NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation vs NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile Comparison

The NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation is the definitive winner in this comparison, outperforming the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile in both recorded benchmarks by substantial margins. The data shows a 29.4% lead in Geekbench OpenCL and a massive 65.4% lead in Geekbench Vulkan. For any workload where compute performance is the primary concern, the RTX 4500 Ada is the clear choice, whereas the RTX A5500 Mobile's only advantage is its mobile form factor and lower power draw, which are qualitative benefits not reflected in the raw performance scores.

The Verdict

Based strictly on the benchmark data, the NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation is the superior product. It wins both head-to-head tests decisively, with a 29.4% higher score in Geekbench OpenCL (160,786 vs 124,287) and a 65.4% higher score in Geekbench Vulkan (171,401 vs 103,601). The average benchmark score of 166,094 for the RTX 4500 Ada places it in the 97th percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX A5500 Mobile's average of 113,944 puts it in the 94th percentile. This is not a close contest; the desktop-oriented Ada card is simply in a different performance tier.

The RTX A5500 Mobile is an end-of-life product released in March 2022, while the RTX 4500 Ada is an active product released in August 2023. The mobile card's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla V100 SXM2 16 GB, which it trails by 0.4%, and the NVIDIA RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation, which is 2.7% faster. In contrast, the RTX 4500 Ada's closest competitor is the NVIDIA RTX A5500 (non-mobile), which it edges out by 0.5%. The verdict is simple: if you need maximum compute performance in a workstation, the RTX 4500 Ada is the pick. If you need a portable solution and can accept significantly lower performance, the RTX A5500 Mobile exists for that purpose, but the data offers no performance justification for choosing it.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on fundamentally different architectures and manufacturing processes. The RTX 4500 Ada Generation uses the AD103 chip based on the Ada Lovelace architecture, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. This chip contains 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 121.1M per mm². In contrast, the RTX A5500 Mobile uses the GA103 chip based on the older Ampere architecture, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. This chip contains only 22,000 million transistors but on a larger 496 mm² die, yielding a much lower transistor density of 44.4M per mm².

The clock speeds reflect these architectural differences. The RTX 4500 Ada has a base clock of 2070 MHz and a boost clock of 2580 MHz, while the RTX A5500 Mobile operates at a significantly lower 975 MHz base and 1500 MHz boost. The memory subsystems also differ markedly. The RTX 4500 Ada features 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, running at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) for a bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s. The RTX A5500 Mobile has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a wider 256-bit bus, running at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) for a higher bandwidth of 512.0 GB/s. Despite the mobile card's wider bus and higher bandwidth, the Ada card's superior compute architecture wins out in practice.

The feature sets are nearly identical on paper—both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. However, the internal hardware differs: the RTX 4500 Ada has 7680 shading units, 240 TMUs, 80 ROPs, 60 RT cores, and 240 tensor cores. The RTX A5500 Mobile has 7424 shading units, 232 TMUs, 96 ROPs, 58 RT cores, and 232 tensor cores. While the Ada card has more shading units, TMUs, RT cores, and tensor cores, the mobile card actually has more ROPs (96 vs 80).

FAQ

Q: Which card has more memory, and does it matter?

A: The NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation has 24 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile has 16 GB. The 8 GB difference is significant for large datasets, but the A5500 Mobile compensates with a wider 256-bit bus and higher bandwidth (512.0 GB/s vs 432.0 GB/s). The Ada card still wins on compute performance despite lower bandwidth.

Q: How do the cards compare in terms of power consumption?

A: The RTX 4500 Ada Generation has a TDP of 210 W, while the RTX A5500 Mobile has a TDP of 165 W. The Ada card is more power-hungry but also delivers substantially more performance, with a 29.4% lead in OpenCL and a 65.4% lead in Vulkan.

Q: What are the nearest competitors for each card?

A: The RTX 4500 Ada's nearest rivals are the NVIDIA RTX A5500 (0.5% slower), AMD Radeon PRO W7800 (0.7% slower), AMD Radeon Pro W6900X (1.5% faster), and NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40 GB (2.2% slower). The RTX A5500 Mobile's nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Tesla V100 SXM2 16 GB (0.4% faster), NVIDIA RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation (2.7% faster), AMD Radeon PRO W7900 (2.9% slower), and NVIDIA GB10 (2.9% faster).

Q: Are both cards currently available for purchase?

A: No. The RTX 4500 Ada Generation has a production status of "Active," while the RTX A5500 Mobile is listed as "End-of-life." This means the Ada card is the more future-proof option for ongoing availability and support.

Q: How do the pixel and texture rates compare?

A: The RTX 4500 Ada achieves a pixel rate of 206.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 619.2 GTexel/s. The RTX A5500 Mobile achieves 144.0 GPixel/s and 348.0 GTexel/s. The Ada card is 43.3% faster in pixel throughput and 77.9% faster in texture throughput.

Q: What is the physical form factor difference?

A: The RTX 4500 Ada is a dual-slot card measuring 245 mm in length and 112 mm in height, requiring a 550 W suggested PSU. The RTX A5500 Mobile has no listed dimensions or slot width, as it is a mobile component designed for portable devices, with display outputs described as "Portable Device Dependent."

