NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 vs NVIDIA RTX A4000 Comparison

The NVIDIA RTX A4000 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 are both end-of-life products, but they represent very different design goals. The A4000 is a workstation card built on the Ampere architecture, while the RTX 2080 is a consumer gaming card from the Turing generation. The benchmark data shows a clear performance hierarchy, but the reasons behind it matter more than the raw scores.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The RTX A4000 dominates the modern 3D Mark Steel Nomad DX12 test, scoring 2604 against the RTX 2080's 1752. That is a 48.6% advantage, the largest gap in the entire comparison. This test is particularly relevant because it stresses ray tracing and DirectX 12 Ultimate features, areas where the A4000's Ampere architecture has a significant edge.

In compute-heavy workloads, the A4000 also leads substantially. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 105739 beats the RTX 2080's 91313 by 15.8%. The Vulkan result is similar, with the A4000 scoring 127645 versus 107797, an 18.4% margin. These gains reflect the A4000's much higher FP32 throughput and its 1:1 FP16 ratio, which allows it to maintain full speed on half-precision work.

The PassMark GPU Compute test tells the same story: the A4000 scores 9760, which is 24% ahead of the RTX 2080's 7872. This is a strong indicator for non-gaming tasks like rendering, simulation, and machine learning inference.

The older DirectX 9 benchmark is one of the few areas where the RTX 2080 gets close. The A4000 wins 240 to 223, a 7.6% margin. In DirectX 10, however, the RTX 2080 takes its only victory: a score of 136 versus 126, a 7.4% advantage. The DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 tests are dead even at 158 and 72 respectively.

The 2D and 3D graphics tests show modest leads for the A4000. In PassMark G2D, the A4000 scores 1024 against 907, a 12.9% difference. In G3D, the gap narrows to 3.9% (19459 versus 18720). Overall, the A4000 wins 9 out of 10 head-to-head benchmarks, with the RTX 2080 taking only the DirectX 10 test.

Where Each One Wins

The data clearly favors the A4000 in most scenarios. Its biggest wins come in modern, compute-oriented workloads: Steel Nomad DX12, Geekbench OpenCL, Geekbench Vulkan, and PassMark GPU Compute. These are the kinds of tests that predict performance in ray-traced games, 3D rendering, and GPU-accelerated computation. The A4000's 48.6% lead in Steel Nomad is particularly telling for future-proofing.

The RTX 2080's only victory is in PassMark DirectX 10, where it leads by 7.4%. This is a legacy API, and the result suggests that in older DirectX 10 titles, the RTX 2080 may hold a slight edge. However, the A4000 wins the DirectX 9 test by 7.6%, so the legacy advantage is not uniform.

For general desktop use, the A4000's G2D score of 1024 indicates faster 2D operations than the RTX 2080's 907. The G3D scores are close enough (3.9% apart) that in many games the difference may be small, but the A4000 still comes out ahead on average.

The RTX 2080's higher texture rate of 314.6 GTexel/s versus the A4000's 299.5 GTexel/s does not translate into a benchmark win in the recorded tests. The A4000 compensates with a higher pixel rate (149.8 GPixel/s versus 109.4 GPixel/s) and far more shading units.

Architecture Differences

The core architectural split is stark. The RTX A4000 uses the GA104 chip on Samsung's 8 nm process, while the RTX 2080 uses the TU104 chip on TSMC's 12 nm node. The A4000 packs 17,400 million transistors into a 392 mm² die, giving a density of 44.4M per mm². The RTX 2080 has fewer transistors (13,600 million) but a much larger die (545 mm²), resulting in a lower density of 25.0M per mm².

The A4000's Ampere architecture provides 6144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The RTX 2080's Turing design has only 2944 shading units, 184 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The A4000 also has 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores, while the RTX 2080 has 46 RT cores and 368 tensor cores. The tensor core count is the one area where the RTX 2080 has more hardware, though the A4000's newer tensor core design is more efficient.

Memory configurations are similar in bus width and speed: both use GDDR6 with a 256-bit bus and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth. The crucial difference is capacity: the A4000 has 16 GB, double the RTX 2080's 8 GB. This makes the A4000 far better suited for large datasets and high-resolution textures.

Clock speeds favor the RTX 2080 on paper. It runs at a base of 1515 MHz and boosts to 1710 MHz, compared to the A4000's 735 MHz base and 1560 MHz boost. The A4000's lower clocks are offset by its much higher core count, resulting in 19.17 TFLOPS FP32 performance versus the RTX 2080's 10.07 TFLOPS. The FP16 situation is interesting: the A4000 achieves 19.17 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio, while the RTX 2080 hits 20.14 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio, meaning it uses half the cores for FP16 work.

