NVIDIA PG506-232 vs NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation Comparison

NVIDIA’s PG506-232 and RTX 4000 Ada Generation serve entirely different corners of the professional GPU market, and their benchmark results reflect that divide. The PG506-232, built on the Ampere architecture with a GA100 chip, delivers a Geekbench OpenCL score of 225,124, placing it in the 99th percentile of all GPUs. The RTX 4000 Ada, using the Ada Lovelace architecture with an AD104 chip, scores 146,593 in OpenCL, landing in the 95th percentile. While the PG506-232 is the clear raw-compute winner, the RTX 4000 Ada brings features and efficiencies that the server-focused PG506-232 lacks entirely.

Where Each One Wins

The PG506-232 wins decisively in raw compute throughput. Its OpenCL score of 225,124 is 53.6% higher than the RTX 4000 Ada’s 146,593, a massive margin that underscores its purpose as a server-grade accelerator. This advantage comes from its HBM2 memory subsystem, which delivers 933.1 GB/s of bandwidth across a 3072-bit bus—more than 2.5 times the bandwidth of the RTX 4000 Ada’s GDDR6 memory. The PG506-232 also fields 224 tensor cores, compared to 192 on the RTX 4000 Ada, making it the stronger choice for workloads that scale with memory bandwidth and tensor throughput.

The RTX 4000 Ada wins in every category that matters to a workstation user. It is a single-slot card with 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, while the PG506-232 has no display outputs at all. The RTX 4000 Ada supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4; the PG506-232 lists no API support in the data. The RTX 4000 Ada also has 48 dedicated ray tracing cores, a feature entirely absent from the PG506-232’s spec sheet. Its 6144 shading units outnumber the PG506-232’s 3584, and its FP32 throughput of 26.73 TFLOPS is more than double the PG506-232’s 10.32 TFLOPS. The RTX 4000 Ada is also more efficient: its 130 W TDP is lower than the PG506-232’s 165 W, and its 5 nm process node is smaller than the 7 nm node used by the PG506-232.

The Verdict

Choose the PG506-232 if your priority is maximum compute density in a server context. Its OpenCL score sits 8.7% above the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB and 14.9% above the NVIDIA RTX 6000D, while trailing the NVIDIA L20 by 10.4%. It is also 2.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon PRO W7900D. The PG506-232’s 24 GB of HBM2 memory with 933.1 GB/s bandwidth makes it a data-center workhorse, but it is end-of-life, has no display outputs, and requires an 8-pin EPS power connector plus a 450 W suggested PSU. Its 267 mm length and dual-slot footprint are typical for a server card.

Choose the RTX 4000 Ada if you need a workstation GPU that can drive displays, handle modern graphics APIs, and do so in a compact, efficient package. Its OpenCL score of 146,593 is effectively tied with the NVIDIA A10M (135,230, 0% delta), the AMD Radeon PRO W6800 (135,396, -0.1%), the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo (135,774, -0.4%), and the AMD Radeon PRO V620 (136,472, -0.9%). The RTX 4000 Ada is active in production, fits in a single slot, and draws 130 W with a 300 W suggested PSU. It is the only one of the two with any display outputs, making it the obvious choice for any interactive or visualization workload.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only head-to-head benchmark available is Geekbench OpenCL, and it is a landslide. The PG506-232 scores 225,124 against the RTX 4000 Ada’s 146,593, a 53.6% delta. This is the single largest performance gap between any two GPUs in their respective rival lists. The PG506-232’s score is so high that it beats the RTX 4000 Ada by 78,531 points—more than the entire average score of the RTX 4000 Ada’s closest rival, the NVIDIA A10M, which sits at 135,230.

