NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 D vs NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The recorded data presents a clear split between these two NVIDIA offerings. The GeForce RTX 4090 D wins every head-to-head benchmark in the database, while the RTX A4500 Mobile does not record a single victory over its desktop counterpart. This is not a close contest by any measurable standard.

For the RTX 4090 D, the wins are decisive and consistent. In Geekbench OpenCL, it delivers 278,621 points against the mobile card's 105,307 points. That is a 164.6% advantage. In Geekbench Vulkan, the gap grows even larger: 246,941 versus 76,960, a 220.9% difference. The desktop card also holds a third benchmark result, 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 at 8,587 points, which has no equivalent measurement for the mobile part in this database.

The RTX A4500 Mobile's only benchmark results are the two Geekbench tests where it loses. Its average benchmark score across all recorded tests sits at 91,134, which places it in the 93rd percentile of all GPUs. For context, the RTX 4090 D averages 178,050 across its three benchmark entries, placing it in the 98th percentile. The mobile workstation card is not slow in absolute terms, it outperforms the majority of GPUs ever tested, but it operates in a different performance tier entirely.

The use-case split is therefore straightforward. The RTX 4090 D is for workloads where raw compute throughput and rendering speed are the priority, particularly in desktop workstations with adequate power delivery. The RTX A4500 Mobile is for portable workstations where the constraints are physical space, thermal capacity, and power draw, not maximum frame rates or render times. The data indicates no workload where the mobile part wins, so the choice depends entirely on whether the user needs desktop-class performance or laptop mobility.

The Verdict

Pick the GeForce RTX 4090 D if your work is stationary, your workloads are GPU-bound, and you can accommodate a triple-slot, 425 W card that requires an 800 W power supply. The benchmark data shows it is 164.6% faster in OpenCL and 220.9% faster in Vulkan than the mobile alternative. Its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory with 1.01 TB/s bandwidth and 73.54 TFLOPS of FP32 compute place it in the 98th percentile of all GPUs, a full five percentile points above the mobile part.

Pick the RTX A4500 Mobile if your work happens on the move. It carries 16 GB of GDDR6 memory across a 256-bit bus, delivers 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth, and consumes 140 W. It is end-of-life, as is the 4090 D, but it exists to fit inside a laptop chassis where the desktop card's 304 mm length, 61 mm width, and 16-pin power connector are physically impossible. The mobile card has no power connectors at all and uses a portable-device-dependent display output.

The verdict from the data is unambiguous for performance: the RTX 4090 D wins every measured test. The only reason to select the RTX A4500 Mobile is the form factor requirement. If portability is non-negotiable, the mobile card is the only option between these two. If a desktop chassis is available, the RTX 4090 D is the superior choice by every recorded metric, and its launch MSRP is 1,599 USD.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains two direct comparisons between these GPUs, and both favor the desktop card by a wide margin.

Geekbench OpenCL: The RTX 4090 D scores 278,621, while the RTX A4500 Mobile scores 105,307. The delta is 164.6%. This test measures general-purpose compute performance across a variety of workloads, and the desktop card's advantage reflects its larger chip, higher clock speeds, and wider memory bus. The mobile card's 17.66 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is less than a quarter of the desktop card's 73.54 TFLOPS.

Geekbench Vulkan: The gap widens to 220.9%. The RTX 4090 D records 246,941 points, while the RTX A4500 Mobile manages 76,960. Vulkan is a low-level graphics API that exposes the raw hardware capabilities, and the desktop card's architecture handles it far more efficiently. The mobile card's 17.66 TFLOPS of FP16 compute, identical to its FP32 rate at a 1:1 ratio, is simply insufficient to close the gap.

The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result for the RTX 4090 D is 8,587 points, which places it in the 98th percentile of all GPUs. There is no comparable result for the RTX A4500 Mobile in this database, so a direct comparison for this specific test is not possible. However, the mobile card's average benchmark score of 91,134, versus the desktop card's 178,050, reinforces the same conclusion: the desktop card is roughly twice as fast on average.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster overall?

A: The GeForce RTX 4090 D. Its average benchmark score is 178,050, compared to 91,134 for the RTX A4500 Mobile. It wins both head-to-head tests by margins of 164.6% and 220.9%.

Q: Is the RTX A4500 Mobile a capable GPU in its own right?

A: Yes. It sits in the 93rd percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals include the desktop RTX A4500 (0.6% slower on average) and the AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 (1.4% faster). It is a solid performer for a mobile workstation card.

