NVIDIA B300 SXM6 AC vs NVIDIA RTX A5500 Comparison

The NVIDIA B300 SXM6 AC and the NVIDIA RTX A5500 occupy opposite ends of the professional GPU spectrum. The B300 is a server-class Blackwell Ultra accelerator designed for massive compute workloads, while the A5500 is an end-of-life workstation Ampere card. Benchmark data shows a stark performance gulf, but the comparison reveals more than just raw speed differences.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The single available head-to-head benchmark, Geekbench OpenCL, delivers a decisive result. The NVIDIA B300 SXM6 AC scores 369,831, while the NVIDIA RTX A5500 scores 174,637. That is a delta of 111.8 percent in favor of the B300. In practical terms, the B300 delivers more than double the raw compute throughput of the A5500 in this test.

Looking at the broader benchmark context, the B300 sits at the 100th percentile of all GPUs, meaning it outperforms every other recorded GPU in the database. Its average benchmark score of 369,831 is unmatched. The RTX A5500, by contrast, sits at the 97th percentile with an average score of 165,217, which includes both its OpenCL result and a Vulkan score of 155,797. The B300 only has an OpenCL result recorded, but that single score towers over everything the A5500 can produce.

The B300's nearest rivals illustrate how far ahead it is. It leads the NVIDIA B200 by 7 percent, the NVIDIA H200 NVL by 10.4 percent, the AMD Instinct MI300X by 16.3 percent, and the NVIDIA L40S by 25 percent. These are all top-tier server and workstation accelerators, and the B300 beats each by a comfortable margin. The A5500's rival set tells a different story. It is essentially neck-and-neck with the AMD Radeon PRO W7800, trailing by just 0.2 percent, and sits within 2 percent of the AMD Radeon Pro W6900X. The NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation edges it out by 0.5 percent, while the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40 GB trails by 1.7 percent. The A5500 is competitive with its immediate peers, but the B300 operates in a completely different performance class.

Where Each One Wins

The B300 wins in every measurable compute category. Its FP32 throughput is 76.99 TFLOPS compared to the A5500's 34.10 TFLOPS. FP16 performance is identical to FP32 on both cards at a 1:1 ratio, so the B300 again doubles the A5500 in half-precision work. Texture rate favors the B300 at 1,202.9 GTexel/s versus 532.8 GTexel/s for the A5500. The B300 also has more shading units, with 18,944 compared to 10,240, and more TMUs, at 592 versus 320.

Memory is where the B300 pulls away even further. The B300 packs 288 GB of HBM3e across an 8192-bit bus, delivering 8.19 TB/s of bandwidth. The A5500 has 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, yielding 768.0 GB/s. That is a 10.5x bandwidth advantage for the B300, which matters enormously for large datasets and memory-bound workloads. The B300 also has far more tensor cores, with 592 versus 320, making it better suited for AI and deep learning tasks.

The A5500 does have some wins, but they are narrower. Its pixel rate of 159.8 GPixel/s is more than triple the B300's 48.77 GPixel/s. That is because the A5500 has 96 ROPs while the B300 has only 24. For traditional rasterization and pixel-heavy rendering, the A5500 is structurally better equipped. The A5500 also supports display outputs with 4x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the B300 has no outputs at all. The A5500 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4; the B300 has no API support listed. The A5500 also has 80 dedicated RT cores, while the B300 lists none, suggesting the B300 is not designed for real-time ray tracing workloads.

The Verdict

The data is clear: the NVIDIA B300 SXM6 AC is for compute-intensive server environments where raw throughput and massive memory capacity are the priority. Its 111.8 percent lead over the A5500 in OpenCL, combined with its 100th percentile ranking, makes it the obvious choice for AI training, scientific simulation, and large-scale data processing. The 288 GB memory pool and 8.19 TB/s bandwidth are unmatched by anything in the A5500's class.