The RTX 4000 Ada does have a second benchmark result—a Geekbench Vulkan score of 123,842—but the PG506-232 has no Vulkan result in the data. That means the RTX 4000 Ada’s only head-to-head win is in API coverage, not raw performance. The PG506-232’s 53.6% OpenCL advantage is the kind of margin that defines a product category. It is a server accelerator built for throughput, and the numbers confirm it. The RTX 4000 Ada’s OpenCL score is 34.9% lower than the PG506-232’s, but its FP32 compute of 26.73 TFLOPS is 159% higher—a reminder that OpenCL is not the only measure of GPU capability, and that the RTX 4000 Ada’s architecture is optimized for a different kind of work.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher Geekbench OpenCL score?

A: The NVIDIA PG506-232 scores 225,124, which is 53.6% higher than the RTX 4000 Ada’s 146,593.

Q: Does the RTX 4000 Ada support ray tracing?

A: Yes, it includes 48 dedicated ray tracing cores. The PG506-232 lists no ray tracing cores in its specifications.

Q: Which GPU has more memory bandwidth?

A: The PG506-232 has 933.1 GB/s of bandwidth from its HBM2 memory, while the RTX 4000 Ada has 360.0 GB/s from GDDR6.

Q: Can either GPU drive displays?

A: Only the RTX 4000 Ada has display outputs—4x DisplayPort 1.4a. The PG506-232 has no display outputs.

Q: What is the difference in transistor density?

A: The RTX 4000 Ada has a transistor density of 121.8M per mm², nearly double the PG506-232’s 65.6M per mm².

Q: Which GPU is smaller in physical size?

A: The RTX 4000 Ada is 245 mm long and single-slot, while the PG506-232 is 267 mm long and dual-slot.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on different architectures and process nodes. The PG506-232 uses the Ampere architecture with a GA100 chip manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It packs 54,200 million transistors onto an 826 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 65.6M per mm². The RTX 4000 Ada uses the Ada Lovelace architecture with an AD104 chip on a 5 nm process, also from TSMC. It contains 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die, giving it a much higher density of 121.8M per mm². The RTX 4000 Ada’s smaller, denser die is a direct result of the newer manufacturing process.

Memory architecture is another major differentiator. The PG506-232 uses 24 GB of HBM2 on a 3072-bit bus, providing 933.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 4000 Ada uses 20 GB of GDDR6 on a 160-bit bus, with 360.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The PG506-232’s HBM2 is a server-class memory solution, while the RTX 4000 Ada’s GDDR6 is more common in workstation and consumer cards. The PG506-232’s memory clock is 1215 MHz (2.4 Gbps effective), while the RTX 4000 Ada’s is 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective)—the RTX 4000 Ada’s faster clock cannot compensate for its narrower bus.

Compute resources differ significantly. The RTX 4000 Ada has 6144 shading units, 192 TMUs, 64 ROPs, 192 tensor cores, and 48 ray tracing cores. The PG506-232 has 3584 shading units, 224 TMUs, 96 ROPs, and 224 tensor cores, with no ray tracing cores. The PG506-232’s higher ROP count (96 vs 64) gives it a pixel rate of 138.2 GPixel/s, nearly matching the RTX 4000 Ada’s 139.2 GPixel/s. The RTX 4000 Ada’s texture rate is 417.6 GTexel/s, well ahead of the PG506-232’s 322.6 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 26.73 TFLOPS on the RTX 4000 Ada versus 10.32 TFLOPS on the PG506-232; both achieve a 1:1 FP16 ratio.

The cards also differ in power and physical design. The PG506-232 has a 165 W TDP, requires an 8-pin EPS connector, and suggests a 450 W PSU. It is dual-slot, 267 mm long, and 112 mm high. The RTX 4000 Ada has a 130 W TDP, uses a single 16-pin connector, suggests a 300 W PSU, and is single-slot, 245 mm long, and 112 mm high. The PG506-232 is end-of-life and was released in April 2021, with its predecessor listed as Tesla Turing and successor as Server Ada. The RTX 4000 Ada is active, released in August 2023, and belongs to the GeForce 40-series; its predecessor is Workstation Ampere and its successor is Blackwell PRO W. The RTX 4000 Ada supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, while the PG506-232 lists no API support. Both use a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface.