Switch 2 GPU vs PG506-242
Contents
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 | Ampere (2020−2025) | Ampere (2020−2025) |
| GPU code name | GA100 | GA10B |
| Market segment | Workstation | Desktop |
| Release date | 12 April 2021 (4 years ago) | 5 June 2025 (less than a year ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | no data | $449 |
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 | 3584 | 1536 |
| Core clock speed | 930 MHz | 561 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 1440 MHz | 1400 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 54,200 million | no data |
| Manufacturing process technology | 7 nm | 8 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 165 Watt | 40 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 322.6 | 67.20 |
| Floating-point processing power | 10.32 TFLOPS | 4.301 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 96 | 16 |
| TMUs | 224 | 48 |
| Tensor Cores | 224 | 48 |
| Ray Tracing Cores | no data | 12 |
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 | PCIe 4.0 x16 | no data |
| Length | 267 mm | 272 mm |
| Width | 2-slot | no data |
| Supplementary power connectors | 8-pin EPS | no data |
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 | HBM2 | LPDDR5X |
| Maximum RAM amount | 24 GB | 12 GB |
| Memory bus width | 3072 Bit | 128 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 1215 MHz | 800 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 933.1 GB/s | 102.4 GB/s |
| Resizable BAR | + | + |
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 | No outputs | No outputs |
API and SDK compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | N/A | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |
| Shader Model | N/A | 6.8 |
| OpenGL | N/A | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Vulkan | N/A | 1.3 |
| CUDA | 8.0 | 8.6 |
| DLSS | + | + |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 12 April 2021 | 5 June 2025 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 24 GB | 12 GB |
| Chip lithography | 7 nm | 8 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 165 Watt | 40 Watt |
PG506-242 has a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 14.3% more advanced lithography process.
Switch 2 GPU, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 4 years, and 312.5% lower power consumption.
We couldn't decide between PG506-242 and Switch 2 GPU. We've got no test results to judge.
Be aware that PG506-242 is a workstation graphics card while Switch 2 GPU is a desktop one.
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