NVIDIA A10G vs NVIDIA PG506-232 Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher benchmark score in the head-to-head comparison?

A: The NVIDIA PG506-232 wins the only shared benchmark, Geekbench OpenCL, with a score of 225,124 against the NVIDIA A10G's 158,063. This represents a 42.4% advantage for the PG506-232.

Q: How do these GPUs compare to their nearest rivals?

A: The PG506-232 sits in the 99th percentile of all GPUs, outperforming the AMD Radeon PRO W7900D by 2.4% and the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB by 8.7%, while trailing the NVIDIA L20 by 10.4%. The A10G sits in the 97th percentile, edging the NVIDIA Tesla V100 PCIe 32 GB by 1.1% and the AMD Instinct MI100 by 9.3%, but falling behind the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X by 5.4% and the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40 GB by 6.5%.

Q: What are the memory specifications of each card?

A: Both cards have 24 GB of memory, but they use different types. The PG506-232 uses HBM2 with a 3072-bit bus and 933.1 GB/s bandwidth, while the A10G uses GDDR6 with a 384-bit bus and 600.2 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has more shader units and higher clock speeds?

A: The A10G has 9,216 shading units compared to the PG506-232's 3,584. The A10G also has higher clocks, with a base of 1320 MHz and boost of 1710 MHz, versus the PG506-232's 930 MHz base and 1440 MHz boost.

Q: Are these cards still in production?

A: Neither card is currently in production. Both are marked as "End-of-life" in their production status, and both were released on the same date.

Q: Do these GPUs have display outputs?

A: Neither card has display outputs. Both are designed as server accelerators without video output capabilities.

Architecture Differences

The PG506-232 and A10G are both built on NVIDIA's Ampere architecture but use fundamentally different chips. The PG506-232 is based on the GA100 chip, fabricated on TSMC's 7 nm process, while the A10G uses the GA102 chip, fabricated on Samsung's 8 nm process. This process difference translates into different transistor counts: the GA100 packs 54,200 million transistors on an 826 mm² die, yielding a density of 65.6 million transistors per mm². The GA102, in contrast, contains 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die, with a lower density of 45.1 million per mm².

The compute architectures diverge significantly. The PG506-232 has 3,584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, with 224 tensor cores and no dedicated ray tracing cores. The A10G, however, offers 9,216 shading units, 288 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, plus 288 tensor cores and 72 ray tracing cores. This gives the A10G a substantial raw compute advantage on paper, but the PG506-232 compensates with its HBM2 memory subsystem.

Memory architecture is another major differentiator. The PG506-232 uses HBM2 with a 3072-bit bus width, achieving 933.1 GB/s of bandwidth, whereas the A10G uses GDDR6 with a 384-bit bus, delivering 600.2 GB/s. The PG506-232's memory clock is 1215 MHz (2.4 Gbps effective), while the A10G's memory runs at 1563 MHz (12.5 Gbps effective). The PG506-232's wider bus more than compensates for its lower memory clock.

The A10G supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, while the PG506-232 has no listed API support. Both cards are dual-slot and single-slot respectively, with the PG506-232 consuming 165 W and the A10G consuming 150 W. Both use an 8-pin EPS power connector and share the same 450 W suggested PSU. Physical dimensions are identical at 267 mm length and 112 mm height.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only shared benchmark between these two GPUs is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is decisive. The PG506-232 scores 225,124, while the A10G scores 158,063, giving the PG506-232 a 42.4% lead. This is a substantial margin that aligns with the PG506-232's 99th percentile ranking versus the A10G's 97th percentile.

The PG506-232's OpenCL score places it above several notable rivals. It beats the AMD Radeon PRO W7900D (219,827) by 2.4%, the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB (207,124) by 8.7%, and the NVIDIA RTX 6000D (195,964) by 14.9%. Only the NVIDIA L20 (251,147) outranks it, doing so by 10.4%.

The A10G's OpenCL score of 158,063 puts it in a different competitive tier. It narrowly edges the NVIDIA Tesla V100 PCIe 32 GB (150,305) by 1.1% and the AMD Instinct MI100 (139,035) by 9.3%. However, it trails the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X (160,671) by 5.4% and the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40 GB (162,504) by 6.5%.

The A10G also has a Geekbench Vulkan score of 145,863, which is lower than its OpenCL result. The PG506-232 has no Vulkan benchmark recorded, so no cross-API comparison is possible. The data indicates that in the single test where both cards appear, the PG506-232 is the clear winner, and its margin is large enough to be considered a decisive performance advantage rather than a marginal one.

