NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 vs NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records a single direct benchmark comparison between these two GPUs, and the result is decisive. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile scores 56,518 points, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 manages 12,830 points. That is a 340.5% advantage for the mobile workstation part, a gap so large that the GTX 590 appears to belong to a different performance class entirely.

Context from the nearest rivals makes the magnitude clearer. The RTX A2000 Mobile's average benchmark score sits at 13,821, with its closest competitor, the AMD Radeon 660M, scoring 13,812, a delta of only 0.1%. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, which holds a 0.6% advantage over the A2000 Mobile, also falls within the same performance band. The GTX 590, by contrast, has an average score of 12,830, placing it just 0.4% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 and effectively tied with the AMD Radeon Pro 455 at a 0% delta. The 340.5% delta in the head-to-head test is not a marginal win; it is a generational chasm.

The percentile rankings reinforce this split. The RTX A2000 Mobile sits at the 55th percentile among all GPUs, while the GTX 590 lands at the 52nd percentile. Although both are mid-pack, the gap between them in raw compute is enormous. The A2000 Mobile's OpenCL score accounts for most of its average benchmark total of 13,821, but the GTX 590's only recorded benchmark is that same OpenCL test, meaning its average score of 12,830 is entirely dependent on a single result.

It is worth remembering the A2000 Mobile also has a substantial suite of additional benchmarks, including Passmark DirectX 10 (57 points), DirectX 11 (68 points), DirectX 12 (47 points), DirectX 9 (115 points), G2D (491 points), G3D (9,611 points), and GPU compute (4,334 points). These numbers show a GPU that is competent across a range of API generations, not merely a one-test wonder. The GTX 590 has none of those results recorded, so the database cannot confirm how it would fare in those workloads.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX A2000 Mobile wins the only direct comparison, and it wins by a landslide. In OpenCL compute, it delivers more than four times the score of the GTX 590. That makes it the clear choice for any workload that relies on general-purpose GPU compute, whether that is rendering, simulation, or data processing. The A2000 Mobile also has a Vulkan score of 53,146, which the GTX 590 cannot match because it has no Vulkan support in the database. The A2000 Mobile's Passmark results, while not directly comparable to the GTX 590, indicate solid DirectX 11 performance (68 points) and particularly strong DirectX 9 performance (115 points), suggesting it handles legacy APIs without issue.

The GTX 590 has no recorded wins in any benchmark. Its only data point, the OpenCL score of 12,830, places it within a narrow band of mid-range GPUs from a much later era, but it cannot compete with the A2000 Mobile's compute throughput. The GTX 590's 52nd percentile ranking shows it is not a weak card by historical standards, but against the A2000 Mobile, it is outclassed.

Where the GTX 590 might have an edge is not visible in the benchmark data. The database records no test where it outperforms the A2000 Mobile. Its dual-GPU design, with 512 shading units and 64 texture mapping units, was impressive for its time, but the A2000 Mobile's 2,560 shading units and 80 TMUs are in a different league. The GTX 590 does have a higher memory bus width at 384 bit versus 128 bit, but that advantage does not translate into a performance win in the recorded data. Its memory bandwidth of 164.0 GB/s is actually lower than the A2000 Mobile's 192.0 GB/s, so even in memory-heavy scenarios, the newer part appears to hold the edge.

For real-world use cases, the A2000 Mobile is the obvious pick for compute-heavy tasks like machine learning inference, ray tracing, and modern game development. The GTX 590, with its Fermi 2.0 architecture and lack of ray tracing or tensor cores, is limited to older DirectX 11 titles and basic compute workloads. It might still serve as a functional card for retro gaming or legacy applications, but the recorded data shows no scenario where it surpasses the A2000 Mobile.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from completely different eras of NVIDIA's design philosophy. The RTX A2000 Mobile is built on the GA107 chip using the Ampere architecture, manufactured on an 8 nm process at Samsung. It packs 8,700 million transistors into a 200 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 43.5 million per square millimeter. The GTX 590, by contrast, uses the GF110 chip with the Fermi 2.0 architecture, fabricated on a 40 nm process at TSMC. It contains 3,000 million transistors spread across a much larger 520 mm² die, resulting in a density of just 5.8 million per square millimeter. The A2000 Mobile has nearly three times the transistor count in less than half the silicon area, a signal of how far process technology advanced in a decade.

The memory subsystems are equally divergent. The A2000 Mobile uses 4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128 bit bus, achieving 192.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GTX 590 has 1,536 MB of GDDR5 on a 384 bit bus, but its bandwidth is only 164.0 GB/s. The newer part achieves higher bandwidth with a narrower bus, thanks to faster memory clocks: 1,500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) versus 854 MHz (3.4 Gbps effective). The GTX 590's larger bus width cannot compensate for its slower memory technology.

