NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB vs NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation Comparison

The benchmark data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation is in a completely different performance class than the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB. In the single comparable head-to-head test, the RTX 5880 delivers a 715.2% higher score, making the generational leap from Maxwell 2.0 to Ada Lovelace nothing short of transformative. For any modern workstation workload, the Quadro M6000 is not a competitor; it is a legacy artifact.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only shared benchmark between these two cards is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is a landslide. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation scores 326,898, while the Quadro M6000 24 GB manages just 40,098. That represents a 715.2% advantage for the newer card — a performance gap that dwarfs any normal generational improvement. This is not a close race; it is a demonstration of how far GPU compute has advanced in eight years.

The RTX 5880's average benchmark score of 45,972 further underscores its superiority. This places it in the 85th percentile of all GPUs, a strong showing for a workstation part. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA RTX A2000 (average score 46,043, a -0.2% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 5600M (average score 46,601, a -1.4% delta), meaning it sits in a competitive mid-range pack. However, its raw Geekbench OpenCL performance is so far ahead of the Quadro that the average score comparison feels almost secondary.

The Quadro M6000 24 GB, by contrast, has an average benchmark score of 43,262, placing it in the 83rd percentile. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile (average score 43,268, a 0.0% delta) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER (average score 43,223, a 0.1% delta). Notably, the Quadro M6000's own average score is nearly identical to that of its non-24GB sibling, the Quadro M6000 (43,301, a -0.1% delta). The data shows the M6000 is not merely slower; it is fundamentally outclassed in compute throughput.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two cards is cavernous. The RTX 5880 uses the AD102 chip built on TSMC's 5 nm process, housing 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die. This yields a transistor density of 125.3M per mm². The Quadro M6000 uses the GM200 chip on a 28 nm process, with just 8,000 million transistors on a slightly smaller 601 mm² die, resulting in a density of only 13.3M per mm². The RTX 5880 packs nearly ten times more transistors into a similar physical footprint.

The RTX 5880 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, featuring 14,080 shading units, 440 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. It also includes 110 RT cores and 440 tensor cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI compute — features entirely absent from the Maxwell 2.0-based Quadro M6000, which has no RT or tensor cores. The Quadro's 3,072 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs are a fraction of the newer card's resources.

Clock speeds tell a similar story. The RTX 5880 boosts to 2460 MHz, while the Quadro M6000 boosts to just 1114 MHz. This is a 2.2x raw clock advantage before accounting for the massive difference in core count. The memory subsystem is equally divergent: the RTX 5880 uses 48 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, delivering 864.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Quadro M6000 uses 24 GB of GDDR5 on the same 384-bit bus, but only achieves 317.4 GB/s. The newer card has double the capacity and nearly triple the bandwidth.

FAQ

Q: Which card has higher raw compute throughput?

A: The RTX 5880 Ada Generation. Its FP32 performance is 69.27 TFLOPS, compared to 6.844 TFLOPS for the Quadro M6000 24 GB — a roughly tenfold difference.

Q: Do both cards support modern graphics APIs?

A: No. The RTX 5880 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Quadro M6000 is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference?

A: The RTX 5880 has 48 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the Quadro M6000 has 24 GB of GDDR5. The RTX 5880 also has significantly higher memory bandwidth: 864.0 GB/s versus 317.4 GB/s.

Q: Are ray tracing cores available on both?

A: No. The RTX 5880 has 110 RT cores. The Quadro M6000 has no RT cores at all, as it predates hardware ray tracing acceleration.

Q: What is the production status of each card?

A: The RTX 5880 Ada Generation is listed as "Active" production, released on 2024-01-04. The Quadro M6000 is "End-of-life," released on 2016-03-04.

Q: Which card has a higher transistor density?

A: The RTX 5880 has a density of 125.3M transistors per mm², versus 13.3M per mm² for the Quadro M6000, reflecting the newer 5 nm process node versus 28 nm.

Specification Differences

| Specification | RTX 5880 Ada Generation | Quadro M6000 24 GB |

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

| Process Node | 5 nm | 28 nm |

| Transistors | 76,300 million | 8,000 million |

| Die Size | 609 mm² | 601 mm² |

| Base Clock | 975 MHz | 988 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 2460 MHz | 1114 MHz |

| Memory Size | 48 GB GDDR6 | 24 GB GDDR5 |

| Memory Bandwidth | 864.0 GB/s | 317.4 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 14,080 | 3,072 |

| TMUs | 440 | 192 |

| ROPs | 176 | 96 |

| RT Cores | 110 | None |

| Tensor Cores | 440 | None |

| Pixel Rate | 433.0 GPixel/s | 106.9 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 1,082.4 GTexel/s | 213.9 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Compute | 69.27 TFLOPS | 6.844 TFLOPS |

| TDP | 285 W | 250 W |

| Power Connectors | 1x 16-pin | 1x 8-pin |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 4.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | 4x DisplayPort 1.4a | 1x DVI, 4x DisplayPort 1.2 |

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

| Release Date | 2024-01-04 | 2016-03-04 |

| Production Status | Active | End-of-life |

The Verdict

The data is conclusive: the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation is the only rational choice for any current or future workload. Its 715.2% lead in Geekbench OpenCL over the Quadro M6000 is not incremental — it is a generational chasm. The RTX 5880 offers 69.27 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, 48 GB of GDDR6 memory with 864.0 GB/s bandwidth, and hardware RT and tensor cores. The Quadro M6000, with 6.844 TFLOPS and 24 GB of slower GDDR5, cannot handle modern compute demands.

The Quadro M6000's only advantage is its lower TDP of 250 W versus 285 W, and its launch MSRP was 4,999 USD — but that price point is historical, as the card is end-of-life. The RTX 5880 is also physically shorter in height (112 mm vs 111 mm, a negligible difference), but both are dual-slot cards with a length of 267 mm. The Quadro's PCIe 3.0 interface is a bottleneck compared to the RTX 5880's PCIe 4.0. For any professional user, the RTX 5880 is the definitive pick.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 5880 Ada Generation wins in every measurable compute category. It dominates the only shared benchmark, Geekbench OpenCL, by a factor of over eight. Its 48 GB memory capacity is double that of the Quadro, making it suitable for larger datasets and higher-resolution textures. The 864.0 GB/s bandwidth ensures that memory-intensive tasks like AI training or 3D rendering do not stall. The presence of 110 RT cores and 440 tensor cores opens up hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI inference, features the Quadro cannot offer. Its 5 nm process node and 125.3M transistors per mm² density indicate superior power efficiency per unit of work.

The Quadro M6000 24 GB has no meaningful win in the benchmark data. Its only advantage is a lower TDP, but the 35 W difference is negligible in a workstation context. Its 24 GB of GDDR5 memory is half the capacity and less than half the bandwidth. Its lack of RT and tensor cores means it is confined to legacy DirectX 12 (12_1) workloads. For users with legacy software that predates 2016, the Quadro might still function, but the data shows it is far outside the performance envelope of even mid-range modern GPUs. In short, the RTX 5880 is the clear winner for any professional application, while the Quadro M6000 should be considered only for vintage compatibility, not performance.