NVIDIA Quadro GP100 vs NVIDIA RTX A5500 Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The recorded benchmark data leaves no ambiguity: the NVIDIA RTX A5500 wins the only head-to-head comparison available in the database. The Geekbench OpenCL result shows the A5500 at 174,637 points versus the Quadro GP100 at 87,445 points, a 99.7% advantage. That is effectively double the compute throughput in the one measured workload, and it aligns with the broader pattern across each card's nearest rivals.

The RTX A5500 sits at the 97th percentile of all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 165,217. Its closest competitor, the NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation, trails by just 0.5%, while the AMD Radeon PRO W7800 is nearly tied at 0.2% behind. The A5500 also edges out the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40 GB by 1.7%. These are tight margins, which suggests the A5500 is competitive with the current workstation generation rather than merely dominant over older parts.

The Quadro GP100, by contrast, lands at the 93rd percentile with an average score of 87,445. Its nearest rivals are a mixed group: the AMD Radeon PRO W7600 is 0.4% behind, the NVIDIA CMP 40HX is 2.1% behind, while the NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile and RTX A4500 sit 4% and 4.6% ahead respectively. The GP100 is therefore not the slowest card in its neighborhood, but it is clearly outclassed by the A5500 in raw compute.

The use-case split is straightforward. The A5500 is the card for modern compute-heavy workloads, especially those that leverage OpenCL, because it delivers roughly double the score of the GP100. The GP100, however, retains a niche: it has a substantially wider memory bus (4096 bit versus 384 bit) and HBM2 memory, which can matter in bandwidth-sensitive tasks even if the overall compute score is lower. The database does not include a separate memory-bandwidth benchmark, so this remains a qualitative observation rather than a measured advantage.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different NVIDIA architectures separated by two generations. The RTX A5500 uses the GA102 chip built on Ampere architecture, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. It packs 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 45.1 million per mm². The Quadro GP100 uses the GP100 chip on Pascal architecture, built on a 16 nm process at TSMC. It contains 15,300 million transistors on a 610 mm² die, for a density of 25.1 million per mm². The A5500 therefore has nearly twice the transistor count on a slightly larger die, with a much higher density.

The compute configurations diverge sharply. The A5500 has 10,240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs. It also includes 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, making it a fully featured Ampere workstation card with hardware ray tracing and tensor acceleration. The GP100 has 3,584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, but it has no RT cores and no tensor cores. The GP100's 16 nm Pascal design predates those hardware blocks.

Memory architecture is another major split. The A5500 uses 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 384 bit bus, delivering 768.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GP100 uses 16 GB of HBM2 on a 4096 bit bus, delivering 732.2 GB/s. The GP100's bus is over ten times wider, but the effective bandwidth is slightly lower. The A5500 compensates with a much higher memory clock: 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective transfer, versus 715 MHz with 1430 Mbps effective for the GP100.

The A5500 supports PCIe 4.0 x16, while the GP100 is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs also differ: the A5500 has four DisplayPort 1.4a connectors, while the GP100 has one DVI and four DisplayPort 1.4a. The GP100's DVI port is a legacy inclusion that the A5500 drops.

API support reflects the architectural gap. The A5500 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The GP100 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The A5500 has a newer DirectX feature level and a slightly newer Vulkan version.

Clock speeds tell a different story. The GP100 has a higher base clock at 1304 MHz versus the A5500's 1080 MHz, but the A5500 boosts higher at 1665 MHz versus 1443 MHz. The A5500's FP32 throughput is 34.10 TFLOPS versus 10.34 TFLOPS for the GP100, a 3.3x gap. In FP16, the A5500 also delivers 34.10 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio, while the GP100 reaches 20.69 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio. The GP100's FP16 advantage is relative to its own FP32, not against the A5500.

Power draw is close: 230 W for the A5500 versus 235 W for the GP100, both dual-slot cards with a single 8-pin connector and a suggested 550 W PSU. Physical dimensions are nearly identical, with the A5500 at 267 mm by 112 mm and the GP100 at 267 mm by 111 mm.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains exactly one head-to-head benchmark between these two cards: Geekbench OpenCL. The RTX A5500 scores 174,637, and the Quadro GP100 scores 87,445. The delta is 99.7%, meaning the A5500 nearly doubles the GP100's result. This is not a marginal win; it is a decisive generational leap.

Looking at the A5500's nearest rivals puts that score in context. The RTX 4500 Ada Generation scores 166,094, which is 0.5% below the A5500. The AMD Radeon PRO W7800 scores 164,894, 0.2% below. The A100 PCIe 40 GB scores 162,504, 1.7% below. The A5500 is therefore at the top of a tight cluster of modern workstation cards, all within 2% of each other. The GP100's 87,445 sits far below that cluster, and even its nearest rivals are not close to the A5500. The RTX A4500, which is 4.6% ahead of the GP100, still scores only 91,671, which is less than 53% of the A5500's result.

