NVIDIA CMP 40HX vs NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark split between these two NVIDIA parts is not close. The RTX 5000 Ada Generation wins both recorded tests outright, while the CMP 40HX records zero wins in the database. The OpenCL result favors the workstation card by 87.7%, and the Vulkan result widens that gap to 149.2%. If the question is which card wins in raw compute, the data answers decisively: the RTX 5000 Ada Generation is the dominant performer in every measured category.

However, the use-case split goes beyond raw scores. The RTX 5000 Ada Generation sits in the 98th percentile of all GPUs tracked in the database, with an average benchmark score of 184,664. It is built for workstation workloads, with display outputs, a full feature set, and an active production status. The CMP 40HX, by contrast, is a mining-specific part. It has no display outputs, uses a PCIe 1.0 x4 interface, and is marked end-of-life. Its average benchmark score of 85,637 places it in the 93rd percentile, which is respectable for its generation but nowhere near the Ada card's territory.

The practical split is this: the RTX 5000 Ada Generation is for compute-heavy professional tasks that benefit from high FP32 throughput, large memory capacity, and modern architecture features. The CMP 40HX is a legacy mining product whose only advantage is its lower power draw and smaller physical footprint. In any benchmark that stresses general compute or graphics APIs, the Ada card wins. The CMP 40HX has no recorded win in any test, so there is no use case in the data where it outperforms its rival.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two cards spans two generations of NVIDIA design. The RTX 5000 Ada Generation uses the AD102 chip built on Ada Lovelace architecture, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It integrates 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 125.3 million transistors per mm². The CMP 40HX uses the TU106 chip on Turing architecture, fabricated on a 12 nm process, also at TSMC. It packs 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die, for a density of 24.3 million per mm². That is a five-fold difference in transistor density, which explains much of the performance gap.

The compute resources differ sharply. The RTX 5000 Ada Generation has 12,800 shading units, 400 texture mapping units, 176 ROPs, 100 RT cores, and 400 tensor cores. The CMP 40HX has 2,304 shading units, 144 TMUs, 64 ROPs, 36 RT cores, and 288 tensor cores. The Ada card has more than five times the shader count and nearly three times the RT core count. FP32 throughput on the Ada card is 65.28 TFLOPS, versus 7.603 TFLOPS on the CMP 40HX. FP16 performance on the Ada card is 65.28 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio, while the CMP 40HX reaches 15.21 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio.

Memory architecture also diverges. The RTX 5000 Ada Generation comes with 32 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The CMP 40HX has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s. Both use GDDR6, but the Ada card has four times the capacity and 28.6% more bandwidth. Clock speeds tell a different story: the CMP 40HX has a higher base clock at 1470 MHz versus 1155 MHz, but the Ada card boosts to 2550 MHz versus 1650 MHz. Memory clocks also differ, with the Ada card at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) and the CMP 40HX at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective).

The feature sets reflect their intended roles. The RTX 5000 Ada Generation has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface, and a 250 W TDP with a 1x 16-pin power connector. The CMP 40HX has no display outputs, a PCIe 1.0 x4 interface, and a 185 W TDP with a 1x 8-pin connector. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so API compatibility is not a differentiator.

FAQ

Q: Which card has higher raw compute performance?

A: The RTX 5000 Ada Generation. Its FP32 throughput is 65.28 TFLOPS versus 7.603 TFLOPS for the CMP 40HX, and it wins both benchmark tests in the database by margins of 87.7% and 149.2%.

Q: Does the CMP 40HX have any advantage in memory bandwidth?

A: No. The RTX 5000 Ada Generation delivers 576.0 GB/s, while the CMP 40HX delivers 448.0 GB/s. The Ada card also has 32 GB of memory versus 8 GB.

Q: Are both cards suitable for display output?

A: Only the RTX 5000 Ada Generation. It has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, while the CMP 40HX has no display outputs at all, reflecting its mining-only design.

Q: How do the two cards compare in transistor density?

A: The RTX 5000 Ada Generation reaches 125.3 million transistors per mm² on a 5 nm process. The CMP 40HX has 24.3 million per mm² on a 12 nm process. The Ada card's density is over five times higher.

Q: Which card has a higher boost clock?

A: The RTX 5000 Ada Generation boosts to 2550 MHz. The CMP 40HX boosts to 1650 MHz. The CMP 40HX does have a higher base clock at 1470 MHz versus 1155 MHz, but the Ada card's boost advantage is substantial.

Q: What is the production status of each card?

A: The RTX 5000 Ada Generation is listed as Active. The CMP 40HX is listed as End-of-life, having been released earlier and now discontinued.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification. The RTX 5000 Ada Generation uses the AD102 chip on Ada Lovelace architecture, while the CMP 40HX uses the TU106 chip on Turing architecture. The process nodes are 5 nm versus 12 nm, both at TSMC. Transistor counts are 76,300 million versus 10,800 million. Die sizes are 609 mm² versus 445 mm². Transistor density is 125.3 million per mm² versus 24.3 million per mm².

