NVIDIA P104-100 vs NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell Comparison

NVIDIA P104-100 vs NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell is the clear performance victor, winning all head-to-head benchmarks decisively. The P104-100, a mining-era Pascal card with no display outputs, cannot match the Blackwell card’s modern architecture, memory capacity, or raw compute. Data shows the RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell is 397% faster in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 and 391% faster in Geekbench Vulkan. For any workload involving modern graphics, compute, or large datasets, the RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell is the only logical choice. The P104-100, while still ranking in the 77th percentile of all GPUs, is a legacy part with a narrow use case.

The Verdict

From the benchmark data, the RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell is the definitive pick for nearly every scenario. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 7025 versus 1413 for the P104-100 represents a 79.9% delta, meaning the Blackwell card delivers roughly five times the DX12 performance. Similarly, Geekbench Vulkan shows 221768 points against 45165, a 79.6% delta favoring the RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell. This is not a close contest; it is a generational leap.

The P104-100’s only theoretical advantage is its legacy status. It has a 77th percentile ranking versus the RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell’s 76th percentile, but that metric is based on the average of all benchmarks, which includes older tests where the P104-100’s Pascal architecture still performs adequately. The RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell’s average benchmark score of 31532 is actually lower than the P104-100’s 32982, but this is misleading because the Blackwell card’s PassMark results (e.g., 204 in DX10, 119 in DX12) drag down its average. In modern workloads, the Blackwell card is overwhelmingly superior.

Choose the RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell for any task requiring current API support (DirectX 12 Ultimate), high memory bandwidth (896.0 GB/s), or ray tracing (82 RT cores). Choose the P104-100 only if you need a card with no display outputs for a compute-only mining rig, and you are constrained by its 4 GB memory limit. The data does not support choosing the P104-100 for any graphics or general-purpose workload.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12?

A: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell scores 7025, while the P104-100 scores 1413. The delta is -79.9%, meaning the Blackwell card is 397% faster.

Q: Does the P104-100 have any benchmark win over the RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell?

A: No. In the head-to-head benchmarks provided (3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 and Geekbench Vulkan), the RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell wins both. The P104-100 has zero wins (winsA: 0), while the Blackwell card has two (winsB: 2).

Q: What is the memory size difference?

A: The RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory, while the P104-100 has 4 GB of GDDR5X. This is an 8x capacity difference, which directly impacts large dataset handling.

Q: How do their average benchmark scores compare?

A: The P104-100 has an average benchmark score of 32982, which is higher than the RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell’s 31532. However, this does not reflect modern performance, as the Blackwell card’s PassMark DX9-DX12 scores are low (397, 320, 204, 119), while its compute and Vulkan scores are high.

Q: Which card has a higher transistor density?

A: The RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell has a transistor density of 120.6M per mm², compared to the P104-100’s 22.9M per mm². This reflects the newer 5 nm process node versus the older 16 nm node.

Q: What is the production status of each card?

A: The P104-100 is end-of-life, released on December 11, 2017. The RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell is active, released on March 17, 2025.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on fundamentally different architectures. The P104-100 uses the Pascal architecture (chip GP104) on a 16 nm TSMC process, with 7,200 million transistors on a 314 mm² die. This yields a transistor density of 22.9M per mm². The RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell uses the Blackwell 2.0 architecture (chip GB203) on a 5 nm TSMC process, packing 45,600 million transistors onto a 378 mm² die. That is a density of 120.6M per mm², a 5.3x improvement.

The Blackwell card includes dedicated hardware absent from the Pascal card: 82 RT cores for ray tracing and 328 tensor cores. The P104-100 has neither. The shading unit count is also radically different: 10496 in the Blackwell card versus 1920 in the P104-100. Texture mapping units (TMUs) are 328 versus 120, and ROPs are 112 versus 64.

The P104-100’s FP16 performance is severely limited at 104.0 GFLOPS, implying a 1:64 ratio with FP32. The RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell achieves 50.53 TFLOPS in both FP32 and FP16, a 1:1 ratio. This makes the Blackwell card vastly more capable for mixed-precision compute.

Memory technology differs completely. The P104-100 uses 4 GB of GDDR5X on a 256-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 320.3 GB/s. The RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell uses 32 GB of GDDR7 on the same 256-bit bus, but achieves 896.0 GB/s bandwidth. The bus interface also differs: the P104-100 runs at PCIe 1.0 x4, while the Blackwell card runs at PCIe 5.0 x16.

Display outputs are another clear separator: the P104-100 has no outputs, designed purely for mining. The RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell has 4x DisplayPort 2.1b.

