AMD Radeon Pro Vega II vs NVIDIA Tesla P40 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II is decisively ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P40 in every common benchmark. In Geekbench OpenCL, the AMD card scores 99,048 against 62,017 for the Tesla P40, a 59.7% advantage. In Geekbench Vulkan, the AMD card scores 99,621 against 68,172, a 46.1% lead. These are not marginal differences; the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II outperforms the Tesla P40 by roughly half its own score in the OpenCL test, and nearly that in Vulkan.

The average benchmark score reinforces this gap. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II holds an average of 109,617 across its three recorded tests, while the NVIDIA Tesla P40 averages 65,095. The AMD card sits in the 94th percentile of all GPUs in the database, compared to the 89th percentile for the Tesla P40. When placed against its nearest rivals, the AMD card is 1% behind the AMD Radeon PRO W7900 (average 110,725), 2.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W6600X (107,342), 2.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo (106,750), and 3.8% behind the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile (113,944). The Tesla P40, by contrast, is 1.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 (64,212), 1.4% behind the AMD Radeon VII (66,004), 2% ahead of the NVIDIA CMP 30HX (63,842), and 2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT LP (63,830).

The head-to-head results are unambiguous. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II wins both recorded comparisons, with a 59.7% delta in OpenCL and a 46.1% delta in Vulkan. The Tesla P40 does not win a single head-to-head test. The magnitude of these deltas suggests the two cards are not competing in the same performance tier, despite both being workstation-class products. The AMD card's FP32 compute of 14.09 TFLOPS against the Tesla P40's 11.76 TFLOPS aligns with the benchmark outcomes, as does the AMD card's FP16 throughput of 28.18 TFLOPS (2:1) versus the Tesla P40's 183.7 GFLOPS (1:64), a stark difference in mixed-precision capability.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II averages 109,617 across three tests, while the NVIDIA Tesla P40 averages 65,095 across two tests. The AMD card's percentile rank is 94 versus 89 for the Tesla P40.

Q: How much faster is the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The AMD card scores 99,048 compared to 62,017 for the Tesla P40, a 59.7% advantage. This is the largest recorded delta between the two in any shared test.

Q: Does the NVIDIA Tesla P40 have any benchmark where it beats the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II?

A: No. In the two head-to-head tests (Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan), the AMD card wins both. The Tesla P40 has zero wins in the recorded comparison.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II uses 32 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus with 825.3 GB/s bandwidth. The NVIDIA Tesla P40 uses 24 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus with 347.1 GB/s bandwidth. The AMD card has more than double the memory bandwidth.

Q: Which card has a higher pixel fill rate?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla P40 has a pixel rate of 147.0 GPixel/s, which is higher than the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II's 110.1 GPixel/s. However, the AMD card has a higher texture rate at 440.3 GTexel/s versus 367.4 GTexel/s.

Q: How do their transistor counts and process nodes compare?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II uses 13,230 million transistors on a 7 nm process (TSMC), with a die size of 331 mm² and a density of 40.0M per mm². The NVIDIA Tesla P40 uses 11,800 million transistors on a 16 nm process (TSMC), with a die size of 471 mm² and a density of 25.1M per mm².

The Verdict

The data points to a clear conclusion: the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II is the superior compute card. It wins both shared benchmarks by substantial margins, offers more than double the memory bandwidth, and delivers higher FP32 and FP16 throughput. The Tesla P40's only quantitative advantage in the recorded fields is pixel rate (147.0 vs 110.1 GPixel/s) and a lower TDP (250 W vs 475 W), which may matter in power-constrained deployments but does not translate into any benchmark victory.

For users whose workloads rely on OpenCL or Vulkan compute, the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II is the only defensible choice based on these measurements. The 59.7% and 46.1% deltas are not close enough to be offset by driver optimizations or workload tuning. The Tesla P40 does retain a role in scenarios where power draw is the primary constraint, as its 250 W TDP versus 475 W for the AMD card is a significant operational difference. However, for raw performance, the database's numbers are unambiguous: the AMD card is the winner with 2 wins and 0 losses in the head-to-head comparison.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every major specification. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II has 4096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The NVIDIA Tesla P40 has 3840 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The AMD card has a higher base clock of 1574 MHz versus 1303 MHz, and a higher boost clock of 1720 MHz versus 1531 MHz. Memory differs fundamentally: 32 GB HBM2 with a 4096-bit bus and 825.3 GB/s bandwidth for the AMD card, versus 24 GB GDDR5 with a 384-bit bus and 347.1 GB/s bandwidth for the Tesla P40.

