NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation vs NVIDIA RTX A5500 Comparison

# NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation vs NVIDIA RTX A5500

The NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation and the NVIDIA RTX A5500 represent two distinct generations of professional workstation graphics, with the former built on Ada Lovelace architecture and the latter on Ampere. The benchmark data shows a decisive performance gap between the two, with the RTX 6000 Ada Generation winning both head-to-head comparisons by substantial margins. Across the two Geekbench tests, the RTX 6000 Ada Generation secures 2 wins to the RTX A5500's 0, reflecting a generational leap in compute capability that extends across both OpenCL and Vulkan workloads.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most striking result comes from the Geekbench OpenCL test, where the NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation scores 311,629 against the RTX A5500's 174,637. That represents a 78.4% advantage for the newer card — a massive gap that underscores how far the architecture has progressed. In practical terms, the RTX 6000 Ada Generation delivers nearly 1.8 times the raw compute throughput of the A5500 in this workload, which heavily stresses general-purpose GPU compute.

The Vulkan benchmark tells a similar story, though with a slightly narrower margin. Here, the RTX 6000 Ada Generation posts 262,845 points, while the RTX A5500 manages 155,797. The 68.7% delta confirms that the performance advantage is not confined to a single API or workload type; it persists across both OpenCL and Vulkan, suggesting a broad-based architectural improvement rather than a workload-specific optimization.

To contextualize these scores, the RTX 6000 Ada Generation sits in the 99th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 287,237 across its tested workloads. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA L40S, which averages 295,763 and trails by 2.9%, and the AMD Instinct MI300X, which leads by 9.7% with a score of 317,994. The RTX 6000 Ada Generation also outpaces the NVIDIA L20 by 14.4% (251,147) and edges past the NVIDIA L40 by 1.1% (284,111). The RTX A5500, by comparison, sits in the 97th percentile with an average score of 165,217. Its closest competitor is the AMD Radeon PRO W7800 at 164,894, a mere 0.2% behind, while the NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation leads by 0.5% (166,094). The RTX A5500 also trails the AMD Radeon Pro W6900X by 2% (168,574) but beats the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40 GB by 1.7% (162,504).

The raw score gap between the two cards in the head-to-head tests is enormous — the RTX 6000 Ada Generation's OpenCL result alone is nearly double the A5500's entire average benchmark score. This is not a close contest; it is a generational stomping.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation has an average benchmark score of 287,237, while the NVIDIA RTX A5500 averages 165,217. That puts the Ada card roughly 73.8% ahead in average performance.

Q: How does the RTX 6000 Ada Generation compare to its closest rival?

A: The RTX 6000 Ada Generation's nearest rival is the NVIDIA L40, which scores 284,111 on average — a 1.1% deficit. The L40S is 2.9% ahead at 295,763, while the AMD Instinct MI300X leads by 9.7% with 317,994.

Q: What is the RTX A5500's closest competitor?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W7800 is the closest rival, averaging 164,894 — just 0.2% behind the RTX A5500's 165,217. The NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation leads by 0.5% at 166,094.

Q: In which benchmark does the RTX 6000 Ada Generation show its largest advantage?

A: The largest margin is in Geekbench OpenCL, where the RTX 6000 Ada Generation scores 311,629 versus 174,637 for the RTX A5500, a 78.4% delta.

Q: Does the RTX A5500 win any benchmark against the RTX 6000 Ada Generation?

A: No. In the two head-to-head tests recorded — Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan — the RTX A5500 loses both, with 0 wins overall.

Q: How does the RTX 6000 Ada Generation's Vulkan score compare to its OpenCL score?

A: The RTX 6000 Ada Generation scores 262,845 in Vulkan versus 311,629 in OpenCL, meaning its Vulkan result is about 15.7% lower than its OpenCL result. The RTX A5500 shows a similar pattern, with 155,797 in Vulkan versus 174,637 in OpenCL.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation is the clear winner for compute-heavy professional workloads. Its 78.4% lead in OpenCL and 68.7% lead in Vulkan mean that any task relying on general-purpose GPU compute — whether that is rendering, simulation, or data processing — will see dramatic performance gains on the Ada card. The 99th percentile ranking places it among the top tier of all GPUs, making it suitable for the most demanding workstation tasks where every bit of throughput matters.

