NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 vs NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data presents a clear split between these two NVIDIA offerings. The NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile wins only two of the nine head-to-head comparisons, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 dominates the remaining seven. However, the magnitude and nature of those wins matter more than the raw count.

The most significant victory for the RTX A5000 Mobile comes in Geekbench OpenCL, where it scores 110877 against the RTX 2080's 91313. That is a 21.4% advantage, and it is the largest single delta in either direction across the entire benchmark suite. This result aligns with the A5000's compute-oriented positioning: the mobile workstation part pulls far ahead when the workload is heavily parallel and OpenCL-accelerated. The other A5000 win is effectively a tie. In Passmark DirectX 12, both cards record an identical score of 72, with a delta of 0%. The database credits the A5000 Mobile as the winner, but the practical takeaway is parity in that specific API test.

The RTX 2080's wins are numerous but narrower in percentage terms. Its largest edge comes in Passmark G2D, where it scores 907 against 629, a 30.7% lead. That is a substantial gap for a 2D graphics test, which measures things like desktop composition, video playback acceleration, and UI rendering workloads. The RTX 2080 also wins decisively in Passmark DirectX 9 at 223 versus 169, a 24.2% gap, and in Geekbench Vulkan at 107797 versus 88144, an 18.2% lead. The remaining three victories are clustered in a tighter range: Passmark DirectX 11 at 158 versus 133 (15.8% ahead), Passmark G3D at 18720 versus 15779 (15.7% ahead), and Passmark GPU Compute at 7872 versus 6945 (11.8% ahead). Only the DirectX 10 result falls just outside that cluster, with the RTX 2080 leading 136 to 115 for a 15.4% margin.

Looking at the overall averages, the RTX A5000 Mobile posts a mean benchmark score of 70th percentile among all GPUs, against the RTX 2080's 68th percentile. That places the A5000 Mobile roughly 1.3% ahead of the RTX 2080's average score of 22895 in the database, with the A5000 Mobile at an average of 24763. The nearest recorded rivals for the A5000 Mobile include the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT at 24442, just 1.5% behind the A5000 Mobile's average score of 24763, and the AMD Radeon RX 590 at 24744 at 0.1% behind. The RTX 2080's own nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 at 23172 at just 1.2% ahead of the RTX 2080 average of 22895.

The pattern across all tests suggests that the RTX 2080 is the stronger general-purpose performer in the database measurements, with wins in seven of nine tests. Yet the single largest win, the OpenCL result, belongs to the A5000 Mobile by a full 21.4%, which is a far wider margin than anything the RTX 2080 achieves anywhere in the suite. The A5000 Mobile's architecture appears more skewed toward compute throughput, while the RTX 2080 demonstrates more balanced strength across legacy DirectX generations and in Vulkan.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins more head-to-head in the database?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 wins 7 of the 9 head-to-head comparisons, including Passmark G3D (18720 vs 15779) and Passmark GPU Compute (7872 vs 6945). The NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a 21.4% lead.

Q: Are the two cards close in overall performance?

A: Yes. The RTX A5000 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 24763, while the RTX 2080 sits at 22895. That places the A5000 Mobile about 1.3% ahead of the RTX 2080 in overall average, despite losing most individual head-to-head tests.

Q: How do they compare in DirectX 12?

A: They are exactly tied. Both cards record a Passmark DirectX 12 score of 72, with a 0% delta. The database flags the A5000 Mobile as the nominal winner, but the result is identical.

Q: Which card performs better in Vulkan?

A: The RTX 2080 is clearly ahead in Geekbench Vulkan, scoring 107797 versus 88144, an 18.2% advantage. This is one of the RTX 2080's strongest wins in the entire suite.

Q: How big is the A5000 Mobile's OpenCL advantage?

A: The A5000 Mobile scores 110877 versus 91313, a 21.4% lead. This is the largest margin of any head-to-head result between the two cards, and it is the A5000 Mobile's only decisive win.

Q: Which card has better 2D performance?

A: The RTX 2080 leads Passmark G2D with 907 versus 629, a 30.7% advantage. That is the single largest percentage gap recorded for either card in any test, and it heavily favors the RTX 2080.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different NVIDIA architectures, and the data reflects that divergence. The RTX A5000 Mobile uses the GA104 chip built on Ampere architecture, manufactured by Samsung on an 8 nm process with 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die. The RTX 2080 uses the TU104 chip on Turing architecture, built by TSMC on a 12 nm process with 13,600 million transistors on a 545 mm² die. The A5000 Mobile's smaller die and newer process node give it a dramatically higher transistor density: 44.4 million transistors per mm² versus 25.0 million for the RTX 2080.

The A5000 Mobile carries 6144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs. The RTX 2080 has 2944 shading units, 184 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The A5000 Mobile's shading unit count is more than double the RTX 2080's, yet the RTX 2080 posts higher scores in most Passmark tests. That suggests the A5000's additional compute units are not translating into broad gaming or legacy API wins, likely because the A5000 Mobile is designed for workstation workloads rather than consumer rendering.

