NVIDIA Quadro GV100 vs NVIDIA RTX A5000 Comparison

The NVIDIA Quadro GV100 and NVIDIA RTX A5000 represent two distinct eras of professional workstation graphics, with the former built on the Volta architecture and the latter on Ampere. The benchmark data reveals a clear split in their capabilities, with the RTX A5000 dominating the majority of head-to-head tests while the Quadro GV100 holds a specific advantage in one key API workload. This analysis breaks down where each card excels, what the numbers indicate for different professional workloads, and how their architectural differences explain the performance gaps.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX A5000 is the decisive winner in the overall benchmark suite, taking 8 of the 9 head-to-head comparisons. Its most substantial victories come in compute and legacy DirectX workloads. The largest margin is in the Passmark GPU Compute test, where the RTX A5000 scores 12,455 against the Quadro GV100’s 9,069, a delta of -27.2% in favor of the newer card. This is a significant gap that points to the Ampere architecture’s superior raw compute throughput for general-purpose GPU tasks.

The RTX A5000 also shows strong performance in DirectX 9 and DirectX 11 legacy titles. In the Passmark DirectX 9 test, it scores 251 versus 207, a 17.5% advantage. For DirectX 11, the margin is 10.2%, with scores of 187 and 168 respectively. These wins suggest that the RTX A5000’s newer driver stack and architecture handle older API workloads more efficiently, which matters for compatibility testing and legacy application support.

The Quadro GV100’s sole victory is in the Geekbench Vulkan test, where it scores 139,526 against the RTX A5000’s 137,828, a 1.2% lead. While this is a narrow margin, it is the only test where the older card comes out ahead. This indicates that the GV100’s Volta architecture retains a slight edge in Vulkan compute workloads, possibly due to its higher memory bandwidth and HBM2 implementation, which can favor certain low-level API operations.

In the remaining tests, the RTX A5000’s wins are consistent but vary in magnitude. In Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 157,905 versus 150,004, a 5% advantage. The Passmark G3D test shows a 12.8% lead for the RTX A5000, with scores of 22,541 and 19,650. The 2D graphics test (G2D) shows a 19% difference, with the RTX A5000 at 1,032 and the GV100 at 836. DirectX 10 and DirectX 12 tests show smaller margins of 8.5% and 3.4% respectively, both favoring the RTX A5000.

The Verdict

The data clearly indicates that the NVIDIA RTX A5000 is the superior choice for the vast majority of professional workloads. Its wins in 8 out of 9 benchmarks, particularly the 27.2% lead in GPU compute, make it the stronger all-around performer. The Passmark G3D score of 22,541 places it well ahead of the GV100’s 19,650, reinforcing its dominance in 3D rendering tasks. For professionals working with modern DirectX 12 Ultimate applications, the RTX A5000’s support for this API standard, which the GV100 lacks, provides a forward-looking advantage.

However, the Quadro GV100 is not without its merits. Its 1.2% victory in Geekbench Vulkan shows that it remains competitive in that specific API, which could be relevant for Vulkan-based rendering engines or compute frameworks. Additionally, the GV100 offers 32 GB of HBM2 memory versus the RTX A5000’s 24 GB of GDDR6, which is a substantial difference for workloads that require massive memory pools, such as large-scale data science or scientific simulations. The GV100’s memory bandwidth of 868.4 GB/s also exceeds the RTX A5000’s 768.0 GB/s, which can be critical for memory-bound tasks.

The choice between these two cards ultimately depends on the specific workload. If the priority is maximum performance across a broad range of benchmarks, including compute and DirectX, the RTX A5000 is the clear winner. If the workload is heavily reliant on Vulkan performance or requires more than 24 GB of memory, the Quadro GV100 may be the more appropriate selection despite its lower overall benchmark scores.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most striking result in the head-to-head comparison is the Passmark GPU Compute test. The RTX A5000’s score of 12,455 is 27.2% higher than the GV100’s 9,069, making it the largest single delta in the entire suite. This suggests that the Ampere architecture’s design, with its 8,192 shading units and 256 tensor cores, provides a significant advantage for non-graphics compute tasks. The GV100’s 5,120 shading units and 640 tensor cores, despite the higher count of the latter, cannot match this level of performance.

The Passmark G2D test also shows a notable disparity. The RTX A5000 scores 1,032 versus the GV100’s 836, a 19% difference. This is interesting because 2D performance is often considered less demanding, but the data indicates the RTX A5000 has a clear edge in this area, likely due to its higher base and boost clocks of 1,170 MHz and 1,695 MHz respectively, compared to the GV100’s 1,132 MHz and 1,627 MHz.