The GP100's best comparative showing in the database is against the AMD Radeon PRO W7600, where it leads by 0.4%. That is a modest margin against a lower-tier modern card. Against the CMP 40HX, the GP100 leads by 2.1%. But against the RTX A4500 Mobile and RTX A4500, the GP100 is behind by 4% and 4.6% respectively. These numbers indicate that the GP100 is competitive with mid-range modern cards but cannot touch the A5500.

The single benchmark limits the analysis, but the magnitude of the delta is consistent with the architectural differences. The A5500's 10,240 shading units, 34.10 TFLOPS FP32, and 768.0 GB/s bandwidth all point to a card designed for sustained compute throughput. The GP100's 3,584 shading units and 10.34 TFLOPS FP32 are from an older era, and the 99.7% OpenCL gap reflects that.

The Verdict

Pick the NVIDIA RTX A5500 if you need raw compute performance. The database shows it at nearly double the OpenCL score of the Quadro GP100, and it sits at the 97th percentile of all GPUs. It also has the modern feature set: RT cores, tensor cores, DirectX 12 Ultimate, PCIe 4.0, and 24 GB of GDDR6 memory. It is within 0.5% of the RTX 4500 Ada Generation and 1.7% ahead of the A100 PCIe 40 GB, which places it among the fastest workstation cards in the database.

Pick the Quadro GP100 only if your workload specifically needs HBM2 memory characteristics or the legacy DVI output. The GP100's 4096 bit bus and HBM2 stack are unusual, and the card still delivers 732.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is close to the A5500's 768.0 GB/s. But the compute deficit is enormous: 10.34 TFLOPS FP32 versus 34.10 TFLOPS, and an OpenCL score that is roughly half. The GP100 also lacks RT and tensor cores, so any workload that relies on those features is out of scope.

For any general workstation use, the A5500 is the clear choice. The GP100 is an end-of-life Pascal product from 2016, and the data shows it has been overtaken by a large margin. The A5500 is also end-of-life, but it is a far more capable card that remains competitive with the current Ada generation.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A5500 has an average benchmark score of 165,217, while the NVIDIA Quadro GP100 has an average score of 87,445.

Q: How much faster is the RTX A5500 in OpenCL?

A: The RTX A5500 scores 174,637 versus the Quadro GP100's 87,445, a 99.7% difference.

Q: Does the Quadro GP100 have ray tracing cores?

A: No, the GP100 has no RT cores and no tensor cores. The RTX A5500 has 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores.

Q: What memory types do the two cards use?

A: The RTX A5500 uses 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 384 bit bus, while the Quadro GP100 uses 16 GB of HBM2 on a 4096 bit bus.

Q: Which card has a wider memory bus?

A: The Quadro GP100 has a 4096 bit bus, versus the RTX A5500's 384 bit bus. However, the A5500 has slightly higher bandwidth at 768.0 GB/s versus 732.2 GB/s.

Q: Are both cards end-of-life products?

A: Yes, both are marked as end-of-life in the database. The RTX A5500 was released in March 2022, and the Quadro GP100 was released in September 2016.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA RTX A5500 | NVIDIA Quadro GP100 |

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

| Architecture | Ampere | Pascal |

| Process node | 8 nm | 16 nm |

| Foundry | Samsung | TSMC |

| Transistors | 28,300 million | 15,300 million |

| Die size | 628 mm² | 610 mm² |

| Transistor density | 45.1M / mm² | 25.1M / mm² |

| Base clock | 1080 MHz | 1304 MHz |

| Boost clock | 1665 MHz | 1443 MHz |

| Memory clock | 2000 MHz, 16 Gbps effective | 715 MHz, 1430 Mbps effective |

| Memory size | 24 GB | 16 GB |

| Memory type | GDDR6 | HBM2 |

| Memory bus width | 384 bit | 4096 bit |

| Memory bandwidth | 768.0 GB/s | 732.2 GB/s |

| Shading units | 10,240 | 3,584 |

| TMUs | 320 | 224 |

| ROPs | 96 | 96 |

| RT cores | 80 | None |

| Tensor cores | 320 | None |

| Pixel rate | 159.8 GPixel/s | 138.5 GPixel/s |

| Texture rate | 532.8 GTexel/s | 323.2 GTexel/s |

| FP32 performance | 34.10 TFLOPS | 10.34 TFLOPS |

| FP16 performance | 34.10 TFLOPS (1:1) | 20.69 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 230 W | 235 W |

| Bus interface | PCIe 4.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| Display outputs | 4x DisplayPort 1.4a | 1x DVI, 4x DisplayPort 1.4a |

| DirectX support | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | 12 (12_1) |

| Vulkan support | 1.4 | 1.3 |

| Release date | March 2022 | September 2016 |