NVIDIA A2 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Comparison

The Verdict

The data in this comparison is decisively one-sided. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti wins both recorded head-to-head benchmarks against the NVIDIA A2, with no benchmark wins recorded for the A2 in the database. The RTX 3080 Ti delivers a 380.9% higher score in Geekbench OpenCL and a 466.4% higher score in Geekbench Vulkan. For any workload that relies on raw compute throughput, the RTX 3080 Ti is the clear choice.

That said, the A2 is not without purpose. Its profile is entirely different: a 60 W TDP, single-slot design, no power connectors, and no display outputs. The RTX 3080 Ti, by contrast, draws 350 W, requires a 750 W suggested PSU, uses a 12-pin connector, and occupies a dual-slot footprint. The A2 targets environments where power and space constraints dominate, such as dense server deployments. The RTX 3080 Ti targets desktop performance.

Buyers who need maximum compute performance in a conventional desktop chassis should choose the RTX 3080 Ti. Buyers who need a low-power, compact accelerator with 16 GB of memory and no display output should choose the A2. The benchmark data does not support choosing the A2 on performance grounds, but the physical and power characteristics tell a different story for specific use cases.

Architecture Differences

Both GPUs share the Ampere architecture and are fabricated on Samsung's 8 nm process. The similarities end there. The RTX 3080 Ti uses the GA102 chip, which contains 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 45.1 million per mm². The A2 uses the GA107 chip, with 8,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die, for a density of 43.5 million per mm². The GA102 is a massive chip by comparison, nearly 3.3 times the transistor count and 3.1 times the die area.

The compute resources differ by an order of magnitude. The RTX 3080 Ti has 10,240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, 112 raster output units, 80 ray tracing cores, and 320 tensor cores. The A2 has 1,280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, 32 raster output units, 10 ray tracing cores, and 40 tensor cores. In every category, the RTX 3080 Ti has exactly 8 times the resources of the A2.

Clock speeds favor the smaller chip. The A2 has a base clock of 1440 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz. The RTX 3080 Ti runs at 1365 MHz base and 1665 MHz boost. Despite lower clocks, the RTX 3080 Ti's sheer resource advantage produces dramatically higher throughput: 34.10 TFLOPS FP32 versus 4.531 TFLOPS FP32, and 34.10 TFLOPS FP16 versus 4.531 TFLOPS FP16.

Memory architecture diverges sharply. The RTX 3080 Ti uses 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus, delivering 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The A2 uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 200.1 GB/s. The RTX 3080 Ti has more than 4.5 times the bandwidth, though the A2 has 4 GB more capacity. Pixel rate and texture rate follow the same pattern: 186.5 GPixel/s and 532.8 GTexel/s for the RTX 3080 Ti, versus 56.64 GPixel/s and 70.80 GTexel/s for the A2.

The A2 is built for a different physical environment. It is a single-slot card with no power connectors, no display outputs, and a 60 W TDP, requiring only a 250 W suggested PSU. The RTX 3080 Ti is dual-slot, requires a 12-pin power connector, a 750 W suggested PSU, and measures 285 mm in length, 112 mm in height, and 40 mm in width. The A2 has no recorded dimensions, reflecting its passive, server-oriented design. Both support PCIe 4.0, with the RTX 3080 Ti using x16 and the A2 using x8. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records two direct comparisons between these GPUs. Both are Geekbench tests, and both result in overwhelming victories for the RTX 3080 Ti.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 3080 Ti scores 170,037 against the A2's 35,357. That is a delta of 380.9%. The RTX 3080 Ti's score is nearly five times higher. This benchmark exercises general-purpose compute across the shading units, and the 8x difference in shading units, combined with the massive bandwidth advantage, explains the outcome.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the gap widens further. The RTX 3080 Ti scores 192,697, while the A2 scores 34,023. The delta reaches 466.4%. Vulkan workloads often scale with rasterization and memory throughput, areas where the RTX 3080 Ti holds a commanding lead with 112 ROPs versus 32, and 912.4 GB/s versus 200.1 GB/s.

The A2 has no recorded wins in the head-to-head data. Its average benchmark score across all tests is 34,690, placing it in the 79th percentile of all GPUs. The RTX 3080 Ti averages 41,187, placing it in the 83rd percentile. The RTX 3080 Ti's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 at 40,870 (0.8% behind), the NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB at 41,707 (1.2% ahead), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 at 40,377 (2% behind). The A2's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA T1000 8 GB at 34,561 (0.4% behind), the AMD Radeon HD 7970 at 34,541 (0.4% behind), and the NVIDIA TITAN V at 34,355 (1% ahead).

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher raw compute performance?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti. It delivers 34.10 TFLOPS FP32 and 34.10 TFLOPS FP16, versus 4.531 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16 on the A2. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 3080 Ti scores 380.9% higher.

Q: Does the A2 have any advantage over the RTX 3080 Ti?

A: The A2 has a significantly lower power draw at 60 W versus 350 W, a single-slot design versus dual-slot, no power connectors required, and 16 GB of memory versus 12 GB. It also has a higher boost clock at 1770 MHz versus 1665 MHz.

Q: Which GPU is better for Vulkan workloads?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti. It scores 192,697 in Geekbench Vulkan, which is 466.4% higher than the A2's 34,023.

Q: What are the memory specifications of each GPU?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti has 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus with 912.4 GB/s bandwidth. The A2 has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 200.1 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Can the A2 drive displays?

A: No. The A2 has no display outputs. The RTX 3080 Ti has 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs.

Q: What is the production status of these GPUs?

A: Both are end-of-life. The RTX 3080 Ti was released on 2021-05-30, and the A2 was released on 2021-11-09.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3080 Ti wins every benchmark category recorded in the database. It takes both Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan by margins of 380.9% and 466.4%, respectively. Its 34.10 TFLOPS FP32 and FP16 throughput, 912.4 GB/s memory bandwidth, and 80 ray tracing cores make it the obvious choice for compute-heavy tasks such as 3D rendering, simulation, and high-resolution gaming. Its 83rd percentile ranking against all GPUs, with an average score of 41,187, places it in the upper tier of the database.

The A2 wins in physical and power efficiency, though not in any benchmark. Its 60 W TDP allows deployment in systems where the RTX 3080 Ti's 350 W requirement is impossible. The single-slot form factor and absence of power connectors mean it can slot into dense chassis without additional cabling. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, while slower at 200.1 GB/s, provides more capacity than the RTX 3080 Ti's 12 GB, which could matter for workloads that need to hold larger datasets in local memory. The A2's 79th percentile ranking, with an average score of 34,690, shows it is still competitive within its power class.

The use-case split is clean. The RTX 3080 Ti is for performance-critical environments with adequate power and cooling. The A2 is for low-power, space-constrained, headless server deployments where 16 GB of memory and minimal power draw matter more than raw speed. The data does not suggest any scenario where the A2 outperforms the RTX 3080 Ti in compute, but the A2's design goals are orthogonal to raw performance.