NVIDIA GeForce GT 1010 vs NVIDIA Quadro 5000 Comparison

The Verdict

The data presents a clear, if narrow, winner in raw compute terms. The NVIDIA Quadro 5000 holds a single benchmark result — Geekbench OpenCL — where it scores 7289 against the GT 1010’s 6698. That is an 8.8% lead for the older card. The verdict from the data is straightforward: if the sole criterion is the measured compute score in this specific test, the Quadro 5000 is the pick.

However, the choice is not that simple. The Quadro 5000 sits at the 40th percentile of all GPUs, while the GT 1010 sits at the 38th. The 2-percentile gap is marginal, and both cards are firmly in the lower half of the performance distribution. The GT 1010’s nearest rivals tell a different story about its positioning. It trails the AMD Radeon R7 M370 by 1% and the AMD FirePro M5100 by 1.9%, but it beats the AMD Radeon R7 M460 by 1.3% and the AMD Radeon HD 7730M by 1.8%. The Quadro 5000, by contrast, beats its closest rival — the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 — by a razor-thin 0.9%.

Who should pick which? Strictly from the data, a user prioritizing the larger frame buffer and legacy workstation connectivity would gravitate to the Quadro 5000. A user prioritizing a modern feature set, lower power draw, and a smaller physical footprint would choose the GT 1010. The Quadro 5000 wins the only head-to-head benchmark, but it does so with a small margin and against a card that is vastly more efficient in other metrics. The data does not support a blanket recommendation; it supports a contextual one.

Architecture Differences

The two cards represent two distinct eras of NVIDIA design. The Quadro 5000 is built on the Fermi architecture, using the GF100 chip, fabricated on a 40 nm process at TSMC. The GT 1010 uses the Pascal architecture, built around the GP108 chip, manufactured on a 14 nm process at Samsung. The node difference is stark: 40 nm versus 14 nm, which explains the transistor density gap. The Quadro 5000 packs 3,100 million transistors onto a 529 mm² die, yielding a density of 5.9M transistors per mm². The GT 1010 has 1,800 million transistors on a 74 mm² die, achieving 24.3M transistors per mm² — more than four times the density.

The shading resources differ significantly. The Quadro 5000 carries 352 shading units, 44 texture mapping units, and 40 render output units. The GT 1010 has 256 shading units, 16 TMUs, and 8 ROPs. The Quadro 5000 has more of everything in raw counts, but the GT 1010 compensates with higher clock speeds. The GT 1010 has a base clock of 1228 MHz and a boost clock of 1468 MHz. The Quadro 5000 has no listed base or boost clock — only a memory clock of 750 MHz (3 Gbps effective). The GT 1010’s memory runs at 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective).

The feature sets diverge on API support. Both support DirectX 12 and OpenGL 4.6. But the GT 1010 supports Vulkan 1.4, while the Quadro 5000 has no listed Vulkan support. The DirectX feature level also differs: the GT 1010 is rated for DirectX 12 (12_1), while the Quadro 5000 is rated for DirectX 12 (11_0). The GT 1010 is the more modern part in terms of software compatibility, even though it is the smaller and less powerful card in raw hardware terms.

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data gives us exactly one head-to-head test, and the Quadro 5000 wins it. Geekbench OpenCL shows the Quadro 5000 at 7289 against the GT 1010’s 6698, an 8.8% advantage. That is the only direct win the data records for the Quadro 5000, and it is enough to give it 1 win in the head-to-head tally versus 0 for the GT 1010.

But the GT 1010 wins in categories not captured by that single benchmark. The first is efficiency. The GT 1010 has a TDP of 30 W, versus 152 W for the Quadro 5000. The GT 1010 requires no power connectors; the Quadro 5000 needs a single 6-pin connector. The suggested PSU for the GT 1010 is 200 W, while the Quadro 5000 calls for 450 W. The GT 1010 is also a single-slot card at 147 mm in length, versus the Quadro 5000’s dual-slot design at 248 mm.

The GT 1010 also wins on modern connectivity. It uses PCIe 3.0 x4, while the Quadro 5000 uses PCIe 2.0 x16. The GT 1010 has a mini-HDMI 2.0 output, while the Quadro 5000 has two DisplayPort outputs and one DVI. The GT 1010’s Vulkan 1.4 support gives it an API advantage that the Quadro 5000 cannot match. For a user who cares about modern driver paths and low power consumption, the GT 1010 is the clear winner despite losing the compute benchmark.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher Geekbench OpenCL score?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro 5000 scores 7289, which is 8.8% higher than the GT 1010’s 6698 in the Geekbench OpenCL test.

Q: Does the GT 1010 support Vulkan?

A: Yes, the GT 1010 lists Vulkan 1.4 support. The Quadro 5000 has no Vulkan support listed in the data.

