NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D Comparison

The Verdict

The data presents a clear split between two very different NVIDIA accelerators. The NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB is a server-grade compute card built for sustained, high-throughput workloads in data centers, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a consumer-oriented Blackwell part aimed at high-performance rendering and general compute. Based on the recorded measurements, the RTX 5090 D is the outright performance winner in the only shared benchmark, scoring 310674 in Geekbench OpenCL against the A100's 207124, a delta of 33.3% in favor of the newer card.

For users who need massive memory capacity, the A100 with its 80 GB of HBM2e and 1.94 TB/s of bandwidth remains the logical choice, especially in server environments where ECC-class reliability and a 300 W power envelope matter more than raw FP32 throughput. The RTX 5090 D, on the other hand, delivers over five times the FP32 compute (104.8 TFLOPS vs 19.49 TFLOPS), a much higher boost clock (2407 MHz vs 1410 MHz), and modern API support including DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, making it the pick for gaming, real-time ray tracing, and client-side AI inference.

The benchmark database places the A100 in the 99th percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX 5090 D sits at the 92nd percentile. That gap is explained by the fact that the A100's single recorded score comes from a compute-heavy OpenCL test, whereas the RTX 5090 D's average includes a wide range of DirectX and Passmark tests that pull its average down. In direct comparison, the RTX 5090 D wins the head-to-head benchmark, but the A100's nearest rivals tell a different story: it beats the NVIDIA RTX 6000D by 5.7% and the Tesla V100S PCIe 32 GB by 6.5%, while trailing the AMD Radeon PRO W7900D by 5.8% and the NVIDIA PG506-232 by 8%. The RTX 5090 D's nearest rivals are all mobile or legacy parts, with the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT leading it by 1.6%, so its position in the database is not directly comparable to the A100's server-class competition.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher raw FP32 compute performance?

A: The RTX 5090 D delivers 104.8 TFLOPS FP32, which is more than five times the A100's 19.49 TFLOPS. The A100's FP16 rating of 77.97 TFLOPS (4:1) is also lower than the RTX 5090 D's 104.8 TFLOPS (1:1).

Q: How do their memory configurations differ?

A: The A100 has 80 GB of HBM2e on a 5120-bit bus with 1.94 TB/s bandwidth, while the RTX 5090 D has 32 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth. The A100 offers more capacity and slightly higher bandwidth, but the RTX 5090 D uses a faster memory type.

Q: What is the performance difference in the shared benchmark?

A: In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 5090 D scores 310674 against the A100's 207124, a 33.3% advantage for the RTX 5090 D. The A100 has no recorded wins in the head-to-head benchmarks.

Q: Which card supports modern graphics APIs?

A: Only the RTX 5090 D has recorded API support: DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The A100's database entry lists no API support, consistent with its server orientation and lack of display outputs.

Q: How do their power requirements compare?

A: The A100 has a 300 W TDP and requires a 700 W suggested PSU with an 8-pin EPS connector. The RTX 5090 D has a 575 W TDP, a 950 W suggested PSU, and uses a single 16-pin connector.

Q: What are their form factors and connectivity?

A: Both are dual-slot cards, but the A100 is 267 mm long with no display outputs and a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface. The RTX 5090 D is 304 mm long, has 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b outputs, and uses PCIe 5.0 x16.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from completely different architectural generations and design philosophies. The A100 is built on the Ampere architecture using the GA100 chip, fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It packs 54,200 million transistors into a 826 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 65.6 million per square millimeter. The RTX 5090 D is based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB202 chip, using a 5 nm process that fits 92,200 million transistors into a slightly smaller 750 mm² die, achieving 122.9 million transistors per square millimeter. This means the RTX 5090 D crams nearly 70% more transistors into a smaller area, a direct result of the more advanced process node.

The core configurations are radically different. The A100 has 6912 shading units, 432 texture mapping units, and 160 ROPs, with 432 tensor cores and no dedicated RT cores listed. The RTX 5090 D has 21760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, plus 170 dedicated RT cores and 680 tensor cores. The RTX 5090 D's shading unit count is more than three times the A100's, and its tensor core count is 57% higher. The A100's texture rate is 609.1 GTexel/s versus the RTX 5090 D's 1,636.8 GTexel/s, and the pixel rate is 225.6 GPixel/s versus 423.6 GPixel/s.

The memory subsystems also reflect their different purposes. The A100 uses HBM2e with a 5120-bit bus, a configuration designed for server workloads that need massive capacity and high bandwidth. The RTX 5090 D uses GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus, a consumer-oriented approach that trades some capacity (32 GB vs 80 GB) for lower latency and simpler board design. The A100's 1.94 TB/s bandwidth is only 8% higher than the RTX 5090 D's 1.79 TB/s, despite the much wider bus.

