AMD Radeon R7 M380 vs NVIDIA Tesla C2070 Comparison

The NVIDIA Tesla C2070 and AMD Radeon R7 M380 represent two very different approaches to GPU design from different eras, and the benchmark data reflects a narrow but decisive victory for the older, larger Tesla part. While the R7 M380 is a more modern and efficient design on paper, the Geekbench OpenCL results show that raw compute throughput, in this specific test, favors the Fermi-based workstation card.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only benchmark result available is Geekbench's OpenCL test, which measures general-purpose compute performance. In this head-to-head comparison, the NVIDIA Tesla C2070 emerges victorious with a score of 9,716 points, while the AMD Radeon R7 M380 trails with 9,313 points. This gives the Tesla C2070 a 4.3% lead over its rival, a meaningful margin in the context of professional compute workloads where every percentage point counts.

To contextualize this win, the Tesla C2070's score places it in the 47th percentile of all GPUs, a modest position that reflects its age. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla M10 (9,724 points), which is a mere 0.1% faster, and the NVIDIA Quadro P4000 (9,665 points), which the C2070 beats by 0.5%. The data also shows the C2070 outperforming the AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 (9,653 points) by 0.7%, while it falls just short of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (9,780 points) by 0.7%. This cluster of results indicates that the C2070, despite being end-of-life, still delivers compute performance competitive with much newer mid-range and professional parts.

On the other side, the R7 M380's score of 9,313 points places it in the 46th percentile, just one point behind the C2070. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M (9,302 points), which the R7 M380 beats by a slim 0.1%. It also edges out the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 (9,294 points) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (9,273 points) by margins of 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively. The AMD Radeon Vega 8 (9,221 points) is the only rival it beats by a full percentage point. The tight grouping of these scores suggests that the R7 M380 is firmly in the same performance tier as the C2070, but the Tesla's higher absolute score means it wins the only head-to-head test recorded.

The win count confirms this: the Tesla C2070 secures 1 win, while the R7 M380 secures 0. This is a clean sweep in the available data, though the single benchmark limits the scope of the conclusion. The 4.3% delta is not a landslide, but it is consistent and reproducible according to the data.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher Geekbench OpenCL score?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla C2070 scores 9,716 points, which is 4.3% higher than the AMD Radeon R7 M380's score of 9,313 points.

Q: How does the Tesla C2070 compare to its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla M10?

A: The Tesla M10 scores 9,724 points, which is only 0.1% higher than the C2070's 9,716 points, making them virtually tied in performance.

Q: What is the R7 M380's closest competitor according to benchmark data?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M is the closest, scoring 9,302 points, which is just 0.1% lower than the R7 M380's 9,313 points.

Q: Does the R7 M380 outperform any notable desktop GPU in OpenCL?

A: Yes, it beats the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (9,273 points) by 0.4% and the AMD Radeon Vega 8 (9,221 points) by 1.0%.

Q: Are these two GPUs in the same performance percentile?

A: Yes, the Tesla C2070 is in the 47th percentile of all GPUs, while the R7 M380 sits in the 46th percentile, indicating they are very close in overall standing.

Q: Which GPU has a larger lead over its nearest rival?

A: The R7 M380 has a 1.0% lead over the AMD Radeon Vega 8, which is the largest delta between either card and any of their respective nearest rivals.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA Tesla C2070 wins in the only benchmark recorded, so its advantage is clear: pure OpenCL compute performance. With a score of 9,716 versus 9,313, it is 4.3% faster than the R7 M380. For workloads that rely heavily on general-purpose GPU computing — such as simulation, rendering, or data processing — the C2070 has a measurable edge. Its 448 shading units and 48 ROPs, combined with a 384-bit memory bus, suggest a design optimized for throughput, and the benchmark confirms this. The C2070 also benefits from a higher pixel rate of 16.07 GPixel/s, which is 9.8% higher than the R7 M380's 14.64 GPixel/s, potentially aiding in rasterization-heavy tasks.

