AMD Radeon Pro W5500 vs NVIDIA Tesla K80 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a decisive overall victory for the AMD Radeon Pro W5500, which wins both head-to-head tests in the database. The NVIDIA Tesla K80 does not secure a single benchmark win in the comparison, leaving the AMD card with a clean sweep of two wins.

The most dramatic separation comes in the Geekbench OpenCL test. The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 scores 45,615 while the NVIDIA Tesla K80 manages 18,620. This works out to a 59.2% advantage for the AMD card, meaning the Radeon Pro W5500 more than doubles the output of the Tesla K80 in this compute-oriented workload. The margin is stark enough that the Tesla K80 sits in a different performance tier entirely, even though both cards target professional workloads.

The Geekbench Vulkan test tells a similar story, though the gap narrows slightly in percentage terms. The Radeon Pro W5500 posts 42,021 against the Tesla K80's 19,111, a 54.5% difference. The absolute gap of 22,910 points is still substantial, and it reinforces the pattern seen in OpenCL: the AMD card is the stronger choice for modern graphics API workloads.

Context from the database's nearest rival comparisons adds further depth. The Tesla K80's average benchmark score of 18,866 places it at the 63rd percentile of all GPUs. Its closest rivals, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 at 18,789 (0.4% behind) and the NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation at 18,954 (0.5% ahead), are all within a single percentage point. This cluster of results indicates the K80 performs in line with mid-range consumer and professional cards from later generations, despite its age and dual-GPU design.

The Radeon Pro W5500, by contrast, has an average benchmark score of 15,679, which puts it at the 58th percentile. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti at 15,548 (0.8% behind) and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 at 15,852 (1.1% ahead). Even though the W5500's average score is lower than the K80's, the head-to-head results tell a different story: the W5500's OpenCL and Vulkan scores are far higher. The explanation lies in the benchmark mix, the W5500 includes a broad set of Passmark tests and a Metal result that drag down its average, while the K80 only has two Geekbench entries in the database.

The discrepancy between average score and head-to-head performance is worth noting. The K80's average of 18,866 is actually higher than the W5500's 15,679, yet the W5500 wins both direct comparisons by massive margins. This is a reminder that averages can be skewed by the number and type of tests recorded. The W5500's Passmark scores, such as 8,978 in G3D and 4,804 in GPU Compute, are modest compared to its Geekbench numbers, and the Passmark DirectX 9 score of 126 is particularly low. These entries pull the average down, even though the card excels in the newer API workloads that the head-to-head tests capture.

For the Tesla K80, the absence of Passmark and Metal results means its average is computed from only two strong Geekbench scores. The K80's OpenCL score of 18,620 and Vulkan score of 19,111 are internally consistent, showing balanced performance across those two APIs. But the W5500's OpenCL score alone is 2.45 times the K80's, and its Vulkan score is 2.2 times higher. No amount of averaging can obscure that level of dominance in direct comparison.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins the Geekbench OpenCL test?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 wins with a score of 45,615 against the NVIDIA Tesla K80's 18,620, a 59.2% advantage.

Q: Does the NVIDIA Tesla K80 win any head-to-head benchmark?

A: No. The database records zero wins for the Tesla K80 and two wins for the Radeon Pro W5500 across the compared tests.

Q: How do the two cards rank in the overall GPU percentile?

A: The Tesla K80 sits at the 63rd percentile of all GPUs, while the Radeon Pro W5500 sits at the 58th percentile.

Q: What are the closest rivals to the Tesla K80 by average score?

A: The nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 at 18,789 (0.4% behind the K80) and the NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation at 18,954 (0.5% ahead).

Q: What are the closest rivals to the Radeon Pro W5500 by average score?

A: The nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti at 15,548 (0.8% behind) and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 at 15,852 (1.1% ahead).

Q: Why does the W5500 have a lower average score than the K80 despite winning the head-to-head tests?

A: The W5500 has many more recorded benchmarks, including several low Passmark scores and a Metal result, which lower its average. The K80 only has two Geekbench scores in the database, both of which are respectable, so its average is not diluted by weaker results.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 is the clear winner for anyone prioritizing modern compute and graphics API performance. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 45,615 and Vulkan score of 42,021 place it far ahead of the Tesla K80 in both categories. The card also brings a superior feature set for display-centric workflows, with 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, whereas the Tesla K80 has no display outputs at all. For workloads that rely on OpenCL or Vulkan, the choice is unambiguous: the W5500 delivers roughly double the performance.

