NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB vs NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation Comparison

# Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only shared benchmark between these two accelerators is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is decisive. The NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation scores 311,629, while the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB scores 207,124. That represents a 50.5% advantage for the RTX 6000 Ada Generation — a substantial margin that underscores the generational gap between Ada Lovelace and Ampere compute architectures.

This single head-to-head result is the only direct comparison available in the data, and it heavily favors the newer workstation card. The RTX 6000 Ada’s average benchmark score across all tests is 287,237, which places it in the 99th percentile of all GPUs. The A100’s average benchmark score is 207,124, also in the 99th percentile, but that is 80,113 points lower in absolute terms. When you look at the delta, the RTX 6000 Ada is 38.7% higher than the A100’s average score — a gap that mirrors the 50.5% OpenCL delta.

Context from the rival lists reinforces this picture. The RTX 6000 Ada sits 1.1% above the NVIDIA L40 (284,111), 2.9% below the L40S (295,763), and 9.7% below the AMD Instinct MI300X (317,994). It also leads the NVIDIA L20 (251,147) by 14.4%. The A100, meanwhile, sits 5.7% above the RTX 6000D (195,964), 6.5% above the Tesla V100S PCIe 32 GB (194,415), but 5.8% below the Radeon PRO W7900D (219,827) and 8.0% below the PG506-232 (225,124). In other words, the RTX 6000 Ada is competing at the top tier of workstation and data-center accelerators, while the A100 is a middle-tier performer among its own peers.

The wins tally is 1–0 in favor of the RTX 6000 Ada. There is no benchmark in the data where the A100 comes out ahead. That is not to say the A100 is a poor product — it is an end-of-life server accelerator with a different design philosophy — but in the one metric where both have results, the Ada card is clearly faster.

# Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on different architectures, different process nodes, and different chip designs. The RTX 6000 Ada uses the AD102 chip on the Ada Lovelace architecture, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The A100 uses the GA100 chip on the Ampere architecture, also fabricated at TSMC but on a 7 nm process. This node difference is significant: the 5 nm process allows the RTX 6000 Ada to pack 76,300 million transistors into a 609 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 125.3 million per mm². The A100’s GA100 die is physically larger at 826 mm² but holds only 54,200 million transistors, giving it a density of 65.6 million per mm² — roughly half the density of the Ada chip.

The memory subsystems are radically different. The RTX 6000 Ada uses 48 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The A100 uses 80 GB of HBM2e memory on a 5120-bit bus, delivering 1.94 TB/s of bandwidth. That gives the A100 more than double the memory bandwidth (1.94 TB/s vs 960.0 GB/s) and nearly double the capacity (80 GB vs 48 GB). However, the RTX 6000 Ada’s memory runs at 20 Gbps effective, while the A100’s runs at 3 Gbps effective — the A100 compensates with a much wider bus.

Compute resources are where the RTX 6000 Ada pulls ahead decisively. It has 18,176 shading units, 568 TMUs, 192 ROPs, 142 RT cores, and 568 tensor cores. The A100 has 6,912 shading units, 432 TMUs, 160 ROPs, and 432 tensor cores — and no RT cores listed at all. The shading unit count is more than 2.6x higher on the Ada card. The RT core count is 142 vs null, meaning the A100 has no dedicated ray tracing hardware in this data.

Clock speeds tell a similar story. The RTX 6000 Ada has a base clock of 915 MHz and a boost clock of 2505 MHz. The A100 has a base clock of 1065 MHz and a boost of 1410 MHz. The Ada card’s boost clock is 77.7% higher than the A100’s. This clock advantage, combined with the massive shading unit advantage, drives the raw throughput numbers.

Pixel and texture rates follow suit. The RTX 6000 Ada delivers 481.0 GPixel/s and 1,422.8 GTexel/s. The A100 delivers 225.6 GPixel/s and 609.1 GTexel/s. That is a 2.13x advantage in pixel rate and a 2.34x advantage in texture rate for the Ada card.

# Where Each One Wins

The RTX 6000 Ada wins in raw compute throughput. Its FP32 performance is 91.06 TFLOPS, compared to the A100’s 19.49 TFLOPS — a 4.67x advantage. Its FP16 performance is 91.06 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio), compared to the A100’s 77.97 TFLOPS (4:1 ratio). The FP16 gap is narrower at 1.17x, but the Ada card achieves that number at a 1:1 ratio, meaning it does not require any special packing to reach that throughput. The A100’s FP16 is listed as 4:1, indicating it leverages a different execution path.

The A100 wins in memory capacity and bandwidth. It has 80 GB of HBM2e versus 48 GB of GDDR6, and 1.94 TB/s versus 960.0 GB/s. For workloads that are memory-bound — large models, big datasets, or high-resolution tensors that exceed the RTX 6000 Ada’s 48 GB frame buffer — the A100 has a clear advantage. The 80 GB capacity is 66.7% larger than the Ada card’s 48 GB.

The RTX 6000 Ada also has display outputs: 4x DisplayPort 1.4a. The A100 has no outputs at all. That makes the Ada card usable in a workstation with direct monitor connection, while the A100 is strictly a headless server accelerator.

