NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation vs NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data contains one direct head-to-head benchmark between the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation and the NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB: Geekbench OpenCL. In this test, the RTX 5880 Ada Generation scores 326,898, while the RTX A2000 12 GB scores 66,998. This represents a delta of 387.9% in favor of the RTX 5880 Ada Generation. That is not a marginal gap; it is a decisive, order-of-magnitude separation in raw compute throughput as measured by this workload.

Beyond the single shared test, the two cards have separate benchmark histories in the database. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation shows an average benchmark score of 45,972 across its recorded suite, which includes PassMark tests for DirectX 10, DirectX 11, DirectX 12, DirectX 9, G2D, G3D, and GPU compute, in addition to Geekbench OpenCL. The RTX A2000 12 GB, by contrast, holds an average benchmark score of 34,154, based on its Geekbench OpenCL result and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1,309. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation's average is roughly 34.6% higher than the RTX A2000 12 GB's average across their respective database entries.

The RTX 5880 Ada Generation also ranks higher in the overall GPU percentile distribution. It sits at the 85th percentile against all GPUs, while the RTX A2000 12 GB sits at the 79th percentile. That six-point percentile gap reflects a broader positioning difference: the RTX 5880 Ada Generation is a top-tier workstation part, whereas the RTX A2000 12 GB is a mid-range entry in the same professional lineup.

Looking at the nearest rivals in the database provides context for each card's standing. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation's closest competitor by average score is the NVIDIA RTX A2000 (not to be confused with the 12 GB variant), which averages 46,043, a delta of -0.2% from the RTX 5880 Ada Generation. The Intel Arc A730M trails by 0.8%, and the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT trails by 1.3%. The AMD Radeon RX 5600M leads the RTX 5880 Ada Generation by 1.4%. These are tight margins, indicating that the RTX 5880 Ada Generation sits in a densely packed performance cluster despite its high absolute scores.

The RTX A2000 12 GB's nearest rivals tell a similar story of density, but at a lower performance tier. The AMD Radeon RX 560 XT averages 34,133, a 0.1% delta from the RTX A2000 12 GB. The NVIDIA RTX A1000 averages 34,207, a -0.2% delta. The AMD Radeon RX 480 averages 33,997, a 0.5% delta, and the NVIDIA TITAN V averages 34,355, a -0.6% delta. The RTX A2000 12 GB is essentially tied with all four of these cards, which suggests that its performance profile is well understood and consistent within its class.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 5880 Ada Generation wins the only direct benchmark comparison, and it wins by a wide margin. The Geekbench OpenCL result of 326,898 versus 66,998 shows a 387.9% advantage. This test generally stresses raw compute parallelism, and the RTX 5880 Ada Generation's specifications align with that strength. It features 14,080 shading units, 440 texture mapping units, 176 render output units, 110 ray tracing cores, and 440 tensor cores. The RTX A2000 12 GB, by comparison, has 3,328 shading units, 104 TMUs, 48 ROPs, 26 ray tracing cores, and 104 tensor cores. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation offers roughly 4.2 times the shading units and 4.2 times the tensor cores of the RTX A2000 12 GB, which explains the magnitude of the OpenCL delta.

The RTX 5880 Ada Generation also holds advantages in memory capacity and bandwidth. It has 48 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, yielding 864.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX A2000 12 GB has 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, yielding 288.0 GB/s. That is a 3x bandwidth advantage and a 4x capacity advantage for the RTX 5880 Ada Generation. For workloads that are memory-bound, such as large dataset processing or high-resolution texture streaming, the RTX 5880 Ada Generation is the clear choice.

The RTX A2000 12 GB does not win any recorded benchmark in the head-to-head data. However, its strengths lie elsewhere. It is a dual-slot card with no power connectors, drawing 70 W TDP, and it requires only a 250 W suggested PSU. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation, by contrast, uses a single 16-pin power connector, draws 285 W TDP, and requires a 600 W suggested PSU. The RTX A2000 12 GB is also physically smaller: 167 mm in length and 69 mm in height, compared to 267 mm and 112 mm for the RTX 5880 Ada Generation. For compact workstations or systems with limited power delivery, the RTX A2000 12 GB is the more practical option.

The RTX A2000 12 GB also holds a niche in legacy compatibility. Its production status is listed as end-of-life, but its predecessor is Quadro Turing and its successor is Workstation Ada. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation's predecessor is Workstation Ampere and its successor is Blackwell PRO W. Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so API compatibility is not a differentiator.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear performance hierarchy. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation dominates the RTX A2000 12 GB in every measured compute metric, and the Geekbench OpenCL delta of 387.9% is the single most striking number in the comparison. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation also carries a higher average benchmark score (45,972 versus 34,154) and a higher percentile rank (85th versus 79th). Anyone selecting a card purely for compute throughput should choose the RTX 5880 Ada Generation without hesitation.

The RTX A2000 12 GB is not without its place. Its 70 W TDP, lack of power connectors, compact 167 mm length, and 250 W suggested PSU make it suitable for systems where power and space are constrained. Its 12 GB memory and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for moderate professional workloads, and its nearest rival cluster shows it performs in line with cards like the RTX A1000 and TITAN V. But in a direct comparison with the RTX 5880 Ada Generation, it is outclassed on every performance axis.

The RTX 5880 Ada Generation's launch MSRP is not listed in the database, while the RTX A2000 12 GB carries a launch MSRP of 449 USD. That price difference reflects their market positions, but the performance gap is far larger than the price gap in relative terms. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation is a 2024 release, while the RTX A2000 12 GB is a 2021 release, and the architecture jump from Ampere to Ada Lovelace is evident in the numbers.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the RTX 5880 Ada Generation than the RTX A2000 12 GB in OpenCL?