The NVIDIA Tesla K80, despite losing both head-to-head tests, still has a role in specific legacy scenarios. Its 12 GB of GDDR5 memory exceeds the W5500's 8 GB of GDDR6, which can matter for large datasets that need to reside in video memory. The K80 also has a wider 384-bit memory bus compared to the W5500's 128-bit bus, although the bandwidth figures are close: 240.6 GB/s for the K80 versus 224.0 GB/s for the W5500. The K80's average benchmark score of 18,866 is higher than the W5500's 15,679, so in mixed workloads that resemble the full benchmark suite, the K80 can hold its own.

For users who need a single-slot card with low power requirements, the W5500 is the obvious pick. Its 125 W TDP and single 6-pin connector make it far easier to integrate than the K80's 300 W TDP and 8-pin connector. The W5500 also supports PCIe 4.0 x8, while the K80 is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16. The W5500 is shorter at 241 mm versus the K80's 267 mm, and it includes full display output support, making it suitable for workstation desktops. The K80, with no outputs, is strictly a compute accelerator.

Specification Differences

The two cards diverge on nearly every major specification. The Tesla K80 uses a 28 nm process from TSMC, while the Radeon Pro W5500 uses a 7 nm process, also from TSMC. The K80 packs 7,100 million transistors on a 561 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 12.7 million per square millimeter. The W5500 has 6,400 million transistors on a much smaller 158 mm² die, achieving 40.5 million per square millimeter. The density difference is a direct result of the newer manufacturing node.

Clock speeds differ substantially. The K80 runs at a base of 562 MHz and boosts to 824 MHz, while the W5500 runs at 1,744 MHz base and 1,855 MHz boost. The memory clocks also differ: the K80 uses 1,253 MHz with 5 Gbps effective data rate, while the W5500 uses 1,750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective. Memory capacity favors the K80 at 12 GB of GDDR5, versus the W5500's 8 GB of GDDR6. The bus width is 384 bit for the K80 and 128 bit for the W5500, but the bandwidth is close: 240.6 GB/s versus 224.0 GB/s.

The compute units also differ. The K80 has 2,496 shading units, 208 texture mapping units, and 48 raster operation units. The W5500 has 1,408 shading units, 88 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. Despite fewer units, the W5500 achieves higher rates: 59.36 GPixel/s pixel fill rate versus 42.85 GPixel/s, and 163.2 GTexel/s texture rate versus 171.4 GTexel/s. The W5500's FP32 throughput is 5.224 TFLOPS, ahead of the K80's 4.113 TFLOPS. The W5500 also supports FP16 at 10.45 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio, while the K80 has no recorded FP16 capability.

Physical and power specifications are equally divergent. The K80 is dual-slot with a 300 W TDP and requires a 700 W power supply and one 8-pin connector. The W5500 is single-slot with a 125 W TDP, a 300 W suggested PSU, and one 6-pin connector. The K80 has no display outputs; the W5500 has four DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. The K80 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, the W5500 uses PCIe 4.0 x8. The K80 measures 267 mm in length, the W5500 measures 241 mm with a height of 111 mm.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA Tesla K80 is built on Kepler 2.0 architecture, specifically the GK210 chip, and belongs to the Tesla Kepler generation. The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 is built on RDNA 1.0 architecture on the Navi 14 chip, part of the Radeon Pro Navi generation. These are fundamentally different designs from different eras of GPU development.

The K80 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.175, as recorded in the database. The W5500 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 12 (12_1, OpenGL 4.6, Vulkan 1.4). The API support reflects the W5500's newer architecture, which includes later DirectX 12 feature level support. The W5500's Vulkan support at version 1.4 is notably ahead of the older Vulkan 1.2.175 found on the K80.

The RDNA 1.0 architecture brings efficiency improvements that show up in the W5500's higher clock speeds and lower power draw. The 7 nm process allows the W5500 to run at more than twice the boost clock of the K80 while consuming less than half the power. The RDNA design also enables the FP16 2:1 ratio compute mode, which the Kepler architecture does not support. The K80's transistor count is higher in absolute terms, but the Kepler design scales that lead to a larger die and lower density.

The W5500's smaller die also means shorter trace lengths and lower latency in theory, though the database does not record such metrics. The Radeon Pro W5500's display support for four DisplayPort 1.4a outputs is a significant architectural advantage for workstation use, as the Tesla K80's Kepler design omits display outputs entirely. The W5500's PCIe 4.0 x8 interface, versus the K80's PCIe 3.0 x16, is another generational difference that favors the AMD card for data transfer with modern platforms.

The Tesla K80's Kepler 2.0 architecture was designed for a different purpose: high-throughput compute with dual GPUs on a single board, aimed at data center acceleration without display functionality. The RDNA 1.0 architecture in the W5500 is a unified graphics and compute design intended for professional workstations, balancing rasterization performance with compute capability. The benchmark data reflects this split, with the W5500 winning in modern API tests and the K80 offering no display output functionality.