NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER vs NVIDIA Quadro GP100 Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark landscape between these two NVIDIA workstation and consumer cards is remarkably lopsided, but that lopsidedness tells a story about specialization. The recorded data shows a single head-to-head benchmark, Geekbench OpenCL, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER takes the win outright. That result is decisive: a score of 219,065 against 87,445 for the Quadro GP100, a delta of 60.1 percent in favor of the newer card. The Quadro GP100 does not win a single recorded comparison in this dataset.

The RTX 4080 SUPER also holds a broad advantage across its own benchmark suite, which includes DirectX 9, 10, 11, and 12 tests, plus Vulkan, compute, and 2D workloads. Its Passmark G3D score of 34,245 and GPU compute score of 19,822 indicate a card that excels in both rasterization and general-purpose compute. The Quadro GP100, by contrast, has only the single OpenCL result, meaning the database contains no evidence of it winning any other workload category. In terms of pure win counts, this is a 1-0 sweep.

However, the use-case split is not simply about who wins. The Quadro GP100 sits at the 93rd percentile of all GPUs in the database, which is higher than the RTX 4080 SUPER's 86th percentile. That is a curious inversion. The older professional card, despite losing the direct comparison, ranks above its rival in overall standing relative to all other GPUs. This suggests that the GP100's specialization, likely in professional compute environments, gives it a niche where it remains competitive even as consumer hardware has moved far ahead in raw throughput. The RTX 4080 SUPER dominates the modern gaming and direct compute workloads, while the GP100's legacy status and professional orientation keep it relevant in a narrower slice of the market.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two is a full generation and then some. The Quadro GP100 uses the Pascal architecture, built on a 16 nm process at TSMC, with a massive 610 mm² die. The RTX 4080 SUPER uses Ada Lovelace, on a 5 nm process, also at TSMC, but with a much smaller 379 mm² die. The transistor counts reflect the density leap: the GP100 packs 15,300 million transistors, while the RTX 4080 SUPER carries 45,900 million. That is roughly three times the transistor count in nearly half the die area, yielding a transistor density of 121.1 million per mm² versus 25.1 million per mm². The process node advancement is the fundamental driver here.

Memory architecture differs fundamentally as well. The GP100 uses 16 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, delivering 732.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 4080 SUPER also has 16 GB, but uses GDDR6X on a 256-bit bus, achieving 736.3 GB/s. The bandwidth figures are nearly identical, but the implementation could not be more different. HBM2's wide, short bus versus GDDR6X's narrower, faster interface represents two distinct design philosophies. The GP100's memory clock runs at 715 MHz (1430 Mbps effective), while the RTX 4080 SUPER runs at 1438 MHz (23 Gbps effective).

The compute units tell the rest of the story. The GP100 has 3,584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs. The RTX 4080 SUPER has 10,240 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 112 ROPs. The newer card also brings dedicated hardware the GP100 lacks entirely: 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores. These are not just incremental upgrades; they are new functional blocks. The RTX 4080 SUPER supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the GP100 supports DirectX 12 (12_1). Vulkan support also differs, with the newer card at 1.4 versus 1.3 for the older one. OpenGL is identical at 4.6.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The single recorded head-to-head benchmark is Geekbench OpenCL, and it is a decisive win for the RTX 4080 SUPER. The newer card scores 219,065, while the Quadro GP100 scores 87,445. The delta is 60.1 percent in favor of the RTX 4080 SUPER. That is not a marginal edge; it is a massive gap. In raw OpenCL compute, the Ada Lovelace card delivers more than double the score of the Pascal professional card.

To put that in context with the nearest rivals, the GP100's score of 87,445 sits within a tight cluster. The AMD Radeon PRO W7600 scores 87,108, just 0.4 percent behind. The NVIDIA CMP 40HX scores 85,637, 2.1 percent behind. On the other side, the NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile scores 91,134, which is 4.0 percent ahead of the GP100, and the desktop RTX A4500 scores 91,671, 4.6 percent ahead. So the GP100 is competitive with mid-range professional cards from a later era, but it is nowhere near the RTX 4080 SUPER.

The RTX 4080 SUPER's other benchmark results reinforce the picture. Its Passmark G3D score of 34,245, GPU compute score of 19,822, and Vulkan score of 260,075 all indicate a card that is comprehensively faster across modern workloads. The DirectX scores are harder to compare directly since the GP100 has no corresponding entries, but the pattern is consistent. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6,600 adds another modern DirectX 12 data point. The RTX 4080 SUPER's nearest rivals, the RTX 4080 at 54,247 (0.1 percent behind), the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X at 54,828 (1.1 percent behind), and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB at 55,698 (2.7 percent behind), show that it is well-anchored in its performance tier.

