NVIDIA CMP 40HX vs NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell Comparison

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell and the NVIDIA CMP 40HX occupy opposite ends of the GPU spectrum. The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell is a current-generation workstation powerhouse, while the CMP 40HX is an end-of-life mining card from 2021 with no display outputs. Benchmark data shows a decisive performance gap: the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell leads by 172.1% in OpenCL and 262.9% in Vulkan. The database records two benchmark wins for the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell and zero for the CMP 40HX. This comparison is not a contest of equals; it is a demonstration of how far GPU architecture and purpose have diverged.

The Verdict

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell is the clear choice for any professional workload requiring compute, rendering, or AI acceleration. Its average benchmark score of 182,109 places it in the 98th percentile of all GPUs, and it trades blows with the NVIDIA A100 SXM4 80 GB, which scores 183,725, a difference of only 0.9%. The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell also sits 1.4% behind the RTX 5000 Ada Generation, which scores 184,664, and 2.3% ahead of the GeForce RTX 4090 D, which scores 178,050. It is 2.7% behind the A100 SXM4 40 GB, which scores 187,147. These figures show a card that belongs in the top tier of workstation silicon.

The NVIDIA CMP 40HX, with an average benchmark score of 85,637, sits in the 93rd percentile, but that percentile reflects a different, older pool of hardware. It is 1.7% behind the AMD Radeon PRO W7600, which scores 87,108, and 2.1% behind the NVIDIA Quadro GP100, which scores 87,445. It beats the AMD Radeon PRO W6600, which scores 81,995, by 4.4%, and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X, which scores 80,959, by 5.8%. For a mining card with no display outputs and a PCIe 1.0 x4 bus interface, its compute potential is shackled by its narrow I/O and lack of intended use case.

Who should pick which GPU? The data is unambiguous. Professionals needing 48 GB of memory, a 384-bit bus, GDDR7 memory, 1.34 TB/s of bandwidth, 110 RT cores, 440 tensor cores, and 66.94 TFLOPS of FP32 performance should choose the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell. Anyone considering the CMP 40HX for modern workloads should note its 8 GB GDDR6 memory, 256-bit bus, 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, 36 RT cores, 288 tensor cores, and 7.603 TFLOPS FP32. The CMP 40HX is end-of-life and has no display outputs, making it unsuitable for standard workstation use. The verdict is simple: the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell is the professional card; the CMP 40HX is a relic.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is vast. The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell uses the GB202 chip, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, and fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It packs 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 122.9 million per square millimeter. The CMP 40HX uses the TU106 chip, based on the Turing architecture, and fabricated on a 12 nm process at TSMC. It contains 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die, with a transistor density of 24.3 million per square millimeter. That is a massive difference in engineering approach: the Blackwell chip uses 12 nm, the older Turing part uses a larger, less dense process.

The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell belongs to the Blackwell PRO W (x000) generation, while the CMP 40HX belongs to the Mining GPUs generation. The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell was released on 2025-03-17 and is marked as Active in production. The CMP 40HX was released on 2021-02-24 and is marked as End-of-life. The Blackwell card's predecessor is listed as Workstation Ada, while the CMP 40HX has no predecessor or successor. The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell is a forward-looking product; the CMP 40HX is a discontinued niche product.

Core resources differ sharply. The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell has 14,080 shading units, 440 TMUs, 160 ROPs, 110 RT cores, and 440 tensor cores. The CMP 40HX has 2,304 shading units, 144 TMUs, 64 ROPs, 36 RT cores, and 288 tensor cores. The Blackwell card has over six times the shading units and nearly three times the RT cores. The CMP 40HX has a higher FP16 ratio, listed at 15.21 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio, while the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell lists FP16 at 66.94 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio. The Blackwell card's FP16 is equal to its FP32, a hallmark of modern compute design, whereas the Turing card relies on a 2:1 ratio for half-precision work.

Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The CMP 40HX, despite its mining purpose, retains the same API feature set. However, the CMP 40HX has no display outputs, while the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell has 4x DisplayPort 2.1b. The bus interface also differs: the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell uses PCIe 5.0 x16, while the CMP 40HX uses PCIe 1.0 x4, a severe bandwidth limitation for any workload that transfers data over the bus.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head benchmark data shows a one-sided contest. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell scores 254,116, while the CMP 40HX scores 93,395. The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell wins by 172.1%. In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell scores 282,631, while the CMP 40HX scores 77,879. The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell wins by 262.9%. The database records two wins for the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell and zero for the CMP 40HX.

The Vulkan result is particularly telling. The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell's Vulkan score of 282,631 is 11.2% higher than its own OpenCL score of 254,116. The CMP 40HX's Vulkan score of 77,879 is 16.6% lower than its OpenCL score of 93,395. The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell shows strength across both APIs, while the CMP 40HX lags in Vulkan relative to its own OpenCL performance. The gap in Vulkan, 262.9%, is the largest margin in the comparison.

The average benchmark scores reinforce the head-to-head results. The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell's average score of 182,109 is 112.7% higher than the CMP 40HX's average of 85,637. That average places the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell at the 98th percentile of all GPUs, while the CMP 40HX sits at the 93rd percentile. The percentile difference is modest, but the raw score difference is enormous, driven by the modern architecture and higher compute resources of the Blackwell card.