The RTX A5500, while not competitive against its newer sibling, still holds its own in the 97th percentile of all GPUs. Its average score of 165,217 puts it in the same league as the AMD Radeon PRO W7800 (164,894) and the NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation (166,094), meaning it remains a viable option for professional workloads that do not require the absolute highest compute performance. The A5500's advantage over the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40 GB (1.7% at 162,504) suggests it can still handle substantial compute tasks, though users seeking maximum performance would find the RTX 6000 Ada Generation a far more compelling choice.

For users upgrading from an Ampere-generation card, the RTX 6000 Ada Generation offers a transformative jump. The data shows the RTX 6000 Ada Generation's OpenCL score alone exceeds the A5500's total average by 88.6%, and its Vulkan score is 68.7% higher than the A5500's best result. In short, the RTX 6000 Ada Generation is the pick for anyone who needs top-tier compute, while the RTX A5500 remains a competent but clearly older alternative.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every major specification. The RTX 6000 Ada Generation features 48 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth, while the RTX A5500 offers 24 GB of GDDR6 on the same 384-bit bus but with 768.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Ada card's memory clock runs at 2500 MHz (20 Gbps effective), compared to the A5500's 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective).

Compute resources diverge sharply: the RTX 6000 Ada Generation has 18,176 shading units, 568 TMUs, 192 ROPs, 142 RT cores, and 568 tensor cores. The RTX A5500, by contrast, packs 10,240 shading units, 320 TMUs, 96 ROPs, 80 RT cores, and 320 tensor cores. This translates to a pixel rate of 481.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,422.8 GTexel/s for the Ada card, versus 159.8 GPixel/s and 532.8 GTexel/s for the A5500.

Floating-point performance tells the same story: the RTX 6000 Ada Generation delivers 91.06 TFLOPS in both FP32 and FP16 (1:1), while the RTX A5500 manages 34.10 TFLOPS in both. Clock speeds also differ, with the Ada card boosting to 2505 MHz from a 915 MHz base, whereas the A5500 boosts to 1665 MHz from a 1080 MHz base. Power consumption is higher on the Ada card at 300 W TDP with a 1x 16-pin connector and a 700 W suggested PSU, versus 230 W, 1x 8-pin, and 550 W for the A5500.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two cards is fundamental. The RTX 6000 Ada Generation is built on the AD102 chip using TSMC's 5 nm process, packing 76,300 million transistors into a 609 mm² die with a transistor density of 125.3M per mm². The RTX A5500 uses the GA102 chip on Samsung's 8 nm process, with 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die — a density of just 45.1M per mm². Despite the A5500's slightly larger die size, the Ada card crams nearly 2.7 times more transistors into a smaller area, thanks to the advanced 5 nm node.

The Ada Lovelace architecture in the RTX 6000 Ada Generation represents a full generational leap over the Ampere architecture in the RTX A5500. The RTX 6000 Ada Generation's 142 RT cores and 568 tensor cores dwarf the A5500's 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, indicating substantially improved ray tracing and AI acceleration capabilities. The 1:1 FP16/FP32 ratio on both cards is notable, but the Ada card's raw throughput is nearly triple that of the Ampere card.

Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, and both use a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface with 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. They share identical physical dimensions at 267 mm in length and 112 mm in height, and both are dual-slot designs. The RTX 6000 Ada Generation was released on 2022-12-02, following the RTX A5500's 2022-03-21 launch, and its predecessor is Workstation Ampere — which is precisely the architecture the A5500 represents. Both cards are now end-of-life, with the RTX 6000 Ada Generation's successor being Blackwell PRO W and the A5500's successor being Workstation Ada.