NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 vs NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile Comparison

The NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile and NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 are both end-of-life workstation GPUs, but they represent fundamentally different design philosophies and performance profiles. The A5500 Mobile wins the overall average benchmark score with 113,944 against the Quadro RTX 6000's 101,872, a 12.1% advantage. However, the data does not show a single superior card. The A5500 Mobile dominates in OpenCL compute workloads, while the Quadro RTX 6000 is clearly faster in Vulkan graphics tasks. Consequently, the choice depends entirely on the primary application: compute-heavy workflows should favor the A5500 Mobile, while graphics-centric applications should favor the Quadro RTX 6000.

The Verdict

The benchmark data indicates a clear split between these two GPUs, making the "best" choice dependent on the workload. For users prioritizing raw compute performance in OpenCL-based applications, the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile is the definitive choice. It scores 124,287 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 67.6% higher than the Quadro RTX 6000's score of 74,179. This massive lead is the single largest performance gap between the two cards and points to the A5500 Mobile's architectural efficiency in compute-heavy tasks.

Conversely, for users whose primary workload involves Vulkan-based rendering or graphics APIs, the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 is the stronger option. It achieves a Geekbench Vulkan score of 129,564, which is 20% higher than the A5500 Mobile's 103,601. This is a significant margin that would translate to tangible performance gains in Vulkan-supported applications. The Quadro RTX 6000 also offers a larger 24 GB memory pool compared to the A5500 Mobile's 16 GB, which is a decisive factor for extremely large datasets that exceed 16 GB.

The average benchmark scores reflect this trade-off. The A5500 Mobile's average score of 113,944 places it 12.1% ahead of the Quadro RTX 6000's 101,872. Both cards sit in the 94th percentile of all GPUs, indicating they are both high-end performers. The A5500 Mobile's nearest rival is the NVIDIA Tesla V100 SXM2 16 GB, with a delta of -0.4%, and it is 2.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon PRO W7900. The Quadro RTX 6000 is 4.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7900M and 4.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro VII, but trails the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo by 4.6%. Ultimately, the A5500 Mobile is the better all-rounder for compute, while the Quadro RTX 6000 is the specialist for graphics and memory capacity.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile has a higher average benchmark score of 113,944, compared to the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000's 101,872.

Q: Which GPU wins in Geekbench OpenCL performance?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile wins decisively, scoring 124,287 against the Quadro RTX 6000's 74,179, a difference of 67.6%.

Q: Which GPU wins in Geekbench Vulkan performance?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 wins, scoring 129,564 against the A5500 Mobile's 103,601, a difference of 20%.

Q: How much memory does each GPU have?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 has 24 GB of GDDR6 memory.

Q: What are the power consumption figures for these GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile has a TDP of 165 W, while the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 has a TDP of 260 W.

Q: Which GPU has a higher transistor density?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile has a transistor density of 44.4M / mm², compared to the Quadro RTX 6000's 24.7M / mm².

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on entirely different architectures and manufacturing processes. The NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile uses the Ampere architecture, specifically the GA103 chip, fabricated on an 8 nm process by Samsung. In contrast, the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 uses the older Turing architecture, with the TU102 chip, fabricated on a 12 nm process by TSMC. This process difference is a key factor in the A5500 Mobile's efficiency, allowing it to pack 22,000 million transistors into a 496 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 44.4M / mm². The Quadro RTX 6000, despite having a much larger die size of 754 mm², contains only 18,600 million transistors, yielding a lower density of 24.7M / mm².

The core configurations also differ significantly. The A5500 Mobile features 7,424 shading units, 232 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. It also has 58 RT cores and 232 tensor cores. The Quadro RTX 6000 has fewer shading units at 4,608, but more TMUs at 288, and the same 96 ROPs. It has more RT cores (72) and a significantly higher count of tensor cores (576). The FP16 performance reveals a key architectural difference: the A5500 Mobile achieves 22.27 TFLOPS FP16 with a 1:1 ratio to FP32, while the Quadro RTX 6000 achieves 32.62 TFLOPS FP16 with a 2:1 ratio, indicating a different approach to mixed-precision compute.