The process node is a major divergence: 7 nm for AMD versus 16 nm for NVIDIA. Transistor counts are 13,230 million versus 11,800 million, with die sizes of 331 mm² versus 471 mm². Transistor density is 40.0M per mm² for AMD versus 25.1M per mm² for NVIDIA. Compute rates show AMD leading in FP32 (14.09 vs 11.76 TFLOPS) and massively leading in FP16 (28.18 vs 183.7 GFLOPS, with the Tesla P40's ratio noted as 1:64). Pixel rate favors NVIDIA at 147.0 vs 110.1 GPixel/s, while texture rate favors AMD at 440.3 vs 367.4 GTexel/s.

Power and physical design differ as well. The AMD card has a TDP of 475 W with a suggested PSU of 850 W, while the Tesla P40 has a TDP of 250 W with a suggested PSU of 600 W. The AMD card is quad-slot, the Tesla P40 is dual-slot. The Tesla P40 has a length of 267 mm (10.5 inches) and height of 111 mm (4.4 inches); the AMD card's dimensions are not recorded. The AMD card uses an Apple MPX bus interface, while the Tesla P40 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs also differ: the AMD card has 1x HDMI 2.0b and 4x Thunderbolt, while the Tesla P40 has no outputs. API support is similar for DirectX (12_1 for both) and OpenGL (4.6 for both), but Vulkan support is 1.3 for AMD and 1.4 for NVIDIA.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II is built on the Vega 20 chip using GCN 5.1 architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process. The NVIDIA Tesla P40 is built on the GP102 chip using Pascal architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 16 nm process. These are two generations apart in process technology, and the transistor density reflects that: 40.0M per mm² for AMD versus 25.1M per mm² for NVIDIA.

Memory architecture is fundamentally different. The AMD card uses HBM2 with a 4096-bit bus, which explains its 825.3 GB/s bandwidth. The Tesla P40 uses GDDR5 with a 384-bit bus, yielding 347.1 GB/s. The AMD card's memory clock is recorded as 806 MHz (1612 Mbps effective), while the Tesla P40's is 1808 MHz (7.2 Gbps effective). The higher effective clock on the Tesla P40 does not compensate for the narrower bus and slower memory type.

Both cards lack dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores, as those fields are null in the database. The AMD card's FP16 throughput of 28.18 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio) indicates it can process half-precision at twice the FP32 rate, a notable feature for machine learning inference or graphics workloads that use FP16. The Tesla P40's FP16 of 183.7 GFLOPS with a 1:64 ratio means its half-precision performance is negligible, effectively 1/64th of its FP32 rate. This is a major architectural difference for any workload that benefits from reduced precision.

The bus interface also reflects different design philosophies. The AMD card uses Apple MPX, indicating it is designed for Apple Mac Pro systems. The Tesla P40 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, a standard server interface. The AMD card includes display outputs (1x HDMI 2.0b, 4x Thunderbolt), while the Tesla P40 has no outputs, confirming its role as a compute-only accelerator for datacenter deployments.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II wins in compute-heavy tasks. Its FP32 throughput of 14.09 TFLOPS, FP16 throughput of 28.18 TFLOPS, and 825.3 GB/s memory bandwidth make it suited for OpenCL and Vulkan workloads, as evidenced by its 59.7% and 46.1% benchmark leads. The card's 32 GB HBM2 memory with a 4096-bit bus is designed for large datasets that require high bandwidth, such as complex simulations or high-resolution rendering. Its 440.3 GTexel/s texture rate also favors workloads that stress texture sampling.

The NVIDIA Tesla P40 wins in two specific areas based on the recorded data: pixel rate and power efficiency. Its pixel rate of 147.0 GPixel/s exceeds the AMD card's 110.1 GPixel/s, which could benefit rasterization-heavy tasks where fill rate is the bottleneck. Its TDP of 250 W versus 475 W, and suggested PSU of 600 W versus 850 W, make it a more practical choice for dense server installations where power and cooling are limited. The Tesla P40's dual-slot design versus the AMD card's quad-slot also allows more GPUs per chassis.

For use-case split, the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II is the clear pick for compute performance. The database shows it winning all shared benchmarks, and its memory bandwidth and FP16 capability are unmatched by the Tesla P40. The Tesla P40 is the pick only when power draw or physical space is the deciding factor, as its 250 W TDP and dual-slot footprint are meaningfully lower. However, those advantages come with a 46% to 60% performance deficit in the recorded tests. Users who need display outputs should also choose the AMD card, as the Tesla P40 has none. Users who need Vulkan 1.4 support (versus 1.3 on the AMD card) or a standard PCIe interface would favor the Tesla P40, but only if compute performance is not the primary requirement.