Specification Differences

The specification sheet shows a complete generational overhaul. The process node drops from 16 nm to 5 nm. The die shrinks from 610 mm² to 379 mm² while transistor count triples from 15,300 million to 45,900 million. Transistor density jumps from 25.1M per mm² to 121.1M per mm². Base clock rises from 1304 MHz to 2295 MHz, and boost clock from 1443 MHz to 2550 MHz. Memory clock speed increases from 715 MHz to 1438 MHz, with effective data rates of 1430 Mbps versus 23 Gbps.

Memory type changes from HBM2 to GDDR6X, and bus width drops from 4096 bit to 256 bit. Bandwidth stays nearly flat: 732.2 GB/s versus 736.3 GB/s. Shading units more than double from 3,584 to 10,240. TMUs rise from 224 to 320, ROPs from 96 to 112. The RTX 4080 SUPER adds 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, which the GP100 does not have at all. Pixel rate increases from 138.5 GPixel/s to 285.6 GPixel/s. Texture rate jumps from 323.2 GTexel/s to 816.0 GTexel/s. FP32 compute goes from 10.34 TFLOPS to 52.22 TFLOPS. FP16 goes from 20.69 TFLOPS (2:1) to 52.22 TFLOPS (1:1).

Power and physical specifications also diverge sharply. TDP rises from 235 W to 320 W. Power connectors change from a single 8-pin to a single 16-pin. Suggested PSU jumps from 550 W to 700 W. Slot width goes from dual-slot to triple-slot. Length grows from 267 mm to 310 mm, height from 111 mm to 140 mm, and the newer card adds a width dimension of 61 mm. Bus interface moves from PCIe 3.0 x16 to PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs change from 1x DVI and 4x DisplayPort 1.4a to 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The RTX 4080 SUPER also has a recorded launch MSRP of 999 USD, though pricing is not a factor in this analysis.

FAQ

Q: Which card has more raw compute throughput?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER, decisively. Its FP32 rating of 52.22 TFLOPS is over five times the GP100's 10.34 TFLOPS. The OpenCL benchmark confirms this, with the RTX 4080 SUPER scoring 219,065 against 87,445.

Q: Do both cards have the same memory capacity?

A: Yes, both have 16 GB. The GP100 uses HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, while the RTX 4080 SUPER uses GDDR6X on a 256-bit bus. Bandwidth is nearly identical at 732.2 GB/s versus 736.3 GB/s.

Q: Does the Quadro GP100 support ray tracing?

A: No. The GP100 has no RT cores. The RTX 4080 SUPER has 80 RT cores and also adds 320 tensor cores, neither of which exist on the Pascal architecture card.

Q: How does the GP100 compare to its own professional peers?

A: The database shows it within 4.6 percent of the RTX A4500 and RTX A4500 Mobile, and within 2.1 percent of the AMD Radeon PRO W7600 and NVIDIA CMP 40HX. It sits at the 93rd percentile of all GPUs.

Q: What API level does each card support?

A: The GP100 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The RTX 4080 SUPER supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Q: Which card is physically larger?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER. It is 310 mm long, 140 mm tall, and 61 mm wide, and takes a triple-slot design. The GP100 is 267 mm long and 111 mm tall, with a dual-slot design.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear answer for most buyers. The RTX 4080 SUPER wins the only direct benchmark by 60.1 percent, has more than five times the FP32 throughput, adds dedicated RT and tensor cores, and supports newer API versions. It is the faster card in every measured dimension. Anyone looking for maximum compute performance in OpenCL, DirectX, or Vulkan should choose the RTX 4080 SUPER.

The Quadro GP100 does have one statistical claim: its 93rd percentile ranking versus the RTX 4080 SUPER's 86th. That is a meaningful data point for professional environments where the card's Pascal architecture and HBM2 memory may have specific compatibility or stability advantages in legacy software stacks. The GP100 also has a wider 4096-bit memory bus, which can be relevant for certain memory-bound professional workloads, even though bandwidth is essentially equal.

For gaming, modern content creation, ray tracing, or AI-adjacent workloads, the RTX 4080 SUPER is the only rational choice. For specialized professional compute in older toolchains where Pascal is a known quantity, the GP100 retains a niche, but the benchmark evidence shows it is outclassed by a wide margin. The verdict is straightforward: the RTX 4080 SUPER is the superior product in nearly every measurable way, and the GP100's only advantage is its percentile standing, which reflects legacy professional relevance rather than raw capability.