The memory subsystems are also architecturally distinct. The A5500 Mobile uses a 256-bit memory bus with 16 GB of GDDR6, while the Quadro RTX 6000 uses a wider 384-bit bus with 24 GB of GDDR6. This results in a bandwidth advantage for the Quadro RTX 6000, which has 672.0 GB/s compared to the A5500 Mobile's 512.0 GB/s. The bus interface also differs, with the A5500 Mobile supporting PCIe 4.0 x16, while the Quadro RTX 6000 is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16.

Specification Differences

The key specification differences between the two GPUs are substantial. The A5500 Mobile has a base clock of 975 MHz and a boost clock of 1500 MHz, while the Quadro RTX 6000 has a higher base clock of 1440 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz. This higher clock speed contributes to the Quadro RTX 6000's texture rate of 509.8 GTexel/s, which is higher than the A5500 Mobile's 348.0 GTexel/s. However, the A5500 Mobile achieves a higher pixel rate of 144.0 GPixel/s, compared to the Quadro RTX 6000's 169.9 GPixel/s.

Memory specifications differ in size, bus width, and speed. The A5500 Mobile has 16 GB of GDDR6 at an effective speed of 16 Gbps, while the Quadro RTX 6000 has 24 GB of GDDR6 at an effective speed of 14 Gbps. The bandwidth is higher on the Quadro RTX 6000 due to its wider 384-bit bus (672.0 GB/s vs. 512.0 GB/s).

Power and physical characteristics show a stark contrast. The A5500 Mobile has a TDP of 165 W and no power connectors, as it is a mobile part. The Quadro RTX 6000 is a dual-slot desktop card with a TDP of 260 W, requiring a 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin power connector and a suggested PSU of 600 W. The Quadro RTX 6000 measures 267 mm in length and 111 mm in height. The A5500 Mobile's display outputs are "Portable Device Dependent," while the Quadro RTX 6000 offers 4x DisplayPort 1.4a and 1x USB Type-C. Finally, the release dates differ, with the A5500 Mobile launching on 2022-03-21 and the Quadro RTX 6000 on 2018-08-12. The Quadro RTX 6000 has a launch MSRP of 6,299 USD.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head data reveals a 1-1 split in wins, with each GPU dominating a distinct API. The most dramatic result is in Geekbench OpenCL, where the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile achieves a score of 124,287, which is a 67.6% advantage over the Quadro RTX 6000's 74,179. This is not a marginal win; it is a crushing defeat that highlights the A5500 Mobile's superior compute architecture.

The tables turn in Geekbench Vulkan, where the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 takes a 20% lead. It scores 129,564, while the A5500 Mobile scores 103,601. This shows that the Quadro RTX 6000, despite its older architecture, has a significant edge in graphics-heavy workloads. The delta of -20% for the A5500 Mobile indicates it is the loser in this test.

These two results are the only benchmarks in the head-to-head comparison, but they tell a clear story. The A5500 Mobile is designed for compute throughput, leveraging its Ampere architecture to deliver a massive OpenCL lead. The Quadro RTX 6000, with its higher clock speeds and more generous memory bandwidth, excels in Vulkan rendering tasks. The average benchmark scores are a composite of these two results, with the A5500 Mobile's 113,944 edging out the Quadro RTX 6000's 101,872, but the individual wins are far more informative than the aggregate.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile wins in scenarios that demand raw compute power. Its 67.6% lead in Geekbench OpenCL makes it the clear choice for applications that rely on OpenCL for general-purpose GPU compute, such as scientific simulations, data analytics, and certain machine learning workloads. The A5500 Mobile's higher FP32 throughput (22.27 TFLOPS vs. 16.31 TFLOPS) reinforces this strength. Its lower TDP of 165 W also makes it suitable for mobile workstations where power efficiency is a premium, despite the Quadro RTX 6000's higher clock speeds.

The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 wins in graphics-centric and memory-hungry scenarios. Its 20% lead in Geekbench Vulkan makes it the better option for Vulkan-based rendering engines, CAD applications, and real-time visualization tools. The Quadro RTX 6000's larger 24 GB memory buffer is a decisive advantage for handling massive textures, complex 3D scenes, or datasets that cannot fit within 16 GB. Its higher bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s also aids in feeding its more numerous TMUs (288 vs. 232), resulting in a higher texture rate of 509.8 GTexel/s. For users who need maximum graphics performance and large memory capacity in a desktop workstation, the Quadro RTX 6000 is the data-backed winner.