NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 vs NVIDIA RTX A5500 Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A5500 has an average benchmark score of 165,217, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 has an average score of 79,842. However, the RTX 5090 sits in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX A5500 ranks in the 97th percentile.

Q: How do the two cards compare in Geekbench OpenCL performance?

A: The RTX 5090 scores 334,370 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 47.8% higher than the RTX A5500's score of 174,637. The RTX 5090 wins this benchmark decisively.

Q: What about Vulkan performance?

A: In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 5090 scores 376,728 compared to the RTX A5500's 155,797, a margin of 58.6%. This is the largest performance gap between the two cards in the recorded head-to-head data.

Q: What are the closest rivals to the RTX A5500 in the database?

A: The RTX A5500's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation (average score 166,094, 0.5% higher), the AMD Radeon Pro W6900X (168,574, 2% higher), the AMD Radeon PRO W7800 (164,894, 0.2% lower), and the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40 GB (162,504, 1.7% lower).

Q: What are the closest rivals to the RTX 5090?

A: The RTX 5090's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X (average score 80,959, 1.4% higher), the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605, 0.3% lower), the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79,396, 0.6% lower), and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940, 1.1% lower).

Q: Which card has a higher transistor density?

A: The RTX 5090 has a transistor density of 122.9M per mm², while the RTX A5500 has 45.1M per mm². The RTX 5090's 5 nm TSMC process allows for a much denser chip design.

The Verdict

The recorded benchmark data presents a clear split between these two NVIDIA cards. The RTX 5090 dominates in raw compute performance, winning both head-to-head benchmark tests against the RTX A5500. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 5090 leads by 47.8%, and in Geekbench Vulkan it leads by 58.6%. For anyone whose priority is maximum raw throughput in compute-heavy workloads, the RTX 5090 is the obvious choice from the data.

The RTX A5500, however, occupies a different position. Its average benchmark score of 165,217 places it in the 97th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals are all professional workstation cards: the RTX 4500 Ada Generation, the AMD Radeon PRO W7800, the AMD Radeon Pro W6900X, and the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40 GB. The RTX 5090, by contrast, has nearest rivals that are older Tesla accelerators and a mobile Radeon part, which reflects a different performance profile in the database's aggregate measurements.

The RTX A5500 is end-of-life, while the RTX 5090 is active in production. The RTX A5500 uses a single 8-pin power connector with a suggested 550 W PSU, whereas the RTX 5090 requires a 16-pin connector and a suggested 950 W PSU. The RTX A5500 is also a shorter dual-slot card at 267 mm, while the RTX 5090 measures 304 mm in length.

Professionals who need a workstation card with a 97th percentile standing among all GPUs and a lower power footprint may prefer the RTX A5500. Those who need the highest raw compute scores, the larger 32 GB GDDR7 memory pool, and the newer Blackwell architecture should choose the RTX 5090. The data does not show a scenario where the RTX A5500 outperforms the RTX 5090 in the head-to-head tests, so the decision rests on workload fit, power delivery, and form factor rather than on performance parity.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head data contains two benchmark comparisons, and the RTX 5090 wins both. The first is Geekbench OpenCL, where the RTX 5090 scores 334,370 against the RTX A5500's 174,637. That is a 47.8% advantage for the RTX 5090. This is a substantial margin, nearly half again as much performance in a compute-oriented API.

The second is Geekbench Vulkan, where the RTX 5090 scores 376,728 and the RTX A5500 scores 155,797. The delta is 58.6%, meaning the RTX 5090 delivers more than double the Vulkan score of the A5500. This is the single largest performance gap recorded between the two cards.

The RTX 5090 also carries a much higher FP32 rating at 104.8 TFLOPS compared to the RTX A5500's 34.10 TFLOPS, and its texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s is roughly three times the A5500's 532.8 GTexel/s. The pixel rate follows the same pattern: 423.6 GPixel/s for the RTX 5090 versus 159.8 GPixel/s for the RTX A5500. These specification differences align with the benchmark results, which show the RTX 5090 as the faster card in every measured category.

The RTX A5500's wins are not in the head-to-head benchmarks but in its aggregate database standing. Its average score of 165,217 places it at the 97th percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX 5090's average score of 79,842 places it at the 92nd percentile. This is a notable inversion: the RTX 5090 wins every direct comparison but sits lower in the percentile ranking. The explanation lies in the different benchmark suites recorded for each card. The RTX A5500 has two Geekbench entries, while the RTX 5090 has ten entries spanning 3DMark, PassMark, and Geekbench tests. The PassMark DirectX 9, 10, 11, and 12 scores for the RTX 5090 are relatively low (395, 226, 341, and 185 respectively), which pulls its average down despite the strong Geekbench numbers.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every major specification. The RTX A5500 uses the GA102 chip on an 8 nm Samsung process, while the RTX 5090 uses the GB202 chip on a 5 nm TSMC process. Transistor counts are 28,300 million for the A5500 and 92,200 million for the RTX 5090. The die size is 628 mm² for the A5500 and 750 mm² for the RTX 5090.