The AMD Radeon R7 M380, while losing the compute benchmark, has its own strengths that are not captured in the single test. It offers higher raw floating-point performance, with 1,171.2 GFLOPS versus the C2070's 1,027.7 GFLOPS, a 14% advantage. This suggests that in workloads that specifically leverage FP32 arithmetic, the R7 M380 could be faster, even though the Geekbench OpenCL test does not show it. Furthermore, the R7 M380 has a higher texture rate of 36.60 GTexel/s compared to the C2070's 32.14 GTexel/s, a 13.9% difference that could favor it in texture-bound graphics tasks. The R7 M380 also supports Vulkan 1.2.170, while the C2070 has no Vulkan support listed, making the AMD card the better choice for modern APIs in gaming or compute applications that use Vulkan. Its PCIe 3.0 x16 interface provides double the bandwidth of the C2070's PCIe 2.0 x16, which could reduce data transfer bottlenecks in systems that support it.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs diverge significantly in their core specifications. The NVIDIA Tesla C2070 uses a 384-bit memory bus with 6 GB of GDDR5 memory, delivering a bandwidth of 143.4 GB/s. In contrast, the AMD Radeon R7 M380 has a much narrower 128-bit bus with 4 GB of DDR3 memory, resulting in a bandwidth of only 32.00 GB/s — a 77.7% reduction. This is the most stark difference between the two, and it explains why the C2070 can maintain higher throughput in memory-intensive scenarios. The memory clocks also differ: the C2070 runs at 747 MHz (3 Gbps effective), while the R7 M380 runs at 1000 MHz (2 Gbps effective).

The shading units favor the AMD card: the R7 M380 has 640 shading units versus the C2070's 448, a 42.9% increase. However, the C2070 has more ROPs (48 vs. 16) and more TMUs (56 vs. 40). The Tesla card also has a higher pixel rate (16.07 GPixel/s vs. 14.64 GPixel/s), while the AMD card has a higher texture rate (36.60 GTexel/s vs. 32.14 GTexel/s). The FP32 performance also favors AMD, with 1,171.2 GFLOPS versus 1,027.7 GFLOPS.

Power and physical specifications are largely absent for the R7 M380, with no TDP, slot width, or power connector data listed. The C2070, however, has a TDP of 238 W, is a dual-slot card, requires a 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin power connector, and has a suggested PSU of 550 W. The C2070 is also a physically long card at 248 mm (9.8 inches), while the R7 M380's dimensions are not provided. The bus interface differs, with the C2070 using PCIe 2.0 x16 and the R7 M380 using PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs also differ: the C2070 has a single DVI port, while the R7 M380's outputs are not listed.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two GPUs is generational. The NVIDIA Tesla C2070 is built on the Fermi architecture, using the GF100 chip, and was released in 2011. It is manufactured on a 40 nm process at TSMC, with a massive die size of 529 mm² and 3,100 million transistors. The transistor density is 5.9M per mm². The R7 M380, on the other hand, uses the GCN 1.0 architecture with the Tropo chip, released in 2015. It is built on a more advanced 28 nm process at TSMC, with a much smaller die size of 123 mm² and 1,500 million transistors, resulting in a higher transistor density of 12.2M per mm². This makes the R7 M380 a far more efficient design in terms of transistor packing.

The generation labels also differ: the C2070 belongs to the "Tesla Fermi (x20xx)" generation, while the R7 M380 is part of the "Gem System (R7 M300)" generation. In terms of API support, the C2070 supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, but has no Vulkan support. The R7 M380 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170, giving it a modern API advantage. The C2070's predecessor is "Tesla" and its successor is "Tesla Kepler," while the R7 M380's predecessor is "Solar System" and its successor is "Polaris Mobile." Both are end-of-life products, but the C2070's larger die and older process node highlight its workstation heritage, while the R7 M380's smaller, denser chip is typical of a mobile-oriented part. The C2070 also has a 384-bit memory bus, a hallmark of high-end compute cards, whereas the R7 M380's 128-bit bus is more common in mid-range mobile GPUs.