NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile vs NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile Comparison

# NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile vs NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile scores 113,944 on average, while the NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile scores 70,140. That puts the A5500 Mobile roughly 62% ahead in aggregate performance.

Q: How do these mobile workstation GPUs compare to their nearest rivals?

A: The RTX A5500 Mobile sits 2.7% behind the NVIDIA RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation and 2.9% behind the NVIDIA GB10, but beats the AMD Radeon PRO W7900 by 2.9%. The RTX A3000 Mobile is 0.2% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 and 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro WX 8200, while trailing the AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE by 1%.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The RTX A5500 Mobile carries 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 512.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX A3000 Mobile has 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus with 264.0 GB/s bandwidth. That is a 10 GB capacity gap and roughly double the memory bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has the higher pixel and texture throughput?

A: The RTX A5500 Mobile delivers 144.0 GPixel/s and 348.0 GTexel/s. The RTX A3000 Mobile delivers 78.72 GPixel/s and 157.4 GTexel/s. The A5500 Mobile is about 83% faster in pixel rate and 121% faster in texture rate.

Q: Are both GPUs from the same architecture generation?

A: Yes, both use the Ampere architecture on Samsung's 8 nm process, and both belong to the Ampere-MW (Ax000) generation. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Q: What is the production status of these GPUs?

A: Both are end-of-life products. The RTX A5500 Mobile was released on 2022-03-21, and the RTX A3000 Mobile was released on 2021-04-11. Neither has a launch MSRP listed in the database.

Architecture Differences

Both GPUs share the Ampere architecture, Samsung 8 nm process node, and identical transistor density of 44.4M / mm². The key architectural divergence comes from the underlying chips. The RTX A5500 Mobile uses the GA103 chip with 22,000 million transistors on a 496 mm² die. The RTX A3000 Mobile uses the GA104 chip with 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die. That is a 4,600 million transistor difference and a 104 mm² die size gap.

The shading engine counts scale accordingly. The RTX A5500 Mobile has 7,424 shading units, 232 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The RTX A3000 Mobile has 4,096 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. Ray tracing and tensor hardware follow the same pattern: 58 RT cores and 232 tensor cores on the A5500 Mobile versus 32 RT cores and 128 tensor cores on the A3000 Mobile.

Clock behavior also differs significantly. The RTX A5500 Mobile has a 975 MHz base clock and 1,500 MHz boost clock. The RTX A3000 Mobile runs at 600 MHz base and 1,230 MHz boost. The memory clocks differ as well: the A5500 Mobile runs at 2,000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective, while the A3000 Mobile runs at 1,375 MHz with 11 Gbps effective.

Both GPUs use GDDR6 memory, PCIe 4.0 x16 interfaces, and have no power connectors listed. Display outputs are portable-device dependent for both, meaning laptop manufacturers decide the physical outputs. Both are end-of-life products with the same predecessor (Quadro Turing-M) and successor (Ada-MW).

Where Each One Wins

The RTX A5500 Mobile wins every recorded benchmark in this comparison, and the data shows no workload category where the RTX A3000 Mobile comes out ahead. That said, the wins are not equal in magnitude, and the practical use-case split reflects the scale of the performance gap.

The RTX A5500 Mobile is the choice for memory-heavy professional workloads. Its 16 GB frame buffer and 512.0 GB/s bandwidth handle large datasets that the 6 GB A3000 Mobile cannot fit. In GPU compute tasks such as rendering, simulation, or machine learning inference, the A5500 Mobile's 22.27 TFLOPS FP32 and FP16 throughput (1:1 ratio) provides roughly double the compute throughput of the A3000 Mobile's 10.08 TFLOPS.

The RTX A3000 Mobile still has a place in lighter mobile workstations. Its 70 W TDP makes it far less demanding than the 165 W A5500 Mobile, which matters for laptop thermal designs and battery life. The A3000 Mobile also retains the same API feature set, including DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, so software compatibility is identical. For users who need occasional GPU acceleration in a thin-and-light chassis, the A3000 Mobile is the practical option.

The spec sheet shows a clear hierarchy: the A5500 Mobile wins on raw performance, memory capacity, memory bandwidth, and feature counts. The A3000 Mobile wins only on power efficiency and implementation flexibility, though the database does not quantify battery runtime or thermal behavior.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every compute and memory field:

