:1 FP16 to FP32 ratio, which matches the NVIDIA card’s ratio. Still, the A4000 Mobile’s advantage in raw shading power — 5,120 shading units versus 2,048 — and its higher boost clock of 1680 MHz versus 1284 MHz ensures it maintains a clear lead.

The A4000 Mobile’s additional benchmark data from Passmark shows strong DirectX performance, with a G3D score of 14,796 and a GPU compute score of 6,394. Its DirectX 9 score of 157 and DirectX 10 score of 105 indicate solid legacy API support, while DirectX 11 and 12 scores of 127 and 66 respectively are lower, likely reflecting the mobile card’s driver optimizations or benchmark-specific quirks. The RX 580 2048SP has no equivalent Passmark data in this dataset, so cross-API comparisons beyond the two Geekbench tests are not possible.

Specification Differences

The specification sheets diverge on nearly every measurable parameter. The process node differs significantly: 14 nm for AMD versus 8 nm for NVIDIA. Transistor counts are 5,700 million versus 17,400 million, with die sizes of 232 mm² versus 392 mm². Clock speeds show the A4000 Mobile boosting higher at 1680 MHz versus 1284 MHz, though its base clock of 1140 MHz is slightly lower than the AMD’s 1168 MHz. Memory capacity is 4 GB versus 8 GB, with GDDR5 versus GDDR6 types, but both use a 256-bit bus. Bandwidth favors NVIDIA at 384.0 GB/s versus 224.0 GB/s.

Core counts are dramatically different: 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs for AMD, versus 5,120 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 80 ROPs for NVIDIA. The A4000 Mobile also has 40 RT cores and 160 tensor cores, which the RX 580 lacks entirely. Pixel and texture rates reflect this: the NVIDIA card achieves 134.4 GPixel/s and 268.8 GTexel/s, while the AMD card manages 41.09 GPixel/s and 164.4 GTexel/s. FP32 and FP16 performance are both 5.259 TFLOPS for AMD and 17.20 TFLOPS for NVIDIA, with both maintaining a 1:1 ratio. Power consumption is counterintuitive: the AMD card has a TDP of 150 W, while the NVIDIA mobile card draws only 115 W, despite its higher performance. The bus interface also differs: PCIe 3.0 x16 for AMD versus PCIe 4.0 x16 for NVIDIA.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP has an average benchmark score of 23,061, while the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile averages 21,379. Despite losing both direct head-to-head tests, the AMD card’s average is higher, placing it in the 68th percentile versus the A4000 Mobile’s 66th percentile.

Q: How much faster is the RTX A4000 Mobile in OpenCL?

A: In Geekbench OpenCL, the A4000 Mobile scores 97,178 compared to the RX 580 2048SP’s 29,668, which is a deltaPct of -69.5% for the AMD card. This means the NVIDIA part is roughly 3.3 times faster in this compute workload.

Q: Do both GPUs support ray tracing?

A: No. The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile includes 40 RT cores and 160 tensor cores, enabling ray tracing and AI acceleration. The AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP has no RT or tensor cores, as its GCN 4.0 architecture predates these features.

Q: What are the memory capacity and bandwidth differences?

A: The RX 580 2048SP has 4 GB of GDDR5 with a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s, while the RTX A4000 Mobile has 8 GB of GDDR6 with a bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s. Both use a 256-bit memory bus, but the NVIDIA card’s faster memory type and higher capacity give it a significant advantage.

Q: Which GPU has a higher power draw?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP has a TDP of 150 W, which is higher than the RTX A4000 Mobile’s 115 W. This is notable because the NVIDIA card delivers substantially higher performance while consuming less power, reflecting its more efficient 8 nm process.

Q: What is the Vulkan performance gap between the two?

A: In Geekbench Vulkan, the RX 580 2048SP scores 38,666 versus the A4000 Mobile’s 73,002, a deltaPct of -47%. This indicates the NVIDIA card is nearly 1.9 times faster in Vulkan workloads, though the AMD card’s relative performance is better here than in OpenCL.