AMD Radeon RX 5500M vs NVIDIA Tesla K10 Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 5500M decisively outperforms the NVIDIA Tesla K10 in the single available benchmark, posting a Geekbench OpenCL score of 38,725 against the Tesla K10's 14,029, a 63.8% advantage that makes it the clear winner in this comparison. However, the Tesla K10 is a dual-slot, 225W workstation card from 2012, while the RX 5500M is an 85W mobile part from 2019, so the data reflects two fundamentally different design goals rather than a close contest.

Where Each One Wins

The RX 5500M wins the only head-to-head benchmark available, which is Geekbench OpenCL. Its score of 38,725 is nearly three times the Tesla K10's 14,029, representing a 63.8% lead. This advantage is consistent with the RX 5500M's higher raw compute capabilities: it delivers 4.632 TFLOPS of FP32 performance versus 2.289 TFLOPS for the Tesla K10, and its texture rate of 144.8 GTexel/s is 52% higher than the K10's 95.36 GTexel/s. The pixel rate also favors the AMD part, with 52.64 GPixel/s versus 23.84 GPixel/s.

The Tesla K10 has no benchmark wins in this dataset. Its single OpenCL score of 14,029 places it at the 55th percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 5500M's average benchmark score of 13,356 sits at the 54th percentile. Notably, the RX 5500M's OpenCL score is far above its average because it also has results from Metal and Vulkan tests that pull the mean down.

The RX 5500M also demonstrates broader API support, with DirectX 12 (12_1), Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6, while the Tesla K10 only reaches DirectX 12 (11_0) and Vulkan 1.2.175. This makes the AMD part more suitable for modern graphics workloads, though the Tesla K10 has no display outputs at all, meaning it is strictly a compute card.

The Verdict

Choose the AMD Radeon RX 5500M if you need any form of graphics output, modern API compatibility, or raw compute performance. The data shows it is 63.8% faster in OpenCL, has a 4.632 TFLOPS FP32 rating versus 2.289 TFLOPS, and supports DirectX 12_1 and Vulkan 1.4. Its 7 nm process node and 85 W TDP also make it far more power-efficient than the Tesla K10's 225 W requirement.

Choose the NVIDIA Tesla K10 only if you have a legacy compute workload that specifically requires a Kepler-generation card with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus. Its 160.0 GB/s bandwidth is actually lower than the RX 5500M's 224.0 GB/s, and its 3,540 million transistors on 28 nm produce a larger die (294 mm²) with less density (12.0M / mm²) than the AMD's 6,400 million transistors on 158 mm² (40.5M / mm²). The Tesla K10's only advantage is its 1,536 shading units versus 1,408, but that does not translate to better benchmark results.

For virtually all modern use cases, the RX 5500M is the superior product. The Tesla K10 is end-of-life, requires a 550 W power supply, and has no display outputs. The RX 5500M is also end-of-life but remains a viable mobile GPU with portable-device-dependent outputs.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The dataset includes exactly one direct comparison: Geekbench OpenCL. The AMD Radeon RX 5500M scores 38,725, while the NVIDIA Tesla K10 scores 14,029. The delta is -63.8% from the AMD perspective, meaning the Tesla K10 is 63.8% slower. This is a massive gap.

Looking at supporting specifications, the RX 5500M's FP32 throughput of 4.632 TFLOPS is more than double the Tesla K10's 2.289 TFLOPS. The AMD card also achieves 52.64 GPixel/s pixel fill rate versus 23.84 GPixel/s, and 144.8 GTexel/s texture fill rate versus 95.36 GTexel/s. Memory bandwidth is another win for AMD: 224.0 GB/s on a 128-bit bus with GDDR6, compared to 160.0 GB/s on a 256-bit bus with GDDR5.

The Tesla K10 does have a higher transistor count per GPU (3,540 million), but that is spread across a much larger die (294 mm²) using an older 28 nm process. The RX 5500M packs 6,400 million transistors into 158 mm² at 7 nm, achieving a transistor density of 40.5M / mm² versus 12.0M / mm². The RX 5500M also has a higher memory clock at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) versus 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective).

In terms of relative positioning, the Tesla K10's OpenCL score of 14,029 puts it within 0.9% of the GeForce GTX 680 (14,150) and 1.1% ahead of the Radeon RX 570X (13,871). The RX 5500M's average score of 13,356 is nearly identical to the FirePro M6100 (13,354) and within 0.1% of the Radeon HD 8950M (13,376). The RX 5500M's best benchmark result, however, is its Metal score of 50,359, which is not compared against the Tesla K10.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in OpenCL?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5500M scores 38,725 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 63.8% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla K10's 14,029.