Clock speeds: base 1155 MHz versus 1470 MHz, boost 2550 MHz versus 1650 MHz, memory 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) versus 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). Memory capacity is 32 GB versus 8 GB, both GDDR6 on 256-bit buses. Bandwidth is 576.0 GB/s versus 448.0 GB/s.

Compute resources: shading units 12,800 versus 2,304, TMUs 400 versus 144, ROPs 176 versus 64, RT cores 100 versus 36, tensor cores 400 versus 288. Pixel rate is 448.8 GPixel/s versus 105.6 GPixel/s. Texture rate is 1,020.0 GTexel/s versus 237.6 GTexel/s. FP32 is 65.28 TFLOPS versus 7.603 TFLOPS. FP16 is 65.28 TFLOPS (1:1) versus 15.21 TFLOPS (2:1).

Power and physical specs: TDP 250 W versus 185 W. Power connectors 1x 16-pin versus 1x 8-pin. Suggested PSU 600 W versus 450 W. Bus interface PCIe 4.0 x16 versus PCIe 1.0 x4. Display outputs 4x DisplayPort 1.4a versus none. Length 267 mm versus 229 mm. Height 112 mm versus 111 mm. The CMP 40HX has a listed width of 35 mm, while the RTX 5000 Ada Generation does not list a width. Both are dual-slot cards.

Release timing also differs: the RTX 5000 Ada Generation was released on 2023-08-08, while the CMP 40HX was released on 2021-02-24. The Ada card has a predecessor (Workstation Ampere) and successor (Blackwell PRO W), while the CMP 40HX has neither listed. The CMP 40HX has a launch MSRP of 699 USD; the RTX 5000 Ada Generation has no launch MSRP recorded.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records two head-to-head benchmark comparisons between these cards, and both favor the RTX 5000 Ada Generation by wide margins.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 5000 Ada Generation scores 175,286 against the CMP 40HX's 93,395. That is a delta of 87.7% in favor of the Ada card. The absolute difference is 81,891 points, which is nearly the entire average benchmark score of the CMP 40HX. In practical terms, the Ada card nearly doubles the OpenCL performance of the mining card. This result aligns with the FP32 throughput gap: 65.28 TFLOPS versus 7.603 TFLOPS, an 8.6-fold difference in raw compute.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the margin grows even larger. The RTX 5000 Ada Generation scores 194,041, while the CMP 40HX scores 77,879. The delta is 149.2%, meaning the Ada card outperforms the CMP 40HX by roughly two and a half times. The absolute difference is 116,162 points. Vulkan tends to stress driver overhead and API efficiency, and the Ada card's modern architecture, higher boost clock, and larger memory pool all contribute to this outsized win.

The nearest rival data puts these scores in context. The RTX 5000 Ada Generation's average benchmark score of 184,664 places it within 0.5% of the NVIDIA A100 SXM4 80 GB, 1.3% ahead of the A100 SXM4 40 GB, 1.4% ahead of the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell, and 3.7% ahead of the GeForce RTX 4090 D. The CMP 40HX's average of 85,637 is 1.7% behind the AMD Radeon PRO W7600, 2.1% behind the NVIDIA Quadro GP100, 4.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon PRO W6600, and 5.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X. The Ada card competes with flagship accelerators, while the CMP 40HX trades with mid-range professional parts from earlier generations.

Both cards support the same API versions: DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. That means the Vulkan result is not a compatibility issue; it is a pure performance differential. The Ada card's 149.2% lead in Vulkan reflects its superior shader throughput, memory bandwidth, and architecture efficiency, not any missing API feature on the CMP 40HX.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous. The RTX 5000 Ada Generation wins every recorded benchmark, holds a massive lead in every compute specification, and is built for a completely different purpose than the CMP 40HX. If the choice is between these two cards for any workload that involves general compute, rendering, or API-driven graphics, the RTX 5000 Ada Generation is the only rational pick.

For workstation users, the Ada card offers 32 GB of memory, 4x DisplayPort outputs, PCIe 4.0 x16 connectivity, and an active production status. Its 98th percentile ranking puts it in the top tier of all GPUs in the database, comparable to A100-class accelerators. It delivers 65.28 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth, and a boost clock of 2550 MHz. None of these figures are matched by the CMP 40HX.

The CMP 40HX, on the other hand, has no recorded wins and no display outputs. Its only listed advantages are a lower TDP (185 W versus 250 W), a smaller length (229 mm versus 267 mm), and a higher base clock (1470 MHz versus 1155 MHz). It is an end-of-life mining product with an 8 GB memory pool and PCIe 1.0 x4 interface. For anyone considering this card today, the data shows it is outclassed by its rival in every benchmark test and in nearly every specification.

The verdict: choose the RTX 5000 Ada Generation for any compute or graphics workload. Choose the CMP 40HX only if the specific constraints of lower power draw and smaller physical size are absolute requirements, and even then, the benchmark data offers no evidence that it wins any performance test. The Ada card is the superior product by every measured metric.