Q: How do the power requirements compare?

A: The GT 1010 has a TDP of 30 W and requires no power connectors, with a suggested PSU of 200 W. The Quadro 5000 has a TDP of 152 W, requires a single 6-pin connector, and suggests a 450 W PSU.

Q: Which card has more memory?

A: The Quadro 5000 has 2.5 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 320-bit bus, while the GT 1010 has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 64-bit bus.

Q: What is the DirectX feature level difference?

A: The GT 1010 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), while the Quadro 5000 supports DirectX 12 (11_0).

Q: How do the two cards compare to their nearest rivals?

A: The Quadro 5000 is 0.9% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 and 1.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon Vega 8 Mobile. The GT 1010 is 1% behind the AMD Radeon R7 M370 and 1.9% behind the AMD FirePro M5100, but 1.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon R7 M460 and 1.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon HD 7730M.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only head-to-head benchmark in the data is Geekbench OpenCL, and it goes to the Quadro 5000. The score is 7289 for the Quadro 5000 versus 6698 for the GT 1010. That is a delta of 8.8% in favor of the Quadro 5000. The margin is meaningful but not overwhelming — it is the difference between the 40th and 38th percentile rankings. The Quadro 5000’s win is a function of its wider memory bus (320 bit versus 64 bit) and higher bandwidth (120.0 GB/s versus 48.06 GB/s), which likely helps in OpenCL workloads that are memory-bound.

But the GT 1010 is not far behind. An 8.8% gap in a single test is a slim margin, especially when the GT 1010 achieves its score with a fraction of the power draw and a much smaller die. The GT 1010’s pixel rate is actually slightly higher: 11.74 GPixel/s versus the Quadro 5000’s 11.29 GPixel/s. The GT 1010’s texture rate is also higher: 23.49 GTexel/s versus 22.57 GTexel/s. In FP32 compute, the GT 1010 posts 751.6 GFLOPS versus the Quadro 5000’s 722.3 GFLOPS. These are close numbers across the board, which suggests that the Geekbench OpenCL result may not be fully representative of overall capability.

The data records 1 win for the Quadro 5000 and 0 for the GT 1010 in head-to-head benchmarks. That is the entirety of the comparison. The Quadro 5000 wins the only test, but the GT 1010 matches or exceeds it in several specific rate metrics. The benchmark picture is one of near-parity, with the Quadro 5000 holding a slight edge in the aggregate score.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every major specification category. The process node is 40 nm for the Quadro 5000 versus 14 nm for the GT 1010. The foundry is TSMC for the Quadro 5000 and Samsung for the GT 1010. Transistor counts are 3,100 million versus 1,800 million. Die size is 529 mm² versus 74 mm². Transistor density is 5.9M per mm² versus 24.3M per mm².

Clocks differ. The Quadro 5000 has no base or boost clock listed; its memory clock is 750 MHz (3 Gbps effective). The GT 1010 has a base clock of 1228 MHz, a boost clock of 1468 MHz, and a memory clock of 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective).

Memory configurations are distinct. The Quadro 5000 has 2.5 GB of GDDR5 on a 320-bit bus with 120.0 GB/s bandwidth. The GT 1010 has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 64-bit bus with 48.06 GB/s bandwidth.

Compute resources differ. The Quadro 5000 has 352 shading units, 44 TMUs, and 40 ROPs. The GT 1010 has 256 shading units, 16 TMUs, and 8 ROPs. The Quadro 5000’s pixel rate is 11.29 GPixel/s; the GT 1010’s is 11.74 GPixel/s. Texture rates are 22.57 GTexel/s versus 23.49 GTexel/s. FP32 is 722.3 GFLOPS versus 751.6 GFLOPS.

Power and physical specs diverge sharply. The Quadro 5000 has a TDP of 152 W, is dual-slot, requires a 6-pin power connector, and suggests a 450 W PSU. The GT 1010 has a TDP of 30 W, is single-slot, needs no power connector, and suggests a 200 W PSU. The Quadro 5000 is 248 mm long and 111 mm tall; the GT 1010 is 147 mm long with no listed height.

The bus interface differs: PCIe 2.0 x16 for the Quadro 5000 versus PCIe 3.0 x4 for the GT 1010. Display outputs are 1x DVI and 2x DisplayPort for the Quadro 5000, versus 1x DVI and 1x mini-HDMI 2.0 for the GT 1010. The Quadro 5000 has a launch MSRP of 2,499 USD; the GT 1010 has no listed launch MSRP. Both are end-of-life. The Quadro 5000 released on 2011-02-22, with the Quadro Kepler as its successor. The GT 1010 released on 2021-01-12, with the GeForce 20 as its successor.