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every major specification category. The process node is a critical difference: the RTX 4500 Ada uses a 5 nm TSMC process, while the RTX A5500 Mobile uses an 8 nm Samsung process. This leads to a massive transistor count difference—45,900 million vs 22,000 million—despite the Ada die being smaller at 379 mm² compared to 496 mm².

Clock speeds show a clear advantage for the Ada card: base clock of 2070 MHz vs 975 MHz (112.3% higher) and boost clock of 2580 MHz vs 1500 MHz (72% higher). Memory clock is also higher on the Ada card at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) vs 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective). Memory configuration differs with the Ada card having 24 GB on a 192-bit bus, while the mobile card has 16 GB on a 256-bit bus; bandwidth favors the mobile card at 512.0 GB/s vs 432.0 GB/s.

Compute resources differ as follows: shading units 7680 vs 7424, TMUs 240 vs 232, ROPs 80 vs 96, RT cores 60 vs 58, and tensor cores 240 vs 232. The pixel rate is 206.4 GPixel/s vs 144.0 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 619.2 GTexel/s vs 348.0 GTexel/s. FP32 and FP16 compute both show 39.63 TFLOPS for the Ada card vs 22.27 TFLOPS for the mobile card.

Power and physical specifications: TDP is 210 W vs 165 W. The Ada card is dual-slot with dimensions of 245 mm x 112 mm, while the mobile card has no listed dimensions. The Ada card requires a 550 W suggested PSU, while no PSU is suggested for the mobile card. Display outputs are 4x DisplayPort 1.4a for the Ada card vs "Portable Device Dependent" for the mobile card. The Ada card is on the GeForce 40-series with the AD103 chip, while the mobile card uses the GA103 chip. Release dates differ by over a year: August 2023 vs March 2022, with the Ada card being Active and the mobile card End-of-life.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The Geekbench OpenCL test shows the RTX 4500 Ada Generation scoring 160,786 against the RTX A5500 Mobile's 124,287. This represents a 29.4% advantage for the Ada card. To put this in context, the Ada card's nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A5500, scores 165,217 on average, which is only 0.5% higher than the Ada card. This means the Ada card is performing at a level nearly identical to a much more expensive desktop workstation card, while being 29.4% faster than the mobile Ampere card.

The Geekbench Vulkan test shows an even more decisive victory. The RTX 4500 Ada scores 171,401, while the RTX A5500 Mobile scores 103,601. This is a 65.4% delta in favor of the Ada card. The Vulkan gap is more than double the OpenCL gap, suggesting that the Ada Lovelace architecture has particularly strong graphics API performance relative to Ampere. The mobile card's Vulkan score of 103,601 is actually lower than its OpenCL score of 124,287, whereas the Ada card's Vulkan score is higher than its OpenCL score (171,401 vs 160,786). This architectural efficiency difference is stark.

The average benchmark scores tell a similar story: the RTX 4500 Ada averages 166,094, placing it in the 97th percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX A5500 Mobile averages 113,944, placing it in the 94th percentile. The delta between the average scores is approximately 45.8% in favor of the Ada card. In terms of nearest rivals, the Ada card is bracketed by the AMD Radeon PRO W7800 at 164,894 (0.7% slower) and the AMD Radeon Pro W6900X at 168,574 (1.5% faster). The mobile card sits near the NVIDIA Tesla V100 SXM2 16 GB at 114,395 (0.4% faster) and the NVIDIA RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation at 117,088 (2.7% faster).

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation wins in every measured performance category. It is 29.4% faster in OpenCL compute and 65.4% faster in Vulkan graphics. It offers 77.9% higher texture rate (619.2 GTexel/s vs 348.0 GTexel/s) and 43.3% higher pixel rate (206.4 GPixel/s vs 144.0 GPixel/s). Its FP32 and FP16 compute of 39.63 TFLOPS is 78% higher than the mobile card's 22.27 TFLOPS. It also has more memory (24 GB vs 16 GB), more shading units (7680 vs 7424), more RT cores (60 vs 58), and more tensor cores (240 vs 232). The Ada card is the clear winner for any desktop workstation use case, including rendering, simulation, AI inference, and high-end graphical workloads.

The RTX A5500 Mobile has no benchmark wins, but it holds advantages in specific areas that may matter for certain use cases. It has a wider 256-bit memory bus and higher memory bandwidth (512.0 GB/s vs 432.0 GB/s), which could theoretically benefit memory-bandwidth-bound tasks, though the benchmark data shows the Ada card still wins despite this. It also has more ROPs (96 vs 80), which could help in specific rasterization scenarios. The mobile card has a lower TDP of 165 W vs 210 W, making it more power-efficient in absolute terms, though not per unit of performance. Its mobile form factor, with no listed dimensions and portable-device-dependent display outputs, makes it the only choice for laptop or mobile workstation builds. The Ada card is dual-slot, 245 mm long, and requires a 550 W PSU, which is incompatible with portable systems. For users who require a workstation GPU in a laptop chassis, the RTX A5500 Mobile is the only viable option between these two, despite its lower performance and end-of-life status.