NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 D vs NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation Comparison

The NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation and the GeForce RTX 4090 D are both Ada Lovelace parts, but they target different worlds: the former is a workstation card, the latter a consumer flagship. Both pack 24 GB of memory, yet their underlying architectures diverge sharply. In the two shared Geekbench tests, the RTX 4090 D wins decisively, but the RTX 4500 Ada posts a higher average benchmark score. This split tells a story of specialized compute versus raw throughput.

Where Each One Wins

The head-to-head data is unambiguous in the two shared workloads. The GeForce RTX 4090 D dominates Geekbench OpenCL with a score of 271,315 against the RTX 4500 Ada’s 194,668, a 28.3% advantage. In Geekbench Vulkan, the gap is even wider: 244,421 versus 171,401, a 29.9% lead. These are not marginal wins; they are substantial margins that reflect the 4090 D’s larger compute footprint.

Yet the overall average benchmark score tells a different story. The RTX 4500 Ada averages 183,035, while the RTX 4090 D averages 174,774 — a 4.7% advantage for the workstation card, as shown in the nearestRivals data. That means the 4500 Ada outperforms the 4090 D across the broader benchmark suite, even though it loses the two Geekbench tests. The 4500 Ada also sits just 0.9% behind the RTX 5000 Ada, a higher-tier workstation card, while the 4090 D trails that same card by 5.4%. So the 4500 Ada is positioned closer to the top of the professional stack, whereas the 4090 D, despite its raw speed in specific tests, falls behind in the aggregated metric.

The 4090 D also carries a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 8,587, but no comparable figure exists for the 4500 Ada, so no direct conclusion can be drawn from that test alone.

Architecture Differences

Both GPUs use the Ada Lovelace architecture and are fabricated on TSMC’s 5 nm process, but they are built on different dies. The RTX 4500 Ada uses the AD103 chip, with 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die. The RTX 4090 D uses the AD102 chip, with 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die. Transistor density is nearly identical — 121.1 million per mm² for the 4500, 125.3 million for the 4090 D — but the raw silicon budget is much larger on the 4090 D.

That extra silicon translates into more execution resources. The 4090 D has 14,592 shading units, 456 texture mapping units, 176 ROPs, 114 RT cores, and 456 tensor cores. The 4500 Ada has 7,680 shading units, 240 TMUs, 80 ROPs, 60 RT cores, and 240 tensor cores. The 4090 D roughly doubles the compute units, which explains its Geekbench superiority.

Memory configurations also diverge. The 4500 Ada uses 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, yielding 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The 4090 D uses 24 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s — more than double the bandwidth. Memory clocks differ as well: the 4500 runs at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective), the 4090 D at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). The wider bus and faster memory type give the 4090 D a massive bandwidth advantage.

Clock speeds are closer, but not identical. The 4500 Ada has a base clock of 2070 MHz and a boost of 2580 MHz; the 4090 D has a base of 2280 MHz and a boost of 2520 MHz. So the 4500 boosts higher, while the 4090 D has a higher base clock.

Power and physical design differ markedly. The 4500 Ada is a dual-slot card with no external power connectors and a 210 W TDP, requiring a 550 W PSU. The 4090 D is a triple-slot card with a single 16-pin connector, a 425 W TDP, and an 800 W PSU recommendation. The 4090 D is also longer (304 mm vs 245 mm) and taller (137 mm vs 112 mm), with a specified width of 61 mm; the 4500’s width is not listed.

Display outputs differ: the 4500 provides four DisplayPort 1.4a ports, while the 4090 D offers one HDMI 2.1 and three DisplayPort 1.4a. Both use PCIe 4.0 x16 and support DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Production status and lifecycle also separate them. The 4500 Ada is Active, released on August 8, 2023, and succeeds the Workstation Ampere line, with Blackwell PRO W as its successor. The 4090 D is End-of-life, released on December 27, 2023, and follows the GeForce 30 series, with GeForce 50 as its successor.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two shared benchmarks paint a consistent picture. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4090 D scores 271,315 versus the RTX 4500 Ada’s 194,668 — a 28.3% margin. In Geekbench Vulkan, the 4090 D scores 244,421 against 171,401 — a 29.9% margin. These are the only direct comparisons available, and the 4090 D wins both by wide margins.

However, the aggregate average benchmark score flips the narrative. The RTX 4500 Ada averages 183,035, which is 4.7% higher than the 4090 D’s 174,774. This suggests that the 4500 Ada performs better in workloads not captured by the two Geekbench tests, likely reflecting its workstation-oriented tuning and possibly its higher boost clock. The 4090 D’s strength is raw throughput in compute-heavy APIs, but the 4500 Ada’s overall consistency gives it the edge in the averaged metric.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher memory bandwidth?

A: The GeForce RTX 4090 D has 1.01 TB/s, while the RTX 4500 Ada has 432.0 GB/s.

Q: Which GPU has more RT cores?

A: The RTX 4090 D has 114 RT cores, compared to 60 on the RTX 4500 Ada.

Q: Which GPU has a higher boost clock?

A: The RTX 4500 Ada boosts to 2580 MHz, while the RTX 4090 D boosts to 2520 MHz.

Q: Which GPU is more power efficient?

A: The RTX 4500 Ada has a TDP of 210 W, versus 425 W for the RTX 4090 D.

Q: Which GPU is still in production?

A: The RTX 4500 Ada is Active; the RTX 4090 D is End-of-life.

Q: Which GPU has a larger die?

A: The RTX 4090 D has a die size of 609 mm², while the RTX 4500 Ada is 379 mm².

Specification Differences

| Feature | NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 D |

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

| Chip | AD103 | AD102 |

| Generation | Workstation Ada | GeForce 40 |

| Transistors | 45,900 million | 76,300 million |

| Die Size | 379 mm² | 609 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 121.1M / mm² | 125.3M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 2070 MHz | 2280 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 2580 MHz | 2520 MHz |

| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR6X |

| Memory Bus Width | 192 bit | 384 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 432.0 GB/s | 1.01 TB/s |

| Memory Clock | 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) | 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective) |

| Shading Units | 7680 | 14592 |

| TMUs | 240 | 456 |

| ROPs | 80 | 176 |

| RT Cores | 60 | 114 |

| Tensor Cores | 240 | 456 |

| Pixel Rate | 206.4 GPixel/s | 443.5 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 619.2 GTexel/s | 1,149.1 GTexel/s |

| FP32 / FP16 | 39.63 TFLOPS | 73.54 TFLOPS |

| TDP | 210 W | 425 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | Triple-slot |

| Power Connectors | None | 1x 16-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 550 W | 800 W |

| Display Outputs | 4x DisplayPort 1.4a | 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |

| Dimensions (L×H×W) | 245 mm × 112 mm × (not specified) | 304 mm × 137 mm × 61 mm |

| Production Status | Active | End-of-life |

| Release Date | 2023-08-08 | 2023-12-27 |

| Predecessor | Workstation Ampere | GeForce 30 |

| Successor | Blackwell PRO W | GeForce 50 |

| Launch MSRP | None | 1,599 USD |