NVIDIA RTX A400

The NVIDIA RTX A400 is a workstation-class GPU built on the Ampere architecture, targeting compact and low-power professional systems. With an average benchmark score of 22307, it sits in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, placing it firmly in the entry-level segment for professional workloads. The card uses the GA107 chip on an 8 nm Samsung process, packing 8,700 million transistors into a 200 mm² die, and is offered as a single-slot, low-profile solution with four mini-DisplayPort outputs.

Benchmark Performance

The RTX A400 delivers a Geekbench OpenCL score of 22844 and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 21769, producing an average score of 22307. This places the card at the 65th percentile of all GPUs, meaning it outperforms roughly two-thirds of the database while remaining well behind modern mid-range and high-end parts. The data indicates a compute capability that is respectable for basic workstation tasks, but not competitive with dedicated high-performance rendering or simulation hardware.

Comparing directly to its nearest rivals, the RTX A400 leads the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER by a slim 0.5% margin (22206 average score) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z by 1.4% (22006 average score). These are marginal wins, essentially placing the A400 on par with those older, higher-tier consumer cards in raw compute benchmarks. Against the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile, the A400 trails by 1.9% (22729 average score), showing that a modern laptop GPU can match or slightly exceed this desktop workstation card in general compute. The largest gap in the rival set is against the AMD Radeon RX 5700, where the A400 leads by 2.9% (21670 average score). These deltas are all within a narrow band, suggesting the A400 is a consistent performer in its class rather than an outlier.

In practical terms, the FP32 throughput of 2.706 TFLOPS and the 1:1 FP16 rate of 2.706 TFLOPS indicate balanced single-precision and half-precision compute. The pixel rate of 28.19 GPixel/s and texture rate of 42.29 GTexel/s are modest figures, consistent with the 768 shading units, 24 TMUs, and 16 ROPs on the chip. The data shows that while the A400 can handle compute workloads, its rasterization throughput is limited, making it better suited for tasks like CAD, basic 3D modeling, or GPU-accelerated compute rather than high-fidelity gaming or heavy video editing.

Power and Cooling

The RTX A400 is an exceptionally efficient card, with a TDP of just 50 W. This low power envelope allows for a simple single-slot cooling solution, as the dimensions of 163 mm in length and 69 mm in height confirm a compact physical footprint. The card requires no external power connectors, drawing all its power from the PCIe slot, and the suggested PSU rating is a very modest 250 W. This makes the A400 an ideal drop-in upgrade for pre-built workstations or small form factor systems with limited power delivery and cooling capacity.

Thermal management is simplified by the low TDP. The single-slot design means it will not obstruct adjacent PCIe slots, and the lack of power connectors reduces cable clutter. For system integrators, the 50 W TDP means that even a basic 250 W power supply, as suggested, has ample headroom for the GPU along with typical CPU and storage components. The card runs cool and quiet under load, which is a practical advantage in noise-sensitive environments like offices or recording studios. There is no data on peak power spikes or transient loads, but the 50 W TDP and the absence of auxiliary connectors indicate that power delivery is not a concern for any standard system.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The RTX A400 includes dedicated ray tracing and tensor core hardware, a key feature set inherited from the Ampere architecture. It has 6 RT cores and 24 tensor cores, which enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI-based features like DLSS, though the low compute throughput will limit the complexity of ray-traced scenes. The API support is comprehensive: DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. This ensures compatibility with modern graphics APIs and future-proofing for applications that leverage DirectX 12 Ultimate features such as variable rate shading and mesh shaders.

For a workstation card, the tensor cores are particularly relevant for AI inference tasks and denoising operations in rendering software. The presence of RT cores allows for real-time ray tracing in supported professional applications, but the performance will be constrained by the 2.706 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and the 64-bit memory bus. The card supports four mini-DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, allowing for multi-monitor setups, which is a common requirement in professional environments. The PCIe 4.0 x8 interface provides sufficient bandwidth for the GPU's memory and compute capabilities, though a full x16 slot would offer more headroom if the card were used for data-intensive tasks.

FAQ

Q: What is the average benchmark score of the RTX A400?

A: The RTX A400 has an average benchmark score of 22307 across Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan tests, with individual scores of 22844 and 21769, respectively.

Q: How does the RTX A400 compare to the RTX 2070 SUPER?

A: The RTX A400 is 0.5% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER, with average scores of 22307 and 22206, respectively.

Q: What power supply is recommended for the RTX A400?

A: The suggested PSU rating is 250 W, and the card has a TDP of 50 W with no external power connectors required.

Q: Does the RTX A400 support hardware ray tracing?

A: Yes, it includes 6 RT cores and 24 tensor cores, and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Q: What is the memory configuration of the RTX A400?

A: It has 4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 64-bit bus, providing 96.00 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: When was the RTX A400 released?

A: The release date is 2024-04-15, and it is currently in active production.

How It Compares

Against the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER, the RTX A400 is effectively a tie, holding a 0.5% performance lead in average benchmarks. The RTX 2070 SUPER is a much older, higher-power consumer card, so the A400's ability to match it while drawing a fraction of the power is a notable efficiency win. However, the 2070 SUPER has a wider memory bus and more VRAM, so for memory-bound tasks, the A400 will lag in real-world use.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z is beaten by the RTX A400 by 1.4%. The TITAN Z is a dual-GPU relic from a previous generation, and its average score of 22006 is slightly lower. The A400's advantage comes from more modern architecture and better compute efficiency per watt, but the TITAN Z's 12 GB of VRAM makes it a better choice for large datasets if power consumption is not a concern.

The RTX 4060 Mobile outperforms the RTX A400 by 1.9%. This shows that a modern laptop GPU can match the A400 in raw compute, which is a testament to the efficiency of the Ampere architecture. The A400's advantage lies in its desktop form factor, single-slot cooling, and workstation-specific features like the four mini-DisplayPort outputs.

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 is the weakest rival, with the A400 leading by 2.9%. This is a more significant margin, though still under 3%. The RX 5700 is a mid-range consumer card from 2019, and the A400's lead suggests that NVIDIA's workstation-oriented drivers and feature set provide a small edge in compute benchmarks. For professional use, the A400's driver support and stability are likely more valuable than the raw performance delta.

Memory Subsystem

The RTX A400 is equipped with 4 GB of GDDR6 memory, which is the minimum viable capacity for modern professional workloads. The memory runs at 1500 MHz, or 12 Gbps effective, across a 64-bit bus, yielding a total bandwidth of 96.00 GB/s. This is a severe limitation for the card, as the bandwidth is the primary bottleneck for many GPU-accelerated tasks like texture streaming, large model manipulation, and data processing.

In practice, the 64-bit bus and 4 GB capacity mean that the A400 will struggle with high-resolution textures or large datasets. At 1080p, the bandwidth is sufficient for basic CAD and light 3D work, but at 1440p or 4K, the memory subsystem will saturate quickly, causing frame drops or stuttering in interactive applications. The 96.00 GB/s bandwidth is roughly a quarter of what modern mid-range consumer cards offer, which limits the card to entry-level tasks.

For compute workloads that fit within the 4 GB VRAM, the card performs admirably, as the benchmark scores show. However, any task that exceeds the memory capacity will force a fallback to system memory, which is significantly slower. The GDDR6 type is modern, but the narrow bus width is a fundamental design constraint. The 8,700 million transistors on the GA107 chip are not fed adequately by this memory configuration, making the A400 a card that is best suited for light, memory-frugal applications rather than high-resolution rendering or large-scale simulation.