AMD Radeon RX 480 vs NVIDIA Tesla M60 Comparison

The Verdict

The benchmark database places the AMD Radeon RX 480 and NVIDIA Tesla M60 in different corners of the GPU landscape, despite both being end-of-life products. The RX 480 wins both recorded head-to-head tests decisively: it leads by 28.8% in Geekbench OpenCL and by 46.1% in Geekbench Vulkan. The average benchmark score reinforces this, with the RX 480 at 33,997 versus the Tesla M60 at 30,490, a gap of roughly 11.5%. The RX 480 also sits at the 78th percentile among all GPUs, while the Tesla M60 sits at the 75th, so the AMD part edges ahead in overall standing as well.

The RX 480 is the clear choice for anyone needing a general-purpose graphics card with display outputs. It carries 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the Tesla M60 has no display outputs at all. The RX 480 also has a much lower power draw at 150 W versus 300 W, and it requires only a 450 W suggested PSU compared to 700 W. For a workstation or desktop build where the GPU must drive monitors, the RX 480 is the only viable option of the two.

The Tesla M60, by contrast, is a compute-oriented accelerator with no video outputs. Its only advantage in the recorded data is a higher pixel rate of 75.39 GPixel/s versus 40.58 GPixel/s for the RX 480, and it doubles the ROP count at 64 against 32. The M60 was designed for datacenter use cases where rendering happens off-screen, so its lack of outputs is not a defect in that context. The data shows it trails in raw compute benchmarks, however, so even in its intended role of the datacenter accelerator, it underperforms the RX 480 on OpenCL and Vulkan workloads.

The verdict is straightforward: pick the RX 480 for interactive graphics, lower power, and better benchmark scores in the tests recorded. Pick the Tesla M60 only if the workload demands the higher pixel throughput per ROP and the dual-GPU-style Maxwell architecture is specifically required, where its 64 ROPs and 64 ROPs advantage matters more than its compute deficits.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in Geekbench OpenCL performance, and by how much?

The AMD Radeon RX 480 scores 37,998 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the NVIDIA Tesla M60 scores 29,506. The RX 480 leads by 28.2% in that test.

Q: What about Vulkan performance difference exists between the two?

In Geekbench Vulkan, the RX 480 scores 45,968 versus 31,473 for the Tesla M60. The RX 480 wins by 46.1% in Vulkan, its largest single test lead in the head-to-head results.

Q: How do the two compare in terms of average benchmark score across all GPUs?

The RX 480 has an average benchmark score of 33,997, ranking at the 78th percentile among all GPUs. The Tesla M60 has an average of 30,490, ranking at the 75th percentile. The RX 480 sits 0.1% to 0.5% higher against its nearest rivals, while the M60 sits 0% to 0.2% to 1.8% higher against its own nearest rivals.

Q: What is the performance difference in their memory bandwidth?

The RX 480 delivers 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth on a 256-bit bus with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory. The Tesla M60 offers 160.4 GB/s on a 256-bit bus with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory. The RX 480 has 28.3% more bandwidth per second than the M60.

Q: What is the difference in transistor density and process node?

The RX 480 is built on a 14 nm process from GlobalFoundries with 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die. The Tesla M60 is fabricated by TSMC at 28 nm with 5,200 million transistors on a 398 mm² die. This gives the RX 480 a density of 24.6 million transistors per mm² versus 13.1 per mm² for the M60.

Q: Which GPU has a higher pixel fill rate?

The Tesla M60 has a higher pixel rate at 75.39 GPixel/s against 40.51 GPixel/s for the RX 480. Its texture rate is 150.8 GTexel/s versus 182.3 GTexel/s for the AMD part. The RX 480 wins on texture rate by 31.1%, while the M60 wins on pixel rate by 86.1%.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from entirely different architectural lineages. The AMD Radeon RX 480 uses the Ellesmere chip with GCN 4.0 architecture, part of the Arctic Islands generation labeled RX 400. Its predecessor was Pirate Islands, and its successor is Polaris. In contrast, the NVIDIA Tesla M60 uses the GM204 chip with Maxwell 2.0 architecture, in the Tesla Maxwell generation known as the Mxx series. Its predecessor is Tesla Kepler, and its successor is Tesla Pascal.

