NVIDIA Quadro GP100 vs NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation Comparison

FAQ

Q: How does the NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation compare to the NVIDIA Quadro GP100 in raw compute performance?

A: The RTX 4500 Ada Generation scores 160,786 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the Quadro GP100 scores 87,445. That is an 83.9% advantage for the newer card, and the RTX 4500 also has a Vulkan score of 171,401, which the Quadro GP100 lacks entirely.

Q: Which GPU has the higher memory bandwidth?

A: The Quadro GP100 has significantly higher memory bandwidth at 732.2 GB/s, thanks to its 4096-bit HBM2 interface. The RTX 4500 Ada Generation offers 432.0 GB/s over a 192-bit GDDR6 bus.

Q: Are both cards still in production?

A: No. The RTX 4500 Ada Generation is listed as Active in the database, while the Quadro GP100 is marked End-of-life. The RTX 4500 was released on 2023-08-08, and the Quadro GP100 on 2016-09-30.

Q: What is the difference in FP32 compute throughput?

A: The RTX 4500 Ada Generation delivers 39.63 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The Quadro GP100 delivers 10.34 TFLOPS. The Ada card is nearly 4 times faster in this metric.

Q: Do both cards support hardware ray tracing and tensor cores?

A: No. The RTX 4500 Ada Generation includes 60 RT cores and 240 tensor cores. The Quadro GP100 has no RT cores and no tensor cores listed, reflecting its older Pascal architecture.

Q: How do the two cards rank among all GPUs in the database?

A: The RTX 4500 Ada Generation sits at the 97th percentile, with an average benchmark score of 166,094. The Quadro GP100 is at the 93rd percentile, with an average benchmark score of 87,445.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 4500 Ada Generation wins in every direct benchmark comparison recorded in the database. It holds a decisive 83.9% lead over the Quadro GP100 in Geekbench OpenCL. The RTX 4500 also posts a Geekbench Vulkan score of 171,401, a test the Quadro GP100 was never subjected to, indicating the newer architecture handles modern graphics APIs more efficiently.

The Quadro GP100 does have one clear advantage: memory bandwidth. Its HBM2 stack provides 732.2 GB/s versus 432.0 GB/s for the Ada card. For workloads that are purely bandwidth-bound, such as large dataset streaming or certain scientific simulations, the older card retains a measurable edge. However, this advantage does not translate into a benchmark win in the recorded data.

The architecture split is stark. Ada Lovelace brings hardware ray tracing, tensor cores, and a 1:1 FP16 to FP32 ratio. Pascal offers no RT or tensor hardware, and its FP16 throughput is halved at 20.69 TFLOPS versus 10.34 TFLOPS FP32. For AI inference, ray-traced rendering, or any modern compute workload, the RTX 4500 is the clear choice. The Quadro GP100 remains relevant only for legacy bandwidth-heavy tasks.

Architecture Differences

The RTX 4500 Ada Generation is built on the AD103 chip using TSMC's 5 nm process. It packs 45,900 million transistors into a 379 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 121.1 million per mm². The architecture is Ada Lovelace, the successor to the workstation Ampere line, and it supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6.

The Quadro GP100 uses the GP100 chip on TSMC's 16 nm process. It contains 15,300 million transistors across a much larger 610 mm² die, giving a transistor density of just 25.1 million per mm². The architecture is Pascal, a generation older than Volta, and it supports DirectX 12 (12_1), Vulkan 1.3, and OpenGL 4.6.

The Ada chip includes 60 RT cores and 240 tensor cores. The Pascal chip has neither. The RTX 4500 also has 7,680 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 80 ROPs. The Quadro GP100 has 3,584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The Ada card has more than double the shader count but fewer ROPs, which explains its lower pixel rate relative to its raw compute.

Clock speeds reflect the process advantage. The RTX 4500 runs at a base of 2070 MHz and boosts to 2580 MHz. The Quadro GP100 is far slower at 1304 MHz base and 1443 MHz boost. Memory clocks differ too: the Ada card uses 2250 MHz GDDR6 with 18 Gbps effective, while the Quadro GP100 uses 715 MHz HBM2 with 1430 Mbps effective. The HBM2 interface is much wider (4096-bit vs 192-bit), which is why it achieves higher bandwidth despite lower clock speeds.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every core specification. Memory size: 24 GB GDDR6 on the RTX 4500 versus 16 GB HBM2 on the Quadro GP100. Bus width: 192-bit versus 4096-bit. Bandwidth: 432.0 GB/s versus 732.2 GB/s.

Compute rates: FP32 is 39.63 TFLOPS on Ada versus 10.34 TFLOPS on Pascal. FP16 is 39.63 TFLOPS (1:1) on Ada versus 20.69 TFLOPS (2:1) on Pascal. Pixel rate: 206.4 GPixel/s versus 138.5 GPixel/s. Texture rate: 619.2 GTexel/s versus 323.2 GTexel/s.

Power and physical specs: TDP is 210 W for the RTX 4500 and 235 W for the Quadro GP100. Both are dual-slot cards. The RTX 4500 requires no external power connectors, while the Quadro GP100 needs one 8-pin connector. Both list a suggested PSU of 550 W.

Interface and outputs: The RTX 4500 uses PCIe 4.0 x16 and has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. The Quadro GP100 uses PCIe 3.0 x16 and has 1x DVI plus 4x DisplayPort 1.4a. Dimensions: the RTX 4500 is 245 mm long and 112 mm high; the Quadro GP100 is 267 mm long and 111 mm high.

Release and lifecycle: the RTX 4500 launched 2023-08-08 and is Active, with a predecessor of Workstation Ampere and a successor of Blackwell PRO W. The Quadro GP100 launched 2016-09-30 and is End-of-life, with a predecessor of Quadro Maxwell and a successor of Quadro Volta.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct benchmark comparison in the database is Geekbench OpenCL. The RTX 4500 Ada Generation scores 160,786, and the Quadro GP100 scores 87,445. The delta is 83.9% in favor of the Ada card. This is not a marginal gap; it represents a generational leap in compute throughput.

To contextualize the RTX 4500's score, it sits 0.5% above the NVIDIA RTX A5500 and 0.7% above the AMD Radeon PRO W7800. It trails the AMD Radeon Pro W6900X by 1.5% and leads the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40 GB by 2.2%. This places the RTX 4500 in a tight cluster with other high-end workstation cards, all within roughly 2% of each other.

The Quadro GP100's score of 87,445 puts it 0.4% above the AMD Radeon PRO W7600 and 2.1% above the NVIDIA CMP 40HX. It trails the NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile by 4% and the NVIDIA RTX A4500 by 4.6%. The GP100 is competitive with mid-range mobile and desktop workstation parts, but it is nowhere near the performance class of the RTX 4500.

The RTX 4500 also has a Geekbench Vulkan score of 171,401, which is higher than its OpenCL score. The Quadro GP100 has no Vulkan benchmark recorded, suggesting either lack of driver support or lack of testing. Vulkan performance matters for modern game engines and compute workloads that use explicit graphics APIs.

In terms of average benchmark score, the RTX 4500 achieves 166,094, while the Quadro GP100 achieves 87,445. The Ada card is roughly 90% faster on average. Even accounting for the GP100's superior memory bandwidth, the compute gap is too large to overcome in any recorded test. The RTX 4500 wins the only head-to-head benchmark decisively, and it offers additional modern features like ray tracing and tensor cores that the Pascal card simply cannot match.