Memory is a major differentiator. The RTX A5500 has 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus with 768.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 5090 has 32 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth. The RTX 5090's memory clock is 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective speed, while the A5500 runs at 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective.

Core counts follow the same pattern. The RTX A5500 has 10,240 shading units, 320 TMUs, 96 ROPs, 80 RT cores, and 320 tensor cores. The RTX 5090 has 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, 176 ROPs, 170 RT cores, and 680 tensor cores. Every count roughly doubles or more.

Clock speeds also favor the RTX 5090. Its base clock is 2017 MHz and boost clock is 2407 MHz, compared to 1080 MHz base and 1665 MHz boost for the A5500. Power requirements scale accordingly: the RTX A5500 has a 230 W TDP and a suggested 550 W PSU, while the RTX 5090 has a 575 W TDP and a suggested 950 W PSU. The power connector changes from a single 8-pin on the A5500 to a single 16-pin on the RTX 5090.

The bus interface moves from PCIe 4.0 x16 on the A5500 to PCIe 5.0 x16 on the RTX 5090. Display outputs differ as well: the A5500 offers 4x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the RTX 5090 offers 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b. Physical dimensions show the RTX 5090 is larger at 304 mm by 137 mm by 40 mm, versus the A5500's 267 mm by 112 mm. Both are dual-slot cards.

Architecture Differences

The architecture gap is generational. The RTX A5500 is built on Ampere, part of the Workstation Ampere (Ax000) generation, and uses the GA102 chip fabricated by Samsung on an 8 nm process. The RTX 5090 is built on Blackwell 2.0, part of the GeForce 50 series, and uses the GB202 chip fabricated by TSMC on a 5 nm process.

The manufacturing improvements are visible in the transistor density. The RTX A5500 packs 45.1M transistors per mm², while the RTX 5090 reaches 122.9M per mm². This density increase, combined with the larger 750 mm² die, allows the RTX 5090 to house 92,200 million transistors versus 28,300 million in the A5500.

The RTX 5090 uses GDDR7 memory, while the A5500 uses GDDR6. The RTX 5090 also doubles the RT core count from 80 to 170 and the tensor core count from 320 to 680. Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so API-level feature support is identical. Both are dual-slot designs, but the RTX 5090 requires a 16-pin power connector and a 950 W suggested PSU, reflecting its much higher TDP of 575 W compared to the A5500's 230 W.

The production status differs sharply: the RTX A5500 is end-of-life, while the RTX 5090 is active. The RTX A5500's predecessor is Quadro Turing and its successor is Workstation Ada. The RTX 5090's predecessor is GeForce 40 and its successor is GeForce 60.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 5090 wins in raw compute performance across both recorded head-to-head benchmarks. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 334,370 is 47.8% higher than the A5500's 174,637, and its Vulkan score of 376,728 is 58.6% higher than the A5500's 155,797. The RTX 5090 also leads in every major compute specification: FP32 performance, texture rate, pixel rate, memory bandwidth, and core counts. For workloads that stress compute throughput, especially Vulkan-based applications, the RTX 5090 is the clear winner in the recorded data.

The RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth provides substantially more memory capacity and bandwidth than the A5500's 24 GB of GDDR6 at 768.0 GB/s. The RTX 5090's 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores also give it a significant advantage in ray tracing and tensor-accelerated workloads.

The RTX A5500 wins in the aggregate database ranking. Its 97th percentile standing among all GPUs is five points higher than the RTX 5090's 92nd percentile. Its average benchmark score of 165,217 is more than double the RTX 5090's 79,842. The A5500 also has a much lower power profile: 230 W TDP with a 550 W suggested PSU, versus 575 W TDP with a 950 W suggested PSU. The single 8-pin power connector is more compatible with existing workstation power supplies than the RTX 5090's 16-pin connector.

The RTX A5500 is also physically shorter at 267 mm versus the RTX 5090's 304 mm, which matters for space-constrained chassis. Its 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs may suit multi-display workstation setups, whereas the RTX 5090's mix of 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b targets consumer display configurations.

The RTX A5500's nearest rivals are all professional workstation cards, which indicates its performance profile aligns with workstation-class workloads. The RTX 5090's nearest rivals include older Tesla accelerators and a mobile Radeon part, which suggests its aggregate score is dragged down by legacy DirectX benchmarks. In the head-to-head tests that directly compare the two cards, the RTX 5090 wins every time. The RTX A5500's advantage is in its higher percentile ranking, lower power requirements, and workstation-oriented form factor.