NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile vs NVIDIA T600 Mobile Comparison

The Verdict

The data is clear: the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile is the faster card in both recorded benchmark tests, and it is the one to choose if raw compute performance is the priority. The RTX A500 Mobile wins the OpenCL test with a score of 41263 against 35486 for the T600 Mobile, a 16.3% advantage, and wins the Vulkan test with 37873 against 30211, a larger 25.4% margin. The average benchmark score tells the same story: 39568 for the RTX A500 Mobile versus 32849 for the T600 Mobile. The RTX A500 Mobile also sits in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs in the database, while the T600 Mobile sits in the 77th.

The T600 Mobile, however, is not without its own strengths. It has a wider 128-bit memory bus and higher memory bandwidth at 192.0 GB/s compared to the 64-bit bus and 96.00 GB/s of the RTX A500 Mobile. For workloads that are heavily memory-bandwidth bound, such as certain rendering or data-processing tasks, the T600 Mobile could be the more practical choice despite its lower compute scores. It also carries a 40 W TDP, which is higher than the 30 W TDP of the RTX A500 Mobile, but both are mobile parts with no external power connectors. If the task is memory throughput, pick the T600 Mobile. If the task is general compute and graphics processing, the RTX A500 Mobile is the stronger pick based on the measured results.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different NVIDIA architectures and different generations. The RTX A500 Mobile is built on the Ampere architecture, using the GA107S chip, and belongs to the Ampere-MW (Ax000) generation. It is fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. The T600 Mobile is a Turing architecture part, using the TU117 chip, and belongs to the Quadro Turing-M (Tx000) generation. It is fabricated on a 12 nm process at TSMC. The process difference is significant: the RTX A500 Mobile packs 8,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 43.5M per mm², while the T600 Mobile has 4,700 million transistors on the same 200 mm² die, for a density of 23.5M per mm². The RTX A500 Mobile has nearly double the transistor count on the same physical die area.

The compute resources differ dramatically. The RTX A500 Mobile has 2048 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. It also has 16 RT cores and 64 tensor cores. The T600 Mobile has 896 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, but it has no RT cores and no tensor cores listed in the data. This means the RTX A500 Mobile supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing and tensor operations, while the T600 Mobile does not. The FP32 compute figures reflect this gap: the RTX A500 Mobile delivers 6.296 TFLOPS, while the T600 Mobile delivers 2.527 TFLOPS. The FP16 situation is also different: the RTX A500 Mobile provides 6.296 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio with FP32, while the T600 Mobile provides 5.053 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio, meaning the T600 Mobile has a higher FP16 throughput relative to its own FP32 but still less absolute FP16 performance than the RTX A500 Mobile.

The memory architecture also differs. Both have 4 GB of GDDR6, but the RTX A500 Mobile uses a 64-bit bus with 96.00 GB/s bandwidth, while the T600 Mobile uses a 128-bit bus with 192.0 GB/s bandwidth. Memory clocks are the same at 1500 MHz with 12 Gbps effective. The bus interface differs as well: the RTX A500 Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x8, while the T600 Mobile uses PCIe 3.0 x16. The RTX A500 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the T600 Mobile supports only DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. The TDP differs: the RTX A500 Mobile is rated at 30 W, the T600 Mobile at 40 W. The RTX A500 Mobile was released later, on 2022-03-21, while the T600 Mobile was released on 2021-04-11. Both are end-of-life products.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher raw compute performance?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile. Its FP32 throughput is 6.296 TFLOPS versus 2.527 TFLOPS for the T600 Mobile. Benchmark results confirm this: the RTX A500 Mobile scores 41263 in OpenCL and 37873 in Vulkan, while the T600 Mobile scores 35486 and 30211 respectively.

Q: Does the T600 Mobile have any advantage over the RTX A500 Mobile?

A: Yes, in memory bandwidth. The T600 Mobile has a 128-bit bus with 192.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the RTX A500 Mobile has a 64-bit bus with 96.00 GB/s. For workloads that require moving large amounts of data quickly, the T600 Mobile has a clear edge.

Q: Does the RTX A500 Mobile support ray tracing?

A: Yes. It has 16 RT cores and 64 tensor cores. The T600 Mobile has no RT cores or tensor cores in the recorded data, so it lacks hardware support for ray tracing and tensor acceleration.

Q: Which GPU is more power-efficient?

A: The RTX A500 Mobile has a 30 W TDP, while the T600 Mobile has a 40 W TDP. The RTX A500 Mobile delivers higher benchmark scores while drawing less power, making it the more efficient part in the recorded data.

Q: What is the performance gap in the benchmarks?

A: The RTX A500 Mobile leads by 16.3% in OpenCL and by 25.4% in Vulkan. Its average benchmark score is 39568, which is 20.5% higher than the T600 Mobile average of 32849.

Q: Are both GPUs still in production?

A: No. Both are listed as end-of-life products. The T600 Mobile was released on 2021-04-11, and the RTX A500 Mobile followed on 2022-03-21.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every major specification category. The process node is different: 8 nm Samsung for the RTX A500 Mobile versus 12 nm TSMC for the T600 Mobile. Transistor count is 8,700 million versus 4,700 million, with transistor density of 43.5M per mm² versus 23.5M per mm². The die size is the same at 200 mm² for both.

