AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT vs NVIDIA Tesla K40c Comparison

The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT and NVIDIA Tesla K40c represent two distinct eras of GPU design, separated by nearly seven years of architectural evolution. The data reveals a stark generational gap, with the Radeon Pro 5700 XT delivering a decisive victory in the only shared benchmark, while the Tesla K40c relies on its legacy compute credentials. This analysis breaks down where each card excels, the architectural chasm between them, and what the numbers mean for potential workloads.

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data is unambiguous: the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT wins the sole head-to-head comparison, and it does so by a massive margin. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the Radeon Pro 5700 XT scores 59,467 against the Tesla K40c’s 17,468, a delta of 240.4%. This single result dominates the entire comparison, making the Radeon Pro 5700 XT the clear winner in any OpenCL-based compute workload.

The Tesla K40c, however, shows its strengths in a different light. While it loses the compute benchmark, its architecture and specifications point to specific use cases where it might still hold relevance. The K40c has a higher shading unit count (2,880 vs. 2,560) and more TMUs (240 vs. 160), suggesting potential advantages in raw geometry processing or texture-heavy workloads, though no direct benchmark confirms this. Its Kepler architecture was designed for professional compute and HPC tasks, but the data shows it is thoroughly outclassed in modern OpenCL performance.

For gaming or graphics-oriented tasks, the Radeon Pro 5700 XT has a broader benchmark suite, with scores across DirectX 9, 10, 11, 12, and Vulkan. It achieves a Passmark G3D score of 12,547 and a Passmark GPU Compute score of 5,787, whereas the Tesla K40c has no corresponding graphics benchmarks listed. This means the Radeon Pro 5700 XT is the only option with verified data for graphical workloads, while the Tesla K40c’s capabilities in this area remain unmeasured in the provided facts.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two GPUs is profound. The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT is built on the Navi 10 chip using RDNA 1.0 architecture, fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. This is a modern, power-efficient design with 10,300 million transistors packed into a 251 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 41.0M per mm². In contrast, the NVIDIA Tesla K40c uses the GK180 chip with Kepler architecture, built on a 28 nm process, also at TSMC, but with 7,080 million transistors spread across a much larger 561 mm² die, giving a density of just 12.6M per mm². The smaller process node gives AMD a massive efficiency advantage, which is reflected in the TDP: 130 W for the Radeon Pro 5700 XT versus 245 W for the Tesla K40c.

Memory configurations also differ sharply. The Radeon Pro 5700 XT features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Tesla K40c has 12 GB of GDDR5 on a wider 384-bit bus, but its bandwidth is lower at 288.4 GB/s. Clock speeds tell a similar story: the Radeon Pro 5700 XT runs at a base of 1243 MHz and boosts to 1499 MHz, while the Tesla K40c operates at a much lower 745 MHz base and 876 MHz boost. The memory clocks also differ, with AMD’s GDDR6 running at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) versus NVIDIA’s 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective).

Feature support is another differentiator. The Radeon Pro 5700 XT supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The Tesla K40c supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175. The newer DirectX and Vulkan versions on the AMD card suggest better compatibility with modern APIs. Neither card has ray tracing or tensor cores, and both lack display outputs, indicating their compute-focused or professional nature. The bus interface also differs: PCIe 4.0 x16 on the AMD card versus PCIe 3.0 x16 on the NVIDIA card.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison available is the Geekbench OpenCL test, and the results are lopsided. The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT scores 59,467, while the NVIDIA Tesla K40c scores 17,468. This represents a 240.4% advantage for the AMD card, meaning it delivers more than three times the OpenCL performance. This is not a marginal improvement; it is a generational leap that reflects the combined benefits of a newer architecture, faster clocks, higher bandwidth, and better memory technology.

To contextualize this score, the Radeon Pro 5700 XT’s average benchmark score across all tested suites is 18,685, while the Tesla K40c’s is 17,468. Interestingly, the Radeon Pro 5700 XT’s OpenCL score is far above its own average, indicating that OpenCL is a particularly strong workload for it. The Tesla K40c, by contrast, only has the OpenCL score listed, so its average is identical to that single result.

