GPU Comparison

The NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile and AMD Radeon RX 580 represent two very different design philosophies: a modern, power-efficient mobile workstation part versus a mature, high-power desktop graphics card. The benchmark data shows a clear overall winner, but the RX 580 secures notable victories in specific legacy and 2D workloads. This analysis breaks down the head-to-head results, architectural differences, and practical implications based strictly on the provided data.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The RTX A2000 Mobile wins 7 of the 9 shared benchmark comparisons, and its victories are often substantial. The most dramatic gap appears in the Geekbench OpenCL test, where the NVIDIA part scores 56,518 against the RX 580's 37,453. This translates to a 50.9% lead, the largest delta in the entire comparison. This suggests a significant advantage in compute-heavy, general-purpose GPU workloads, likely benefiting from the newer architecture's feature set.

The Vulkan API results also favor the RTX A2000 Mobile, with a score of 53,146 versus 45,173. The 17.6% advantage here shows that the NVIDIA GPU's modern design provides a meaningful edge in low-level, multi-threaded rendering scenarios. The pattern continues in DirectX titles, though the margins shrink. In the Passmark DirectX 11 test, the A2000 Mobile scores 68 against 60, a 13.3% difference. The DirectX 12 test shows a closer race, with scores of 47 and 43 respectively, a 9.3% lead for the NVIDIA part. The DirectX 10 test shows a 23.9% advantage for the A2000 Mobile (57 vs 46).

The aggregate gaming performance metric, Passmark G3D, confirms the trend. The RTX A2000 Mobile posts 9,611 points, while the RX 580 manages 8,813. The 9.1% delta is moderate but consistent with the DirectX 11 and 12 results. A similar story emerges in the Passmark GPU Compute test, where the A2000 Mobile scores 4,334 against 3,488, a 24.3% improvement. This reinforces the notion that the NVIDIA GPU is considerably stronger in non-graphics compute tasks like OpenCL and CUDA-style workloads.

However, the RX 580 is not without its strong points. Its biggest win comes in the Passmark G2D test, a measure of 2D user interface and desktop rendering performance. Here, the AMD card scores 769 versus 491 for the A2000 Mobile, a massive 36.2% advantage. This indicates that for simple desktop compositing and 2D applications, the RX 580 is clearly superior. The only other win for AMD is in the legacy Passmark DirectX 9 test, where it scores 124 against 115. The 7.3% margin suggests that for very old titles or applications relying on DX9, the RX 580 holds a slight edge.

Overall, the average benchmark score puts the RTX A2000 Mobile at 13,821, placing it in the 55th percentile of all GPUs. The RX 580 averages 12,928, which lands in the 53rd percentile. The A2000 Mobile's nearest rival is the AMD Radeon 660M with an average score of 13,812, a mere 0.1% difference, putting them in a statistical tie. The RX 580's closest competitor is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile at 12,940, a -0.1% delta. This data suggests that while the A2000 Mobile leads the RX 580, both occupy similar performance tiers relative to their peer groups.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on fundamentally different architectures and processes. The RTX A2000 Mobile uses the GA107 chip based on NVIDIA's Ampere architecture, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. It packs 8,700 million transistors into a 200 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 43.5 million per square millimeter. In contrast, the RX 580 uses the Polaris 20 chip based on AMD's older GCN 4.0 architecture, built on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It contains 5,700 million transistors on a larger 232 mm² die, resulting in a much lower density of 24.6 million per square millimeter.

These architectural differences lead to distinct processing capabilities. The Ampere GPU features 2,560 shading units, 80 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 48 raster output units (ROPs). It also includes 20 dedicated ray tracing cores and 80 tensor cores, features entirely absent from the GCN-based RX 580. The RX 580 counters with 2,304 shading units, a higher count of 144 TMUs, but fewer ROPs at 32. The higher TMU count on the AMD card contributes to its texture rate of 193.0 GTexel/s, which is notably higher than the A2000 Mobile's 135.0 GTexel/s. However, the NVIDIA card's pixel rate of 80.98 GPixel/s far exceeds the RX 580's 42.88 GPixel/s, thanks to its more efficient ROP configuration.

The memory subsystems also differ significantly. The RTX A2000 Mobile is equipped with 4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 192.0 GB/s. The RX 580 offers double the capacity with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a wider 256-bit bus, resulting in a higher bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. While the NVIDIA card has faster effective memory speed (12 Gbps vs 8 Gbps), the AMD card's wider bus gives it a theoretical bandwidth advantage. This could be relevant for high-resolution textures, though the A2000 Mobile's superior compute performance might compensate.

