NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation vs NVIDIA Tesla V100 PCIe 16 GB Comparison

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the RTX 5000 Ada Generation than the Tesla V100 PCIe 16 GB in average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 5000 Ada Generation has an average benchmark score of 184,664, while the Tesla V100 PCIe 16 GB scores 138,063. That puts the Ada card roughly 33.8% ahead on average, a substantial gap that reflects the generational leap between the two architectures.

Q: Which GPU wins in the Vulkan API test, and by how much?

A: The RTX 5000 Ada Generation wins the Geekbench Vulkan test decisively, scoring 194,041 against the Tesla V100’s 113,062. That is a 71.6% advantage, the largest single-benchmark gap between the two cards.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference between these two cards?

A: The RTX 5000 Ada Generation has 32 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Tesla V100 PCIe 16 GB offers 16 GB of HBM2 memory on a 4096-bit bus, which provides higher bandwidth at 897.0 GB/s despite the smaller capacity.

Q: How do the two cards compare in the OpenCL benchmark?

A: The RTX 5000 Ada Generation scores 175,286 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the Tesla V100 PCIe 16 GB scores 163,063. The Ada card leads by 7.5%, a narrower margin than the Vulkan result but still a clear win.

Q: What are the production statuses of these two GPUs?

A: The RTX 5000 Ada Generation is listed as "Active" production status, while the Tesla V100 PCIe 16 GB is marked as "End-of-life." The Ada card was released on 2023-08-08, while the Tesla V100 dates back to 2017-06-20.

Q: How do these cards rank against all GPUs in the database?

A: The RTX 5000 Ada Generation sits in the 98th percentile of all GPUs, while the Tesla V100 PCIe 16 GB is in the 96th percentile. Both are high-end parts, but the Ada card is closer to the top of the overall distribution.

Architecture Differences

The RTX 5000 Ada Generation is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using the AD102 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The Tesla V100 PCIe 16 GB uses the older Volta architecture with the GV100 chip, manufactured on a 12 nm process, also at TSMC. This process shrink is dramatic: the Ada chip packs 76,300 million transistors into a 609 mm² die, while the Volta chip contains 21,100 million transistors on a larger 815 mm² die. The transistor density tells the story — Ada achieves 125.3M transistors per mm² versus Volta’s 25.9M per mm².

The Ada card features 12,800 shading units, 400 texture mapping units, 176 ROPs, 100 RT cores, and 400 Tensor Cores. The Volta card has 5,120 shading units, 320 TMUs, 128 ROPs, no RT cores, and 640 Tensor Cores. The RT core count is a key architectural difference; Ada Lovelace includes dedicated hardware for ray tracing that Volta lacks entirely. The Tensor Core counts differ in quantity, but the architectures are generations apart — Volta’s Tensor Cores were designed for early AI acceleration, while Ada’s are more advanced.

The Ada card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Tesla V100 only reaches DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. The Ada card has display outputs with 4x DisplayPort 1.4a, whereas the Tesla V100 has no display outputs at all — it is a compute-only accelerator. The Ada card also uses a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface, while the Tesla V100 uses the older PCIe 3.0 x16 standard.

The Tesla V100’s memory subsystem is unusual: 16 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus yields 897.0 GB/s bandwidth, which is actually higher than the Ada card’s 576.0 GB/s. However, the Ada card uses GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus and doubles the capacity to 32 GB. The Volta card’s FP16 performance is 28.26 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio, while the Ada card delivers 65.28 TFLOPS FP16 at a 1:1 ratio. FP32 performance is also lopsided: 65.28 TFLOPS for Ada versus 14.13 TFLOPS for Volta.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 5000 Ada Generation wins both head-to-head benchmarks, so the use-case split is heavily in its favor. The Ada card’s 32 GB memory capacity makes it better suited for large workloads like training massive neural networks or rendering high-resolution scenes that exceed 16 GB. Its 100 RT cores give it a clear advantage in ray-traced rendering workloads, which the Volta card cannot accelerate with dedicated hardware.