In API support, the RTX 6000 Ada supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The A100 lists null for all three APIs, meaning it does not expose those interfaces in this data. This is consistent with a server-oriented product that relies on CUDA and compute APIs rather than graphics APIs.

# Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every specification field. Here is a summary of the key differences:

• Chip: AD102 vs GA100
• Architecture: Ada Lovelace vs Ampere
• Generation: Workstation Ada vs Server Ampere
• Process node: 5 nm vs 7 nm
• Transistors: 76,300 million vs 54,200 million
• Die size: 609 mm² vs 826 mm²
• Transistor density: 125.3M/mm² vs 65.6M/mm²
• Base clock: 915 MHz vs 1065 MHz
• Boost clock: 2505 MHz vs 1410 MHz
• Memory clock: 2500 MHz (20 Gbps effective) vs 1512 MHz (3 Gbps effective)
• Memory size: 48 GB vs 80 GB
• Memory type: GDDR6 vs HBM2e
• Memory bus: 384-bit vs 5120-bit
• Memory bandwidth: 960.0 GB/s vs 1.94 TB/s
• Shading units: 18,176 vs 6,912
• TMUs: 568 vs 432
• ROPs: 192 vs 160
• RT cores: 142 vs null
• Tensor cores: 568 vs 432
• Pixel rate: 481.0 GPixel/s vs 225.6 GPixel/s
• Texture rate: 1,422.8 GTexel/s vs 609.1 GTexel/s
• FP32: 91.06 TFLOPS vs 19.49 TFLOPS
• FP16: 91.06 TFLOPS (1:1) vs 77.97 TFLOPS (4:1)
• TDP: 300 W vs 300 W
• Power connectors: 1x 16-pin vs 8-pin EPS
• Display outputs: 4x DisplayPort 1.4a vs no outputs
• DirectX: 12 Ultimate (12_2) vs null
• OpenGL: 4.6 vs null
• Vulkan: 1.4 vs null
• Height: 112 mm vs 111 mm

Both cards are dual-slot, 267 mm long, have a 300 W TDP, a 700 W suggested PSU, and use PCIe 4.0 x16. Both are end-of-life. The RTX 6000 Ada launched on 2022-12-02 with a launch MSRP of 6,799 USD; the A100 launched on 2021-06-27 with no MSRP listed. The RTX 6000 Ada’s predecessor is Workstation Ampere and its successor is Blackwell PRO W. The A100’s predecessor is Tesla Turing and its successor is Server Ada.

# FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in the Geekbench OpenCL benchmark?

A: The NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation scores 311,629 versus 207,124 for the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB, a 50.5% advantage for the Ada card.

Q: How much more memory bandwidth does the A100 have?

A: The A100 delivers 1.94 TB/s of bandwidth from its 80 GB HBM2e memory, compared to 960.0 GB/s from the RTX 6000 Ada’s 48 GB GDDR6 memory.

Q: Does the A100 have ray tracing cores?

A: No. The A100 lists no RT cores, while the RTX 6000 Ada has 142 RT cores.

Q: Which card supports display outputs?

A: The RTX 6000 Ada has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. The A100 has no display outputs and is designed for headless server use.

Q: What is the FP32 performance difference?

A: The RTX 6000 Ada delivers 91.06 TFLOPS FP32, while the A100 delivers 19.49 TFLOPS — a 4.67x advantage for the Ada card.

Q: What is the transistor density of each chip?

A: The RTX 6000 Ada’s AD102 chip has a density of 125.3 million transistors per mm², while the A100’s GA100 chip has 65.6 million per mm².

# The Verdict

The data points to a clear split in purpose. The NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation is the faster card in compute throughput, with a 50.5% OpenCL lead, a 4.67x FP32 advantage, and a 2.34x texture rate advantage. It also brings graphics features the A100 lacks entirely: RT cores, display outputs, and full DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 support. For any workload that depends on shading, ray tracing, or interactive graphics, the RTX 6000 Ada is the obvious choice.

The NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB wins on memory capacity and bandwidth. Its 80 GB of HBM2e at 1.94 TB/s is a decisive advantage for large-scale data processing, model training, or inference workloads where the working set exceeds 48 GB. The A100 also has a lower boost clock (1410 MHz vs 2505 MHz) but compensates with a wider memory bus (5120-bit vs 384-bit) and higher base clock (1065 MHz vs 915 MHz).

The RTX 6000 Ada is also the more recent product, launching on 2022-12-02 versus the A100’s 2021-06-27. Both are end-of-life, but the Ada card’s successor (Blackwell PRO W) is already listed, while the A100’s successor is Server Ada.

For a workstation user who needs display output, real-time graphics, and maximum FP32 throughput, the RTX 6000 Ada is the better pick. For a server deployment that prioritizes memory capacity and bandwidth over raw compute, the A100 remains competitive despite its older architecture. The benchmark data, however, only has one direct comparison, and it favors the RTX 6000 Ada by a wide margin. The A100’s strengths are in areas not captured by the Geekbench OpenCL score — memory-bound workloads where 80 GB and 1.94 TB/s matter more than shading units and clock speed. Choose accordingly.