NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB vs NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation Comparison

The NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB and the NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation serve fundamentally different segments of the GPU market, and the benchmark data reflects this divergence. The A100 is an end-of-life server accelerator built on the Ampere architecture, while the RTX 4000 Ada is an active workstation card from the Ada Lovelace generation. The data available for comparison includes a single shared benchmark—Geekbench OpenCL—alongside a Vulkan result for the RTX 4000 Ada only, which shapes the entire analysis.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct head-to-head benchmark in the data is the Geekbench OpenCL test, and the result is decisively in favor of the A100. The A100 scores 207,124 points, while the RTX 4000 Ada scores 146,593 points. This represents a 41.3% delta, with the A100 winning by a substantial margin. To put that in perspective, 41.3% is a significant gap in synthetic compute workloads, indicating that the A100's raw compute throughput is considerably higher than the RTX 4000 Ada's in OpenCL tasks.

Looking at the broader benchmark landscape, the A100's average benchmark score is 207,124, which places it in the 99th percentile of all GPUs. The RTX 4000 Ada's average benchmark score is lower at 135,218, placing it in the 95th percentile. The A100's nearest rivals in the data include the AMD Radeon PRO W7900D (219,827, 5.8% higher) and the NVIDIA PG506-232 (225,124, 8% higher), meaning the A100 sits slightly below those two in performance. Conversely, it outperforms the NVIDIA RTX 6000D (195,964, 5.7% lower) and the NVIDIA Tesla V100S PCIe 32 GB (194,415, 6.5% lower).

The RTX 4000 Ada's nearest rivals are clustered much closer to its score. The NVIDIA A10M matches it almost exactly with a score of 135,230 and a delta of 0%. The AMD Radeon PRO W6800 (135,396) is 0.1% lower, the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo (135,774) is 0.4% lower, and the AMD Radeon PRO V620 (136,472) is 0.9% lower. This tight grouping suggests the RTX 4000 Ada is competitively positioned within its workstation class, while the A100 sits in a higher-performance tier.

It is worth noting the RTX 4000 Ada also has a Geekbench Vulkan score of 123,842, which is lower than its OpenCL score. No Vulkan score is available for the A100, so no direct comparison can be made on that API. The absence of a Vulkan result for the A100 is consistent with its server-oriented design, as it has no display outputs and is not intended for graphics-intensive client workloads.

Where Each One Wins

The A100 wins the only direct comparison, the OpenCL benchmark, with a 41.3% advantage. This indicates its strength lies in compute-heavy tasks that leverage OpenCL, likely benefiting from its massive memory bandwidth and high FP32 throughput. The A100's FP32 performance is rated at 19.49 TFLOPS, and its FP16 performance is 77.97 TFLOPS (4:1 ratio), which are considerable figures for server workloads.

The RTX 4000 Ada, despite losing the OpenCL test, has its own areas of advantage based on the data. Its FP32 performance is actually higher than the A100's at 26.73 TFLOPS, and its FP16 performance matches at 26.73 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio). This means for workloads that are not bottlenecked by memory bandwidth or that utilize the 1:1 FP16 ratio, the RTX 4000 Ada could outperform the A100, even though the OpenCL score suggests otherwise on that specific test.

The RTX 4000 Ada also wins on power efficiency. Its TDP is 130 W compared to the A100's 300 W, and its suggested PSU is 300 W versus 700 W. This makes the RTX 4000 Ada far more suitable for environments with limited power budgets or thermal constraints. Additionally, the RTX 4000 Ada has 48 RT cores, while the A100 has no listed RT core count, indicating the RTX 4000 Ada is designed for ray-traced workloads where the A100 has no comparable capability in this data.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher Geekbench OpenCL score?

A: The NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB scores 207,124, which is 41.3% higher than the NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation's 146,593.

Q: How do the two GPUs compare in terms of their average benchmark scores?

A: The A100 has an average benchmark score of 207,124, placing it in the 99th percentile of all GPUs. The RTX 4000 Ada has an average score of 135,218, placing it in the 95th percentile.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The A100 has 80 GB of HBM2e memory with a 5120-bit bus and 1.94 TB/s bandwidth. The RTX 4000 Ada has 20 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 160-bit bus and 360.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has higher FP32 compute, and what are the respective figures?

A: The RTX 4000 Ada has higher FP32 compute at 26.73 TFLOPS, compared to the A100's 19.49 TFLOPS.

Q: Does the RTX 4000 Ada support any APIs that the A100 does not?