The manufacturing process differs significantly. The RX 480 uses 14 nm lithography at GlobalFoundries, while the M60 uses 28 nm at TSMC. AMD packs 5,700 million transistors onto a 232 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 24.6 million per mm². The NVIDIA part fits 5,200 million transistors onto a 398 mm² die, giving it a density of only 13.1 per mm².

The shading units differ as well. The AMD Radeon GPU has 2,304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with FP32 performance at 5.834 TFLOPS and FP16 at 5.834 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio. The NVIDIA GPU has 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with FP32 at 4.825 TFLOPS and no listed FP16 capability. The RX 480 delivers 20.1% more FP32 throughput than the M60 in the recorded data.

Specification Differences

Both cards share some specifications: 8 GB of GDDR5 memory, a 256-bit bus, dual-slot cooling, and PCIe 3.0 x16 interfaces. They both support DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan, though the RX 480 supports DirectX 12_0 while the M60 supports DirectX 12_1, and the RX 480 lists Vulkan 1.3 against Vulkan 1.4 for the M60.

Clock speeds separate the two clearly. The RX 480 has a base clock of 1120 MHz and a boost of 1266 MHz, with memory at 2000 MHz running at 8 Gbps effective. The Tesla M60 has a base of 557 MHz and a boost of 1178 MHz, with memory at 1253 MHz running at 5 Gbps effective. The RX 480 runs its base clock nearly twice the speed of the M60, though the boost gap narrows.

Memory bandwidth also differs. The RX 480 delivers 256.0 GB/s from its 8 Gbps memory, while the Tesla M60 delivers 160.4 GB/s from its 5 Gbps memory. The RX 480 has a 37.3% bandwidth advantage despite both using 256-bit buses. In pixel rate, however, the M60 leads at 75.39 GPixel/s versus 40.51 GPixel/s, a difference of 46.3% in favor of the NVIDIA part, while the RX 480 leads in texture rate at 182.3 GTexel/s versus 150.8 GTexel/s.

Power and physical specs differ as well. The RX 480 draws 150 W with a 1x 6-pin connector, while the M60 draws 300 W with a 1x 8-pin connector. The suggested PSU is 450 W for the RX 480 and 700 W for the M60. The RX 480 measures 240 mm in length, 95 mm in height, and 35 mm in width, while the M60 measures 267 mm in length with no height or width data provided. The RX 480 has display outputs, while the M60 has none.

The RX 480 was released on June 28, 2016 with a launch MSRP of 229 USD. The Tesla M60 was released on August 29, 2015, with no launch MSRP recorded. Both are end-of-life products.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two recorded head-to-head tests both go to the AMD Radeon RX 480. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 480 scores 37,998 against the Tesla M60's 29,506, a 28.8% margin. In Geekbench Vulkan, the RX 480 scores 45,968 against 31,473, a 46.1% margin. The RX 480 wins both head-to-head tests, giving it 2 wins against 0 for the Tesla M60.

The Vulkan result is the standout. A 46.1% lead indicates the GCN 4.0 architecture handles Vulkan workloads far better than Maxwell 2.0 in the recorded data. The RX 480's higher clock speeds of 1120 MHz base and 1266 MHz boost, combined with its 256.0 GB/s bandwidth, likely contribute to this gap, though the database does not isolate the cause.

The OpenCL result, while closer, still shows a decisive 28.8% advantage for the RX 480. This aligns with the FP32 throughput difference: the RX 480 delivers 5.834 TFLOPS against 4.825 TFLOPS for the M60. The M60 has a higher pixel rate and more ROPs, but in compute-centric OpenCL and Vulkan tests, those advantages do not translate into wins.

Looking at the broader benchmark context, the RX 480 also has a Geekbench Metal score of 51,057 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 966, tests which the Tesla M60 does not have recorded. The M60 has no additional benchmark entries beyond OpenCL and Vulkan, so the head-to-head comparisons remain limited to those two workloads.

The RX 480's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon HD 7950 at 0.1% higher, the RX 7700S at 0.4% higher, and the RX 560 XT and RTX A2000 12 GB at 0.4% and 0.5% lower respectively. The Tesla M60's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA CMP 70HX at 0% difference, the AMD Radeon RX 6700 at 0.2% higher, the RX 6800 at 1.3% higher, and the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti at 1.8% higher. These comparisons show the RX 480 and M60 sit in similar performance tiers relative to their own nearest competitors, despite the M60's lower absolute scores in the shared tests.