NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40 GB vs NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data paints a decisive picture: the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40 GB wins every recorded test against the NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile. There is no workload category in the database where the mobile card comes out ahead. The A100 leads by 125.8% in Geekbench OpenCL and by 139.2% in Geekbench Vulkan. These are not marginal gaps; they are generation-defining margins that place the two cards in entirely different performance tiers.

The A100 PCIe 40 GB is a server-class accelerator designed for sustained, compute-heavy workloads. Its average benchmark score of 162,504 places it in the 97th percentile of all GPUs in the database. That percentile ranking means it outperforms the vast majority of graphics hardware ever recorded, sitting alongside other top-tier workstation accelerators. The RTX A3000 Mobile, by contrast, averages 70,140 and sits in the 91st percentile. While the 91st percentile is still a strong showing, the raw score gap of over 92,000 points separates these cards by a wide chasm.

Use-case splits follow the data. For any application that stresses raw compute throughput, FP32 math, memory bandwidth, or tensor operations, the A100 is the clear choice. Its OpenCL score of 178,627 versus 79,091 for the mobile card indicates that general-purpose GPU compute workloads will run more than twice as fast on the A100. The Vulkan result, 146,380 versus 61,189, shows the same pattern even in a graphics-oriented API, though the A100 has no display outputs and is not intended for rendering to a screen.

The RTX A3000 Mobile wins only in portability and power efficiency, but those attributes are not captured in the benchmark scores. The data shows the mobile card draws 70 W versus 250 W for the A100, and it requires no power connectors, while the A100 needs an 8-pin EPS connector. For a laptop or compact mobile workstation, the A3000 Mobile is the only viable option. But for raw performance, the database records zero wins for the mobile card.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40 GB has an average benchmark score of 162,504, while the NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile averages 70,140. The A100 is approximately 132% higher in average score.

Q: How large is the performance gap in OpenCL?

A: In Geekbench OpenCL, the A100 scores 178,627 versus 79,091 for the A3000 Mobile. The A100 leads by 125.8%, meaning it delivers more than double the OpenCL performance.

Q: Does the RTX A3000 Mobile win any benchmark?

A: No. The head-to-head database records two tests, Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan, and the A100 wins both. The A3000 Mobile has zero wins in the recorded benchmarks.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The A100 PCIe 40 GB has 40 GB of HBM2e memory on a 5120-bit bus with 1.56 TB/s bandwidth. The RTX A3000 Mobile has 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus with 264.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has more shading units?

A: The A100 has 6,912 shading units, while the A3000 Mobile has 4,096. The A100 also has 432 texture mapping units and 160 ROPs, compared to 128 TMUs and 64 ROPs on the mobile card.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The A100 PCIe 40 GB has a TDP of 250 W and requires an 8-pin EPS power connector, with a suggested PSU of 600 W. The RTX A3000 Mobile has a TDP of 70 W and uses no external power connectors.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded head-to-head results leave no ambiguity. In Geekbench OpenCL, the A100 PCIe 40 GB scores 178,627, while the RTX A3000 Mobile scores 79,091. The delta of 125.8% means the A100 is more than twice as fast in this compute-oriented workload. OpenCL is a common proxy for general-purpose GPU compute, including scientific simulation, data processing, and rendering tasks that offload math to the GPU. A 125.8% advantage translates to roughly half the execution time for compute kernels that scale with raw throughput.

The Vulkan result is even more lopsided. The A100 scores 146,380, and the A3000 Mobile scores 61,189, a delta of 139.2%. Vulkan is a low-level graphics API, but on the A100 it is exercised without display output, so the score reflects the card's raw geometry and compute capabilities rather than real-time rendering to a monitor. The fact that the A100 wins by an even larger margin in Vulkan than in OpenCL suggests its advantage grows in workloads that stress the full pipeline, including shading, texturing, and memory bandwidth.

To contextualize these numbers, the A100's nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation with an average score of 166,094 (2.2% lower), the NVIDIA RTX A5500 at 165,217 (1.6% lower), and the AMD Radeon PRO W7800 at 164,894 (1.4% lower). The A100's average of 162,504 sits slightly below the RTX 4500 Ada Generation, but its OpenCL and Vulkan scores are the highest among these peers. The A3000 Mobile's nearest rivals, by contrast, are much lower: the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 at 69,986 (0.2% lower), the AMD Radeon Pro WX 8200 at 69,870 (0.4% lower), and the AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE at 70,829 (1.0% higher). The mobile card's average of 70,140 is competitive with those desktop cards, but it is nowhere near the A100's tier.

The biggest single win for the A100 is the Vulkan test, where it beats the A3000 Mobile by 139.2%. The OpenCL win is close behind at 125.8%. Both margins are so large that they dominate any other comparison in the database for these two cards.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every specification that affects performance. The A100 PCIe 40 GB is built on the GA100 chip with 54,200 million transistors on an 826 mm² die. The RTX A3000 Mobile uses the GA104 chip with 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die. That is a 3.1x difference in transistor count and a 2.1x difference in die area. Transistor density also differs: the A100 packs 65.6 million transistors per mm², while the A3000 Mobile has 44.4 million per mm².

Memory is another major split. The A100 has 40 GB of HBM2e across a 5120-bit bus, delivering 1.56 TB/s of bandwidth. The A3000 Mobile has 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus with 264.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The bandwidth difference is roughly 5.9x in favor of the A100, which matters enormously for memory-bound workloads such as large matrix operations or data-intensive inference.