In the DirectX legacy tests, the RTX A5000’s lead is most pronounced in DirectX 9, with a 17.5% advantage (251 vs 207). This is followed by DirectX 11 at 10.2% (187 vs 168), DirectX 10 at 8.5% (153 vs 140), and DirectX 12 at 3.4% (87 vs 84). The narrowing gap in newer DirectX versions is notable, suggesting that the GV100’s architecture is relatively more competitive with modern APIs, even though it lacks DirectX 12 Ultimate support.

The Geekbench OpenCL test shows a 5% lead for the RTX A5000, with scores of 157,905 and 150,004. This is a moderate margin that aligns with the compute advantages seen in the Passmark GPU Compute test. The Geekbench Vulkan test is the only one where the GV100 wins, scoring 139,526 against 137,828, a 1.2% margin. This narrow win suggests that the GV100’s HBM2 memory and 4096-bit bus width provide a benefit in Vulkan’s memory access patterns.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro GV100 has a higher average benchmark score of 35,520 compared to the NVIDIA RTX A5000’s 33,622. This is despite the RTX A5000 winning 8 of the 9 head-to-head tests, indicating the GV100’s scores are more consistent across its benchmark set.

Q: What is the performance difference in the Passmark G3D test?

A: The RTX A5000 scores 22,541 in the Passmark G3D test, which is 12.8% higher than the Quadro GV100’s score of 19,650. This represents a significant advantage for the RTX A5000 in 3D graphics performance.

Q: Does the Quadro GV100 have an advantage in any benchmark?

A: Yes, the Quadro GV100 wins the Geekbench Vulkan test with a score of 139,526, which is 1.2% higher than the RTX A5000’s 137,828. This is the only benchmark where the GV100 comes out ahead.

Q: How do the cards compare in terms of memory bandwidth?

A: The Quadro GV100 has a memory bandwidth of 868.4 GB/s, which is higher than the RTX A5000’s 768.0 GB/s. The GV100 also has a larger memory capacity of 32 GB compared to the RTX A5000’s 24 GB.

Q: What is the difference in FP32 performance?

A: The RTX A5000 has an FP32 performance of 27.77 TFLOPS, which is significantly higher than the Quadro GV100’s 16.66 TFLOPS. This explains the RTX A5000’s advantage in compute-heavy workloads.

Q: Which card is in a higher percentile among all GPUs?

A: The Quadro GV100 is in the 80th percentile among all GPUs, while the RTX A5000 is in the 78th percentile. This indicates that the GV100 sits slightly higher in the overall performance distribution despite its lower head-to-head win count.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two cards is substantial and explains the performance patterns observed. The Quadro GV100 is built on the Volta architecture and manufactured on a 12 nm process at TSMC, with a die size of 815 mm² and 21,100 million transistors. The RTX A5000 uses the Ampere architecture on an 8 nm process at Samsung, with a smaller die size of 628 mm² but a higher transistor count of 28,300 million. This results in a transistor density of 45.1M per mm² for the RTX A5000, nearly double the GV100’s 25.9M per mm², indicating a much more efficient use of silicon.

The memory subsystems are fundamentally different. The GV100 utilizes 32 GB of HBM2 memory with a 4096-bit bus width, providing a bandwidth of 868.4 GB/s. The RTX A5000 uses 24 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 384-bit bus width, yielding 768.0 GB/s of bandwidth. While the GV100 has a clear advantage in both capacity and bandwidth, the RTX A5000 compensates with a faster memory clock of 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) versus the GV100’s 848 MHz (1696 Mbps effective).

The compute resources differ significantly. The RTX A5000 has 8,192 shading units and 256 TMUs, while the GV100 has 5,120 shading units and 320 TMUs. The RTX A5000 also has 96 ROPs versus the GV100’s 128 ROPs. The FP32 performance favors the RTX A5000 at 27.77 TFLOPS, while the GV100’s FP16 performance of 33.32 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio) is higher than the RTX A5000’s 27.77 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio). The RTX A5000 includes 64 RT cores for hardware ray tracing, a feature entirely absent from the GV100, and has 256 tensor cores versus the GV100’s 640.

The bus interface also differs, with the RTX A5000 supporting PCIe 4.0 x16 versus the GV100’s PCIe 3.0 x16. This allows for faster data transfer between the GPU and the host system. The RTX A5000 also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the GV100 is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1). Both cards share the same display outputs of 4x DisplayPort 1.4a, have identical dual-slot cooling, and use a single 8-pin power connector. The GV100 has a higher TDP of 250 W compared to the RTX A5000’s 230 W, and requires a 600 W PSU versus 550 W. The RTX A5000’s newer release date of April 2021, compared to the GV100’s March 2018, reflects its more modern architecture and features.