The Tesla V100 PCIe 16 GB retains one notable advantage: memory bandwidth. Its HBM2 stack delivers 897.0 GB/s, which is 55.7% higher than the Ada card’s 576.0 GB/s. For memory-bandwidth-bound compute tasks — such as certain scientific simulations or sparse matrix operations — the Volta card’s higher bandwidth could keep it competitive in niche scenarios. Its 640 Tensor Cores also outnumber the Ada card’s 400, though architectural differences make direct core-count comparisons misleading.

The Ada card is the clear winner for modern workloads that leverage ray tracing, higher FP32 throughput, and newer API features like DirectX 12 Ultimate. Its active production status and newer release date also mean it is a current product, while the Tesla V100 is end-of-life. The Volta card may still find use in legacy environments that require its specific HBM2 bandwidth or where software is optimized for Volta’s architecture, but the benchmark data shows the Ada card winning every test.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation | NVIDIA Tesla V100 PCIe 16 GB |

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

| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Volta |

| Chip | AD102 | GV100 |

| Process Node | 5 nm | 12 nm |

| Transistors | 76,300 million | 21,100 million |

| Die Size | 609 mm² | 815 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 125.3M / mm² | 25.9M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1155 MHz | 1245 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 2550 MHz | 1380 MHz |

| Memory Size | 32 GB | 16 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR6 | HBM2 |

| Memory Bus Width | 256 bit | 4096 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 576.0 GB/s | 897.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 12,800 | 5,120 |

| TMUs | 400 | 320 |

| ROPs | 176 | 128 |

| RT Cores | 100 | null |

| Tensor Cores | 400 | 640 |

| FP32 | 65.28 TFLOPS | 14.13 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 65.28 TFLOPS (1:1) | 28.26 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 250 W | 300 W |

| Power Connectors | 1x 16-pin | 2x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 600 W | 700 W |

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

| Display Outputs | 4x DisplayPort 1.4a | No outputs |

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

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

| Release Date | 2023-08-08 | 2017-06-20 |

The base clock of the Tesla V100 is slightly higher at 1245 MHz versus 1155 MHz, but the Ada card’s boost clock of 2550 MHz dwarfs the Volta card’s 1380 MHz. The Ada card also consumes less power at 250 W TDP versus 300 W, despite delivering significantly more performance. The Tesla V100 requires 2x 8-pin power connectors and a 700 W suggested PSU, while the Ada card uses a single 16-pin connector with a 600 W suggested PSU.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two Geekbench tests show a clear and consistent pattern: the RTX 5000 Ada Generation wins both, but the margins differ dramatically by API.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the Ada card scores 175,286 against the Tesla V100’s 163,063. That is a 7.5% advantage — a solid but not overwhelming win. OpenCL tends to be a more level playing field across architectures, and the Volta card’s higher memory bandwidth likely helps it close the gap somewhat. Still, the Ada card’s raw compute throughput — 65.28 TFLOPS FP32 versus 14.13 TFLOPS — carries the day.

The Geekbench Vulkan test tells a very different story. The Ada card scores 194,041, while the Tesla V100 manages just 113,062. That is a 71.6% delta, the largest single-benchmark margin between the two. Vulkan is a modern, low-overhead API that benefits from the Ada card’s newer architecture, dedicated RT cores, and support for DirectX 12 Ultimate features. The Volta card, released in 2017, simply lacks the hardware features that Vulkan workloads can exploit on the Ada card.

The average benchmark score reinforces the trend: the Ada card averages 184,664, while the Tesla V100 averages 138,063. That is a 33.8% overall advantage for the Ada card. In the nearest rivals comparison, the RTX 5000 Ada Generation sits just 0.5% above the NVIDIA A100 SXM4 80 GB and 1.4% above the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell. The Tesla V100 PCIe 16 GB, by contrast, is nearly tied with the Tesla V100 SXM2 32 GB (0.2% delta) and the AMD Instinct MI100 (-0.7% delta).

Looking at percentile rankings, the Ada card’s 98th percentile versus the Volta card’s 96th percentile shows both are high performers, but the Ada card is closer to the top of the entire GPU landscape. The wins tally is lopsided: 2 wins for the Ada card, 0 for the Tesla V100. The data leaves little ambiguity — the RTX 5000 Ada Generation is the faster card across the board, with the Vulkan test highlighting the largest generational gap.