A: Yes, the RTX 4000 Ada supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, while the A100 has no listed API support in the data.

Q: What is the production status of each GPU?

A: The A100 is listed as end-of-life, while the RTX 4000 Ada is listed as active.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every core specification. The A100 uses 6912 shading units, 432 TMUs, and 160 ROPs, while the RTX 4000 Ada uses 6144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The A100 has 432 tensor cores, and the RTX 4000 Ada has 192 tensor cores. The RTX 4000 Ada has 48 RT cores, while the A100 has no listed RT core count.

Clock speeds also differ significantly. The A100 has a base clock of 1065 MHz and a boost clock of 1410 MHz. The RTX 4000 Ada has a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 2175 MHz. Memory clocks are 1512 MHz (3 Gbps effective) for the A100 and 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) for the RTX 4000 Ada.

Pixel and texture rates differ as well. The A100 offers 225.6 GPixel/s and 609.1 GTexel/s, while the RTX 4000 Ada offers 139.2 GPixel/s and 417.6 GTexel/s. The A100's TDP is 300 W with an 8-pin EPS connector, while the RTX 4000 Ada's TDP is 130 W with a 1x 16-pin connector. The A100 is dual-slot, while the RTX 4000 Ada is single-slot.

Dimensions are close but not identical: the A100 is 267 mm long and 111 mm high, while the RTX 4000 Ada is 245 mm long and 112 mm high. The A100 has no display outputs, while the RTX 4000 Ada has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a. The A100's release date is 2021-06-27, and the RTX 4000 Ada's is 2023-08-08.

Architecture Differences

The architectures are entirely different generations. The A100 uses the GA100 chip on the Ampere architecture, built on a 7 nm process at TSMC with 54,200 million transistors on an 826 mm² die. The RTX 4000 Ada uses the AD104 chip on the Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC with 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die.

Transistor density tells a story of manufacturing advancement: the A100 has a density of 65.6M transistors per mm², while the RTX 4000 Ada has 121.8M per mm². This explains how the RTX 4000 Ada achieves higher clock speeds and FP32 throughput on a smaller, less complex chip. The A100's die is nearly three times larger, which accommodates its massive HBM2e memory interface and higher memory bandwidth.

The memory architectures are fundamentally different. The A100 uses HBM2e with a 5120-bit bus width, enabling 1.94 TB/s bandwidth. The RTX 4000 Ada uses GDDR6 with a 160-bit bus width, providing 360.0 GB/s bandwidth. This five-fold difference in memory bandwidth is a key reason for the A100's OpenCL dominance, as compute workloads often scale with memory throughput.

The FP16 compute ratio also differs. The A100 delivers 77.97 TFLOPS FP16 at a 4:1 ratio relative to FP32, suggesting a specialized tensor-heavy design. The RTX 4000 Ada delivers 26.73 TFLOPS FP16 at a 1:1 ratio, indicating a more balanced compute approach. The A100 is from the "Server Ampere (Axx)" generation, while the RTX 4000 Ada is from the "Workstation Ada (x000A)" generation, reflecting their distinct intended use cases.

The Verdict

The data clearly indicates two different buyers. For compute-intensive server workloads, the A100 is the superior choice based on the 41.3% OpenCL lead and its 99th percentile ranking. Its 80 GB of HBM2e memory with 1.94 TB/s bandwidth is designed for large datasets and memory-bound calculations. The 300 W TDP and dual-slot design are acceptable in a server context where power and space are less constrained. The A100's end-of-life status, however, means it is a legacy purchase.

The RTX 4000 Ada is the better pick for workstation environments where power efficiency, ray tracing, and display outputs matter. Its 130 W TDP and single-slot design make it easy to integrate, and the 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs enable multi-monitor setups. The 48 RT cores and Vulkan 1.4 support indicate readiness for graphics and ray-traced workloads. The 1:1 FP16 ratio and higher FP32 throughput (26.73 TFLOPS) suggest better performance in workloads that favor those characteristics, even if the OpenCL score is lower.

For buyers choosing between these two, the decision hinges on workload type. Server-side AI training, scientific simulation, or large-scale data processing favors the A100. Desktop workstation tasks, content creation, or any workload requiring display output and ray tracing favor the RTX 4000 Ada. The A100's 95th percentile performance is strong, but the A100's 99th percentile standing and 41.3% OpenCL lead make it the clear compute champion in this pairing. The RTX 4000 Ada is the more versatile and efficient option for professional graphics work, with the Vulkan score of 123,842 serving as an additional data point for graphics API performance.