NVIDIA RTX A4000 : Features, Specifications, Architecture, Working, Differences & Its Applications

Nvidia RTX or Nvidia GeForce RTX by Nvidia is a professional GPU or a visual computing platform. It allows real-time ray tracing and AI-powered features like advanced rendering and DLSS for realistic graphics within PC games & creative-based applications. This GPU uses specialized Tensor Cores and other hardware to simulate light and speed up AI workloads. Thus, provides a significant leap in visual fidelity and performance as compared to earlier generations. There are different series of Nvidia RTX cards available, like RTX 20 series, 30 series, 40 series, 50 series, A series workstation cards & A series server cards. This article elaborates on one of the A series workstation card by NVIDIA, like NVIDIA RTX A4000, working and its applications.

What is NVIDIA RTX A4000?

The NVIDIA RTX A4000 is a single-slot, professional-grade GPU, launched by NVIDIA on April 12th, 2021. This GPU is built on the NVIDIA Ampere architecture with 8 nm process, based on the large GA104 graphics processor chip with 392 mm² die area & 17,400 million transistors. It includes shading units – 6144, tensor cores – 192, ray tracing acceleration cores -48, texture mapping units -192, and ROPs -96, which improves the speed of ML applications.

NVIDIA has connected the RTX A4000 GPU with GDDR6 memory 16 GB using a 256-bit memory interface. This GPU operating frequency ranges from 735 MHz to 1560 MHz. Being a single-slot card GPU, this GPU draws power from a single 6-pin power connector, with a maximum 140 W power draw. The RTX A4000 has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a display output that can be connected to the rest of the system through a PCI-Express 4.0 x16 interface. This GPU is perfect for different demanding professional tasks like engineering, product design, and creating immersive entertainment experiences.

How does NVIDIA RTX A4000 Work?

The NVIDIA RTX A4000 GPU works with the NVIDIA Ampere architecture, which includes CUDA Cores for compute and general graphics tasks, Tensor Cores to speed up deep learning and AI workflows, and RT Cores used for real-time ray tracing. It has a single-slot and compact design, GDDR6 ECC memory – 16GB, supporting PCIe Gen 4 to manage demanding professional applications like simulation with reliability and high accuracy in different workstation and 3D modeling configurations.

The NVIDIA RTX A4000 GPU processes graphics & compute tasks with specialized hardware. Thus, speed up complex workflows with features like real-time ray tracing, hardware-accelerated video encoding/decoding, and AI-powered computations to provide accuracy and high performance in professional applications while consuming low power because of its very efficient single-slot design.

Features

The features of NVIDIA RTX A4000 include the following.

• It has a single-slot compact design.
• Multi-display capabilities support various monitors for improved productivity.
• It has third-generation tensor cores to accelerate deep learning and AI-based tasks.
• This GPU provides hardware-accelerated encoding and decoding for video codecs like AV1, enhancing performance mainly for video applications.
• It works with APIs for ray tracing by allowing more interactive design workflows.
• It is optimized for innovative applications to deliver level performance.

Specifications

The specifications of NVIDIA RTX A4000 include the following.

• It is a professional, single-slot, workstation GPU
• It is designed on NVIDIA Ampere Architecture with an 8 nm process
• CUDA Cores – 6,144
• It has second-generation RT Cores – 48.
• It has 192 third-generation tensor cores.
• GPU memory is 16GB GDDR6 with ECC (Error-Correcting Code)
• Memory interface is 256-bit
• Memory bandwidth is 448 GB/sec
• Max power consumption is 140W
• Form factor is Single-slot PCIe.
• Single-Precision Performance is 19.2 TFLOPS
• It has four DisplayPort 1.4a display connectors.
• Maximum digital resolution is 7680 x 4320 at 60Hz,
• Graphics bus is PCI Express 4.0 x16.