Ray tracing and tensor hardware differ in composition. The A5000 Mobile has 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores, while the RTX 2080 has 46 RT cores and 368 tensor cores. The RTX 2080 carries nearly twice as many tensor cores, which may explain its stronger Vulkan showing and its advantage in compute tests like Passmark GPU Compute. The A5000 Mobile counters with a much higher FP32 throughput of 19.35 TFLOPS against the RTX 2080's 10.07 TFLOPS, but the RTX 2080 achieves 20.14 TFLOPS FP16 at a 2:1 ratio, while the A5000 Mobile delivers 19.35 TFLOPS FP16 at 1:1.

Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so API compatibility is identical. The A5000 Mobile connects via PCIe 4.0 x16, while the RTX 2080 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. The A5000 Mobile's power delivery relies on no external connectors, drawing 150 W, whereas the RTX 2080 requires a 6-pin and an 8-pin connector and consumes 215 W. The RTX 2080 also specifies a 550 W suggested PSU, while the A5000 Mobile lists none.

The transistor density difference is the clearest architectural story: 44.4 million transistors per mm² for the A5000 Mobile versus 25.0 million for the RTX 2080. That density gap is a direct result of the move from TSMC's 12 nm to Samsung's 8 nm process. The A5000 Mobile packs more than two times the shading units into a smaller die, which explains its dominant OpenCL result despite losing most other tests.

Specification Differences

Memory capacity is a major differentiator. The RTX A5000 Mobile ships with 16 GB of GDDR6, while the RTX 2080 has 8 GB. Both use a 256-bit memory bus and achieve exactly 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, with the same 1750 MHz memory clock and 14 Gbps effective data rate. The memory type is identical, so the capacity is the only memory specification where they differ.

Clock speeds favor the RTX 2080. Its base clock is 1515 MHz and boost clock is 1710 MHz, compared to the A5000 Mobile's 900 MHz base and 1575 MHz boost. The RTX 2080's boost clock is 135 MHz higher, and its base clock is 615 MHz higher. The A5000 Mobile compensates with more shading units, but the clock deficit is substantial.

Shader and render output resources differ sharply. The A5000 Mobile has 6144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The RTX 2080 has 2944 shading units, 184 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The A5000 Mobile leads in all three categories, with 3200 more shading units, 8 more TMUs, and 32 more ROPs. Yet the RTX 2080 produces higher pixel rate in practice? No: the A5000 Mobile has a pixel rate of 151.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 302.4 GTexel/s, while the RTX 2080 has 109.4 GPixel/s and 314.6 GTexel/s. The A5000 Mobile wins pixel rate while the RTX 2080 wins texture rate.

Tensor core counts go the other way. The RTX 2080 has 368 tensor cores, the A5000 Mobile has 192. Ray tracing cores are nearly even: 48 for the A5000 Mobile, 46 for the RTX 2080. Power consumption and physical design also diverge: 150 W TDP with no power connectors for the mobile part, 215 W with a 6-pin and 8-pin for the RTX 2080. The RTX 2080 is a dual-slot card measuring 267 mm long, 116 mm tall, and 35 mm wide, with outputs of 1x HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, and 1x USB Type-C. The A5000 Mobile's display outputs are portable device dependent.

Release timing and product lineage also differ. The RTX 2080 launched in the GeForce 20 generation, succeeded the GeForce 10 series, and was followed by GeForce 30. The A5000 Mobile launched in the Ampere-MW generation as an Ax000 part, succeeded the Quadro Turing-M, and was followed by Ada-MW. Both are end-of-life. The RTX 2080 has a launch MSRP of 699 USD; the A5000 Mobile has no recorded launch MSRP.

The Verdict

The data supports a straightforward split. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 is the better all-around performer in the database, winning 7 of 9 head-to-head tests, including the most important general rendering tests: Passmark G3D at 18720 versus 15779 and Passmark GPU Compute at 7872 versus 6945. It also leads in every legacy DirectX test, in Vulkan by 18.2%, and in 2D by a massive 30.7%. For anyone running typical gaming, 2D, or legacy API workloads, the RTX 2080 is the clear pick from these recorded numbers.

The NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile is the better choice for compute-heavy OpenCL workloads. Its 21.4% lead in Geekbench OpenCL is the largest margin recorded between the two cards, and its 16 GB memory capacity doubles the RTX 2080's 8 GB. That memory advantage, combined with a 19.35 TFLOPS FP32 throughput against 10.07 TFLOPS, makes it the stronger option for large datasets and parallel compute tasks that fit within OpenCL. Its 70th percentile placement versus the RTX 2080's 68th percentile, along with an average score of 24763 versus 22895, also gives it a slight overall edge in the database's aggregate metric.

The RTX 2080 wins on clock speed, tensor core count, and broad benchmark coverage. The A5000 Mobile wins on memory capacity, shading units, ROPs, pixel rate, FP32 throughput, and that single decisive OpenCL result. The RTX 2080 also draws more power at 215 W versus 150 W and requires a 550 W PSU, while the A5000 Mobile needs no external power connectors, which reflects their different intended environments: a desktop card versus a mobile workstation part.

Choose the RTX 2080 for general rendering, legacy API games, Vulkan, and 2D performance. Choose the RTX A5000 Mobile for OpenCL compute, higher memory capacity, and the efficiency of a 150 W part with no power connectors. The data does not support declaring one card universally superior; it supports two different cards for two different jobs.