AMD Radeon HD 8970M vs NVIDIA Tesla K20m Comparison

The Verdict

The AMD Radeon HD 8970M and NVIDIA Tesla K20m are two very different products aimed at different workloads, and the benchmark data reflects that split clearly. In the single recorded OpenCL benchmark, the AMD Radeon HD 8970M scores 21,237 points, which is 30.8% ahead of the Tesla K20m’s 16,241 points. That is a decisive margin, and it places the Radeon in the 66th percentile of all GPUs, while the Tesla sits at the 64th percentile. For general compute tasks measured by OpenCL, the Radeon HD 8970M is the stronger performer.

However, the Tesla K20m is not a consumer graphics card. It has no display outputs, uses a dual-slot form factor, and draws 225 W compared to the Radeon’s 100 W. Its design goals are professional compute, not gaming or desktop graphics. The Radeon HD 8970M is a mobile MXM module with portable-device-dependent outputs, meaning it was built to slot into laptops. So the verdict depends entirely on context: if you need an OpenCL-heavy mobile GPU, the Radeon wins outright. If you need a compute accelerator with no display requirements, the Tesla’s larger memory pool and higher raw throughput figures make it a different kind of tool.

Given the data, the Radeon HD 8970M is the pick for anyone running OpenCL workloads in a portable chassis. The Tesla K20m is the pick for server or workstation compute where power and size are not constraints, and where the 5 GB memory and higher FP32 rate matter more than the benchmark delta. The recorded OpenCL result favors the AMD part by a wide margin, but the Tesla’s architecture and specifications suggest it was never aimed at that specific test.

Where Each One Wins

The recorded head-to-head benchmark shows only one test: Geekbench OpenCL. The AMD Radeon HD 8970M wins that test with 21,237 points versus 16,241 for the Tesla K20m, a 30.8% advantage. That is the only direct comparison available, and AMD takes it.

But the Tesla K20m wins in several specification-driven scenarios that are not covered by that single test. It has 2,496 shading units versus 1,280 for the Radeon, 208 texture mapping units versus 80, and 40 render output units versus 32. Its FP32 throughput is 3.524 TFLOPS compared to 2.304 TFLOPS for the Radeon, a 53% higher theoretical compute ceiling. The Tesla also has more memory: 5 GB versus 4 GB, on a 320-bit bus versus 256-bit, giving 208.0 GB/s bandwidth versus 153.6 GB/s. For workloads that scale with raw shader count, texture fill, or memory bandwidth, the Tesla should be faster, even though the OpenCL benchmark does not reflect that.

The Radeon HD 8970M wins on efficiency and mobility. Its 100 W TDP is less than half the Tesla’s 225 W. It uses a single MXM module slot, meaning it fits in laptops, while the Tesla is a dual-slot, 267 mm board with 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin power connectors and a suggested 550 W power supply. The Radeon also supports DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.170, while the Tesla supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and Vulkan 1.2.175. For any graphics-oriented task, the Radeon’s display outputs and lower power draw make it the practical choice.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon HD 8970M uses the Neptune chip based on GCN 1.0 architecture, built on a 28 nm process at TSMC. The chip contains 2,800 million transistors on a 212 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 13.2 million per square millimeter. The base clock is 850 MHz with a boost clock of 900 MHz, and memory runs at 1200 MHz with 4.8 Gbps effective. The memory subsystem is 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, yielding 153.6 GB/s bandwidth. The GPU has 1,280 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. Pixel rate is 28.80 GPixel/s, texture rate is 72.00 GTexel/s, and FP32 compute is 2.304 TFLOPS. It belongs to the Solar System generation (HD 8900M series) and was released on 2013-05-13. Its predecessor is London, successor is Gem System.

The NVIDIA Tesla K20m uses the GK110 chip based on Kepler architecture, also built on a 28 nm process at TSMC. The chip is much larger: 7,080 million transistors on a 561 mm² die, with a transistor density of 12.6 million per square millimeter. The base and boost clocks are not recorded, but memory runs at 1300 MHz with 5.2 Gbps effective. The memory subsystem is 5 GB of GDDR5 on a 320-bit bus, yielding 208.0 GB/s bandwidth. The GPU has 2,496 shading units, 208 TMUs, and 40 ROPs. Pixel rate is 36.71 GPixel/s, texture rate is 146.8 GTexel/s, and FP32 compute is 3.524 TFLOPS. It belongs to the Tesla Kepler generation (Kxx) and was released on 2013-01-04. Its predecessor is Tesla Fermi, successor is Tesla Maxwell.

The core architectural difference is scale. The Tesla’s GK110 is a massive compute-focused chip with more than double the transistor count and roughly 2.5 times the die area. It trades efficiency for raw throughput. The Neptune chip in the Radeon is a smaller, denser design (13.2M transistors per mm² versus 12.6M) that prioritizes power efficiency and mobile integration. Both use the same 28 nm process and TSMC foundry, but the design philosophies diverge sharply: GCN 1.0 is a unified shader architecture optimized for graphics and general compute, while Kepler’s GK110 is built for high-end compute with far more execution resources.

Another key difference is the bus interface. The Radeon uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the Tesla uses PCIe 2.0 x16. The Tesla has no display outputs at all, confirming its compute-only role. The Radeon’s outputs are portable-device dependent, meaning they vary with the laptop chassis. The Tesla’s API support includes Vulkan 1.2.175 versus 1.2.170 on the Radeon, and DirectX 12 (11_0) versus 12 (11_1) on the Radeon, which is a small but real difference in graphics feature level.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in OpenCL?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 8970M scores 21,237 points in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 30.8% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla K20m’s 16,241 points. The Radeon wins the only head-to-head benchmark recorded.

