AMD Radeon Pro 5600M vs NVIDIA Tesla K10 Comparison

The Verdict

The AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and NVIDIA Tesla K10 occupy very different positions in the database. The Radeon Pro 5600M is a mobile workstation part built on the Navi 12 chip with RDNA 1.0 architecture, fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It ships with 8 GB of HBM2 memory on a 2048-bit bus, delivering 394.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The Tesla K10, by contrast, is a dual-slot, dual-GPU accelerator from the Kepler generation, built around the GK104 chip on a 28 nm process at TSMC, with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus and 160.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Radeon Pro 5600M is a mobile part with a 50 W total board power, no power connectors, and a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface. The Tesla K10 is a high-performance compute card with a 225 W total board power, requiring a 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin power connector setup, a suggested 550 W power supply, and a PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.

The benchmark data shows a clear split. The AMD card wins the only direct head-to-head comparison in the database, the geekbench_opencl test, by a margin of 240.6%. The AMD card scores 47,783 in that test, while the Tesla K10 scores 14,029. Across all recorded benchmarks, the Radeon Pro 5600M averages 16,351 points, placing it at the 59th percentile of all GPUs. The Tesla K10, with an average score of 14,029, sits at the 55th percentile. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680, which is 0.9% faster, and the AMD Radeon RX 570X, which is 1.1% slower. The data shows the AMD part is not only faster in raw compute tests but also holds a small but measurable aggregate advantage in the overall score. The verdict is straightforward: for anyone needing a mobile or low-profile GPU with modern features and high-bandwidth memory, the Radeon Pro 5600M is the clear pick from this pair. The Tesla K10, on the other hand, is a much older, power-hungry dual-GPU compute card that has no display outputs and is at the end of its life. It simply cannot keep up with the newer AMD part in the workloads that matter.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from completely different generations and design philosophies. AMD's Radeon Pro 5600M is a Navi 12 chip, the first implementation of the RDNA 1 architecture. It is a monolithic GPU with 2,560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units and 64 ROPs. It supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.3. The Tesla K10 is a GK104 chip, the Kepler architecture, with 1,536 shading units, 128 texture units and 32 ROPs per GPU, effectively doubling the part. Each GPU supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.2.175. The AMD part is fabricated on TSMC 7 nm, the NVIDIA part on TSMC 28 nm. The process difference is enormous, and the AMD's modern architecture shows it: it delivers 5.2 TFLOPS FP32 and 11.71 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1 rate) versus the Tesla K10's 2.289 TFLOPS FP32. The AMD part has a much higher pixel rate: 73.22 GPixel/s and texture rate 183.0 GTexel/s, versus the Tesla's 23.84 GPixel/s and 95.36 GTexel/s. The Tesla K10's memory is older and slower: 4GB GDDR5 at 160.0 GB/s, while the AMD uses 8GB HBM2 at 394.2 GB/s. The AMD card also has more display flexibility, with portable-device-dependent output, while the Tesla has no display outputs. The AMD card is a dual-slot card, the Tesla is a dual-slot card. The AMD card requires no external power, while the Tesla needs 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin power.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The single head-to-head result in the database is a clean sweep for the AMD part. In the geekbench_opencl test, the Radeon Pro 5600M scores 47,783, which is 240.4% higher than the Tesla K10's 14,029. This is a compute-oriented workload that leverages the AMD's massive FP32 throughput, higher memory bandwidth and newer architecture. The Tesla K10's score is especially low, and it effectively was a compute card with two GPUs, but it still cannot match the modern AMD part. The result is the old card, which is already end-of-life, is completely outclassed in the only benchmark that the database directly compares.

Looking at the wider benchmark record, the AMD part is not just a head-to-head winner: it also holds the aggregate score. The Radeon Pro 5600M has an average benchmark score of 16,351, placing it at the 59th percentile of all GPUs. The Tesla K10's average score is 14,029, at the 55th percentile. The nearest rivals bracket the Tesla K10 closely: the GeForce GTX 680 is 0.9% faster, the RX 570X is 1.1% slower, the RTX A2000 Mobile is 1.5% slower and the Radeon 660M is 1.6% slower. This clustering shows that the K10 is a mid-pack performer and is not an outlier, but it is clearly from an older generation with lower absolute scores. The AMD part, by contrast, leads its immediate rivals, all of which are at or around the same score.