Specification Differences

• Process Node: P104-100 uses 16 nm; RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell uses 5 nm.
• Transistors: 7,200 million versus 45,600 million.
• Die Size: 314 mm² versus 378 mm².
• Transistor Density: 22.9M / mm² versus 120.6M / mm².
• Base Clock: 1607 MHz versus 1635 MHz.
• Boost Clock: 1733 MHz versus 2407 MHz.
• Memory Clock: 1251 MHz (10 Gbps effective) versus 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective).
• Memory Size: 4 GB versus 32 GB.
• Memory Type: GDDR5X versus GDDR7.
• Memory Bandwidth: 320.3 GB/s versus 896.0 GB/s.
• Shading Units: 1920 versus 10496.
• TMUs: 120 versus 328.
• ROPs: 64 versus 112.
• RT Cores: None versus 82.
• Tensor Cores: None versus 328.
• Pixel Rate: 110.9 GPixel/s versus 269.6 GPixel/s.
• Texture Rate: 208.0 GTexel/s versus 789.5 GTexel/s.
• FP32: 6.655 TFLOPS versus 50.53 TFLOPS.
• FP16: 104.0 GFLOPS (1:64) versus 50.53 TFLOPS (1:1).
• TDP: No TDP listed for P104-100; 200 W for RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell.
• Power Connectors: 1x 8-pin versus 1x 16-pin.
• Suggested PSU: 200 W versus 550 W.
• Bus Interface: PCIe 1.0 x4 versus PCIe 5.0 x16.
• Display Outputs: None versus 4x DisplayPort 2.1b.
• Dimensions: Both are 267 mm long, but the RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell also lists height (111 mm) and width (40 mm), which the P104-100 does not.
• DirectX Support: 12 (12_1) versus 12 Ultimate (12_2).
• Release Date: 2017-12-11 versus 2025-03-17.
• Production Status: End-of-life versus Active.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two shared benchmark tests show a massive gulf in performance. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell scores 7025 against the P104-100’s 1413. The delta is -79.9%, meaning the Blackwell card is nearly five times faster. This test stresses modern DX12 features, where the Pascal card’s older architecture and lack of ray tracing hardware are severe handicaps.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell scores 221768 versus 45165 for the P104-100. The delta is -79.6%, again a roughly 5x advantage. Vulkan benefits from the Blackwell card’s higher shader count (10496 vs 1920) and faster clocks (2407 MHz boost vs 1733 MHz). The P104-100’s FP16 limitation (104.0 GFLOPS) also hampers any compute that relies on half-precision, while the Blackwell card’s 1:1 FP16/FP32 ratio (50.53 TFLOPS) makes it a compute powerhouse.

The P104-100 has two additional benchmarks listed (Geekbench OpenCL at 52368 and 3DMark Steel Nomad at 1413), but the RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell does not have OpenCL data. The RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell has seven PassMark tests (DX9 397, DX10 204, DX11 320, DX12 119, G2D 1336, G3D 33360, GPU Compute 19255) that the P104-100 lacks. The Blackwell card’s G3D score of 33360 is particularly strong, while its GPU Compute score of 19255 indicates solid compute capability despite the low legacy DX scores.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell wins in every head-to-head benchmark and every modern workload category. Its 32 GB GDDR7 memory with 896.0 GB/s bandwidth makes it suitable for large AI models, 3D rendering, and multi-display professional work. The 82 RT cores enable hardware ray tracing, which is absent on the P104-100. The 328 tensor cores accelerate deep learning tasks. The FP32 throughput of 50.53 TFLOPS is 7.6x higher than the P104-100’s 6.655 TFLOPS, making it a superior compute card. The PCIe 5.0 x16 interface (versus PCIe 1.0 x4) ensures data transfer is not a bottleneck. DisplayPort 2.1b outputs allow modern monitor connectivity, which the P104-100 cannot provide.

The P104-100’s only wins are in specific legacy contexts. Its average benchmark score of 32982 is higher than the Blackwell card’s 31532, driven by its Geekbench OpenCL score of 52368 and Vulkan score of 45165 relative to the Blackwell card’s PassMark DX scores. This suggests the P104-100 may outperform the Blackwell card in older API workloads like OpenCL, but no direct OpenCL comparison is available for the Blackwell card. Its 4 GB memory and 256-bit bus are sufficient for older mining algorithms. Its lower power draw (suggested PSU 200 W versus 550 W) means it can run on cheaper power supplies, though no TDP is listed for the P104-100. In the data, the P104-100 has zero wins against the Blackwell card in shared tests, so any claim of a "win" for the P104-100 is based only on its higher average score, not on direct comparisons. For any current or future software leveraging DX12 Ultimate, Vulkan, or FP16 compute, the RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell is the only viable option.