NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER vs NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER and the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile represent two entirely different corners of the GPU market. The data shows a desktop enthusiast card built for maximum throughput against a low-power mobile professional solution. While both carry the NVIDIA name, their architectural generations, physical designs, and performance envelopes place them in separate categories. Benchmark results indicate an overwhelming performance advantage for the RTX 4070 SUPER, but the RTX A500 Mobile occupies a niche where power efficiency and compactness are the primary design goals.

FAQ

Q: How large is the performance gap in the shared benchmarks?

A: In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the RTX 4070 SUPER scores 172,795 against 41,263 for the RTX A500 Mobile, a delta of 318.8%. In the Geekbench Vulkan test, the delta is even larger: 205,624 versus 37,873, representing a 442.9% advantage for the RTX 4070 SUPER.

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 4070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 43,223, while the RTX A500 Mobile averages 39,568. This places the RTX 4070 SUPER in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs, with the RTX A500 Mobile close behind at the 82nd percentile.

Q: What are the closest rivals for each card according to the data?

A: The RTX 4070 SUPER is within 1% of the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB (-0.1%), the GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile (-0.1%), the Quadro M6000 (-0.2%), and the GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile (-1%). The RTX A500 Mobile is essentially tied with the AMD Radeon Pro 575 (0%), and is 1.2% ahead of the Radeon Pro 575X, while being 1.2% behind the Radeon Pro WX 7100 and 1.9% behind the Radeon Pro 580.

Q: What are the power consumption figures for each card?

A: The RTX 4070 SUPER has a TDP of 220 W, while the RTX A500 Mobile has a TDP of just 30 W. This reflects their different physical designs: a dual-slot desktop card versus an integrated graphics processor (IGP).

Q: How do their memory configurations differ?

A: The RTX 4070 SUPER features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX A500 Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 64-bit bus, providing 96.00 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: Which card has a higher transistor count?

A: The RTX 4070 SUPER contains 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die, while the RTX A500 Mobile contains 8,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die. This results in a transistor density of 121.8M per mm² for the former versus 43.5M per mm² for the latter.

Architecture Differences

The underlying architectures are separated by a full generation. The RTX 4070 SUPER is based on the AD104 chip using the Ada Lovelace architecture, fabricated on a 5 nm process by TSMC. The RTX A500 Mobile uses the GA107S chip with the older Ampere architecture, produced on Samsung's 8 nm process. This process advantage is a key factor in the massive disparity in transistor density: the RTX 4070 SUPER packs 121.8 million transistors per square millimeter, more than 2.8 times the density of the RTX A500 Mobile's 43.5 million.

The compute resources reflect the architectural gap. The RTX 4070 SUPER has 7,168 shading units, 224 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 80 raster operation pipelines (ROPs). It also carries 56 RT cores and 224 tensor cores. In contrast, the RTX A500 Mobile has 2,048 shading units, 64 TMUs, 32 ROPs, 16 RT cores, and 64 tensor cores. These are not incremental differences; the RTX 4070 SUPER has more than triple the shading units and more than triple the RT and tensor core counts.

Memory architecture reinforces the separation. The RTX 4070 SUPER uses 12 GB of GDDR6X across a 192-bit bus, which yields a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. The RTX A500 Mobile is limited to 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus, producing only 96.00 GB/s. The clock speeds also differ substantially, with the RTX 4070 SUPER boosting to 2475 MHz compared to 1537 MHz for the RTX A500 Mobile. The physical form factors are opposites: a dual-slot, 267 mm long desktop card requiring a 16-pin power connector and a 550 W suggested PSU, versus an IGP with no power connector and no defined dimensions.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two shared benchmark tests show a complete sweep for the RTX 4070 SUPER. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4070 SUPER scores 172,795, while the RTX A500 Mobile manages only 41,263. This 318.8% delta indicates that the desktop card is over four times faster in raw compute throughput. The gap widens in the Geekbench Vulkan test. Here, the RTX 4070 SUPER scores 205,624, and the RTX A500 Mobile scores 37,873. The delta of 442.9% means the RTX 4070 SUPER is more than five times faster in this graphics API workload.

These results align with the theoretical specifications. The RTX 4070 SUPER delivers 35.48 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, while the RTX A500 Mobile delivers 6.296 TFLOPS. The pixel rate of the RTX 4070 SUPER is 198.0 GPixel/s versus 49.18 GPixel/s for the mobile part, and the texture rate is 554.4 GTexel/s versus 98.37 GTexel/s. The benchmark scores are consistent with these hardware capabilities, showing no signs of driver limitations or thermal throttling that might narrow the gap in the mobile part.

