AMD FirePro S7150 vs NVIDIA Tesla M60 Comparison

The NVIDIA Tesla M60 and AMD FirePro S7150 are both end-of-life server accelerators aimed at datacenter workloads, but the benchmark data reveals a clear performance hierarchy between them. Across the two recorded Geekbench tests, the Tesla M60 wins both, carrying an average benchmark score of 30490 against the FirePro S7150’s 28117. This translates to a 75th percentile ranking among all GPUs for the NVIDIA part, while the AMD card sits at the 73rd percentile. The data suggests a consistent, though not overwhelming, edge for the Tesla M60 in raw compute throughput, but the story becomes more nuanced when examining power, physical design, and architectural trade-offs.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA Tesla M60 is the outright winner in every benchmark category recorded. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, it scores 29506, which is 11.2% higher than the FirePro S7150’s 26543. The gap narrows in the Vulkan test, where the Tesla M60 scores 31473 versus the FirePro’s 29690, a 6% advantage. This pattern indicates that the Tesla M60’s lead is consistent across different API workloads, but the smaller Vulkan delta suggests the AMD card is relatively more competitive in that specific test environment.

Looking at the broader competitive landscape, the Tesla M60’s average score of 30490 places it within 0.2% of the AMD Radeon RX 6700 and 1.8% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. The FirePro S7150, with its 28117 average, sits just 0.3% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti and 0.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X. This means the Tesla M60 is competing in a higher performance tier, roughly equivalent to modern mid-range gaming and workstation cards, while the FirePro S7150 is a step below, matching older high-end or newer mid-range parts.

Where the FirePro S7150 does claim a clear win is in power efficiency and physical footprint. Its thermal design power (TDP) is 150 W, exactly half of the Tesla M60’s 300 W. It is also a single-slot card with a 1x 6-pin power connector, whereas the Tesla M60 is dual-slot and requires a 1x 8-pin connector. The suggested power supply requirement is 450 W for the AMD card versus 700 W for the NVIDIA. For dense server deployments where power and space are constrained, the FirePro S7150 offers a viable path to GPU acceleration with less infrastructure overhead. Additionally, the FirePro S7150 has a smaller physical footprint: 241 mm in length versus 267 mm for the Tesla M60.

The Verdict

The data points to a straightforward choice for raw performance: the NVIDIA Tesla M60. It wins both head-to-head benchmarks, with an 11.2% lead in OpenCL and a 6% lead in Vulkan. Its average benchmark score of 30490 is 8.4% higher than the FirePro S7150’s 28117. If the workload is purely compute-bound and the system can accommodate the higher 300 W TDP and dual-slot design, the Tesla M60 is the stronger accelerator.

The AMD FirePro S7150, however, has a compelling case for specific deployment scenarios. Its 150 W TDP means it draws half the power of the Tesla M60, and its single-slot design with a 6-pin connector allows for higher density in rack servers. The suggested 450 W power supply is significantly lower than the 700 W recommended for the NVIDIA card, which could simplify server infrastructure design. For organizations prioritizing power efficiency and space over peak throughput, the FirePro S7150’s 6% to 11.2% performance deficit may be an acceptable trade-off.

It is also worth noting the FP16 capability of the FirePro S7150, which lists 7.537 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio, whereas the Tesla M60 has no listed FP16 performance. This suggests the AMD card may have an advantage in workloads that leverage half-precision arithmetic, despite its lower FP32 throughput of 3.768 TFLOPS versus the Tesla M60’s 4.825 TFLOPS. The Tesla M60 also holds a lead in pixel rate (75.39 GPixel/s versus 29.44 GPixel/s) and texture rate (150.8 GTexel/s versus 117.8 GTexel/s), indicating stronger performance in rasterization-heavy tasks.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla M60 has an average benchmark score of 30490, while the AMD FirePro S7150 scores 28117. This gives the Tesla M60 an approximate 8.4% advantage in overall performance.

Q: What is the performance difference in the Geekbench OpenCL test?

A: The Tesla M60 scores 29506, compared to the FirePro S7150’s 26543. The delta is 11.2% in favor of the NVIDIA card.

Q: How does the power consumption compare between the two cards?

A: The Tesla M60 has a TDP of 300 W, while the FirePro S7150 has a TDP of 150 W. The FirePro also requires a 450 W suggested power supply versus 700 W for the Tesla.

Q: Are there any benchmark tests where the AMD FirePro S7150 wins?

