RTX A40 vs GeForce3
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | not rated | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Architecture | Kelvin (2001−2003) | Ampere (2020−2024) |
| GPU code name | NV20 A5 | GA102 |
| Market segment | Desktop | Workstation |
| Release date | 27 February 2001 (23 years ago) | 5 October 2020 (4 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $499 | no data |
Detailed specifications
General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.
| Pipelines / CUDA cores | no data | 10752 |
| Core clock speed | 200 MHz | 1305 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | no data | 1755 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 57 million | 28,300 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 150 nm | 8 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | no data | 300 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 1.600 | 589.7 |
| Floating-point processing power | no data | 37.74 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 4 | 112 |
| TMUs | 8 | 336 |
| Tensor Cores | no data | 336 |
| Ray Tracing Cores | no data | 84 |
Form factor & compatibility
Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).
| Interface | AGP 4x | PCIe 4.0 x16 |
| Length | 165 mm | 267 mm |
| Width | 1-slot | 2-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | None | 8-pin EPS |
VRAM capacity and type
Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.
| Memory type | SDR | GDDR6 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 64 MB | 48 GB |
| Memory bus width | 128 Bit | 384 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 230 MHz | 1812 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 3.68 GB/s | 695.8 GB/s |
Connectivity and outputs
Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.
| Display Connectors | 1x VGA, 1x DB13W3 | 3x DisplayPort |
API compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 8.0 | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |
| Shader Model | no data | 6.5 |
| OpenGL | 1.3 | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | N/A | 2.0 |
| Vulkan | N/A | 1.2 |
| CUDA | - | 8.6 |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 27 February 2001 | 5 October 2020 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 64 MB | 48 GB |
| Chip lithography | 150 nm | 8 nm |
RTX A40 has an age advantage of 19 years, a 76700% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 1775% more advanced lithography process.
We couldn't decide between GeForce3 and RTX A40. We've got no test results to judge.
Be aware that GeForce3 is a desktop card while RTX A40 is a workstation one.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Comparisons with similar GPUs
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