The compute specifications are substantially different. The RTX A500 Mobile has 2048 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, while the T600 Mobile has 896 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The RTX A500 Mobile has 16 RT cores and 64 tensor cores; the T600 Mobile has none. The FP32 performance is 6.296 TFLOPS versus 2.527 TFLOPS. FP16 performance is 6.296 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio versus 5.053 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio. Pixel rates are 49.18 GPixel/s versus 45.12 GPixel/s, and texture rates are 98.37 GTexel/s versus 78.96 GTexel/s.

Memory differs in bus width and bandwidth: 64-bit and 96.00 GB/s for the RTX A500 Mobile versus 128-bit and 192.0 GB/s for the T600 Mobile. The memory size and type are the same: 4 GB GDDR6. The memory clock is the same at 1500 MHz, 12 Gbps effective.

Clock speeds differ: the RTX A500 Mobile has a base clock of 832 MHz and a boost of 1537 MHz, while the T600 Mobile has a base of 780 MHz and a boost of 1410 MHz. TDP differs: 30 W versus 40 W. The bus interface differs: PCIe 4.0 x8 versus PCIe 3.0 x16. DirectX support differs: 12 Ultimate (12_2) versus 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. Both have no power connectors and use an IGP slot width. Display outputs are portable-device-dependent for both.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records two head-to-head benchmark tests between these GPUs, and the RTX A500 Mobile wins both. The first test is Geekbench OpenCL. The RTX A500 Mobile scores 41263, and the T600 Mobile scores 35486. The RTX A500 Mobile wins by 16.3%. This is a significant margin, and it aligns with the FP32 compute difference between the two cards. The RTX A500 Mobile has 6.296 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput, which is roughly 2.5 times the FP32 throughput of the T600 Mobile, so a 16.3% lead in OpenCL actually understates the theoretical compute gap.

The second test is Geekbench Vulkan. The RTX A500 Mobile scores 37873, and the T600 Mobile scores 30211. The RTX A500 Mobile wins by 25.4%. This is an even larger margin than the OpenCL result. The Vulkan gap is more than 7,600 points, and it shows that the RTX A500 Mobile scales better in a low-level graphics API. The T600 Mobile has no RT cores and no tensor cores, which may explain part of the larger Vulkan deficit.

The average benchmark score data reinforces the head-to-head results. The RTX A500 Mobile has an average score of 39568, while the T600 Mobile has an average of 32849. The nearest rivals for the RTX A500 Mobile are AMD Radeon Pro 575 (39555, 0% delta), AMD Radeon Pro 575X (39116, 1.2% delta), AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 (40063, -1.2% delta), and AMD Radeon Pro 580 (40318, -1.9% delta). The RTX A500 Mobile sits right in the middle of that group, slightly behind the Radeon Pro WX 7100 and Radeon Pro 580, but slightly ahead of the Radeon Pro 575 and 575X. The T600 Mobile has a different set of nearest rivals: NVIDIA P104-100 (32982, -0.4% delta), AMD Radeon RX 590 GME (32601, 0.8% delta), AMD FirePro S9300 X2 (32540, 0.9% delta), and NVIDIA T550 Mobile (33161, -0.9% delta). The T600 Mobile is essentially tied with these cards, all within about 1% of each other.

The percentile data places the RTX A500 Mobile at the 82nd percentile of all GPUs, while the T600 Mobile sits at the 77th. That five-percentile gap reflects the 20.5% difference in average benchmark score. The RTX A500 Mobile is the clear winner in every compute benchmark recorded.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX A500 Mobile wins in raw compute and general graphics workloads. Its FP32 throughput of 6.296 TFLOPS is more than double the 2.527 TFLOPS of the T600 Mobile. It wins OpenCL by 16.3% and Vulkan by 25.4%. It has 2048 shading units versus 896, a higher texture rate of 98.37 GTexel/s versus 78.96 GTexel/s, and a higher pixel rate of 49.18 GPixel/s versus 45.12 GPixel/s. It also has hardware ray tracing and tensor cores, which the T600 Mobile lacks entirely. For tasks like 3D rendering, compute shaders, machine learning inference, or any workload that uses the GPU as a parallel processor, the RTX A500 Mobile is the one to pick. Its higher average benchmark score of 39568 versus 32849 means it will deliver a faster experience in most applications that stress the GPU.

The T600 Mobile wins in memory-bandwidth-sensitive scenarios. Its 192.0 GB/s bandwidth is exactly double the 96.00 GB/s of the RTX A500 Mobile, and its 128-bit bus is twice as wide. The T600 Mobile also has a higher TDP of 40 W, which may indicate that it is designed for sustained memory-heavy workloads in a slightly larger thermal envelope. For tasks that stream large textures, process large datasets, or rely on frequent memory access rather than raw compute, the T600 Mobile could be the better fit despite losing both benchmark tests. The data does not record any benchmark where the T600 Mobile wins, but the memory specification is the one clear area where it has a structural advantage.

The release timeline also matters. The T600 Mobile came first, on 2021-04-11, and the RTX A500 Mobile followed on 2022-03-21. The RTX A500 Mobile is the newer architecture, Ampere versus Turing, and it represents a generational step forward in transistor density and compute features. The T600 Mobile is the older design, but its wider memory bus gives it a niche that the newer card does not fill. In short, choose the RTX A500 Mobile for compute and modern graphics features, and choose the T600 Mobile only if memory bandwidth is the dominant constraint in the workload.