Compute resources follow the same pattern. The A100 has 6,912 shading units, 432 TMUs, and 160 ROPs. The A3000 Mobile has 4,096 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The A100 also has 432 tensor cores, while the A3000 Mobile has 128. The A3000 Mobile does have 32 RT cores, whereas the A100 lists none, reflecting its server-oriented design without dedicated ray tracing hardware. Pixel rate is 225.6 GPixel/s for the A100 versus 78.72 GPixel/s for the mobile card. Texture rate is 609.1 GTexel/s versus 157.4 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput is 19.49 TFLOPS versus 10.08 TFLOPS. FP16 throughput is 77.97 TFLOPS on the A100 (with 4:1 ratio) versus 10.08 TFLOPS (1:1) on the A3000 Mobile.

Clock speeds also favor the A100, despite its larger die. The A100 runs at a base clock of 765 MHz and boosts to 1410 MHz. The A3000 Mobile starts at 600 MHz and boosts to 1230 MHz. Memory clocks differ as well: the A100's HBM2e runs at 1215 MHz (2.4 Gbps effective), while the A3000 Mobile's GDDR6 runs at 1375 MHz (11 Gbps effective). The higher effective memory rate on the mobile card does not compensate for the much narrower bus.

Power and physical specifications separate them further. The A100 has a TDP of 250 W, is dual-slot, and requires an 8-pin EPS connector with a suggested PSU of 600 W. The A3000 Mobile has a TDP of 70 W, uses no power connectors, and has no suggested PSU, reflecting its laptop or mobile workstation placement. The A100 measures 267 mm in length and 111 mm in height, while the A3000 Mobile has no recorded dimensions, consistent with a card that is integrated into a portable chassis. Display outputs also differ: the A100 has none, while the A3000 Mobile's outputs are listed as "Portable Device Dependent."

Architecture Differences

Both cards use the Ampere architecture, but they are implemented on different processes and with different design goals. The A100 PCIe 40 GB uses the GA100 chip fabricated by TSMC on a 7 nm process. The RTX A3000 Mobile uses the GA104 chip fabricated by Samsung on an 8 nm process. The process node difference contributes to the A100's higher transistor density: 65.6 million transistors per mm² versus 44.4 million per mm². The A100's 826 mm² die is more than double the size of the A3000 Mobile's 392 mm² die.

The generation labels in the database reflect their intended markets: the A100 is listed under "Server Ampere (Axx)," while the A3000 Mobile is under "Ampere-MW (Ax000)." The A100's predecessor is listed as "Tesla Turing" and its successor as "Server Ada," indicating a lineage of dedicated server accelerators. The A3000 Mobile's predecessor is "Quadro Turing-M" and its successor is "Ada-MW," marking it as a mobile workstation part.

Memory architecture is a fundamental difference. The A100 uses HBM2e, a stacked memory technology that provides enormous bandwidth (1.56 TB/s) over a very wide 5120-bit bus. The A3000 Mobile uses GDDR6, a more conventional memory type, with a 192-bit bus and 264.0 GB/s bandwidth. HBM2e is physically larger and more power-hungry, which is why the A100 is a dual-slot card with a 250 W TDP, while the A3000 Mobile fits into a 70 W mobile envelope.

Tensor core counts differ: the A100 has 432 tensor cores, the A3000 Mobile has 128. The FP16 throughput reflects this: the A100 reaches 77.97 TFLOPS with a 4:1 ratio (meaning FP16 is processed four times faster than FP32), while the A3000 Mobile has a 1:1 ratio, delivering 10.08 TFLOPS in both FP16 and FP32. This makes the A100 particularly strong for mixed-precision deep learning workloads, where FP16 is common.

Ray tracing cores appear only on the A3000 Mobile (32 RT cores); the A100 lists no RT cores. This reinforces the A100's role as a compute accelerator rather than a graphics card. The A3000 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, while the A100 lists no API support in the database, consistent with its lack of display outputs and graphics-oriented features.

The release dates also differ: the A100 launched on 2020-06-21, and the A3000 Mobile on 2021-04-11. Both are end-of-life in production status. The A100 is the older part, but its server-class design gives it far more headroom in every compute metric.

The Verdict

The data supports a straightforward conclusion: choose the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40 GB for any workload where raw performance is the priority. It wins both recorded benchmarks by margins of 125.8% and 139.2%. It has 3.1x the transistors, 5.9x the memory bandwidth, 1.9x the FP32 throughput, and 7.7x the FP16 throughput of the RTX A3000 Mobile. Its average benchmark score of 162,504 places it in the 97th percentile, while the A3000 Mobile's 70,140 sits in the 91st percentile. The A100 is built for sustained compute on a server or workstation, with a 250 W TDP, dual-slot cooling, and an external 8-pin EPS power connector.

Choose the NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile only when the physical form factor demands it. The mobile card consumes 70 W, requires no power connectors, and is designed for portable devices. Its performance is still respectable: it ranks in the 91st percentile and outperforms desktop cards like the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 and AMD Radeon Pro WX 8200 by small margins. But in a direct head-to-head, the A100 leaves it far behind in every recorded test.

The verdict from the database is unambiguous: the A100 PCIe 40 GB is the performance leader by a wide margin, and the A3000 Mobile is a capable mobile workstation part that cannot match the server accelerator's compute capabilities. For anyone building a fixed workstation or server with no power or space constraints, the A100 is the only choice based on the recorded benchmarks. For mobile or compact deployments, the A3000 Mobile is the only option that fits, and its 91st percentile ranking shows it holds its own within its class.