Q: Does the Tesla K20m have more compute power than the Radeon HD 8970M?

A: Yes, in raw specifications. The Tesla has 2,496 shading units versus 1,280, and FP32 throughput of 3.524 TFLOPS versus 2.304 TFLOPS. Its texture rate is 146.8 GTexel/s versus 72.00 GTexel/s, and pixel rate is 36.71 GPixel/s versus 28.80 GPixel/s.

Q: Can the Tesla K20m be used for display output?

A: No. The Tesla K20m has no display outputs. The Radeon HD 8970M has portable-device-dependent outputs, meaning it can drive displays through the laptop’s ports.

Q: Which card uses less power?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 8970M has a 100 W TDP, while the NVIDIA Tesla K20m has a 225 W TDP. The Radeon also uses a single MXM module slot, while the Tesla is a dual-slot board requiring 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin power connectors and a suggested 550 W power supply.

Q: How do their memory systems compare?

A: The Tesla K20m has 5 GB of GDDR5 on a 320-bit bus with 208.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Radeon HD 8970M has 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 153.6 GB/s bandwidth. The Tesla has both more capacity and more bandwidth.

Q: Which card supports newer graphics APIs?

A: The Radeon HD 8970M supports DirectX 12 (11_1), while the Tesla K20m supports DirectX 12 (11_0). Both support OpenGL 4.6. For Vulkan, the Tesla supports 1.2.175 and the Radeon supports 1.2.170, so the Tesla is slightly newer in that regard.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains a single direct benchmark comparison between these two GPUs: Geekbench OpenCL. The AMD Radeon HD 8970M scores 21,237 points, while the NVIDIA Tesla K20m scores 16,241 points. The delta is 30.8% in favor of AMD. That is a substantial margin, larger than any of the nearest-rival deltas for either card. For context, the Radeon’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL at 21,153 (+0.4%), the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile at 21,379 (-0.7%), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 at 21,035 (+1%). The Tesla’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile at 19,049 (+0.2%), the AMD Radeon RX 6600 at 19,036 (+0.3%), and the NVIDIA Quadro K6000 at 19,030 (+0.3%).

The 30.8% gap between the two cards is much larger than any of these rival deltas, meaning the Radeon HD 8970M and Tesla K20m are not close competitors in OpenCL. The Radeon’s score of 21,237 places it near the 21,379 score of the RTX A4000 Mobile, a far newer professional mobile GPU. The Tesla’s 16,241 score sits near the 16,000-range territory of older or lower-tier parts, despite its high FP32 specification. This suggests that the Tesla’s Kepler architecture, while strong on paper, does not translate to OpenCL performance in this particular test.

The wins are one-sided in the recorded data: the Radeon wins the only head-to-head test, and the Tesla wins zero. However, the specification sheet tells a different story for other workloads. The Tesla’s 3.524 TFLOPS FP32, 208.0 GB/s bandwidth, and 5 GB memory are all superior to the Radeon’s 2.304 TFLOPS, 153.6 GB/s, and 4 GB. If a benchmark were designed to stress raw shader throughput or memory bandwidth, the Tesla would likely take the lead. But the only recorded measurement favors AMD by a wide margin.

Specification Differences

The table below lists only the fields where the two GPUs differ:

• Manufacturer: AMD versus NVIDIA
• Chip: Neptune versus GK110
• Architecture: GCN 1.0 versus Kepler
• Generation: Solar System (HD 8900M) versus Tesla Kepler (Kxx)
• Transistors: 2,800 million versus 7,080 million
• Die Size: 212 mm² versus 561 mm²
• Transistor Density: 13.2M / mm² versus 12.6M / mm²
• Base Clock: 850 MHz versus not recorded
• Boost Clock: 900 MHz versus not recorded
• Memory Clock: 1200 MHz, 4.8 Gbps effective versus 1300 MHz, 5.2 Gbps effective
• Memory Size: 4 GB versus 5 GB
• Memory Bus Width: 256 bit versus 320 bit
• Memory Bandwidth: 153.6 GB/s versus 208.0 GB/s
• Shading Units: 1,280 versus 2,496
• TMUs: 80 versus 208
• ROPs: 32 versus 40
• Pixel Rate: 28.80 GPixel/s versus 36.71 GPixel/s
• Texture Rate: 72.00 GTexel/s versus 146.8 GTexel/s
• FP32: 2.304 TFLOPS versus 3.524 TFLOPS
• TDP: 100 W versus 225 W
• Slot Width: MXM Module versus Dual-slot
• Power Connectors: not recorded versus 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
• Suggested PSU: not recorded versus 550 W
• Bus Interface: PCIe 3.0 x16 versus PCIe 2.0 x16
• Display Outputs: Portable Device Dependent versus No outputs
• DirectX: 12 (11_1) versus 12 (11_0)
• Vulkan: 1.2.170 versus 1.2.175
• Length: not recorded versus 267 mm (10.5 inches)
• Release Date: 2013-05-13 versus 2013-01-04
• Predecessor: London versus Tesla Fermi
• Successor: Gem System versus Tesla Maxwell
• Launch MSRP: not recorded versus 3,199 USD

The Radeon HD 8970M is a compact, power-efficient mobile GPU with a denser transistor layout and a newer PCIe interface. The Tesla K20m is a large, power-hungry compute accelerator with vastly more execution resources, more memory, and higher bandwidth, but no display capability and a higher power requirement. Both are end-of-life products, and neither has a successor within the same product line that is listed in the database.