AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo vs NVIDIA Tesla P40 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a decisive performance advantage for the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo across the two shared benchmark tests. In Geekbench OpenCL, the AMD card scores 98,432 points against 62,017 points for the NVIDIA Tesla P40, a delta of 58.7% in favor of AMD. The Vulkan test tells a similar story: AMD scores 99,296, NVIDIA scores 68,172, and the delta is 45.7%. These are not marginal gaps; they represent substantial differences in raw compute throughput that will be felt in any workload that scales well across the GPU.

Looking at the broader database context, the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo sits at the 94th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 106,750 across all recorded tests. Its nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon Pro W6600X at 107,342 (only 0.6% higher), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II at 109,617 (2.6% higher), and the AMD Radeon PRO W7900 at 110,725 (3.6% higher). The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 trails it by 4.8% with an average score of 101,872. This places the Vega II Duo in a competitive band with other high-end AMD workstation cards, slightly behind the top of that group but well ahead of NVIDIA's older Quadro offering.

The NVIDIA Tesla P40, by contrast, occupies the 89th percentile with an average benchmark score of 65,095. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 at 64,212 (1.4% lower), the AMD Radeon VII at 66,004 (1.4% higher), and the NVIDIA CMP 30HX at 63,842 (2.0% lower). The P40 is therefore not an outlier in its class; it sits within a tight cluster of GPUs delivering similar average performance. However, the gap between the two cards in this comparison is enormous: the Vega II Duo's average score is roughly 64% higher than the P40's average score, a figure not directly listed but derivable from the 106,750 versus 65,095 numbers.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo wins both head-to-head tests, so the use-case split is straightforward: for any workload that relies on OpenCL or Vulkan compute, the AMD card is the stronger choice. The OpenCL delta of 58.7% is particularly notable because OpenCL remains a common API for scientific computing, rendering, and data processing tasks. The Vulkan delta of 45.7% is also substantial, indicating that AMD's advantage persists even in a lower-level, more direct GPU interface.

The NVIDIA Tesla P40 wins no tests in this comparison. That said, the data does not suggest it is a poor card for all purposes; it simply falls short against this particular AMD competitor. In the context of its own peer group, the P40 is competitive: it outscores the AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 by 1.4% and the NVIDIA CMP 30HX by 2.0%, while trailing the AMD Radeon VII by only 1.4%. So the P40 is a serviceable performer in its own tier, but the Vega II Duo operates in a different, higher tier altogether.

For users prioritizing compute density or raw throughput, the Vega II Duo is the clear pick. For users constrained by power or physical space, the Tesla P40 offers a meaningful trade-off, which is discussed further in the architecture and specification sections below. The database does not record any memory-bandwidth or texture-bound benchmarks for these two cards, so no conclusions can be drawn there; the wins are strictly in OpenCL and Vulkan compute.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural generations and manufacturing processes. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo is built on the Vega 20 chip using GCN 5.1 architecture, fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. The NVIDIA Tesla P40 uses the GP102 chip with Pascal architecture, fabricated on a 16 nm process, also at TSMC. The process gap is significant: 7 nm versus 16 nm, which influences transistor density. The AMD chip packs 13,230 million transistors into a 331 mm² die, yielding a density of 40.0M transistors per square millimeter. The NVIDIA chip has 11,800 million transistors on a larger 471 mm² die, for a density of 25.1M per square millimeter. The AMD design achieves roughly 60% higher transistor density, a direct consequence of the more advanced process node.

Memory architecture diverges sharply. The Vega II Duo uses 32 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, delivering 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth. The Tesla P40 uses 24 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, delivering 347.1 GB/s. The bandwidth disparity is nearly 3-to-1 in AMD's favor, which matters for memory-heavy workloads such as large matrix operations or high-resolution rendering. The memory clock figures reflect the different technologies: the AMD card runs at 1000 MHz base, with 2 Gbps effective data rate, while the NVIDIA card runs at 1808 MHz, with 7.2 Gbps effective. GDDR5 achieves higher raw clock speeds, but HBM2's wide bus compensates overwhelmingly.