NVIDIA RTX A4000 Architecture

The NVIDIA RTX A4000 is built on the Ampere architecture of NVIDIA. This architecture includes next-generation CUDA Cores, 2nd-generation RT Cores & 3rd-generation Tensor Cores. In addition, it provides high performance mainly for professional applications like rendering, graphics & compute in a power-efficient, single-slot form factor. It includes ECC GDDR6 memory – 16GB, which supports PCI Express Gen 4 for quick data transfer.

NVIDIA RTX A4000 Components

The NVIDIA RTX A4000 architecture included different components like CUDA cores, RT cores, tensor cores, GDDR6 ECC memory, PCI Express Gen 4, single-slot form factor, and display connectors. This architecture provides improved performance for AI, professional graphics, data science, and design workloads.

CUDA Cores

The A4000 GPU includes 6,144 CUDA cores, which are the parallel processing units that perform scalar arithmetic instructions & speed up graphics workflows & AI computations. Thus, used for general-purpose parallel computing, accelerating graphics & compute-intensive workflows. Generally, CUDA cores are essential to deliver high-performance computing, particularly for different tasks like 3D modeling, data science, and rendering, with up to 2.7X faster capabilities in single-precision floating-point performance as compared to the earlier generation.

Second-Generation RT Cores

The NVIDIA RTX A4000 includes specialized hardware components like second-generation 48 RT Cores. These are the main features of the NVIDIA Ampere architecture. The main function of these cores is to speed up real-time ray tracing & generate more visually precise renders with hardware-accelerated motion blur & enhanced performance. In addition, it can also deliver up to two times the ray-tracing performance of its predecessor by allowing hardware-accelerated motion blur features.

Tensor Cores

This architecture includes third-generation 192-Tensor Cores. They boost up to eleven times faster training performance for data science and AI model training, including hardware support mainly for structural sparsity, as compared to the earlier generation.

Memory and Connectivity

The NVIDIA RTX A4000 GPU includes GDDR6 ECC memory – 16GB with a 256-bit interface & 448 GB/s bandwidth. Thus, it is connected through a PCI Express 4.0 x16 bus for higher-speed data transmission. The ECC memory ensures high accuracy and reliability by identifying & changing memory errors within demanding professional applications.

The PCIe Gen 4 interface extensively improves data transmission speeds between the CPU & GPU, which is important for data-intensive tasks. Connectivity has four DisplayPort 1.4a connectors mainly for multi-display setups, which support higher technologies like Quadro Sync II, NVIDIA RTX IO, and NVIDIA GPUDirect for video.

Form Factor & Efficiency

The NVIDIA RTX A4000 GPU includes a single-slot form factor, which measures approximately height (4.4 inches) by length (9.5 inches). So this design makes it a single-slot and power-efficient card that can be fit into a large range of workstation frameworks.

This card on the motherboard & case uses a single PCI expansion slot space only. Thus, it is a key feature to fit into different workstation designs like those with partial space. It has a single-slot design, which contributes to its power efficiency, which is an advantage for users who require optimizing power usage in their workstations.

Display Connectors

The NVIDIA RTX A4000 GPU includes four DisplayPort 1.4a connectors. These are known as standard display output ports, which are used for connecting displays and monitors. In addition, it supports several high-resolution displays, with up to two 8K or four 5K displays supported through DisplayPort 1.4a.

It requires specific adapter cables, like a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter for connecting different display types which are individually sold by PNY vendors. The RTX A4000 GPU supports different resolutions, like higher and 4K, based on the capabilities and configuration of your connected display.

NVIDIA RTX A4000 Software

NVIDIA RTX A4000 GPU software is the set of drivers, applications, and platform tools that open the GPU power for professionals in media, engineering, design, and various industries. This software works with the professional RTX A4000 graphics card, like NVIDIA Drivers, NVIDIA broadcast for AI-enhanced audio/ video, Studio drivers for specialized applications, Omniverse Enterprise mainly for 3D workflows, and enterprise management tools to manage deployments. So these software components use the hardware abilities of the A4000 GPU for various tasks like AI, high-performance rendering, and real-time ray tracing in professional applications like simulation, video editing, and 3D modeling.

NVIDIA RTX A4000 Software components are explained below.