In the proprietary API benchmarks, the AMD shows its strength. In the Passmark DirectX 10 test it posts 62, in DirectX 11 it posts 59, and in DirectX 12 it posts 39. The Tesla K10 posts a 118 in DirectX 9, 679 in G2D, 9,279 in G3D and 4,031 in the GPU compute test. The AMD's DirectX 10 and 11 lead is 3 and 20 points respectively, while the DirectX 9 was led by the NVIDIA. The G3D score is a 9,279-point win for the NVIDIA. The single compute test is a win for NVIDIA by 4,031 versus 2,289 for AMD. Notably, the AMD part has no DirectX 9 result. The overall scores of the two parts are not directly comparable because the benchmark suites are different, but the trend is clear: the AMD part is much faster in the modern low-level graphics API tests, while the NVIDIA part holds a win in the older, fixed-function and compute tests.

FAQ

Q: Which is faster, the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M or the NVIDIA Tesla K10?

A: In the only direct comparison in the database, the geekbench_opencl test, the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M is 240.6% faster, scoring 47,783 against the Tesla K10's 14,029. The AMD also has a higher aggregate benchmark average: 16,351 versus 14,029.

Q: Does the Tesla K10 have any display outputs?

A: No. The database lists the Tesla K10 as having "No outputs". It is a compute-only accelerator, no display connections. The Radeon Pro 5600M has "portable device dependent" outputs, meaning it can drive displays, depending on the laptop or iMac in which it is installed.

Q: What are the memory capacities of these two cards?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 5600M has 8 GB of HBM2 memory on a 2048-bit bus, with 394.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA Tesla K10 has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, with 160.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: What API support does each card offer?

A: The Radeon Pro 5600M supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.3. The Tesla K10 supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.2.175. The AMD supports a newer DirectX revision and a newer Vulkan revision.

Q: What is the power connector situation?

A: The Radeon Pro 5600M has no external power connectors, it draws power from the PCIe slot. The Tesla K10 needs 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin, with a suggested power supply of 550 W.

Where Each One Wins

Mobile and professional workstations: The Radeon Pro 5600M is clearly the one to choose. It is an end-of-life product, but it is a modern mobile workstation GPU with HBM2 memory, high bandwidth, and modern graphics features. The Tesla K10 is a dual-slot, 225 W desktop accelerator with no display output, so it cannot be used in a workstation that needs to run a monitor. For a laptop or a single-GPU workstation, the AMD is the only one that works. And in the only head-to-head benchmark, it wins by a huge margin.

Compute-only legacy systems: The Tesla K10 is the one for a legacy compute node. It has more memory capacity (4 GB per GPU, not much but with two GPUs, it can handle parallel workloads). Its nearest in the database are the GeForce GTX 680 (0.3% faster), the Radeon RX 570X (0.9% slower), and the RTX A2000 Mobile (1.1% slower). It has no display, a higher TBP (225 W) and is meant for a server rack, not a desktop. The AMD Radeon Pro 5600M is a mobile part, and its 50 W TBP and no power connectors make it unsuitable for a high-end compute node. If the workload is older, fixed-function or compute-heavy, the Tesla has the edge in the limited tests it wins.

Modern graphics and content creation: The Radeon Pro 5600M's 8 GB of HBM2, 394.2 GB/s memory, and 5.2 TFLOPS FP32 make it the better option for rendering, video editing, or any graphics work. It also has 2,560 shaders, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, which are 60% more shaders than the Tesla's 1,536, 25% more TMUs (160 vs. 128) and double the ROPs (64 vs. 32, but the Tesla has two GPUs, so 64 total, but the AMD has 64 total as well). The AMD has a higher pixel rate (73.22 GPixel/s vs. 23.84) and texture rate (183.0 GTexel/s vs. 95.36). The AMD wins in any modern graphics workload.