Compute resources also differ. The Vega II Duo has 4096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The Tesla P40 has 3840 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. In terms of pixel throughput, the NVIDIA card is ahead: 147.0 GPixel/s versus 110.1 GPixel/s, a 33.5% advantage. But in texture rate, AMD leads: 440.3 GTexel/s versus 367.4 GTexel/s, a 19.8% advantage. Floating-point performance shows AMD ahead in both FP32 and FP16. The Vega II Duo delivers 14.09 TFLOPS FP32 and 28.18 TFLOPS FP16 (at 2:1 ratio). The Tesla P40 delivers 11.76 TFLOPS FP32 and only 183.7 GFLOPS FP16 (at 1:64 ratio). The FP16 gap is enormous, with AMD offering over 150 times the FP16 throughput, which is critical for AI inference and certain HPC workloads that use reduced precision.

Neither card has dedicated ray tracing cores or tensor cores. Both support DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan, though the NVIDIA card lists Vulkan 1.4 while AMD lists Vulkan 1.3.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every specification field in the database. Process node: 7 nm for AMD, 16 nm for NVIDIA. Transistors: 13,230 million versus 11,800 million. Die size: 331 mm² versus 471 mm². Transistor density: 40.0M per mm² versus 25.1M per mm². Base clock: 1400 MHz versus 1303 MHz. Boost clock: 1720 MHz versus 1531 MHz. Memory size: 32 GB versus 24 GB. Memory type: HBM2 versus GDDR5. Bus width: 4096-bit versus 384-bit. Memory bandwidth: 1.02 TB/s versus 347.1 GB/s. Shading units: 4096 versus 3840. TMUs: 256 versus 240. ROPs: 64 versus 96. Pixel rate: 110.1 GPixel/s versus 147.0 GPixel/s. Texture rate: 440.3 GTexel/s versus 367.4 GTexel/s. FP32: 14.09 TFLOPS versus 11.76 TFLOPS. FP16: 28.18 TFLOPS versus 183.7 GFLOPS. TDP: 475 W versus 250 W. Slot width: Quad-slot versus Dual-slot. Suggested PSU: 850 W versus 600 W. Bus interface: Apple MPX versus PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs: 1x HDMI 2.0b and 4x Thunderbolt for AMD, versus no outputs for NVIDIA. Power connectors: not listed for AMD, 8-pin EPS for NVIDIA. Dimensions: not listed for AMD, while NVIDIA is 267 mm length and 111 mm height. Release dates: June 2019 for AMD, September 2016 for NVIDIA. Launch MSRP: AMD at 4,399 USD, NVIDIA at 5,699 USD. The AMD card has no documented predecessor or successor, while the NVIDIA card lists Tesla Maxwell as predecessor and Tesla Volta as successor.

The TDP difference is stark: 475 W for the Vega II Duo versus 250 W for the Tesla P40. This explains the physical form factor gap, AMD requiring a quad-slot cooler versus NVIDIA's dual-slot design. The power connector situation also differs, with NVIDIA using an 8-pin EPS connector while AMD's connector is not recorded in the database. The Vega II Duo's Apple MPX bus interface is notable, indicating it is designed for Apple's Mac Pro ecosystem, while the Tesla P40 uses standard PCIe 3.0 x16. The AMD card includes display outputs, while the Tesla P40 is a compute-only accelerator with no video outputs, consistent with its server-oriented positioning.

FAQ

Q: Which card has higher memory bandwidth?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo has 1.02 TB/s from HBM2 memory on a 4096-bit bus. The NVIDIA Tesla P40 has 347.1 GB/s from GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus.

Q: What is the FP16 performance difference?

A: The AMD card delivers 28.18 TFLOPS FP16 (at 2:1 ratio), while the NVIDIA card delivers 183.7 GFLOPS FP16 (at 1:64 ratio). AMD's FP16 throughput is roughly 150 times higher.

Q: Which card has a higher pixel fill rate?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla P40, at 147.0 GPixel/s, outperforms the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo's 110.1 GPixel/s. This is despite AMD having more shading units and TMUs.

Q: How do the cards compare in power consumption?

A: The AMD card has a TDP of 475 W with a suggested PSU of 850 W. The NVIDIA card has a TDP of 250 W with a suggested PSU of 600 W. The NVIDIA card also uses a dual-slot cooler, while AMD requires a quad-slot design.

Q: What are the release dates and launch prices?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo was released in June 2019 with a launch MSRP of 4,399 USD. The NVIDIA Tesla P40 was released in September 2016 with a launch MSRP of 5,699 USD.

Q: Do either cards support ray tracing or tensor cores?

A: No. Neither the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo nor the NVIDIA Tesla P40 has dedicated ray tracing cores or tensor cores in the recorded specifications. Both cards rely on their respective compute units for all workloads.