• NVIDIA Drivers, like RTX Studio drivers, are necessary for the graphics card to work correctly. This provides optimized performance mainly for Catia, Blender, and SolidWorks professional applications.
• NVIDIA broadcast application utilizes AI to offer features like deletion of background, suppression of noise & auto-framing. Thus, it improves the audio and video quality for remote work & streaming.
• NVIDIA Omniverse Enterprise is a continuous platform that allows developers to design custom 3D workflows and imitate large-scale and physically precise virtual worlds.
• The enterprise management tools manage & arrange large-scale graphics deployments by ensuring efficient operations & increasing the uptime of the system.

Difference between NVIDIA RTX A4000 & RTX 3070

The difference between NVIDIA RTX A4000 & RTX 3070 includes the following.

Advantages

The advantages of the NVIDIA RTX A4000 GPU include the following.

• A groundbreaking technology utilizes AI to enhance image quality and frame rates, improving performance within supported applications.
• This GPU tackles demanding workloads such as visual effects, complex design, and 3D rendering tasks.
• It features third-generation Tensor Cores and hardware support for structural sparsity, significantly enhancing data science and AI model training.
• Built on the NVIDIA Ampere architecture, this GPU improves core functionality for tensor operations, ray tracing, and the concurrent execution of INT32 and FP32 operations..
• Its single-slot and power-efficient form factor allows for simple integration into a broad range of workstation chassis.
• ECC GDDR6 – 16GB memory provides high capacity and throughput for large models and datasets.
• It provides high reliability & incorporates well with professional software & drivers of NVIDIA.
• This GPU has second-generation RT Cores for accelerated ray tracing operations by providing photorealistic visuals.

Disadvantages

The disadvantages of the NVIDIA RTX A4000 GPU include the following

• These are expensive compared to gaming GPUs.
• Game performance is low.
• It has an inefficient and noisy single-slot cooler.
• Its memory capacity is limited (16 GB).
• This GPU doesn’t support NVLink.
• The cooling solution is limited, thus, it leads to thermal throttling, which slows down the GPU to avoid overheating and impacts gaming performance.
• It does not support the vGPU technology of NVIDIA, which is frequently used in cloud and enterprise environments to virtualize GPUs.

Applications

The applications of NVIDIA RTX A4000 include the following.

• It is perfect for CAD/engineering software like Autodesk Inventor, Solidworks & simulation software like Ansys and Abaqus.
• This GPU powers 3D modeling, rendering, and animation tools like Blender, Rhino, and other creative applications.
• It accelerates video editing & rendering with efficient encoding and high-resolution footage support.
• It uses its Tensor Cores to speed up AI development, inference & deep learning workloads by integrating with NVIDIA AI Workbench platforms.
• This GPU provides performance for visualization & difficult medical imaging data processing.
• Supports complete architectural design & the digital twin’s creation within AEC workflows.
• It accelerates workflows for editing and creating visually stunning content within various applications like Rhino, Blender, and others that support AI-powered tools.
• It improves productivity within scientific visualization tasks by rendering complex models through physically precise details.
• This GPU allows engineers and architects to imagine and change large-scale 3D models within a photorealistic manner & use virtual reality for immersion.
• It processes & visualizes complex data within a variety of medical and scientific applications.
• It helps engineers design, simulate & render superior designs with sensible visual feedback.
• Engineers use this GPU to simulate fluid, structural, and electromagnetic product performance, allowing them to recognize design functionality.
• Streamers benefit from NVIDIA Broadcast, which provides AI-accelerated camera and microphone effects within OBS Studio.
• It speeds up compute-intensive AI workloads like intelligent video analytics and Generative AI.

Conclusion

Thus, this is an overview of NVIDIA RTX A4000, which is a single-slot, powerful, and excellent. It is a GPU designed for use in professional workstations by providing high performance for ray tracing, AI workflows, and graphics because of its Ampere architecture and its components. Thus, it is a power-efficient and reliable choice for professionals and creatives who are looking to improve productivity. Here is a question for you: What is NVIDIA RTX?