The NVIDIA RTX A5500 is for workstation tasks that require display output, rasterization, and API support. Its triple pixel rate and 96 ROPs give it a real advantage for graphics workloads that the B300 cannot handle due to its lack of display outputs and non-existent API support. The A5500's 24 GB of GDDR6 is still substantial for many professional workloads, and its 97th percentile ranking shows it remains a capable card even at end-of-life. The A5500 is also far more power-efficient per unit of work in graphics tasks, with a 230 W TDP versus the B300's 1100 W TDP, though the B300's performance per watt in compute is likely superior given its 2x performance lead at 4.8x the power draw.

Pick the B300 for server racks, AI clusters, and any workload that lives in memory. Pick the A5500 for a desktop workstation with monitors attached, where you need to see the results and need DirectX or OpenGL support. These cards do not compete for the same buyer.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the NVIDIA B300 SXM6 AC than the NVIDIA RTX A5500 in OpenCL?

A: The B300 scores 369,831 while the A5500 scores 174,637, giving the B300 a 111.8 percent advantage in the Geekbench OpenCL test.

Q: Which card has more memory, and what is the bandwidth difference?

A: The B300 has 288 GB of HBM3e with 8.19 TB/s bandwidth. The A5500 has 24 GB of GDDR6 with 768.0 GB/s bandwidth. The B300's bandwidth is more than ten times higher.

Q: Can the NVIDIA B300 SXM6 AC be used for display output?

A: No. The B300 has no display outputs, while the A5500 has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs.

Q: What is the pixel rate difference between the two cards?

A: The A5500 has a pixel rate of 159.8 GPixel/s, which is more than triple the B300's 48.77 GPixel/s. The A5500 has 96 ROPs compared to the B300's 24.

Q: How do the cards compare in FP32 compute performance?

A: The B300 delivers 76.99 TFLOPS of FP32, while the A5500 delivers 34.10 TFLOPS. Both cards run FP16 at a 1:1 ratio with FP32.

Q: What are the nearest rivals for each card?

A: The B300's closest rival is the NVIDIA B200, which scores 345,482, just 7 percent behind. The A5500's closest rival is the AMD Radeon PRO W7800, which scores 164,894, only 0.2 percent behind.

Architecture Differences

The B300 is built on the Blackwell Ultra architecture using the GB110 chip, while the A5500 uses the Ampere architecture with the GA102 chip. The B300 is manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC, while the A5500 uses an 8 nm process at Samsung. This process difference is reflected in transistor density: the B300 packs 127.8 million transistors per square millimeter versus the A5500's 45.1 million. The B300 has 208,000 million transistors on a 1628 mm² die, while the A5500 has 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die.

The B300 belongs to the Server Blackwell (Bxx) generation and is classified as a server product with an SXM Module slot width. The A5500 is from the Workstation Ampere generation and uses a dual-slot form factor. The B300 is the successor to Server Hopper and will be succeeded by Server Rubin, while the A5500 follows Quadro Turing and is succeeded by Workstation Ada. The B300 has no RT cores listed, while the A5500 has 80. The B300 has 592 tensor cores, nearly double the A5500's 320. The B300 also has a higher base clock of 1665 MHz and boost clock of 2032 MHz, compared to the A5500's 1080 MHz base and 1665 MHz boost.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification. The B300 has 18,944 shading units versus the A5500's 10,240. Texture mapping units are 592 on the B300 and 320 on the A5500. ROPs are 24 on the B300 and 96 on the A5500. Memory configuration is 288 GB of HBM3e on the B300 versus 24 GB of GDDR6 on the A5500, with bus widths of 8192 bits and 384 bits respectively. Bandwidth is 8.19 TB/s versus 768.0 GB/s.

The B300 has a TDP of 1100 W with a suggested PSU of 1500 W, while the A5500 has a TDP of 230 W and a suggested PSU of 550 W. The B300 uses a PCIe 6.0 x16 interface, while the A5500 uses PCIe 4.0 x16. The A5500 has a single 8-pin power connector, while the B300 has no power connector listed. The A5500 is 267 mm long and 112 mm high, while the B300 has no dimensions listed. The B300 has no display outputs, while the A5500 has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a. The A5500 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4; the B300 has no API support listed. The B300 was released on September 10, 2025, while the A5500 was released on March 21, 2022. The B300 is active in production, while the A5500 is end-of-life.