The delta of 240.4% is the single most important number in this comparison. It dwarfs any other metric and suggests that in any compute environment relying on OpenCL, the Radeon Pro 5700 XT is categorically superior. The Tesla K40c’s nearest rivals, which include the AMD Radeon Pro 460 (delta of -0.2%) and the AMD Radeon 780M (delta of -0.7%), show that it sits in a performance tier far below the Radeon Pro 5700 XT, which is closer to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (delta of -0.6%) in average score.

The Verdict

The data strongly favors the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT for virtually any workload that can use OpenCL. Its 240.4% lead in the head-to-head benchmark is decisive, and its additional graphics benchmarks (Passmark DirectX 9, 10, 11, 12, and Vulkan) provide a level of versatility that the Tesla K40c cannot match. The Radeon Pro 5700 XT also offers more memory (16 GB vs. 12 GB), higher bandwidth (384.0 GB/s vs. 288.4 GB/s), and significantly better power efficiency (130 W vs. 245 W).

The Tesla K40c, with its 2013 release date and Kepler architecture, is clearly a legacy product. Its sole benchmark score is less than a third of the AMD card’s, and it lacks any measured graphics performance. However, the K40c does have some theoretical advantages: more shading units (2,880 vs. 2,560), more TMUs (240 vs. 160), and a wider memory bus (384-bit vs. 256-bit). These specs might benefit specific compute kernels that are not memory-bandwidth-bound, but the OpenCL result suggests that any such advantage is overwhelmed by the AMD card’s superior execution efficiency.

For a user choosing between these two today, the Radeon Pro 5700 XT is the rational pick. It wins the only benchmark, has a broader test suite, and is more power-efficient. The Tesla K40c is only relevant if a workload specifically requires Kepler-era features or if the wider memory bus is somehow critical, but the data provides no evidence of such a scenario. The Radeon Pro 5700 XT is the clear winner, with the caveat that the comparison is limited to a single shared benchmark.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher Geekbench OpenCL score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT scores 59,467, which is 240.4% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla K40c’s 17,468.

Q: How much memory does each GPU have?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the NVIDIA Tesla K40c has 12 GB of GDDR5 memory.

Q: What are the process nodes for these GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT uses a 7 nm process, and the NVIDIA Tesla K40c uses a 28 nm process, both fabricated by TSMC.

Q: Does the Tesla K40c support Vulkan?

A: Yes, the Tesla K40c supports Vulkan 1.2.175, while the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT supports Vulkan 1.4.

Q: What is the power consumption difference?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT has a TDP of 130 W, whereas the NVIDIA Tesla K40c has a TDP of 245 W.

Q: Which card has a higher transistor count?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT has 10,300 million transistors, compared to 7,080 million on the NVIDIA Tesla K40c.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT | NVIDIA Tesla K40c |

|---------------|------------------------|-------------------|

| Architecture | RDNA 1.0 | Kepler |

| Process Node | 7 nm | 28 nm |

| Transistors | 10,300 million | 7,080 million |

| Die Size | 251 mm² | 561 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 41.0M / mm² | 12.6M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1243 MHz | 745 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1499 MHz | 876 MHz |

| Memory Size | 16 GB | 12 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus Width | 256 bit | 384 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 384.0 GB/s | 288.4 GB/s |

| Memory Clock | 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) | 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective) |

| Shading Units | 2560 | 2880 |

| TMUs | 160 | 240 |

| ROPs | 64 | 48 |

| Pixel Rate | 95.94 GPixel/s | 52.56 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 239.8 GTexel/s | 210.2 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 7.675 TFLOPS | 5.046 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 15.35 TFLOPS (2:1) | null |

| TDP | 130 W | 245 W |

| Slot Width | IGP | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | None | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 300 W | 550 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 4.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| DirectX Support | 12 (12_1) | 12 (11_0) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.4 | 1.2.175 |

| Length | null | 267 mm (10.5 inches) |

| Release Date | 2020-08-03 | 2013-10-07 |

| Launch MSRP | null | 7,699 USD |

| Predecessor | null | Tesla Fermi |

| Successor | null | Tesla Maxwell |