Q: What memory specifications differentiate the two?

A: The RTX 4090 D has 24 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus with 1.01 TB/s bandwidth. The RTX A4500 Mobile has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 512.0 GB/s bandwidth. The desktop card has twice the bandwidth and 50% more capacity.

Q: How do their power requirements differ?

A: The RTX 4090 D has a TDP of 425 W and requires a 1x 16-pin power connector with a suggested 800 W power supply. The RTX A4500 Mobile has a TDP of 140 W and uses no power connectors, as it draws power from the laptop chassis.

Q: Which GPU has a higher transistor count?

A: The RTX 4090 D uses the AD102 chip with 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die. The RTX A4500 Mobile uses the GA104 chip with 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die. The desktop chip has over four times the transistor count.

Q: Are both GPUs still in production?

A: No. Both are marked as end-of-life in the database. The RTX 4090 D was released on 2023-12-27, and the RTX A4500 Mobile was released on 2022-03-21.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural generations and use different manufacturing processes. The RTX 4090 D is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, specifically the AD102 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The RTX A4500 Mobile uses the Ampere architecture with the GA104 chip, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung.

The process node difference is significant. The 5 nm TSMC process allows for a transistor density of 125.3 million per square millimeter, while the 8 nm Samsung process achieves only 44.4 million per square millimeter. This density advantage, combined with the larger 609 mm² die versus 392 mm², gives the RTX 4090 D a transistor count of 76,300 million compared to 17,400 million.

The compute resources reflect this gap. The RTX 4090 D has 14,592 shading units, 456 texture mapping units, 176 ROPs, 114 ray tracing cores, and 456 tensor cores. The RTX A4500 Mobile has 5,888 shading units, 184 TMUs, 96 ROPs, 46 ray tracing cores, and 184 tensor cores. The desktop card has roughly 2.5 times the shading units, TMUs, and ROPs, and nearly 2.5 times the ray tracing and tensor cores.

The memory subsystems also differ architecturally. The RTX 4090 D uses GDDR6X with a 384-bit bus, while the RTX A4500 Mobile uses GDDR6 with a 256-bit bus. The effective memory speed is 21 Gbps for the desktop card and 16 Gbps for the mobile card. This results in 1.01 TB/s versus 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

Both GPUs support the same API feature set: DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Both support FP16 at a 1:1 ratio with FP32, meaning there is no dedicated half-precision boost on either card.

Specification Differences

The following specifications differ between the two GPUs, based on the recorded data:

| Specification | GeForce RTX 4090 D | RTX A4500 Mobile |

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

| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Ampere |

| Chip | AD102 | GA104 |

| Process node | 5 nm | 8 nm |

| Foundry | TSMC | Samsung |

| Transistors | 76,300 million | 17,400 million |

| Die size | 609 mm² | 392 mm² |

| Transistor density | 125.3M / mm² | 44.4M / mm² |

| Base clock | 2280 MHz | 930 MHz |

| Boost clock | 2520 MHz | 1500 MHz |

| Memory clock | 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective) | 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) |

| Memory size | 24 GB | 16 GB |

| Memory type | GDDR6X | GDDR6 |

| Memory bus width | 384 bit | 256 bit |

| Memory bandwidth | 1.01 TB/s | 512.0 GB/s |

| Shading units | 14592 | 5888 |

| TMUs | 456 | 184 |

| ROPs | 176 | 96 |

| Ray tracing cores | 114 | 46 |

| Tensor cores | 456 | 184 |

| Pixel rate | 443.5 GPixel/s | 144.0 GPixel/s |

| Texture rate | 1,149.1 GTexel/s | 276.0 GTexel/s |

| FP32 performance | 73.54 TFLOPS | 17.66 TFLOPS |

| FP16 performance | 73.54 TFLOPS (1:1) | 17.66 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 425 W | 140 W |

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

| Suggested PSU | 800 W | Not specified |

| Slot width | Triple-slot | Not specified |

| Display outputs | 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a | Portable Device Dependent |

| Dimensions | 304 mm x 137 mm x 61 mm | Not specified |

| Release date | 2023-12-27 | 2022-03-21 |

| Launch MSRP | 1,599 USD | Not specified |

Both GPUs use PCIe 4.0 x16 interface and share the same DirectX, OpenGL, and Vulkan support. The GeForce 40-series card has a predecessor in the GeForce 30 series and successor in GeForce 50, while the Ampere mobile card has a Quadro Turing-M predecessor and an Ada-MW successor. Both are end-of-life products.