Q: Do both GPUs support the same DirectX version?

A: No. The RX 5500M supports DirectX 12 (12_1), while the Tesla K10 only supports DirectX 12 (11_0).

Q: Can the Tesla K10 output video to a display?

A: No. The Tesla K10 has no display outputs, whereas the RX 5500M has portable-device-dependent outputs.

Q: What is the power consumption difference?

A: The Tesla K10 has a TDP of 225 W and requires a 550 W power supply with 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin connectors. The RX 5500M has a TDP of 85 W and no power connectors.

Q: Which GPU has higher memory bandwidth?

A: The RX 5500M achieves 224.0 GB/s with GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, while the Tesla K10 achieves 160.0 GB/s with GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus.

Q: How do their shading unit counts compare?

A: The Tesla K10 has 1,536 shading units, which is 128 more than the RX 5500M's 1,408, yet the AMD GPU is still much faster in compute benchmarks.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural generations. The Tesla K10 uses NVIDIA's Kepler architecture with a GK104 chip, produced on TSMC's 28 nm process. The RX 5500M uses AMD's RDNA 1.0 architecture with a Navi 14 chip, built on TSMC's 7 nm node. This process difference is significant: the 7 nm node allows 6,400 million transistors on a 158 mm² die (40.5M / mm² density), while the 28 nm node limits the Tesla K10 to 3,540 million transistors on a 294 mm² die (12.0M / mm² density).

The Tesla K10 is a dual-slot card with a 272 mm length and no display outputs, designed for compute-only server or workstation use. The RX 5500M is a mobile GPU with portable-device-dependent outputs, meaning it relies on the host laptop's display hardware. The Tesla K10 supports PCIe 3.0 x16, while the RX 5500M uses PCIe 4.0 x8. API support also differs: the RX 5500M has DirectX 12_1, Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6, while the Tesla K10 has DirectX 12 (11_0), Vulkan 1.2.175, and OpenGL 4.6.

The RX 5500M has a base clock of 1375 MHz, a boost clock of 1645 MHz, and a game clock of 1448 MHz, whereas the Tesla K10 has no base or boost clocks listed, only a memory clock of 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective). The AMD card also features FP16 support at 9.265 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio), while the Tesla K10 has no FP16 figure listed.

Specification Differences

The following specifications differ between the two GPUs:

• Architecture: Kepler (GK104) versus RDNA 1.0 (Navi 14)
• Process Node: 28 nm versus 7 nm
• Transistors: 3,540 million versus 6,400 million
• Die Size: 294 mm² versus 158 mm²
• Transistor Density: 12.0M / mm² versus 40.5M / mm²
• Base Clock: Not listed versus 1375 MHz
• Boost Clock: Not listed versus 1645 MHz
• Game Clock: Not listed versus 1448 MHz
• Memory Clock: 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective) versus 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective)
• Memory Type: GDDR5 versus GDDR6
• Memory Bus Width: 256 bit versus 128 bit
• Memory Bandwidth: 160.0 GB/s versus 224.0 GB/s
• Shading Units: 1536 versus 1408
• TMUs: 128 versus 88
• Pixel Rate: 23.84 GPixel/s versus 52.64 GPixel/s
• Texture Rate: 95.36 GTexel/s versus 144.8 GTexel/s
• FP32 Performance: 2.289 TFLOPS versus 4.632 TFLOPS
• FP16 Performance: Not listed versus 9.265 TFLOPS (2:1)
• TDP: 225 W versus 85 W
• Slot Width: Dual-slot versus Not listed
• Power Connectors: 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin versus None
• Suggested PSU: 550 W versus Not listed
• Bus Interface: PCIe 3.0 x16 versus PCIe 4.0 x8
• Display Outputs: No outputs versus Portable Device Dependent
• DirectX Support: 12 (11_0) versus 12 (12_1)
• Vulkan Support: 1.2.175 versus 1.4
• Dimensions: 272 mm length versus Not listed
• Launch MSRP: 5,099 USD versus Not listed
• Release Date: 2012-04-30 versus 2019-10-06
• Predecessor: Tesla Fermi versus Polaris Mobile
• Successor: Tesla Maxwell versus Not listed

Shared specifications include 4 GB memory capacity, 32 ROPs, and OpenGL 4.6 support. Both GPUs are end-of-life.