The production status and release timeline further differentiate them. The A100 was released on 2021-06-27 and is now end-of-life, with its predecessor listed as Tesla Turing and successor as Server Ada. The RTX 5090 D was released on 2025-01-29 and remains active, with GeForce 40 as its predecessor and GeForce 60 as its successor. The A100's generation is listed as "Server Ampere (Axx)", while the RTX 5090 D belongs to the "GeForce 50" generation.

Specification Differences

The specification table shows clear contrasts across nearly every field. The process node differs: 7 nm for the A100 versus 5 nm for the RTX 5090 D. Transistor counts are 54,200 million versus 92,200 million, with die sizes of 826 mm² and 750 mm² respectively. The A100's base clock is 1065 MHz with a boost of 1410 MHz, while the RTX 5090 D runs at 2017 MHz base and 2407 MHz boost, a 71% higher boost clock. Memory clocks are 1512 MHz (3 Gbps effective) for the A100 and 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective) for the RTX 5090 D.

Memory capacity, type, bus width, and bandwidth all differ: 80 GB HBM2e on 5120-bit with 1.94 TB/s versus 32 GB GDDR7 on 512-bit with 1.79 TB/s. The A100 has 6912 shading units, 432 TMUs, and 160 ROPs, while the RTX 5090 D has 21760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. The A100 lists no RT cores, while the RTX 5090 D has 170. Tensor cores are 432 versus 680. Pixel rates are 225.6 GPixel/s versus 423.6 GPixel/s, and texture rates are 609.1 GTexel/s versus 1,636.8 GTexel/s.

FP32 compute is 19.49 TFLOPS for the A100 versus 104.8 TFLOPS for the RTX 5090 D. FP16 is 77.97 TFLOPS (4:1) versus 104.8 TFLOPS (1:1). TDP is 300 W versus 575 W, with suggested PSUs of 700 W and 950 W. Power connectors are 8-pin EPS for the A100 and 1x 16-pin for the RTX 5090 D. The bus interface is PCIe 4.0 x16 versus PCIe 5.0 x16. Display outputs are absent on the A100, while the RTX 5090 D has 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b.

API support is only recorded for the RTX 5090 D: DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The A100 has no API entries, reinforcing its compute-only role. Physical dimensions also differ: the A100 is 267 mm long and 111 mm tall, while the RTX 5090 D is 304 mm long, 137 mm tall, and 48 mm wide. The launch MSRP for the RTX 5090 D is 2,299 USD, while the A100 has no recorded MSRP.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison in the database is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is decisive. The RTX 5090 D scores 310674 against the A100's 207124, giving the newer card a 33.3% advantage. This is a substantial margin that reflects the RTX 5090 D's much higher shading unit count, boost clock, and FP32 throughput. The A100's architecture, optimized for dense server compute with its 432 tensor cores and 80 GB HBM2e, does not translate into OpenCL performance leadership against a consumer Blackwell part with 21760 shading units and 680 tensor cores.

The A100's own benchmark profile shows it beating two of its nearest rivals: it is 5.7% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX 6000D and 6.5% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla V100S PCIe 32 GB. However, it trails the AMD Radeon PRO W7900D by 5.8% and the NVIDIA PG506-232 by 8%. These results place the A100 firmly in the upper tier of server accelerators, but not at the absolute top of the database's OpenCL rankings.

The RTX 5090 D's nearest rivals are a different class of hardware. The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT is 1.1% behind it, while the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT leads it by 1.6%, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB leads by 2.1%, and the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB leads by 2.4%. These are all mobile or older data center parts, and the RTX 5090 D's average benchmark score of 77712 is dragged down by its low Passmark DirectX scores, which range from 219 in DirectX 12 to 434 in DirectX 9. Its Passmark G3D score of 44065 and GPU compute score of 28396 are more representative of its compute capabilities.

The RTX 5090 D also records strong results in other tests not shared with the A100: 14326 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 376915 in Geekbench Vulkan, and 1487 in Passmark G2D. The A100 has no comparable scores in those tests, so a full multi-test comparison is impossible. What the data does show is that in the one test where both cards have measurements, the RTX 5090 D wins by a wide margin, and its architectural advantages in clock speed, shading units, and FP32 performance are consistent with that outcome. The A100's strengths lie in memory capacity and its established position in server deployments, not in raw OpenCL speed against a 2025 consumer flagship.