AMD Radeon Pro W6600M vs NVIDIA Tesla P40 Comparison

NVIDIA Tesla P40 and AMD Radeon Pro W6600M are both end-of-life workstation-class GPUs, but they target entirely different deployment scenarios. The Tesla P40 is a dual-slot, 250 W PCIe 3.0 accelerator with 24 GB of GDDR5, no display outputs, and a 2016 release date, while the Radeon Pro W6600M is a 90 W mobile IGP (integrated graphics processor) with 8 GB of GDDR6, portable-device-dependent outputs, and a 2021 release. In aggregate benchmark performance, the Tesla P40 scores 5.2% higher on average (65095 vs 61896), but the Radeon Pro W6600M matches its percentile rank at 89th among all GPUs. The data shows a clear performance leader, but the power, memory, and form-factor differences tell a more nuanced story.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA Tesla P40 wins both head-to-head benchmark tests in the data. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 62017 beats the Radeon Pro W6600M's 56140 by 10.5%, and its Geekbench Vulkan score of 68172 beats 67652 by a narrower 0.8%. The Tesla P40's average benchmark score of 65095 also places it 1.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 and 2% ahead of both the NVIDIA CMP 30HX and AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT LP among its nearest rivals. This makes the Tesla P40 the clear choice for compute-heavy workloads like OpenCL-based rendering, scientific simulation, or any task that can leverage its 3840 shading units and 11.76 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput.

The AMD Radeon Pro W6600M wins in efficiency and portability. Its 90 W TDP compared to the Tesla P40's 250 W means it can operate in thin-and-light mobile workstations where a dual-slot, 267 mm card simply cannot fit. The W6600M also supports PCIe 4.0 x16, doubling the interface bandwidth of the Tesla P40's PCIe 3.0 x16. For mobile professionals who need workstation-class compute on the go, the W6600M is the only viable option in this comparison — the Tesla P40 has no display outputs and is physically incompatible with laptops. The W6600M's nearest rival data shows it sits 2.6% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 and Intel Arc Pro A60, and 2.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48, indicating strong performance within its mobile class.

Architecture Differences

The Tesla P40 uses NVIDIA's Pascal architecture (chip GP102) built on a 16 nm TSMC process, with 11,800 million transistors on a 471 mm² die. The Radeon Pro W6600M uses AMD's RDNA 2.0 architecture (chip Navi 23) built on a 7 nm TSMC process, with 11,060 million transistors on a much smaller 237 mm² die. This process advantage gives the W6600M a significantly higher transistor density of 46.7M per mm² versus 25.1M per mm² for the Tesla P40, explaining how AMD packs similar transistor counts into a fraction of the silicon area.

Memory architecture differs substantially. The Tesla P40 features 24 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, delivering 347.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The W6600M has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 224.0 GB/s. The Tesla P40 has triple the memory capacity and 54.9% more bandwidth, but the W6600M uses faster memory technology — 14 Gbps effective versus 7.2 Gbps effective. The W6600M also includes 28 ray tracing cores, a feature entirely absent from the Pascal-based Tesla P40, and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) compared to the Tesla P40's DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

Compute capabilities diverge sharply in FP16 throughput. The Radeon Pro W6600M delivers 14.58 TFLOPS of FP16 performance at a 2:1 ratio relative to its 7.290 TFLOPS FP32, while the Tesla P40 manages only 183.7 GFLOPS of FP16 at a 1:64 ratio — a 79x advantage for the AMD card in half-precision workloads. The Tesla P40 counters with higher FP32 (11.76 TFLOPS vs 7.290 TFLOPS), higher pixel rate (147.0 GPixel/s vs 130.2 GPixel/s), and higher texture rate (367.4 GTexel/s vs 227.8 GTexel/s). The Tesla P40 also has more TMUs (240 vs 112) and ROPs (96 vs 64).

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has more memory bandwidth?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla P40, with 347.1 GB/s from its 384-bit GDDR5 interface, compared to 224.0 GB/s for the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M's 128-bit GDDR6 bus.

Q: Can the Tesla P40 be used in a laptop?

A: No. The Tesla P40 is a dual-slot, 267 mm long, 250 W card with 8-pin EPS power connectors and no display outputs. The W6600M is an IGP with "Portable Device Dependent" outputs and no power connectors, designed for mobile integration.

Q: How much faster is the Tesla P40 in OpenCL?

A: The Tesla P40 scores 62017 in Geekbench OpenCL versus 56140 for the W6600M, a 10.5% advantage for NVIDIA.

Q: Does the W6600M support ray tracing?

A: Yes. The Radeon Pro W6600M includes 28 RT cores under the RDNA 2.0 architecture, whereas the Tesla P40 has no ray tracing hardware.

Q: What is the performance gap in Vulkan?

A: The Tesla P40 leads by only 0.8%, scoring 68172 versus 67652 — a statistically marginal difference.