The Verdict

Based strictly on the data, the NVIDIA PG506-232 is the superior performer in the shared OpenCL benchmark, leading the A10G by 42.4%. Its score of 225,124 places it in the 99th percentile of all GPUs, while the A10G's average score of 151,963 (combining its OpenCL and Vulkan results) places it in the 97th percentile. The PG506-232 also outperforms the A10G's nearest rivals by a wider margin than the A10G manages against its own competition.

However, the A10G is not without merit. Its architecture offers more shading units (9,216 vs 3,584), higher clock speeds (1710 MHz boost vs 1440 MHz), and includes ray tracing cores, which the PG506-232 lacks entirely. The A10G also has a higher theoretical FP32 throughput at 31.52 TFLOPS versus 10.32 TFLOPS, and a higher texture rate at 492.5 GTexel/s versus 322.6 GTexel/s. These specifications suggest the A10G may be better suited for workloads that leverage its larger compute array, even though the benchmark data does not reflect this.

For buyers prioritizing the measured OpenCL performance, the PG506-232 is the clear choice. Its 99th percentile ranking and 42.4% lead over the A10G in the head-to-head test make it the more compelling option for general compute workloads. The A10G, with its lower power draw (150 W vs 165 W) and single-slot form factor, may appeal to environments where space and power efficiency are primary concerns, but the data shows it sacrifices significant performance to achieve these benefits.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA PG506-232 | NVIDIA A10G |

|---|---|---|

| Chip | GA100 | GA102 |

| Process Node | 7 nm | 8 nm |

| Foundry | TSMC | Samsung |

| Transistors | 54,200 million | 28,300 million |

| Die Size | 826 mm² | 628 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 65.6M / mm² | 45.1M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 930 MHz | 1320 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1440 MHz | 1710 MHz |

| Memory Type | HBM2 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus Width | 3072 bit | 384 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 933.1 GB/s | 600.2 GB/s |

| Memory Clock | 1215 MHz | 1563 MHz |

| Shading Units | 3584 | 9216 |

| TMUs | 224 | 288 |

| ROPs | 96 | 96 |

| Ray Tracing Cores | 0 | 72 |

| Tensor Cores | 224 | 288 |

| Pixel Rate | 138.2 GPixel/s | 164.2 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 322.6 GTexel/s | 492.5 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 10.32 TFLOPS | 31.52 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 10.32 TFLOPS | 31.52 TFLOPS |

| TDP | 165 W | 150 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | Single-slot |

| DirectX | Not listed | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| OpenGL | Not listed | 4.6 |

| Vulkan | Not listed | 1.4 |

Where Each One Wins

The PG506-232 wins in the only directly comparable benchmark, the Geekbench OpenCL test, with a 42.4% advantage. Its HBM2 memory provides significantly higher bandwidth (933.1 GB/s vs 600.2 GB/s), which is critical for memory-bound workloads such as large-scale data processing, scientific computing, and AI inference with large batch sizes. Its 99th percentile ranking indicates top-tier performance among all GPUs, and it outperforms the A10G's nearest rival (the A100 PCIe 40 GB) by a wider margin (8.7% vs the A10G's 6.5% deficit) than the A10G manages against its own competition.

The A10G wins on raw compute specifications. Its 31.52 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is more than triple the PG506-232's 10.32 TFLOPS, and its 9,216 shading units provide 2.6 times the parallel processing capacity. The A10G also has ray tracing cores, which the PG506-232 entirely lacks, making it the only option for workloads that require hardware-accelerated ray tracing. Its higher texture rate (492.5 GTexel/s vs 322.6 GTexel/s) and pixel rate (164.2 GPixel/s vs 138.2 GPixel/s) suggest better performance in graphics-heavy applications. The A10G's lower TDP (150 W vs 165 W) and single-slot design make it more suitable for dense server deployments where power and physical space are constrained.

For workloads that depend on memory bandwidth, such as large matrix operations or high-resolution data manipulation, the PG506-232's HBM2 advantage is decisive. For workloads that depend on shader throughput, such as graphics rendering or general-purpose compute that scales with shading units, the A10G's architecture is more capable. The benchmark data favors the PG506-232, but the specification differences indicate the A10G may hold advantages in compute-heavy scenarios that are not captured by the OpenCL test.