NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti vs NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation Comparison

# Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data paints a clear picture of two very different GPU personalities. Across the nine shared tests, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti claims seven victories, while the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation manages a single, albeit substantial, win. The most dramatic margin comes in the Passmark DirectX 12 test, where the RTX 5070 Ti scores 127 against the RTX 5880 Ada's 70, a 81.4% advantage. That is not a close contest; it is a categorical statement about DirectX 12 performance headroom.

The RTX 5070 Ti's dominance extends across the broader Passmark suite. In DirectX 11, it posts 300 versus 228, a 31.6% lead. The DirectX 10 result shows 192 against 167, a 15% edge. Even the legacy DirectX 9 test favours the newer card, with 351 versus 335, a 4.8% margin. The 2D graphics test is another blowout: 1332 versus 777, a 71.4% gap that suggests the RTX 5070 Ti handles desktop composition and 2D workloads with far more ease.

In the aggregated 3D test, the RTX 5070 Ti scores 32974 compared to 25096 for the RTX 5880 Ada, a 31.4% lead. The compute-focused Passmark GPU compute benchmark shows a 42.2% advantage for the RTX 5070 Ti, with scores of 20203 versus 14208. These are not marginal differences; they indicate a generational shift in efficiency and raw throughput for consumer-oriented workloads.

The one bright spot for the RTX 5880 Ada is the Geekbench OpenCL test. Here, it scores 326898 against 212363 for the RTX 5070 Ti, a 35% advantage. This is a significant reversal, and it hints at where the workstation card's strengths lie. OpenCL is a compute-heavy API, and the data suggests the Ada card's architecture handles it substantially better.

Looking at the broader benchmark context, the RTX 5070 Ti sits at the 86th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49957. Its nearest rival in the database is the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64, which scores 50001, a negligible -0.1% difference. The RTX 5880 Ada, meanwhile, sits at the 85th percentile with an average score of 45972, placing it near the NVIDIA RTX A2000, which scores 46043, a -0.2% difference. The delta between the two cards' average scores is roughly 8%, which is smaller than the head-to-head gaps in several individual tests, underscoring how workload-dependent performance truly is.

# Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on fundamentally different architectures, and the data reflects that. The RTX 5070 Ti uses the GB203 chip based on Blackwell 2.0 architecture, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The RTX 5880 Ada uses the AD102 chip based on Ada Lovelace, also on a 5 nm TSMC process. Both are dual-slot cards with a single 16-pin power connector, but the similarities end there.

The RTX 5880 Ada is a much larger die. It packs 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die, giving it a transistor density of 125.3M per mm². The RTX 5070 Ti has 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die, with a density of 120.6M per mm². The Ada card is physically bigger and has nearly 67% more transistors, which explains its higher raw compute ceilings in certain APIs.

The memory subsystems are also starkly different. The RTX 5070 Ti uses 16 GB of GDDR7 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 896.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 5880 Ada uses 48 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, delivering 864.0 GB/s. The newer GDDR7 memory gives the RTX 5070 Ti a slight bandwidth edge despite the narrower bus, but the Ada card has three times the memory capacity. That capacity is a defining feature for large dataset workloads.

Clock speeds tell another story. The RTX 5070 Ti has a base clock of 2295 MHz and a boost of 2452 MHz. The RTX 5880 Ada has a much lower base clock of 975 MHz but a boost of 2460 MHz. The Ada card's boost clock is essentially identical to the RTX 5070 Ti's, but its base clock is dramatically lower, suggesting it idles lower and relies on boost behaviour under load.

The shading resources are heavily in the Ada card's favour. The RTX 5880 Ada has 14080 shading units, 440 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. The RTX 5070 Ti has 8960 shading units, 280 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The Ada card also has 110 RT cores and 440 tensor cores, versus 70 RT cores and 280 tensor cores on the RTX 5070 Ti. These are substantial hardware differences that show up in compute-heavy workloads.