Compute resources show a clear generational shift. The A2000 Mobile has 2,560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, along with 20 ray tracing cores and 80 tensor cores. The GTX 590 has 512 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, but no ray tracing or tensor cores at all. The A2000 Mobile's FP32 throughput is 8.637 TFLOPS, while the GTX 590 manages 1,244.2 GFLOPS, a difference of roughly seven times. The A2000 Mobile also supports FP16 at a 1:1 ratio, while the GTX 590 has no recorded FP16 capability. Pixel and texture rates follow the same pattern: the A2000 Mobile hits 80.98 GPixel/s and 135.0 GTexel/s, while the GTX 590 reaches only 19.46 GPixel/s and 38.91 GTexel/s.

API support is another major divider. The A2000 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The GTX 590 supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, but has no Vulkan support listed. That means the newer card can handle modern features like ray tracing, mesh shaders, and variable rate shading, while the older card is stuck with the feature set of 2011. Power consumption reflects the technological gap: the A2000 Mobile has a TDP of 95 W, while the GTX 590 draws 365 W. The GTX 590 requires two 8-pin power connectors and a suggested 750 W power supply, while the A2000 Mobile is an IGP (integrated graphics processor) with no power connectors and no suggested PSU.

Physical dimensions also differ. The GTX 590 is a dual-slot card measuring 279 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 40 mm in width. The A2000 Mobile is an IGP, meaning it is designed to be soldered onto a motherboard or integrated into a laptop, so it has no standalone dimensions. Its display outputs are listed as "Portable Device Dependent," whereas the GTX 590 offers 3x DVI and 1x mini-DisplayPort.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher OpenCL benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile scores 56,518 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 scores 12,830. The A2000 Mobile is 340.5% faster in this test.

Q: Does the GTX 590 support ray tracing?

A: No. The GTX 590, based on the Fermi 2.0 architecture, has no ray tracing cores listed in the database. The RTX A2000 Mobile, based on Ampere, includes 20 ray tracing cores.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The RTX A2000 Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128 bit bus with 192.0 GB/s bandwidth. The GTX 590 has 1,536 MB of GDDR5 memory on a 384 bit bus with 164.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU is more power efficient?

A: The RTX A2000 Mobile has a TDP of 95 W and requires no power connectors. The GTX 590 has a TDP of 365 W and requires two 8-pin connectors plus a suggested 750 W power supply.

Q: Can the GTX 590 run Vulkan applications?

A: The database lists no Vulkan support for the GTX 590. The RTX A2000 Mobile supports Vulkan 1.4.

Q: What is the transistor density difference?

A: The RTX A2000 Mobile has a density of 43.5 million transistors per mm², while the GTX 590 has 5.8 million per mm². The A2000 Mobile uses 8,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die, versus 3,000 million on a 520 mm² die.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 |

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

| Architecture | Ampere | Fermi 2.0 |

| Process Node | 8 nm | 40 nm |

| Foundry | Samsung | TSMC |

| Transistors | 8,700 million | 3,000 million |

| Die Size | 200 mm² | 520 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 43.5M / mm² | 5.8M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1215 MHz | Not listed |

| Boost Clock | 1687 MHz | Not listed |

| Memory Clock | 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) | 854 MHz (3.4 Gbps effective) |

| Memory Size | 4 GB | 1536 MB |

| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus Width | 128 bit | 384 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 192.0 GB/s | 164.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 2560 | 512 |

| TMUs | 80 | 64 |

| ROPs | 48 | 48 |

| Ray Tracing Cores | 20 | Not listed |

| Tensor Cores | 80 | Not listed |

| Pixel Rate | 80.98 GPixel/s | 19.46 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 135.0 GTexel/s | 38.91 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 8.637 TFLOPS | 1,244.2 GFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 8.637 TFLOPS (1:1) | Not listed |

| TDP | 95 W | 365 W |

| Slot Width | IGP | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | None | 2x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | Not listed | 750 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 4.0 x16 | PCIe 2.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | Portable Device Dependent | 3x DVI, 1x mini-DisplayPort |

| DirectX Support | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | 12 (11_0) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.4 | Not listed |

| Dimensions | Not listed | 279 mm (length), 111 mm (height), 40 mm (width) |

| Release Date | 2021-04-11 | 2011-03-23 |

| Predecessor | Quadro Turing-M | GeForce 400 |

| Successor | Ada-MW | GeForce 600 |

| Launch MSRP | Not listed | 699 USD |