AMD Radeon Pro VII vs NVIDIA Tesla P40 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a clear and consistent victory for the AMD Radeon Pro VII across all common benchmark tests. In the OpenCL workload, the Radeon Pro VII scored 90,148 against the Tesla P40's 62,017, a decisive 45.4% advantage. The Vulkan results tell a similar story, with the AMD card posting 92,862 points versus 68,172 for the NVIDIA card, a 36.2% lead. These are not marginal differences; they represent substantial performance gaps that will translate directly into faster compute times for compatible workloads.

The average benchmark score further reinforces this hierarchy. The Radeon Pro VII averages 97,131 points across all recorded tests, while the Tesla P40 averages only 65,095. This 32,036-point gap means the AMD part sits in the 93rd percentile of all GPUs in the database, compared to the Tesla P40's 89th percentile. While both are high-end performers by this metric, the Radeon Pro VII is demonstrably closer to the top of the overall performance distribution.

Context from the nearest rivals list adds nuance. The Radeon Pro VII's average score places it just 0.4% behind the AMD Radeon RX 7900M, a modern gaming flagship, and 5% ahead of the AMD Radeon Instinct MI60. It also trails the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 by 4.7% but leads the NVIDIA RTX A4500 by 6%. The Tesla P40's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100, which it beats by 1.4%, and the AMD Radeon VII, which it trails by 1.4%. This places the Tesla P40 in a lower performance tier entirely, competing with older workstation cards rather than current-generation flagships.

The head-to-head data records two wins for the Radeon Pro VII and zero for the Tesla P40. No benchmark in the database shows the NVIDIA card ahead, making the overall performance verdict unambiguous. For any user prioritizing raw compute throughput in these specific API workloads, the AMD card is the superior choice by a wide margin.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from fundamentally different design eras and philosophies. The AMD Radeon Pro VII uses the Vega 20 chip built on GCN 5.1 architecture, manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC. The NVIDIA Tesla P40 uses the GP102 chip with Pascal architecture, built on a 16 nm process, also at TSMC. The process node difference is significant: 7 nm versus 16 nm, which explains the AMD card's transistor density of 40.0 million transistors per square millimeter against the NVIDIA card's 25.1 million.

Despite the density advantage, the AMD chip packs 13,230 million transistors onto a 331 mm² die, while the NVIDIA chip contains 11,800 million transistors spread across a larger 471 mm² die. The smaller AMD die with more transistors demonstrates the density efficiency of the newer node. Clock speeds favor AMD as well, with a base clock of 1400 MHz and boost of 1700 MHz, versus the Tesla P40's 1303 MHz base and 1531 MHz boost.

Memory architecture represents one of the starkest contrasts. The Radeon Pro VII features 16 GB of HBM2 memory on a 4096-bit bus, delivering 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth. The Tesla P40 counters with 24 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, but only 347.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The AMD card's memory bandwidth is nearly three times higher, a critical factor for memory-bound compute tasks. The NVIDIA card does offer more capacity, 24 GB versus 16 GB, which matters for very large datasets that must fit in VRAM.

Compute unit configurations show some surprising similarities. Both cards feature 3840 shading units and 240 texture mapping units. The Radeon Pro VII has 64 ROPs, while the Tesla P40 has 96 ROPs, giving NVIDIA a pixel fillrate advantage: 147.0 GPixel/s versus 108.8 GPixel/s. However, the AMD card wins on texture rate at 408.0 GTexel/s against 367.4 GTexel/s. Floating-point performance strongly favors AMD: 13.06 TFLOPS FP32 versus 11.76 TFLOPS, and a dramatic difference in FP16, where the Radeon Pro VII delivers 26.11 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio) while the Tesla P40 manages only 183.7 GFLOPS (1:64 ratio). This makes the AMD card vastly superior for mixed-precision workloads.

Power consumption is identical at 250 W TDP for both, with a suggested 600 W PSU for each system. The Radeon Pro VII uses dual-slot cooling with 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin connectors, while the Tesla P40 also uses dual-slot cooling but requires an 8-pin EPS connector, which is less common in standard desktop power supplies.

Interface and output differences are notable. The Radeon Pro VII supports PCIe 4.0 x16 and offers 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, making it a functional display card. The Tesla P40 is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16 and provides no display outputs whatsoever, requiring a secondary GPU for any visual output. API support is broadly similar with DirectX 12 (12_1) and OpenGL 4.6 on both, but the Tesla P40 lists Vulkan 1.4 support while the Radeon Pro VII lists Vulkan 1.3.

Physical dimensions differ slightly, with the AMD card measuring 305 mm in length versus 267 mm for the NVIDIA card, both at 111 mm height. The release dates are separated by years: the Tesla P40 launched in September 2016, while the Radeon Pro VII arrived in May 2020. Both are now end-of-life products, with the AMD card's predecessor listed as Radeon Pro Polaris and successor as Radeon Pro Navi, while the Tesla P40's lineage runs from Tesla Maxwell to Tesla Volta.

The Verdict

The data directs a clear verdict: the AMD Radeon Pro VII is the stronger performer in every recorded benchmark. Its 45.4% OpenCL lead and 36.2% Vulkan lead over the Tesla P40 are decisive, and its average score of 97,131 versus 65,095 places it in a higher performance class entirely. The Radeon Pro VII also sits at the 93rd percentile of all GPUs, five points above the Tesla P40's 89th percentile.

