GPU Comparison

The NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 occupy opposite ends of NVIDIA’s product spectrum, and their benchmark results reflect that positioning clearly. The RTX 4070 dominates both shared compute tests, but the A500 Mobile’s efficiency and mobile-focused design make it a distinct tool for different workloads.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The data shows a decisive performance gap in the two directly comparable tests. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4070 scores 154,858 points against the A500 Mobile’s 41,263 points, a delta of -73.4% from the perspective of the A500. That means the RTX 4070 delivers roughly 3.75 times the raw OpenCL throughput. The Vulkan gap is even wider: the RTX 4070 hits 174,152 points while the A500 Mobile manages 37,873, a -78.3% difference, translating to about 4.6 times the performance.

Looking at the broader benchmark picture, the RTX 4070’s average benchmark score of 37,648 masks its true capability because it includes legacy DirectX tests where newer architectures often underperform. Its Passmark DirectX 9 score of 320 and DirectX 11 score of 244 are modest, but its Passmark G3D score of 26,927 and GPU Compute score of 14,720 tell a different story. The A500 Mobile’s average of 39,568 is actually higher than the RTX 4070’s average, but this is entirely due to the limited test set available for the A500, only OpenCL and Vulkan, both of which it loses by massive margins.

The RTX 4070’s nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (deltaPct 0.1%), AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (0.4%), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (-1.3%). This clustering around the 37,000-38,000 average score range suggests the RTX 4070 sits in a well-populated performance tier. The A500 Mobile, by contrast, has nearest rivals like the AMD Radeon Pro 575 (deltaPct 0%) and AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 (-1.2%), indicating it competes with older workstation parts rather than modern desktop GPUs.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher boost clock?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 boosts to 2475 MHz, while the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile boosts to 1537 MHz.

Q: How much more memory bandwidth does the RTX 4070 have?

A: The RTX 4070 provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth from its 12 GB GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, compared to the A500 Mobile’s 96.00 GB/s from 4 GB GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus.

Q: What is the transistor density difference between the two chips?

A: The RTX 4070’s AD104 chip packs 121.8 million transistors per square millimeter, while the A500 Mobile’s GA107S chip achieves 43.5 million per square millimeter.

Q: Are both GPUs still in production?

A: No, both are end-of-life products. The A500 Mobile was released on 2022-03-21, and the RTX 4070 on 2023-04-11.

Q: Which GPU has more RT cores?

A: The RTX 4070 has 46 RT cores, while the A500 Mobile has 16 RT cores.

Q: What is the RTX 4070’s launch MSRP?

A: The RTX 4070 launched with an MSRP of 599 USD.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is fundamental. The A500 Mobile uses the GA107S chip built on Samsung’s 8 nm process, part of the Ampere architecture from the Ampere-MW generation. It packs 8,700 million transistors into a 200 mm² die. The RTX 4070 uses the AD104 chip on TSMC’s 5 nm process, belonging to the Ada Lovelace architecture in the GeForce 40 generation. Its 35,800 million transistors fit into a 294 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 121.8M / mm² versus the A500’s 43.5M / mm².

Core configuration differences are stark. The A500 Mobile has 2,048 shading units, 64 TMUs, 32 ROPs, 16 RT cores, and 64 tensor cores. The RTX 4070 nearly triples the shading units to 5,888, with 184 TMUs, 64 ROPs, 46 RT cores, and 184 tensor cores. This translates to a theoretical FP32 throughput of 6.296 TFLOPS for the A500 versus 29.15 TFLOPS for the RTX 4070, a 4.6x advantage. Both GPUs support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so software compatibility is not a differentiator.

Memory architecture reinforces the performance separation. The A500 Mobile uses 4 GB of GDDR6 at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) on a 64-bit bus, limiting bandwidth to 96.00 GB/s. The RTX 4070 uses 12 GB of GDDR6X at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective) on a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s. Pixel rate on the RTX 4070 is 158.4 GPixel/s versus 49.18 GPixel/s, and texture rate is 455.4 GTexel/s versus 98.37 GTexel/s.