The nearest rivals for the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell include the NVIDIA A100 SXM4 80 GB, RTX 5000 Ada Generation, GeForce RTX 4090 D, and A100 SXM4 40 GB. The nearest rivals for the CMP 40HX include the AMD Radeon PRO W7600, NVIDIA Quadro GP100, AMD Radeon PRO W6600, and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X. The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell's rivals are top-tier A100 parts, while the CMP 40HX's rivals are mid-range PRO cards. The CMP 40HX, despite its 93rd percentile rank, competes with parts that are far below the Blackwell card's level.

The data shows that the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell is a leading workstation card, while the CMP 40HX is a mid-tier mining product. The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell wins every recorded benchmark and wins the head-to-head 2-0. The CMP 40HX has no recorded wins.

Specification Differences

The specification differences between the two cards are extensive. The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell has 48 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 384-bit bus with 1.34 TB/s bandwidth. The CMP 40HX has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Blackwell card has six times the memory and nearly three times the bandwidth. The memory clock for the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell is 1750 MHz, listed as 28 Gbps effective, while the CMP 40HX has a 1750 MHz memory clock, listed as 14 Gbps effective. The effective data rate is double on the Blackwell card.

The base clock of the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell is 1740 MHz, with a boost clock of 2377 MHz. The CMP 40HX has a base clock of 1470 MHz and a boost clock of 1650 MHz. The Blackwell card boosts 727 MHz higher. The pixel rate of the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell is 380.3 GPixel/s, while the CMP 40HX achieves 105.6 GPixel/s. The texture rate is 1,045.9 GTexel/s for the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell versus 237.6 GTexel/s for the CMP 40HX.

The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell has a TDP of 300 W and requires a single 16-pin power connector, with a suggested PSU of 700 W. The CMP 40HX has a TDP of 185 W and uses a single 8-pin connector, with a suggested PSU of 450 W. The Blackwell card draws more power but delivers far more performance. The physical dimensions differ: the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell is 267 mm long, 111 mm high, and 40 mm wide. The CMP 40HX is 229 mm long, 111 mm high, and 35 mm wide. Both are dual-slot cards.

The display outputs are a critical difference. The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell has 4x DisplayPort 2.1b, while the CMP 40HX has no outputs. The bus interface also differs: PCIe 5.0 x16 for the Blackwell card versus PCIe 1.0 x4 for the CMP 40HX. The CMP 40HX's narrow bus interface is a severe limitation for any task that requires host-GPU communication. The launch MSRP of the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell is 5,099 USD, while the launch MSRP of the CMP 40HX is 699 USD.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell has an average benchmark score of 182,109, while the NVIDIA CMP 40HX has an average of 85,637. The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell is 112.7% higher.

Q: How much faster is the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell in Geekbench Vulkan?

A: The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell scores 282,631 in Geekbench Vulkan, while the CMP 40HX scores 77,879. The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell is 262.9% faster.

Q: What is the memory configuration of each card?

A: The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell has 48 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 384-bit bus with 1.34 TB/s bandwidth. The CMP 40HX has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Does the CMP 40HX support display outputs?

A: No, the CMP 40HX has no display outputs. The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell has 4x DisplayPort 2.5, but the CMP 40HX has no outputs, making it unsuitable for standard monitor connection.

Q: What is the production status of each card?

A: The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell is marked as Active, while the CMP 40HX is marked as End-of-life. The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell was released on 2025-03-17, and the CMP 40HX was released on 2021-02-24.

Q: Which card has more RT cores?

A: The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell has 110 RT cores, while the CMP 40HX has 36 RT cores. The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell has more than three times the RT cores.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell wins in every recorded category. It wins in Geekbench OpenCL, Geekbench Vulkan, and the overall average benchmark score. It wins in memory capacity, memory bandwidth, pixel rate, texture rate, FP32, FP16, and core counts. It wins in the head-to-head comparison 2-0. Its 98th percentile ranking places it among the top GPUs in the database. The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell is the winner for professional compute, AI, rendering, and any workload that demands high-end performance.

The NVIDIA CMP 40HX has no recorded benchmark wins. Its 93rd percentile ranking is respectable for a 2021 mining card, but it cannot compete with the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell. The CMP 40HX has a lower TDP of 185 W versus 300 W, a smaller physical footprint, and a lower launch MSRP of 699 USD versus 5,099 USD. These are the only areas where the CMP 40HX shows an advantage, but they are not performance wins. For a user with a strict power budget or a need for a compact dual-slot card, the CMP 40HX might be considered, but its lack of display outputs and PCIe 1.0 x4 interface severely limits its usefulness.

The CMP 40HX wins on power efficiency in terms of power draw per FPS, but the database does not record any such metric. The data shows the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell dominates in compute, memory capacity, bandwidth, and API performance. The RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell is the only card with a display output, the only card with GDDR7, and the only card with a modern PCIe 5.0 x16 interface a 384-bit bus. The CMP 40HX has none of those features. The verdict from the data is clear: the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell wins where it matters most.