NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti vs NVIDIA Quadro 5000 Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti and the NVIDIA Quadro 5000 represent two very different eras of GPU design, separated by nearly a decade of architectural evolution. The data places the GTX 1660 Ti in a dominant position, winning the sole head-to-head benchmark by a staggering 600.1% margin. However, the Quadro 5000, with its professional pedigree and unique specifications, still holds relevance in specific legacy workstation scenarios. This analysis breaks down where each card wins, what separates their architectures, and how their benchmark results compare.

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data is unequivocal: the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti wins the only direct comparison available, and it does so decisively. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the GTX 1660 Ti scores 51,029 against the Quadro 5000’s 7,289. This represents a 600.1% advantage, indicating that the GTX 1660 Ti is not merely faster but operates in a completely different performance class for general-purpose compute workloads. The GTX 1660 Ti’s win count stands at 1, while the Quadro 5000 has 0 wins in the head-to-head data.

Despite this overwhelming defeat, the Quadro 5000’s niche is not entirely erased by the numbers. Its average benchmark score of 7,289 places it in the 40th percentile of all GPUs, while the GTX 1660 Ti’s average score of 7,723 puts it just one percentile higher at 41. This suggests that in the broader context of all GPUs, the two cards are not as far apart as the OpenCL result implies. The Quadro 5000’s advantage would theoretically lie in its certified professional driver support and legacy application compatibility, which are qualitative factors not captured in these raw performance metrics. For modern compute and gaming tasks, the GTX 1660 Ti is the clear winner; for specific older professional workflows requiring certified stability, the Quadro 5000 maintains a functional, albeit slow, presence.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is vast, reflecting their release dates and target markets. The GTX 1660 Ti is built on the Turing architecture, utilizing the TU116 chip manufactured on a 12 nm process at TSMC. This modern design packs 6,600 million transistors into a 284 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 23.2M per mm². In contrast, the Quadro 5000 uses the older Fermi architecture with the GF100 chip, fabricated on a 40 nm process, also at TSMC. The GF100 contains 3,100 million transistors spread across a much larger 529 mm² die, resulting in a significantly lower transistor density of just 5.9M per mm².

The core configurations differ dramatically. The GTX 1660 Ti features 1,536 shading units, 96 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 48 render output units (ROPs). The Quadro 5000, by comparison, is equipped with only 352 shading units, 44 TMUs, and 40 ROPs. Neither card includes dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores. The GTX 1660 Ti supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.4, while the Quadro 5000 is limited to DirectX 12 (11_0) and offers no Vulkan support, though both support OpenGL 4.6. The GTX 1660 Ti also features a newer PCIe 3.0 x16 interface, whereas the Quadro 5000 uses the older PCIe 2.0 x16 standard.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct benchmark comparison available is the Geekbench OpenCL test, which measures general-purpose GPU compute performance. Here, the GTX 1660 Ti delivers a score of 51,029, while the Quadro 5000 manages only 7,289. This is a 600.1% difference in favor of the GTX 1660 Ti, an enormous margin that underscores the generational leap in compute capability. The GTX 1660 Ti’s FP32 performance is rated at 5.437 TFLOPS, compared to the Quadro 5000’s 722.3 GFLOPS, which explains the massive OpenCL delta.

Looking at other benchmark categories from the GTX 1660 Ti’s individual results, its performance in legacy DirectX tests shows a clear pattern. It scores 190 in Passmark DirectX 9, 103 in DirectX 11, and 66 in DirectX 10, with a much lower 51 in DirectX 12. This suggests the card’s strength is in older APIs, though its modern architecture still handles them well. The GTX 1660 Ti also posts a Passmark G3D score of 12,871 and a GPU compute score of 5,226. The Quadro 5000 has no comparable data in these tests, so the only direct numerical comparison remains the OpenCL result, which the GTX 1660 Ti wins outright.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification, reflecting their distinct design goals. The GTX 1660 Ti uses 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The Quadro 5000 uses 2.5 GB of GDDR5 memory on a wider 320-bit bus, but its bandwidth is only 120.0 GB/s. Memory clocks also differ: the GTX 1660 Ti runs at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective), while the Quadro 5000 runs at 750 MHz (3 Gbps effective).

The compute rates show the GTX 1660 Ti’s dominance. Its pixel rate is 84.96 GPixel/s and texture rate is 169.9 GTexel/s, versus the Quadro 5000’s 11.29 GPixel/s and 22.57 GTexel/s. Power consumption tells a different story: the GTX 1660 Ti has a lower TDP of 120 W, while the Quadro 5000 draws 152 W. The GTX 1660 Ti requires a 300 W suggested PSU and a single 8-pin power connector, while the Quadro 5000 demands a 450 W PSU and a single 6-pin connector. Both are dual-slot cards, but the GTX 1660 Ti is shorter at 229 mm compared to the Quadro 5000’s 248 mm. Display outputs also differ, with the GTX 1660 Ti offering 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the Quadro 5000 has 1x DVI and 2x DisplayPort.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in compute workloads?

A: The GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is overwhelmingly faster. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, it scores 51,029 versus the Quadro 5000’s 7,289, a 600.1% advantage.

Q: What are the memory capacities of these two GPUs?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the Quadro 5000 has 2.5 GB of GDDR5 memory.

Q: Do either of these cards support ray tracing?

A: No. Neither the GTX 1660 Ti nor the Quadro 5000 includes dedicated ray tracing cores, as indicated by the null values for RT cores in the specifications.

Q: How do their power requirements compare?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti has a lower TDP of 120 W and requires a 300 W power supply, while the Quadro 5000 has a TDP of 152 W and requires a 450 W power supply.

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti has an average benchmark score of 7,723, which is slightly higher than the Quadro 5000’s 7,289. This places them in the 41st and 40th percentiles of all GPUs, respectively.

Q: What is the bus interface difference between the two?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the Quadro 5000 uses the older PCIe 2.0 x16 interface.