AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 vs NVIDIA Tesla P40 Comparison

The NVIDIA Tesla P40 and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 are two very different end-of-life workstation accelerators. The data shows the Tesla P40 is the clear performance winner in the common API tests, but the Radeon Pro Vega 48 holds a unique advantage in its form factor and memory technology. The verdict is straightforward: the Tesla P40 is for raw compute throughput in a server chassis, while the Vega 48 is for Apple-centric, portable, or integrated workflows where a discrete card cannot be installed.

The Verdict

The benchmark data shows a decisive victory for the NVIDIA Tesla P40. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the Tesla P40 scores 62,017 against the Vega 48's 53,757, a 15.4% advantage. In the Vulkan test, the lead widens to 18.2%, with the P40 scoring 68,172 versus 57,653. With 2 wins and 0 losses, the P40 is the superior choice for any workload that leverages these cross-platform APIs.

However, the Vega 48 is not without a purpose. Its status as an "IGP" with no power connectors and no dedicated slot width means it is designed for systems where a traditional dual-slot card like the P40 cannot fit. The P40 requires a dual-slot footprint, an 8-pin EPS connector, and a 600 W suggested PSU. The Vega 48, by contrast, is a "Portable Device Dependent" output, indicating it is intended for integrated or mobile systems. If you have a Mac Pro or a similar proprietary chassis that only accepts this specific IGP form factor, the Vega 48 is your only choice from this pairing. For anyone building or upgrading a standard PC or server, the Tesla P40 is the only rational pick based on the performance delta.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla P40 is faster, scoring 62,017 compared to the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48's 53,757. This represents a 15.4% performance lead for the P40.

Q: Is the Tesla P40 also faster in Vulkan?

A: Yes. The P40 scores 68,172 in Vulkan, which is 18.2% higher than the Vega 48's score of 57,653. This is the largest performance gap between the two cards in the head-to-head data.

Q: What are the key physical differences that affect installation?

A: The Tesla P40 is a dual-slot card requiring an 8-pin EPS power connector and a 600 W power supply, with dimensions of 267 mm in length and 111 mm in height. The Radeon Pro Vega 48 is an IGP (Integrated Graphics Processor) with no power connectors and no listed dimensions, making it fundamentally incompatible with standard expansion slots.

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 has higher memory bandwidth at 402.4 GB/s, despite having only 8 GB of memory. The NVIDIA Tesla P40 has 24 GB of memory but a lower bandwidth of 347.1 GB/s.

Q: How do their overall benchmark percentiles compare?

A: The Tesla P40 has an average benchmark score of 65,095, placing it in the 89th percentile of all GPUs. The Vega 48 has an average score of 60,140, placing it in the 88th percentile.

Q: Does the Vega 48 have any benchmark where it wins?

A: The head-to-head data shows no wins for the Vega 48. The only benchmark unique to it is Geekbench Metal, where it scores 69,010, but there is no corresponding Metal score for the Tesla P40 to compare against.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on fundamentally different architectures from different process nodes. The NVIDIA Tesla P40 uses the GP102 chip based on the Pascal architecture, manufactured by TSMC on a 16 nm process. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 uses the Vega 10 chip based on GCN 5.0, manufactured by GlobalFoundries on a 14 nm process. This node difference is minor in terms of density, with the P40 at 25.1M transistors per mm² and the Vega 48 at 25.3M transistors per mm².

The transistor counts are substantial for both, but the Vega 48 has a slight edge with 12,500 million transistors compared to the P40's 11,800 million. The die sizes are also close, with the Vega 48 at 495 mm² and the P40 at 471 mm². The architectural philosophies diverge in compute and memory design. The P40 is built for massive FP32 throughput with 3,840 shading units, while the Vega 48 relies on a wider memory bus and different compute layout with 3,072 shading units. The Vega 48's GCN architecture supports FP16 at a 2:1 ratio, delivering 14.75 TFLOPS, whereas the P40's FP16 performance is a minuscule 183.7 GFLOPS (1:64). This indicates the Vega 48 is far more capable for half-precision workloads, despite losing in FP32. The P40 has no RT or Tensor cores, and neither does the Vega 48, so neither is suited for ray tracing or AI tensor operations.