• Chip: GA103 (A5500 Mobile) versus GA104 (A3000 Mobile)
• Transistors: 22,000 million versus 17,400 million
• Die size: 496 mm² versus 392 mm²
• Base clock: 975 MHz versus 600 MHz
• Boost clock: 1,500 MHz versus 1,230 MHz
• Memory clock: 2,000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) versus 1,375 MHz (11 Gbps effective)
• Memory size: 16 GB versus 6 GB
• Memory bus width: 256 bit versus 192 bit
• Memory bandwidth: 512.0 GB/s versus 264.0 GB/s
• Shading units: 7,424 versus 4,096
• TMUs: 232 versus 128
• ROPs: 96 versus 64
• RT cores: 58 versus 32
• Tensor cores: 232 versus 128
• Pixel rate: 144.0 GPixel/s versus 78.72 GPixel/s
• Texture rate: 348.0 GTexel/s versus 157.4 GTexel/s
• FP32 compute: 22.27 TFLOPS versus 10.08 TFLOPS
• FP16 compute: 22.27 TFLOPS (1:1) versus 10.08 TFLOPS (1:1)
• TDP: 165 W versus 70 W
• Release date: 2022-03-21 versus 2021-04-11

Fields that match include the process node (8 nm Samsung), foundry (Samsung), architecture (Ampere), generation (Ampere-MW Ax000), memory type (GDDR6), bus interface (PCIe 4.0 x16), power connectors (None), display outputs (portable device dependent), and all three API versions (DirectX 12 Ultimate 12_2, OpenGL 4.6, Vulkan 1.4). Transistor density is identical at 44.4M / mm².

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records two benchmark comparisons between these GPUs, and the RTX A5500 Mobile wins both by substantial margins.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX A5500 Mobile scores 124,287 against the RTX A3000 Mobile's 79,091. That is a 57.1% advantage. This test exercises general compute workloads, and the gap reflects the A5500 Mobile's higher shading unit count, higher clocks, and larger memory subsystem.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX A5500 Mobile scores 103,601 against the RTX A3000 Mobile's 61,189. The delta expands to 69.3%. Vulkan compute and graphics workloads benefit from the A5500 Mobile's higher texture rate (348.0 GTexel/s versus 157.4 GTexel/s) and pixel rate (144.0 GPixel/s versus 78.72 GPixel/s). The A5500 Mobile also has 58 RT cores versus 32, which helps in ray-traced workloads even though the Geekbench Vulkan test does not isolate that feature.

The overall win count is 2 for the RTX A5500 Mobile and 0 for the RTX A3000 Mobile. The average benchmark score difference is 43,804 points (113,944 versus 70,140), which is roughly a 62.5% gap. In percentile terms, the A5500 Mobile sits at the 94th percentile of all GPUs, while the A3000 Mobile sits at the 91st percentile. That percentile difference is smaller than the raw score gap suggests, because the upper end of the GPU distribution has larger absolute score differences between adjacent percentiles.

The nearest rival data puts this in context. The RTX A5500 Mobile's closest competitor is the NVIDIA Tesla V100 SXM2 16 GB, which trails by 0.4%. The RTX A4000 SFF Ada Generation leads the A5500 Mobile by 2.7%. On the other side, the RTX A3000 Mobile narrowly beats the Quadro P6000 by 0.2% and the Radeon Pro WX 8200 by 0.4%, but loses to the Radeon RX 6600 LE by 1%. This shows the A5500 Mobile competes in a higher performance tier entirely.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile is the faster GPU in every recorded measurement. It wins both Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan tests by 57.1% and 69.3% respectively, and it offers more than double the FP32 compute throughput (22.27 TFLOPS versus 10.08 TFLOPS). For anyone selecting between these two for rendering, simulation, or GPU compute, the A5500 Mobile is the stronger choice.

The memory difference is the decisive factor for professional workloads. The A5500 Mobile's 16 GB frame buffer versus 6 GB means it can handle larger scenes, bigger point clouds, and more complex neural network models without spilling to system memory. The 512.0 GB/s bandwidth versus 264.0 GB/s also reduces bottlenecks when streaming large textures or compute data.

The RTX A3000 Mobile is not without justification. Its 70 W TDP versus 165 W makes it viable for compact laptops where the A5500 Mobile's power draw would be impractical. The A3000 Mobile still supports the same modern APIs and carries 32 RT cores and 128 tensor cores, so it is not a weak GPU in absolute terms. It sits at the 91st percentile of all GPUs, which is respectable for a mobile part.

The release dates matter for procurement decisions. The A3000 Mobile launched 2021-04-11, nearly a year before the A5500 Mobile's 2022-03-21 launch. Both are end-of-life, but the A5500 Mobile is newer and likely has a longer driver support window.

The verdict splits cleanly. Choose the RTX A5500 Mobile if raw performance, large memory capacity, and high bandwidth are priorities, and if the host laptop can handle 165 W of GPU power. Choose the RTX A3000 Mobile if the system must stay lean on power draw and thermals, and if workloads fit within 6 GB of memory. The benchmark scores leave no room for ambiguity about which GPU is faster, but the right pick depends on the physical constraints of the laptop chassis and the memory demands of the software.