NVIDIA A2 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 45152, while the NVIDIA A2 averages 34690. That places the RTX 5090 Mobile in the 84th percentile of all GPUs, versus the 79th percentile for the A2.

Q: How large is the performance gap in the shared benchmark tests?

A: In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 5090 Mobile scores 201834 against 35357 for the A2, a 470.8% difference. In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 5090 Mobile scores 198405 against 34023, a 483.1% difference. The RTX 5090 Mobile wins both head-to-head tests.

Q: What are the memory specifications of each card?

A: The RTX 5090 Mobile has 24 GB of GDDR7 on a 256-bit bus with 896.0 GB/s bandwidth. The A2 has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 200.1 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has the higher transistor count?

A: The RTX 5090 Mobile uses the GB203 chip with 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die, produced on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The A2 uses the GA107 chip with 8,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die, produced on an 8 nm process at Samsung.

Q: What is the production status of each product?

A: The RTX 5090 Mobile is listed as Active and was released on 2025-03-26. The A2 is End-of-life, released on 2021-11-09, with the Workstation Ada generation as its successor.

Q: Which GPU has the higher TDP?

A: The RTX 5090 Mobile is rated at 95 W, while the A2 is rated at 60 W. The A2 also lists a suggested PSU of 250 W, while the RTX 5090 Mobile has no suggested PSU listed.

Architecture Differences

The RTX 5090 Mobile is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using the GB203 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The A2 belongs to the Ampere architecture with the GA107 chip, manufactured on an 8 nm process at Samsung. The process node difference is significant: the RTX 5090 Mobile packs 45,600 million transistors into a 378 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 120.6M per mm². The A2 contains 8,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die, for a density of 43.5M per mm².

The compute core counts differ by an order of magnitude. The RTX 5090 Mobile has 10496 shading units, 328 TMUs, 112 ROPs, 82 RT cores, and 328 tensor cores. The A2 has 1280 shading units, 40 TMUs, 32 ROPs, 10 RT cores, and 40 tensor cores. The RTX 5090 Mobile delivers 31.80 TFLOPS FP32 and the same 31.80 TFLOPS FP16 (1:1). The A2 delivers 4.531 TFLOPS FP32 and 4.531 TFLOPS FP16 (1:1).

Both GPUs support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The bus interfaces differ: the RTX 5090 Mobile uses PCIe 5.0 x16, while the A2 uses PCIe 4.0 x8. The RTX 5090 Mobile is an IGP with no power connectors and portable-device-dependent display outputs. The A2 is a single-slot card with no display outputs at all, suggesting a headless compute role.

The memory subsystems also reflect different design goals. The RTX 5090 Mobile uses 24 GB of GDDR7 at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective), with a 256-bit bus and 896.0 GB/s bandwidth. The A2 uses 16 GB of GDDR6 at 1563 MHz (12.5 Gbps effective), with a 128-bit bus and 200.1 GB/s bandwidth.

The A2 is part of the Workstation Ampere generation and lists the Quadro Turing as its predecessor, with Workstation Ada as its successor. The RTX 5090 Mobile sits in the GeForce 50 Mobile generation, replacing the GeForce 40 Mobile. The production statuses differ: the RTX 5090 Mobile is Active, the A2 is End-of-life.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 5090 Mobile wins every shared benchmark in the database. It is the clear choice for any workload that appears in the recorded tests: Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan. Beyond the head-to-head results, the RTX 5090 Mobile also holds a broad set of additional benchmark scores covering 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, PassMark DirectX 9/10/11/12, PassMark G2D, PassMark G3D, and PassMark GPU Compute. The A2 only has Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan scores recorded.

The A2 wins in the attributes that matter for deployment in constrained environments: it is a single-slot card with no display outputs, a 60 W TDP, and PCIe 4.0 x8. It draws less power than the RTX 5090 Mobile's 95 W. However, the A2 is end-of-life, so new deployments would rely on existing inventory.

In terms of raw performance per the database, the RTX 5090 Mobile dominates. Its average score of 45152 places it near the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT (45384, within 0.5%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti (44795, 0.8% ahead), the Intel Arc A730M (45592, 1% behind), and the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation (45972, 1.8% behind). The A2's average of 34690 places it near the NVIDIA T1000 8 GB (34561, 0.4% ahead), the AMD Radeon HD 7970 (34541, 0.4% ahead), the NVIDIA TITAN V (34355, 1% ahead), and the NVIDIA RTX A1000 (34207, 1.4% ahead).