The feature sets diverge as well. The RTX A2000 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the RX 580 is limited to DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3. The A2000 Mobile's support for hardware ray tracing and tensor cores opens up capabilities that the RX 580 cannot match. Power and physical requirements are also polar opposites. The A2000 Mobile is an integrated GPU (IGP) with a 95 W TDP and no power connectors, designed for laptops. The RX 580 is a dual-slot desktop card with a 185 W TDP, requiring a single 8-pin power connector and a 450 W suggested power supply. Its length is 241 mm (9.5 inches).

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile has a higher average benchmark score of 13,821, compared to the AMD Radeon RX 580's 12,928.

Q: How much faster is the RTX A2000 Mobile in the Geekbench OpenCL test?

A: The RTX A2000 Mobile scores 56,518 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 50.9% higher than the RX 580's score of 37,453.

Q: In which benchmark does the AMD Radeon RX 580 show its largest advantage?

A: The RX 580 shows its largest advantage in the Passmark G2D test, scoring 769 versus 491 for the RTX A2000 Mobile, a 36.2% lead.

Q: Does the RTX A2000 Mobile support hardware ray tracing?

A: Yes, the RTX A2000 Mobile is based on the Ampere architecture and includes 20 ray tracing cores. The RX 580, based on GCN 4.0, has no ray tracing cores.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference between the two cards?

A: The RX 580 has a higher memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s, while the RTX A2000 Mobile offers 192.0 GB/s.

Q: What are the DirectX version support differences?

A: The RTX A2000 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the RX 580 supports DirectX 12 (12_0).

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile | AMD Radeon RX 580 |

| :--- | :--- | :--- |

| Architecture | Ampere | GCN 4.0 |

| Process Node | 8 nm | 14 nm |

| Foundry | Samsung | GlobalFoundries |

| Transistors | 8,700 million | 5,700 million |

| Die Size | 200 mm² | 232 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 43.5M / mm² | 24.6M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1215 MHz | 1257 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1687 MHz | 1340 MHz |

| Memory Size | 4 GB | 8 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus Width | 128 bit | 256 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 192.0 GB/s | 256.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 2560 | 2304 |

| TMUs | 80 | 144 |

| ROPs | 48 | 32 |

| RT Cores | 20 | 0 |

| Tensor Cores | 80 | 0 |

| Pixel Rate | 80.98 GPixel/s | 42.88 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 135.0 GTexel/s | 193.0 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 8.637 TFLOPS | 6.175 TFLOPS |

| TDP | 95 W | 185 W |

| Slot Width | IGP | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | None | 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | None | 450 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 4.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | Portable Device Dependent | 1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |

| DirectX Version | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | 12 (12_0) |

| Vulkan Version | 1.4 | 1.3 |

| Release Date | 2021-04-11 | 2017-04-17 |

| Launch MSRP | N/A | 229 USD |

The Verdict

The data clearly indicates that the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile is the more powerful and capable GPU in almost every compute and modern gaming scenario. Its 50.9% lead in OpenCL and 24.3% lead in GPU compute make it the superior choice for any workload that leverages general-purpose processing power, machine learning (via tensor cores), or future-facing rendering features like ray tracing. Its higher average benchmark score (13,821 vs 12,928) and higher percentile ranking (55th vs 53rd) confirm its overall performance advantage. For users running modern DirectX 12 or Vulkan applications, the A2000 Mobile's consistent lead, ranging from 9.3% to 17.6%, makes it the clear winner.

However, the AMD Radeon RX 580 is not obsolete. Its 36.2% victory in the Passmark G2D test suggests it is a better option for systems where 2D desktop performance and user interface responsiveness are the primary concern. Furthermore, its 8 GB of memory and higher memory bandwidth (256.0 GB/s) could be beneficial for specific workloads that are sensitive to memory capacity or bandwidth rather than raw compute throughput, although the A2000 Mobile's architecture may mitigate this in many cases. For users with a library of legacy DirectX 9 titles, the RX 580's 7.3% lead in that specific benchmark is a minor point in its favor.

The choice ultimately depends on the platform and use case. The RTX A2000 Mobile, with its 95 W TDP and integrated form factor, is designed for a mobile workstation. It offers a superior feature set, higher compute performance, and better efficiency. The RX 580, a 185 W desktop card, is a legacy part that still offers competitive rasterization performance in some older APIs and a strong 2D experience. Its 8 GB of VRAM is a notable advantage for capacity-hungry tasks. Based on the data, the RTX A2000 Mobile is the better-performing GPU for most modern applications, while the RX 580 remains a relevant option for specific legacy or 2D-centric desktop workloads.