Power and physical design differ as much as compute resources. The A500 Mobile is an IGP (integrated graphics processor) with a 30 W TDP and no power connectors, designed for portable devices with display outputs that are "Portable Device Dependent." The RTX 4070 is a dual-slot card drawing 200 W, requiring a 1x 16-pin power connector and a 550 W suggested PSU. The RTX 4070’s dimensions are 240 mm by 110 mm by 40 mm, while the A500 has no listed dimensions due to its mobile integration.

The Verdict

The benchmark data is unambiguous for performance: the RTX 4070 wins both head-to-head tests by margins of 73.4% and 78.3%. Its percentile rank of 81 versus the A500’s 82 is misleading, as the A500’s rank derives from only two benchmark results while the RTX 4070 has ten. The RTX 4070’s average benchmark score of 37,648 places it among rivals like the Tesla P4 and RX Vega 56, while the A500’s 39,568 average puts it alongside older Radeon Pro workstation parts.

For computationally intensive workloads, anything requiring high FP32 throughput, large memory capacity, or wide memory bandwidth, the RTX 4070 is the clear choice. Its 12 GB GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth make it suitable for large datasets, and its 5,888 shading units provide substantial compute headroom. The A500 Mobile, with its 30 W TDP and IGP form factor, is designed for scenarios where power consumption and physical space are constrained. Its 4 GB memory and 96.00 GB/s bandwidth are limiting, but it fits into portable devices where a dual-slot 200 W card cannot.

Production status matters here. Both are end-of-life, but the A500’s predecessor was Quadro Turing-M and its successor is Ada-MW, positioning it as a professional mobile workstation part. The RTX 4070’s predecessor is GeForce 30 and successor is GeForce 50, marking it as a consumer desktop GPU. The RTX 4070’s launch MSRP of 599 USD is the only pricing data available, and no such figure exists for the A500.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 |

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

| Architecture | Ampere | Ada Lovelace |

| Process Node | 8 nm (Samsung) | 5 nm (TSMC) |

| Transistors | 8,700 million | 35,800 million |

| Die Size | 200 mm² | 294 mm² |

| Base Clock | 832 MHz | 1920 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1537 MHz | 2475 MHz |

| Memory Size | 4 GB GDDR6 | 12 GB GDDR6X |

| Memory Bus | 64 bit | 192 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 96.00 GB/s | 504.2 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 2048 | 5888 |

| TMUs | 64 | 184 |

| ROPs | 32 | 64 |

| RT Cores | 16 | 46 |

| Tensor Cores | 64 | 184 |

| FP32 Performance | 6.296 TFLOPS | 29.15 TFLOPS |

| Pixel Rate | 49.18 GPixel/s | 158.4 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 98.37 GTexel/s | 455.4 GTexel/s |

| TDP | 30 W | 200 W |

| Slot Width | IGP | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | None | 1x 16-pin |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 4.0 x8 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | Portable Device Dependent | 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |

| Release Date | 2022-03-21 | 2023-04-11 |

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 4070 wins every compute benchmark where both are tested. Its OpenCL score of 154,858 and Vulkan score of 174,152 are over 3.7x and 4.6x the A500 Mobile’s respective scores. Beyond the shared tests, the RTX 4070’s Passmark G3D score of 26,927 and GPU Compute score of 14,720 indicate strong DirectX and general-purpose compute performance. Its 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores provide dedicated hardware for ray tracing and AI workloads, though no ray tracing benchmarks are in the data.

The A500 Mobile’s wins are not in raw performance but in efficiency and form factor. Its 30 W TDP is 15% of the RTX 4070’s 200 W draw. Its IGP design with no power connectors means it can be integrated into portable devices without external power delivery. The "Portable Device Dependent" display output also indicates flexibility for manufacturers. The A500’s 82nd percentile ranking versus the RTX 4070’s 81st suggests that within its constrained test set, it performs competitively relative to the entire GPU database, but that set only includes two tests, both of which it loses.

For users with power budgets under 30 W or space for only an IGP, the A500 Mobile is the only option between these two. For anyone needing maximum compute throughput, memory capacity, or bandwidth, the RTX 4070 is the definitive choice, delivering 29.15 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth. The fact that both share the same DirectX, OpenGL, and Vulkan support means software compatibility is not a deciding factor, the decision rests entirely on physical constraints versus raw performance requirements.