A: The RTX 5880 Ada Generation scores 326,898 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the RTX A2000 12 GB scores 66,998. That is a 387.9% advantage for the RTX 5880 Ada Generation.

Q: Which card has more memory and bandwidth?

A: The RTX 5880 Ada Generation has 48 GB of GDDR6 memory with 864.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX A2000 12 GB has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: What is the average benchmark score difference between the two cards?

A: The RTX 5880 Ada Generation has an average benchmark score of 45,972, while the RTX A2000 12 GB has an average of 34,154. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation is roughly 34.6% higher.

Q: How do the two cards compare in power requirements?

A: The RTX 5880 Ada Generation has a 285 W TDP and requires a 600 W suggested PSU with a single 16-pin power connector. The RTX A2000 12 GB has a 70 W TDP, requires a 250 W suggested PSU, and uses no power connectors.

Q: Are both cards the same physical size?

A: No. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation is 267 mm long and 112 mm high. The RTX A2000 12 GB is 167 mm long and 69 mm high. Both are dual-slot cards.

Q: Which card is newer?

A: The RTX 5880 Ada Generation was released on 2024-01-04, while the RTX A2000 12 GB was released on 2021-11-22. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation is listed as active, while the RTX A2000 12 GB is end-of-life.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on different architectures from different process nodes. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation uses the AD102 chip built on Ada Lovelace architecture, fabricated by TSMC on a 5 nm process. The RTX A2000 12 GB uses the GA106 chip built on Ampere architecture, fabricated by Samsung on an 8 nm process. This process node difference is fundamental: 5 nm versus 8 nm, and it explains part of the performance and efficiency gap.

The transistor counts differ dramatically. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation has 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 125.3 million per square millimeter. The RTX A2000 12 GB has 12,000 million transistors on a 276 mm² die, yielding a density of 43.5 million per square millimeter. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation packs more than six times the transistors into just over twice the die area, a direct consequence of the denser 5 nm process.

The RTX 5880 Ada Generation's compute resources are far larger. It has 14,080 shading units, 440 TMUs, 176 ROPs, 110 ray tracing cores, and 440 tensor cores. The RTX A2000 12 GB has 3,328 shading units, 104 TMUs, 48 ROPs, 26 ray tracing cores, and 104 tensor cores. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation has roughly 4.2 times the shading units, 4.2 times the TMUs, 3.7 times the ROPs, 4.2 times the ray tracing cores, and 4.2 times the tensor cores.

Clock speeds also differ. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation has a base clock of 975 MHz and a boost clock of 2460 MHz. The RTX A2000 12 GB has a base clock of 562 MHz and a boost clock of 1200 MHz. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation's boost clock is more than double the RTX A2000 12 GB's. Memory clocks follow the same pattern: the RTX 5880 Ada Generation runs at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective), while the RTX A2000 12 GB runs at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective).

Pixel and texture rates reflect these differences. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation achieves 433.0 GPixel/s and 1,082.4 GTexel/s. The RTX A2000 12 GB achieves 57.60 GPixel/s and 124.8 GTexel/s. Floating-point performance is similarly lopsided: the RTX 5880 Ada Generation delivers 69.27 TFLOPS in both FP32 and FP16 (1:1), while the RTX A2000 12 GB delivers 7.987 TFLOPS in both. Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Specification Differences

The RTX 5880 Ada Generation and RTX A2000 12 GB differ in nearly every specification field. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation uses the AD102 chip on Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm TSMC process. The RTX A2000 12 GB uses the GA106 chip on Ampere architecture with an 8 nm Samsung process. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation has 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die; the RTX A2000 12 GB has 12,000 million on 276 mm².

Memory is a major differentiator. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation has 48 GB GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus with 864.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX A2000 12 GB has 12 GB GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth. The base clock is 975 MHz versus 562 MHz, and the boost clock is 2460 MHz versus 1200 MHz. Memory clock is 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) versus 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective).

Compute resources differ as listed: 14,080 versus 3,328 shading units, 440 versus 104 TMUs, 176 versus 48 ROPs, 110 versus 26 ray tracing cores, and 440 versus 104 tensor cores. Pixel rate is 433.0 GPixel/s versus 57.60 GPixel/s. Texture rate is 1,082.4 GTexel/s versus 124.8 GTexel/s. FP32 and FP16 are 69.27 TFLOPS versus 7.987 TFLOPS.

Power and physical specifications diverge sharply. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation has a 285 W TDP with a 600 W suggested PSU and a single 16-pin power connector. The RTX A2000 12 GB has a 70 W TDP with a 250 W suggested PSU and no power connectors. Both are dual-slot, but the RTX 5880 Ada Generation is 267 mm by 112 mm, while the RTX A2000 12 GB is 167 mm by 69 mm. Display outputs differ: the RTX 5880 Ada Generation has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the RTX A2000 12 GB has 4x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a.

Release timing is also different. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation launched on 2024-01-04 and is active; the RTX A2000 12 GB launched on 2021-11-22 and is end-of-life. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation's predecessor is Workstation Ampere and successor is Blackwell PRO W. The RTX A2000 12 GB's predecessor is Quadro Turing and successor is Workstation Ada. Both use PCIe 4.0 x16. The RTX A2000 12 GB has a launch MSRP of 449 USD; no launch MSRP is listed for the RTX 5880 Ada Generation.