It is importantly the RTX A500 Mobile has only two benchmark results in the data, while the RTX 4070 SUPER has ten. The absence of DirectX and Passmark results for the mobile card limits direct comparison, but the two Geekbench tests are sufficient to establish a clear hierarchy. The RTX 4070 SUPER wins both head-to-head tests, giving it a 2-0 record, with the data showing zero wins for the RTX A500 Mobile.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous regarding raw performance. The RTX 4070 SUPER dominates the RTX A500 Mobile in every measured category, with a minimum advantage of 318.8% in the shared benchmarks. Its higher average score of 43,223 versus 39,568 places it in the 83rd percentile, one point above the RTX A500 Mobile's 82nd percentile. For any workload requiring substantial compute, graphics rendering, or memory bandwidth, the RTX 4070 SUPER is the clear choice.

However, the RTX A500 Mobile is not without purpose. Its 30 W TDP is a fraction of the RTX 4070 SUPER's 220 W, and its IGP form factor means it can be integrated into compact, portable devices without dedicated power connectors. The RTX A500 Mobile's nearest rivals are all AMD Radeon Pro workstation cards, indicating its market positioning. Its 4 GB memory capacity is suitable for lighter professional tasks, though its 96.00 GB/s bandwidth is a significant constraint. The choice depends entirely on the use case: the RTX 4070 SUPER for desktop performance, the RTX A500 Mobile for mobile efficiency.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every specification field. The RTX 4070 SUPER uses the AD104 chip on a 5 nm process, while the RTX A500 Mobile uses GA107S on 8 nm. Transistor counts are 35,800 million versus 8,700 million, and die sizes are 294 mm² versus 200 mm². Base clocks are 1980 MHz versus 832 MHz, with boost clocks of 2475 MHz versus 1537 MHz. Memory speed is 21 Gbps effective versus 12 Gbps effective.

The memory subsystem shows stark contrasts: 12 GB versus 4 GB capacity, GDDR6X versus GDDR6 type, 192-bit versus 64-bit bus width, and 504.2 GB/s versus 96.00 GB/s bandwidth. Compute units follow suit, with 7,168 versus 2,048 shading units, 224 versus 64 TMUs, 80 versus 32 ROPs, 56 versus 16 RT cores, and 224 versus 64 tensor cores. The pixel rate is 198.0 GPixel/s versus 49.18 GPixel/s, and texture rate is 554.4 GTexel/s versus 98.37 GTexel/s.

Power and physical characteristics diverge completely. The TDP is 220 W versus 30 W. The RTX 4070 SUPER is dual-slot with a 16-pin connector and a suggested PSU of 550 W; the RTX A500 Mobile is an IGP with no connector and no suggested PSU. The bus interface is PCIe 4.0 x16 versus PCIe 4.0 x8. Display outputs are 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a for the desktop card, versus "Portable Device Dependent" for the mobile part. The RTX 4070 SUPER measures 267 mm in length, while the RTX A500 Mobile has no listed dimensions. The release dates also differ, with the RTX 4070 SUPER launching in January 2024 and the RTX A500 Mobile in March 2022.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 4070 SUPER wins in all compute and graphics-intensive scenarios. Its FP32 throughput of 35.48 TFLOPS, more than five times the RTX A500 Mobile's 6.296 TFLOPS, makes it suitable for demanding 3D rendering, high-resolution gaming, and GPU-accelerated computation. The 504.2 GB/s memory bandwidth supports large textures and datasets, while the 12 GB frame buffer allows for substantial working sets. Its 83rd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average score of 43,223, places it in the upper tier of desktop graphics hardware.

The RTX A500 Mobile wins in power-constrained and space-constrained environments. Its 30 W TDP enables deployment in thin laptops and compact workstations where the 220 W desktop card would be impractical. The IGP form factor means no separate power connector is required, simplifying system integration. Its 82nd percentile ranking, despite the low power budget, indicates it provides respectable performance relative to its class. For professional mobile workstations requiring moderate GPU acceleration without the thermal and power overhead of a discrete card, the RTX A500 Mobile is the appropriate option. Its 4 GB memory, while limited, is sufficient for lighter CAD or media tasks, and its 96.00 GB/s bandwidth, though narrow, is adequate for its intended workload profile.