# Where Each One Wins

The RTX 5070 Ti is the clear winner for real-time graphics and gaming-oriented workloads. Its DirectX 12 performance is 81.4% ahead of the RTX 5880 Ada, and its DirectX 11 lead is 31.6%. The Passmark G3D test shows a 31.4% advantage, and the 2D test shows a 71.4% edge. For anyone running modern game engines, DirectX 12 titles, or high-refresh-rate scenarios, the RTX 5070 Ti is the superior choice. Its higher boost clock and GDDR7 memory bandwidth contribute to these wins.

The RTX 5070 Ti also dominates the compute test in this comparison. The Passmark GPU compute benchmark shows a 42.2% lead, which is a strong indicator for general-purpose compute on the same API family. Its average benchmark score of 49957 versus 45972 for the Ada card reinforces this as the overall faster card in mixed workloads.

The RTX 5880 Ada's single win is in Geekbench OpenCL, where it leads by 35%. This is a specific API that favours its larger number of shading units, TMUs, and ROPs. The Ada card has 14080 shading units versus 8960, 440 TMUs versus 280, and 176 ROPs versus 96. For OpenCL-based compute tasks, scientific simulations, or certain rendering pipelines that leverage OpenCL, the Ada card is the better performer.

The RTX 5880 Ada also offers 48 GB of memory, which is three times the RTX 5070 Ti's 16 GB. While this does not show up directly in the benchmark scores, it is a critical factor for workloads that exceed 16 GB of VRAM, such as large-scale 3D rendering, AI model training with large batches, or massive dataset processing. The RTX 5070 Ti will hit a memory wall where the Ada card will not.

# Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every major specification, aside from both being dual-slot, 5 nm TSMC parts with matching boost clocks around 2452-2460 MHz.

| Specification | RTX 5070 Ti | RTX 5880 Ada |

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

| Architecture | Blackwell 2.0 | Ada Lovelace |

| Chip | GB203 | AD102 |

| Transistors | 45,600 million | 76,300 million |

| Die Size | 378 mm² | 609 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 120.6M / mm² | 125.3M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 2295 MHz | 975 MHz |

| Memory Size | 16 GB | 48 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR7 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus | 256 bit | 384 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 896.0 GB/s | 864.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 8960 | 14080 |

| TMUs | 280 | 440 |

| ROPs | 96 | 176 |

| RT Cores | 70 | 110 |

| Tensor Cores | 280 | 440 |

| Pixel Rate | 235.4 GPixel/s | 433.0 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 686.6 GTexel/s | 1,082.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 43.94 TFLOPS | 69.27 TFLOPS |

| TDP | 300 W | 285 W |

| Suggested PSU | 700 W | 600 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 5.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |

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

| Release Date | 2025-02-19 | 2024-01-04 |

The RTX 5070 Ti has a higher TDP of 300 W versus 285 W, and it requires a 700 W PSU versus 600 W. It also uses the newer PCIe 5.0 interface, while the Ada card uses PCIe 4.0. The display outputs differ, with the RTX 5070 Ti offering HDMI 2.1b and DisplayPort 2.1b, while the RTX 5880 Ada offers only DisplayPort 1.4a. The RTX 5070 Ti is longer at 304 mm versus 267 mm, and taller at 137 mm versus 112 mm.

# FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti has an average benchmark score of 49957, compared to 45972 for the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation.

Q: How much faster is the RTX 5070 Ti in DirectX 12?

A: The RTX 5070 Ti scores 127 in the Passmark DirectX 12 test, which is 81.4% ahead of the RTX 5880 Ada's score of 70.

Q: Does the RTX 5880 Ada win any benchmarks against the RTX 5070 Ti?

A: Yes, the RTX 5880 Ada wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 326898, which is 35% higher than the RTX 5070 Ti's 212363.

Q: What are the memory size and type differences?

A: The RTX 5070 Ti has 16 GB of GDDR7 on a 256-bit bus, while the RTX 5880 Ada has 48 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus.

Q: How do the shading unit counts compare?

A: The RTX 5880 Ada has 14080 shading units, 440 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, while the RTX 5070 Ti has 8960 shading units, 280 TMUs, and 96 ROPs.

Q: Which card has a higher boost clock?

A: The RTX 5880 Ada has a boost clock of 2460 MHz, which is marginally higher than the RTX 5070 Ti's boost clock of 2452 MHz.