Power and physical design also differ. The A4000 is a single-slot card with a 140 W TDP and a single 6-pin connector, requiring a 300 W power supply. The RTX 2080 is dual-slot, draws 215 W, needs a 6-pin and 8-pin connector, and demands a 550 W PSU. The A4000 is also shorter: 241 mm versus 267 mm, and slightly lower in height (112 mm versus 116 mm). The RTX 2080 is thicker at 35 mm, while the A4000 has no listed width.

Interface and outputs show generational progress. The A4000 uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the RTX 2080 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs are four DisplayPort 1.4a on the A4000, while the RTX 2080 offers one HDMI 2.0, three DisplayPort 1.4a, and one USB Type-C. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

The Verdict

The data makes this straightforward: the RTX A4000 is the faster card in nearly every recorded benchmark. It wins 9 of 10 head-to-head tests, with an overall average benchmark score of 26683 versus the RTX 2080's 22895. The A4000's 16.5% lead in average score is backed by dominant wins in modern APIs and compute workloads.

The A4000 also holds a higher percentile ranking among all GPUs: 72nd percentile versus 68th for the RTX 2080. Its nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary (0.5% behind) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (1.3% behind), which places it in a competitive mid-range tier. The RTX 2080, by contrast, sits near the Intel Arc B580 (0.5% ahead) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (1.2% above it), showing it is a step lower in the hierarchy.

Who should pick which? If you need raw compute performance, ray tracing capability, or more than 8 GB of memory for professional workloads, the A4000 is the clear choice from this data. Its 16 GB memory and 48.6% lead in Steel Nomad make it the superior option for modern, demanding tasks.

The RTX 2080 is only preferable in one narrow scenario: if you are running legacy DirectX 10 applications where its 7.4% edge matters. It also has a higher boost clock and a higher texture rate, but neither translates into a benchmark victory in the recorded tests. The RTX 2080's 699 USD launch MSRP is a data point, but the card is end-of-life and the A4000 outperforms it in almost every measurable way.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A4000 has an average benchmark score of 26683, which is 16.5% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080's 22895.

Q: How much faster is the RTX A4000 in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test?

A: The RTX A4000 scores 2604, which is 48.6% higher than the RTX 2080's 1752.

Q: Does the RTX 2080 win any benchmark against the A4000?

A: Yes, the RTX 2080 wins the PassMark DirectX 10 test with a score of 136 versus the A4000's 126, a 7.4% advantage.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference between the two cards?

A: The RTX A4000 has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the RTX 2080 has 8 GB. Both use a 256-bit bus and have 448.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card has a higher FP32 compute performance?

A: The RTX A4000 delivers 19.17 TFLOPS FP32, while the RTX 2080 delivers 10.07 TFLOPS. The A4000 is nearly 90% higher in this metric.

Q: How do their power requirements compare?

A: The RTX A4000 has a 140 W TDP and requires a 300 W power supply with one 6-pin connector. The RTX 2080 has a 215 W TDP, needs a 550 W PSU, and uses one 6-pin plus one 8-pin connector.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA RTX A4000 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 |

|---|---|---|

| Architecture | Ampere | Turing |

| Process Node | 8 nm | 12 nm |

| Foundry | Samsung | TSMC |

| Transistors | 17,400 million | 13,600 million |

| Die Size | 392 mm² | 545 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 44.4M / mm² | 25.0M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 735 MHz | 1515 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1560 MHz | 1710 MHz |

| Memory Size | 16 GB | 8 GB |

| Shading Units | 6144 | 2944 |

| TMUs | 192 | 184 |

| ROPs | 96 | 64 |

| RT Cores | 48 | 46 |

| Tensor Cores | 192 | 368 |

| Pixel Rate | 149.8 GPixel/s | 109.4 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 299.5 GTexel/s | 314.6 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 19.17 TFLOPS | 10.07 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 19.17 TFLOPS (1:1) | 20.14 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 140 W | 215 W |

| Slot Width | Single-slot | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | 1x 6-pin | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 300 W | 550 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 4.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | 4x DisplayPort 1.4a | 1x HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, 1x USB Type-C |

| Length | 241 mm (9.5 inches) | 267 mm (10.5 inches) |

| Height | 112 mm (4.4 inches) | 116 mm (4.6 inches) |

| Width | Not listed | 35 mm (1.4 inches) |