NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER vs NVIDIA Quadro M5000 Comparison

The NVIDIA Quadro M5000 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER represent two vastly different eras of GPU design, yet their average benchmark scores place them in a surprisingly close statistical tie. The M5000, a Maxwell-era professional card from 2015, and the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, an Ada Lovelace consumer card from 2024, offer distinct architectural philosophies and performance profiles. The data shows a clear generational leap in raw compute power and modern feature support for the newer card, while the older card holds its ground in specific legacy workloads.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro M5000 has a slightly higher average benchmark score of 31,206 compared to the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's 31,087. This puts the M5000 ahead by a marginal 0.4% in the aggregate data.

Q: How do the two cards compare in Geekbench OpenCL performance?

A: The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the clear winner, scoring 199,267 versus the M5000's 29,481. This represents a massive 85.2% lead for the newer card in this compute-oriented test.

Q: What is the difference in Vulkan benchmark performance?

A: The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER also wins in Geekbench Vulkan, scoring 53,683 against the M5000's 32,931. The delta here is 38.7% in favor of the RTX card.

Q: Which card has more memory and bandwidth?

A: The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER offers 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 672.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The Quadro M5000 has 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, yielding 211.6 GB/s.

Q: What are the manufacturing process nodes for each GPU?

A: The Quadro M5000 is built on TSMC's 28 nm process, while the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER uses a 5 nm process from the same foundry.

Q: Which card supports ray tracing and tensor cores?

A: Only the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER includes dedicated hardware for these features, with 66 RT cores and 264 tensor cores. The Quadro M5000 has no such units listed in its specifications.

Architecture Differences

The foundational architectures of these two GPUs could not be more different. The Quadro M5000 is based on the Maxwell 2.0 architecture, utilizing the GM204 chip. This design is a product of its time, built on a 28 nm process at TSMC with a transistor count of 5,200 million on a 398 mm² die. In contrast, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER uses the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD103 chip, manufactured on a much more advanced 5 nm process. This newer chip packs 45,900 million transistors into a slightly smaller 379 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 121.1M per mm² versus the M5000's 13.1M per mm².

The compute capabilities reflect this generational gap. The M5000 offers 2,048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. Its FP32 performance is rated at 4.252 TFLOPS. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, by contrast, is a compute monster with 8,448 shading units, 264 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. Its FP32 throughput is a staggering 44.10 TFLOPS, and it also supports FP16 at a 1:1 ratio, a feature the M5000 lacks entirely. The newer card also brings dedicated RT cores and tensor cores, marking a fundamental shift towards hybrid rendering and AI-accelerated workloads.

Memory technology also diverges sharply. The M5000 uses 8 GB of GDDR5 with a 256-bit bus, achieving 211.6 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER doubles the capacity to 16 GB, uses faster GDDR6X, and on the same 256-bit bus, more than triples bandwidth to 672.3 GB/s. This has direct implications for high-resolution textures and data-heavy compute tasks. The feature set of the RTX card is also more modern, supporting DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) versus the M5000's DirectX 12 (12_1), though both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head comparison in the data reveals a decisive victory for the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER in both available tests. The most dramatic difference is in the Geekbench OpenCL test, a measure of general-purpose compute performance. Here, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER scores 199,267, dwarfing the Quadro M5000's 29,481. This equates to an 85.2% performance advantage for the newer card, highlighting the immense leap in parallel processing capability brought by the Ada Lovelace architecture and its vastly higher shader count and clock speeds.

The Geekbench Vulkan test tells a similar story, though with a smaller margin. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER achieves a score of 53,683, while the M5000 manages 32,931. The 38.7% lead for the RTX card in this graphics API test demonstrates its superior ability to handle modern rendering workloads. While the M5000 is not uncompetitive in Vulkan, it is clearly outclassed by the RTX card's newer hardware. The data shows zero wins for the M5000 in these head-to-head matchups, with the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER taking both.

Despite the RTX card's dominance in these specific tests, the average benchmark scores tell a more nuanced story. The M5000's average of 31,206 is actually 0.4% higher than the RTX card's 31,087. This suggests that in a broader suite of benchmarks, including legacy and professional applications that may favor the M5000's driver optimizations or specific compute patterns, the older card can hold its own. The M5000's nearest rival list includes the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER with a 0.4% delta, indicating that in the aggregate, their overall performance is considered equivalent for the purposes of this database.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every specification point. The process node is a major differentiator, with the M5000 at 28 nm and the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER at 5 nm. Transistor counts are 5,200 million versus 45,900 million, and die sizes are 398 mm² versus 379 mm², respectively. Clock speeds are also vastly different: the M5000's base clock is 861 MHz with a boost of 1038 MHz, while the RTX card runs at a base of 2340 MHz and boosts to 2610 MHz. Memory clocks are 1653 MHz (6.6 Gbps effective) for the M5000 and 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective) for the RTX card.

Memory capacity and type differ, with 8 GB of GDDR5 versus 16 GB of GDDR6X. Bandwidth is 211.6 GB/s for the M5000 and 672.3 GB/s for the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER. The core counts are drastically higher on the newer card: 8,448 shading units versus 2,048, 264 TMUs versus 128, and 96 ROPs versus 64. The RTX card also has 66 RT cores and 264 tensor cores, which the M5000 lacks. Pixel and texture rates are higher on the RTX card at 250.6 GPixel/s and 689.0 GTexel/s, respectively, versus 66.43 GPixel/s and 132.9 GTexel/s for the M5000.

Physical and power characteristics also differ significantly. The M5000 has a 150 W TDP and requires a 1x 6-pin power connector, with a suggested 450 W PSU. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER has a 285 W TDP, uses a 1x 16-pin connector, and recommends a 600 W PSU. The M5000 is a dual-slot card measuring 267 mm in length, while the RTX card is triple-slot and 310 mm long. The bus interface is PCIe 3.0 x16 for the M5000 and PCIe 4.0 x16 for the RTX card. Display outputs also differ, with the M5000 offering 1x DVI and 4x DisplayPort 1.2, while the RTX card has 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a.

The Verdict

The data presents a clear picture for different use cases. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the definitive choice for anyone prioritizing raw compute performance, modern API support, and high-bandwidth memory. Its 85.2% lead in OpenCL and 38.7% lead in Vulkan over the Quadro M5000 are decisive. Furthermore, its support for DirectX 12 Ultimate, ray tracing, and tensor cores makes it future-proof for gaming and AI-adjacent workloads, which the M5000 cannot handle. The 16 GB memory capacity and 672.3 GB/s bandwidth are also substantial advantages for large datasets and high-resolution textures.

The NVIDIA Quadro M5000, despite being from an older generation, is not without merit. Its average benchmark score of 31,206 is marginally higher than the RTX card's, and it sits in the same 76th percentile of all GPUs. For specific professional applications that are optimized for Maxwell architecture or require its particular driver feature set, the M5000 could remain a viable option. Its lower 150 W TDP and use of a standard 6-pin connector also make it easier to integrate into older systems without a PSU upgrade, as evidenced by the suggested 450 W PSU versus the RTX card's 600 W recommendation.

Ultimately, the choice depends on the workload. If the task requires maximum compute throughput, modern graphics features, or large memory pools, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the only logical pick. If the application is a legacy professional tool that does not benefit from the newer architecture's features and the user requires a lower-power, easier-to-install card, the Quadro M5000 remains a serviceable, if dated, option. The benchmark data clearly favors the RTX card in head-to-head compute tests, but the aggregate scores show that the M5000 still holds its own in the broader landscape of GPU performance.