For users who need display outputs, the choice is even simpler. The Radeon Pro VII provides 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a connections, while the Tesla P40 has none. The AMD card also offers PCIe 4.0 support, higher memory bandwidth, superior FP16 performance, and a more efficient 7 nm process. The Tesla P40's only advantages are memory capacity (24 GB versus 16 GB), higher pixel fillrate (147.0 GPixel/s versus 108.8 GPixel/s), and a shorter physical length (267 mm versus 305 mm).

The Tesla P40's 24 GB of GDDR5 memory could matter for specific workloads that require more than 16 GB of VRAM, such as very large inference models or massive dataset processing. However, its 347.1 GB/s bandwidth is a severe bottleneck compared to the Radeon Pro VII's 1.02 TB/s, meaning the NVIDIA card may move data far slower even when it fits. The Radeon Pro VII's 16 GB at 1.02 TB/s will often outperform the Tesla P40's 24 GB at 347.1 GB/s in practice.

The verdict from the recorded data is straightforward: the AMD Radeon Pro VII is the superior choice for nearly all compute workloads, with the Tesla P40 only appealing when 24 GB capacity is an absolute requirement and the lower bandwidth is acceptable. The 7 nm process, newer architecture, and far higher benchmark scores make the AMD card the default recommendation.

FAQ

Q: Which card has higher OpenCL performance?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro VII scores 90,148 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 45.4% higher than the Tesla P40's 62,017.

Q: Does the NVIDIA Tesla P40 win any benchmark in the head-to-head data?

A: No. The head-to-head results show two wins for the AMD Radeon Pro VII and zero for the Tesla P40.

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro VII has 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth from its HBM2 memory, while the Tesla P40 has 347.1 GB/s from GDDR5.

Q: Can the Tesla P40 drive a display?

A: No, the Tesla P40 has no display outputs. The Radeon Pro VII offers 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a outputs.

Q: How do the cards compare in average benchmark score?

A: The Radeon Pro VII averages 97,131, placing it in the 93rd percentile, while the Tesla P40 averages 65,095, placing it in the 89th percentile.

Q: What FP16 performance does each card deliver?

A: The Radeon Pro VII delivers 26.11 TFLOPS with a 2:1 FP32 ratio, while the Tesla P40 delivers 183.7 GFLOPS with a 1:64 ratio, a massive difference.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Pro VII wins in raw compute performance across all recorded benchmark categories. Its OpenCL score of 90,148 and Vulkan score of 92,862 both dwarf the Tesla P40's 62,017 and 68,172 respectively. The AMD card also wins on memory bandwidth (1.02 TB/s versus 347.1 GB/s), FP32 throughput (13.06 TFLOPS versus 11.76 TFLOPS), FP16 throughput (26.11 TFLOPS versus 183.7 GFLOPS), and texture rate (408.0 GTexel/s versus 367.4 GTexel/s). It further offers display outputs, PCIe 4.0 support, and a more modern 7 nm process.

The NVIDIA Tesla P40 wins in specific niche areas. It offers 24 GB of memory versus 16 GB, which is a 50% capacity advantage. It has a higher pixel fillrate at 147.0 GPixel/s versus 108.8 GPixel/s. It is physically shorter at 267 mm versus 305 mm, which may fit in smaller chassis. It also lists Vulkan 1.4 support against the Radeon Pro VII's Vulkan 1.3.

For workloads that are memory-capacity-bound, where a dataset must fit entirely in VRAM and the 16 GB limit of the AMD card is prohibitive, the Tesla P40's 24 GB pool is the deciding factor. For workloads that are bandwidth-bound or compute-bound, the Radeon Pro VII's massive bandwidth advantage and higher TFLOPS will dominate. The Tesla P40's superior pixel rate could benefit certain graphics rasterization tasks, but the lack of display outputs limits its practical use in such roles. The AMD card wins in the majority of scenarios, particularly any that involve compute acceleration, machine learning inference using FP16, or general-purpose GPU programming.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every major specification. The AMD Radeon Pro VII uses the Vega 20 chip with GCN 5.1 architecture on a 7 nm TSMC process, while the NVIDIA Tesla P40 uses the GP102 chip with Pascal architecture on a 16 nm TSMC process. Transistor counts are 13,230 million for AMD and 11,800 million for NVIDIA, with die sizes of 331 mm² and 471 mm² respectively. Transistor density is 40.0M/mm² versus 25.1M/mm².

Clock speeds differ, with the Radeon Pro VII running at 1400 MHz base and 1700 MHz boost, while the Tesla P40 runs at 1303 MHz base and 1531 MHz boost. Memory configurations are completely different: 16 GB HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus at 1.02 TB/s for AMD, versus 24 GB GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus at 347.1 GB/s for NVIDIA. Shading units and TMUs are identical at 3840 and 240, but ROPs differ at 64 for AMD and 96 for NVIDIA. Pixel rate is 108.8 GPixel/s for AMD and 147.0 GPixel/s for NVIDIA, while texture rates are 408.0 GTexel/s and 367.4 GTexel/s. FP32 is 13.06 TFLOPS versus 11.76 TFLOPS, and FP16 is 26.11 TFLOPS versus 183.7 GFLOPS.

Both cards share a 250 W TDP and dual-slot design, but power connectors differ: 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin for AMD, and 8-pin EPS for NVIDIA. The bus interface is PCIe 4.0 x16 for AMD and PCIe 3.0 x16 for NVIDIA. Display outputs are 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a for AMD and none for NVIDIA. API support is identical for DirectX (12_1) and OpenGL (4.6), but Vulkan differs at 1.3 for AMD and 1.4 for NVIDIA. Physical dimensions are 305 mm length for AMD and 267 mm for NVIDIA, both at 111 mm height. Production status is end-of-life for both, with release dates of May 2020 for AMD and September 2016 for NVIDIA.