Specification Differences

The specification sheets show clear divergences. The most glaring difference is memory: the Tesla P40 has 24 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus with 347.1 GB/s bandwidth, while the Vega 48 has 8 GB of HBM2 on a massive 2048-bit bus with 402.4 GB/s bandwidth. The Vega 48's memory clock is listed at 786 MHz (1572 Mbps effective), whereas the P40 runs at 1808 MHz (7.2 Gbps effective). The P40's higher clock speed compensates for its narrower bus.

Compute unit counts differ significantly. The P40 has 3,840 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The Vega 48 has 3,072 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. This translates to a large lead for the P40 in pixel rate (147.0 GPixel/s versus 76.80 GPixel/s) and texture rate (367.4 GTexel/s versus 230.4 GTexel/s). The FP32 compute is also a P40 win: 11.76 TFLOPS versus 7.373 TFLOPS.

Power and physical specs are polar opposites. The P40 has a TDP of 250 W, requires a dual-slot cooler, an 8-pin EPS connector, and a 600 W suggested PSU. It is 267 mm long and 111 mm tall. The Vega 48 has no TDP listed, is designated as an IGP, has no power connectors, no dimensions, and no suggested PSU. The P40 has no display outputs, while the Vega 48's outputs are "Portable Device Dependent." Both use PCIe 3.0 x16. The P40 supports Vulkan 1.4, while the Vega 48 supports Vulkan 1.3; both support DirectX 12 (12_1) and OpenGL 4.6.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head data is limited to two tests, both of which the NVIDIA Tesla P40 wins decisively. In Geekbench OpenCL, the P40 scores 62,017 against the Vega 48's 53,757. This 15.4% delta is substantial in a compute context, suggesting the P40's higher shading unit count and clock speeds provide a tangible advantage in general-purpose compute tasks that use OpenCL.

The Vulkan test shows an even larger gap. The P40 scores 68,172, while the Vega 48 manages 57,653. The 18.2% delta indicates that the P40's Pascal architecture handles Vulkan's low-level API overhead more efficiently than the GCN 5.0 architecture. This is notable because Vulkan is often used in professional visualization and gaming-adjacent workloads. The Vega 48's only other benchmark, Geekbench Metal, scores 69,010, but since the P40 has no Metal support and no corresponding score, it cannot be used for a head-to-head comparison.

The average benchmark scores reinforce the P40's dominance. The P40 averages 65,095 across its two tests, while the Vega 48 averages 60,140 across its three. The P40's nearest rival is the AMD Radeon VII at 66,004 (a 1.4% deficit), and it is 1.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 at 64,212. The Vega 48's nearest rival is the Intel Arc Pro A60 at 60,326 (a 0.3% deficit), and it is 2.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon PRO V710 at 58,657. This places the P40 in a higher performance tier overall.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA Tesla P40 wins in every direct head-to-head benchmark category. It is the clear choice for raw OpenCL and Vulkan compute performance, offering 15-18% more throughput than the Vega 48. Its 24 GB of memory is also a significant advantage for workloads that need to hold large datasets in VRAM, even if the bandwidth is lower. With an average score of 65,095 and an 89th percentile ranking, the P40 is a high-tier performer suited for server racks, deep learning inference, and rendering tasks where physical space and power are available.

The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 wins in exactly one area: form factor and integration. As an IGP with no power connectors and no slot width, it is designed for systems where a discrete GPU cannot be installed. Its 402.4 GB/s memory bandwidth is higher than the P40's, but this does not translate into a benchmark win. Its FP16 performance of 14.75 TFLOPS is vastly superior to the P40's 183.7 GFLOPS, suggesting it would win in half-precision compute tasks, but no such benchmark is provided in the head-to-head data. The Vega 48's Metal score of 69,010 indicates strong performance in Apple's ecosystem, where Metal is the primary API. Therefore, the Vega 48 is the winner for Mac Pro users or portable workstation environments that specifically require its IGP form factor and can leverage Metal or FP16 workloads. For any standard PCIe slot, the Tesla P40 is the superior hardware.