A: No. The head-to-head data shows two tests (Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan), and the NVIDIA Tesla M60 wins both. The win count is 2 for the Tesla M60 and 0 for the FirePro S7150.

Q: What is the physical size difference between the two cards?

A: The Tesla M60 is 267 mm long and is a dual-slot card. The FirePro S7150 is 241 mm long and 111 mm tall, and it is a single-slot card.

Q: Does the AMD card have any unique compute capabilities?

A: Yes, the FirePro S7150 lists FP16 performance of 7.537 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio, whereas the Tesla M60 has no FP16 specification listed. The AMD card also has a higher transistor density at 13.7M per mm² versus 13.1M per mm² for the NVIDIA.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in several key specifications beyond their benchmark scores. The Tesla M60 has a base clock of 557 MHz and a boost clock of 1178 MHz, while the FirePro S7150 has no listed base or boost clock, making a direct clock speed comparison impossible. Memory clocks are nearly identical: 1253 MHz (5 Gbps effective) for the Tesla and 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective) for the AMD. Memory size and bus width are the same at 8 GB GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, with bandwidth figures of 160.4 GB/s and 160.0 GB/s respectively.

The pixel rate differs significantly, with the Tesla M60 delivering 75.39 GPixel/s versus 29.44 GPixel/s for the FirePro S7150. Texture rates are 150.8 GTexel/s and 117.8 GTexel/s, respectively. FP32 compute is 4.825 TFLOPS for the NVIDIA card and 3.768 TFLOPS for the AMD card. The FirePro S7150 has a lower TDP at 150 W versus 300 W, and is a single-slot card with a 6-pin connector, while the Tesla M60 is dual-slot with an 8-pin connector. The FirePro S7150 also has a shorter length at 241 mm versus 267 mm.

Architecture Differences

The architectural split is clear: NVIDIA uses the GM204 chip based on Maxwell 2.0 architecture, while AMD uses the Tonga chip based on GCN 3.0. Both are built on the same 28 nm process node at TSMC, but the transistor counts differ slightly: 5,200 million for the Tesla M60 and 5,000 million for the FirePro S7150. Die sizes are 398 mm² and 366 mm², respectively, giving the AMD part a slightly higher transistor density at 13.7M per mm² versus 13.1M per mm².

Both cards have 2048 shading units and 128 texture mapping units, but the ROP count differs: 64 for the Tesla M60 and 32 for the FirePro S7150. This ROP difference explains the significant gap in pixel rate. The NVIDIA generation is listed as "Tesla Maxwell (Mxx)" and the predecessor is "Tesla Kepler," while the AMD generation is "FirePro Server (Sx100)" with a predecessor of "FirePro Terascale." The Tesla M60’s successor is "Tesla Pascal," and the FirePro’s successor is "Radeon Pro GCN."

API support also differs. The Tesla M60 supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.4, while the FirePro S7150 supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.2.170. Both offer OpenGL 4.6. Neither card has display outputs, reinforcing their server-only positioning. The release dates are close, with the Tesla M60 launching in August 2015 and the FirePro S7150 in January 2016.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most decisive result is in the Geekbench OpenCL test, where the Tesla M60 scores 29506 against the FirePro S7150’s 26543. This 11.2% delta is the largest performance gap between the two cards in any recorded test. The Tesla M60’s higher FP32 throughput (4.825 TFLOPS versus 3.768 TFLOPS) and double the ROP count (64 versus 32) likely contribute to this lead, as OpenCL workloads often stress raw compute and memory bandwidth.

The Vulkan test shows a closer contest: the Tesla M60 scores 31473 and the FirePro S7150 scores 29690, a 6% difference. Interestingly, both cards score higher in Vulkan than in OpenCL, suggesting the Vulkan API is more efficient for both architectures. The smaller delta in Vulkan could indicate that the AMD GCN 3.0 architecture handles this API relatively better than it does OpenCL, or that the workload characteristics of the Vulkan test are less dependent on the ROP count and pixel rate advantages held by the NVIDIA card.

In terms of competitive positioning, the Tesla M60’s 30490 average score is 1.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6800 and 1.8% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. The FirePro S7150’s 28117 average is 0.3% behind the GTX 980 Ti and 1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20. This places the two cards in different performance strata: the Tesla M60 competes with modern enthusiast cards, while the FirePro S7150 aligns with one-generation-old high-end or current mid-range parts. The data consistently shows the Tesla M60 as the faster part, but the FirePro S7150’s power and space advantages make it a rational choice in power-constrained environments.