For users who need a GPU for graphics workloads with display output, the RTX 5090 Mobile is the only option with portable-device-dependent display outputs; the A2 has none. For users who need a low-power, single-slot compute accelerator, the A2 is the more suitable form factor.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every specification category:

• Process node: 5 nm (TSMC) for the RTX 5090 Mobile, 8 nm (Samsung) for the A2.
• Transistors: 45,600 million vs 8,700 million.
• Die size: 378 mm² vs 200 mm².
• Transistor density: 120.6M / mm² vs 43.5M / mm².
• Base clock: 990 MHz vs 1440 MHz.
• Boost clock: 1515 MHz vs 1770 MHz.
• Memory clock: 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective) vs 1563 MHz (12.5 Gbps effective).
• Memory size: 24 GB vs 16 GB.
• Memory type: GDDR7 vs GDDR6.
• Memory bus: 256 bit vs 128 bit.
• Memory bandwidth: 896.0 GB/s vs 200.1 GB/s.
• Shading units: 10496 vs 1280.
• TMUs: 328 vs 40.
• ROPs: 112 vs 32.
• RT cores: 82 vs 10.
• Tensor cores: 328 vs 40.
• Pixel rate: 169.7 GPixel/s vs 56.64 GPixel/s.
• Texture rate: 496.9 GTexel/s vs 70.80 GTexel/s.
• FP32, FP16: 31.80 TFLOPS vs 4.531 TFLOPS.
• TDP: 95 W vs 80 W equivalent (the A2 is 60 W).
• Slot width: IGP vs single-slot.
• Power connectors: None for both; the A2 lists a 250 W suggested PSU.
• Bus interface: PCIe 5.0 x16 vs PCIe 4.0 x8.
• Display outputs: Portable Device Dependent vs no outputs.
• Release date: 2025-03-26 vs 2021-11-09.
• Production status: Active vs End-of-life.

The only matching fields are manufacturer (NVIDIA for both), DirectX (12 Ultimate 12_2 for both), OpenGL (4.6 for both), and Vulkan (1.4 for both).

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records two shared benchmark tests between these GPUs. The RTX 5090 Mobile wins both.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 5090 Mobile scores 201834 versus 35357 for the A2, a 470.8% advantage. That is roughly 5.7 times the A2's score. The A2's OpenCL result sits close to its own nearest rivals: the NVIDIA T1000 8 GB scores 34561 (0.4% behind the A2), the AMD Radeon HD 7970 scores 34541 (0.4% behind), the NVIDIA TITAN V scores 34355 (1% behind), and the NVIDIA RTX A1000 scores 34207 (1.4% behind). The RTX 5090 Mobile's OpenCL score is far beyond its own nearest rivals, which all sit in the 44-46k range, meaning the RTX 5090 Mobile's OpenCL result is a standout outlier relative to its average.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 5090 Mobile scores 198405 versus 34023 for the A2, a 483.1% advantage. The A2's Vulkan result is slightly lower than its OpenCL result, while the RTX 5090 Mobile's Vulkan result is slightly lower than its OpenCL result as well. The relative gap is slightly larger in Vulkan than in OpenCL.

The RTX 5090 Mobile also has a larger benchmark portfolio: its additional scores include 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 at 5871, PassMark DirectX 10 at 183, DirectX 11 at 269, DirectX 12 at 138, DirectX 9 at 324, G2D at 1057, G3D at 30034, and GPU Compute at 13401. The A2 has no recorded scores for these tests.

The wins count is 2 for the RTX 5090 Mobile and 0 for the A2 in the head-to-head section. The average benchmark score gap is 45152 versus 34690, a difference of 10462 points in favor of the RTX 5090 Mobile.

The Verdict

The RTX 5090 Mobile is the faster GPU by a wide margin in every shared benchmark. The data shows a 470.8% lead in OpenCL and a 483.1% lead in Vulkan. It also has more memory (24 GB vs 16 GB), a wider bus (256-bit vs 128-bit), higher bandwidth (896.0 GB/s vs 200.1 GB/s), and far more compute resources. Anyone selecting a GPU for the workloads represented by these benchmarks should choose the RTX 5090 Mobile without hesitation.

The A2 has a narrower set of advantages. It is a single-slot card with no display outputs, a 60 W TDP versus 95 W, a lower base clock (1440 MHz vs 990 MHz) but a higher boost clock (1770 MHz vs 1515 MHz), and it is end-of-life. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA T1000 8 GB, AMD Radeon HD 7970, NVIDIA TITAN V, and NVIDIA RTX A1000, all within 1.4% of its average score. That places the A2 firmly in the entry-level compute segment.

The RTX 5090 Mobile's nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, Intel Arc A730M, and NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation, all within 1.8% of its average score. That is a much higher performance tier than the A2's.

The verdict is straightforward: the RTX 5090 Mobile is for users who need high-end graphics and compute performance in a mobile form factor, with a 2-win head-to-head record and an 84th percentile standing. The A2 is for users who need a low-power, single-slot, headless compute accelerator from the Ampere generation, accepting its 79th percentile standing and end-of-life status. The benchmark data does not support any scenario where the A2 outperforms the RTX 5090 Mobile in the tested workloads.