Q: Which card has higher FP16 throughput?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro W6600M delivers 14.58 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1 ratio), while the Tesla P40 delivers just 183.7 GFLOPS FP16 (1:64 ratio), making the W6600M roughly 79x faster in half-precision compute.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA Tesla P40 | AMD Radeon Pro W6600M |

|---|---|---|

| Architecture | Pascal | RDNA 2.0 |

| Process Node | 16 nm | 7 nm |

| Die Size | 471 mm² | 237 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 25.1M / mm² | 46.7M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1303 MHz | 1224 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1531 MHz | 2034 MHz |

| Memory Size | 24 GB | 8 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus | 384 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 347.1 GB/s | 224.0 GB/s |

| Memory Speed | 7.2 Gbps effective | 14 Gbps effective |

| Shading Units | 3840 | 1792 |

| TMUs | 240 | 112 |

| ROPs | 96 | 64 |

| RT Cores | None | 28 |

| FP32 | 11.76 TFLOPS | 7.290 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 183.7 GFLOPS (1:64) | 14.58 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| Pixel Rate | 147.0 GPixel/s | 130.2 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 367.4 GTexel/s | 227.8 GTexel/s |

| TDP | 250 W | 90 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | IGP |

| Power Connectors | 8-pin EPS | None |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | No outputs | Portable Device Dependent |

| DirectX | 12 (12_1) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| Dimensions | 267 mm x 111 mm | N/A (mobile) |

| Release Date | 2016-09-12 | 2021-06-07 |

| Launch MSRP | 5,699 USD | N/A |

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The Geekbench OpenCL test shows the clearest separation. The Tesla P40's 62017 score beats the W6600M's 56140 by 10.5%, a decisive margin that reflects the NVIDIA card's 64% higher FP32 throughput (11.76 vs 7.290 TFLOPS), 61% more shading units (3840 vs 1792), and 54.9% greater memory bandwidth. In OpenCL-heavy workloads like rendering, physics simulation, or data processing, the Tesla P40 is the unambiguous winner. This result aligns with its nearest-rival positioning: the Tesla P40 sits 1.4% above the AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 and 2% above the NVIDIA CMP 30HX, confirming it punches above its weight even against newer cards.

The Geekbench Vulkan test tells a different story. The Tesla P40 wins with 68172 versus 67652, but the 0.8% delta is within noise. This near-parity is remarkable given the architectural gap — the W6600M achieves this with 1792 shading units, 240 fewer TMUs, and 32 fewer ROPs. The AMD card's higher boost clock of 2034 MHz (versus 1531 MHz for the Tesla P40) and its FP16 2:1 ratio likely compensate for its lower raw compute resources in Vulkan workloads that leverage async compute or half-precision paths. The W6600M's nearest-rival data reinforces this: it sits just 0.3% behind the AMD Radeon 8050S and 2.6% ahead of the GeForce RTX 4090, showing it competes effectively in modern API contexts.

Beyond the two head-to-head tests, the average benchmark scores place the Tesla P40 at 65095 and the W6600M at 61896 — a 5.2% overall gap. Both GPUs rank in the 89th percentile of all GPUs, meaning either card outperforms roughly 89% of the database's tested hardware. The Tesla P40's nearest rivals are all within 2% of its score (WX 9100 at +1.4%, Radeon VII at -1.4%, CMP 30HX at +2%, RX 9060 XT LP at +2%), while the W6600M's nearest rivals cluster within 2.9% (8050S at -0.3%, RTX 4090 at +2.6%, Arc Pro A60 at +2.6%, Pro Vega 48 at +2.9%). This suggests the Tesla P40 has slightly tighter competition at its performance tier.

The Verdict

For stationary compute workloads, the NVIDIA Tesla P40 is the superior choice. It wins both benchmarks, offers 3x the memory capacity (24 GB vs 8 GB), delivers 54.9% more memory bandwidth, and provides 61% more FP32 compute. Its 10.5% OpenCL lead is the largest performance gap in this comparison, and its 89th percentile ranking with 65095 average score puts it in the top tier of the database. The 5,699 USD launch MSRP reflects its enterprise positioning as a server accelerator, and its 267 mm dual-slot design with 8-pin EPS power assumes a desktop or server chassis with ample cooling.

For mobile workstation deployments, the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M is the only logical pick — the Tesla P40 physically cannot go where the W6600M fits. The W6600M's 90 W TDP, IGP form factor, and lack of power connectors enable notebook integration, and its PCIe 4.0 interface future-proofs bandwidth. Despite losing both head-to-head tests, the W6600M's Vulkan performance is within 0.8% of the Tesla P40, meaning API-modern workloads will feel nearly identical. Its 28 RT cores and DirectX 12 Ultimate support add hardware features the Pascal card lacks entirely, making it more capable for ray-traced visualization or modern game-engine workloads. The 14.58 TFLOPS FP16 throughput is a major advantage for AI inference or half-precision compute, provided the 8 GB memory capacity is sufficient. Users needing maximum compute density per watt, mobile operation, or ray tracing should choose the W6600M; users needing raw FP32 performance, massive memory capacity, or maximum bandwidth should choose the Tesla P40.