AMD Radeon RX 550X vs NVIDIA Tesla C2075 Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 550X and NVIDIA Tesla C2075 are two end-of-life graphics cards from very different eras, and the benchmark data reflects a closer contest than their release dates might suggest. While the Tesla C2075 comes from a workstation lineage and the RX 550X from a mainstream Polaris generation, their average benchmark scores sit within a fraction of a percent of each other, making this a comparison defined by specific trade-offs rather than a clear overall winner.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct head-to-head benchmark available is Geekbench OpenCL, and it narrowly favors the NVIDIA Tesla C2075. The Tesla scores 10400 points, while the AMD Radeon RX 550X scores 9662 points, giving the NVIDIA card a 7.1% advantage in this specific test. This is a meaningful margin, but it is not a dominant one—it places the two cards in the same performance tier for compute workloads.

Looking at the broader average benchmark scores reinforces how close these cards are. The RX 550X averages 10481 points across all its benchmark runs, while the Tesla C2075 averages exactly 10400 points. That puts the AMD card 0.8% ahead of the Tesla in the average of all tests, even though it loses the specific OpenCL test. The RX 550X also has a Geekbench Vulkan score of 11299, which is a test the Tesla C2075 does not have a recorded score for, indicating the AMD card has a capability in modern APIs that the NVIDIA card lacks entirely.

The nearest rival data places both cards in the same performance cluster. The RX 550X is 1.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6500M and 1.4% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6600S, while the Tesla C2075 is 0.4% ahead of the RX 6500M and 1.7% behind the AMD Radeon R9 M275X. In practical terms, both cards sit within a narrow band of performance where a single driver update or workload type could flip the ranking.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two cards is vast, reflecting a seven-year difference in design philosophy. The AMD Radeon RX 550X uses the Lexa chip built on GCN 4.0 architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. The NVIDIA Tesla C2075 uses the GF110 chip with Fermi 2.0 architecture, built on a much older 40 nm process at TSMC.

The transistor counts tell a fascinating story of process technology advancement. The Tesla C2075 packs 3,000 million transistors into a 520 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of just 5.8M per mm². The RX 550X contains only 2,200 million transistors, but they fit into a tiny 103 mm² die, achieving a density of 21.4M per mm². This means the AMD card delivers nearly four times the transistor density of the NVIDIA card, which explains how it achieves competitive performance at a fraction of the physical size.

Clock speeds differ as well. The RX 550X has a base clock of 1100 MHz with a boost clock of 1183 MHz, while the Tesla C2075 has no base or boost clock listed in the data. The memory clocks also diverge: the AMD card runs at 1500 MHz with 6 Gbps effective speed, while the NVIDIA card runs at 783 MHz with 3.1 Gbps effective speed. The Tesla compensates for its slower memory clock with a wider 384-bit bus, but the RX 550X's modern memory architecture and faster clock speed narrow the bandwidth gap.

Shader configuration is another point of difference. The RX 550X has 512 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, and 16 ROPs. The Tesla C2075 has 448 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. Despite fewer shading units, the Tesla has substantially more TMUs and three times the ROPs, which gives it advantages in certain rendering workloads.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 550X has a slightly higher average benchmark score of 10481 points, compared to the NVIDIA Tesla C2075's 10400 points, a difference of 0.8%.

Q: Does the NVIDIA Tesla C2075 support Vulkan?

A: No, the Tesla C2075 has no Vulkan API support listed in its specifications. The AMD Radeon RX 550X supports Vulkan 1.3 and has a Geekbench Vulkan score of 11299.

Q: How do the power requirements compare?

A: The RX 550X has a TDP of 50 W and requires a suggested 250 W power supply with no power connectors. The Tesla C2075 has a TDP of 247 W, requires a 550 W power supply, and uses one 6-pin plus one 8-pin power connector.

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla C2075 has higher memory bandwidth at 150.3 GB/s, compared to the AMD Radeon RX 550X's 96.00 GB/s.

Q: What is the difference in process node size?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 550X is built on a 14 nm process, while the NVIDIA Tesla C2075 uses a 40 nm process. This is reflected in their transistor densities: 21.4M per mm² for the RX 550X and 5.8M per mm² for the Tesla.

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 550X has 512 shading units, while the NVIDIA Tesla C2075 has 448 shading units. However, the Tesla has 56 TMUs and 48 ROPs, versus 32 TMUs and 16 ROPs for the RX 550X.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every major specification category. The AMD Radeon RX 550X uses a 14 nm process with 2,200 million transistors on a 103 mm² die, while the NVIDIA Tesla C2075 uses a 40 nm process with 3,000 million transistors on a 520 mm² die. The RX 550X has clocks of 1100 MHz base and 1183 MHz boost, while the Tesla C2075 has no base or boost clocks listed.

Memory configurations are substantially different. The RX 550X has 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus with 96.00 GB/s bandwidth and a 1500 MHz memory clock. The Tesla C2075 has 6 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus with 150.3 GB/s bandwidth and a 783 MHz memory clock. The Tesla's wider bus gives it higher bandwidth despite the slower clock.

Compute resources also differ: the RX 550X has 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs, while the Tesla C2075 has 448 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The pixel rate is 18.93 GPixel/s for the RX 550X versus 16.07 GPixel/s for the Tesla, and the texture rate is 37.86 GTexel/s versus 32.14 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 1,211.4 GFLOPS for the AMD card and 1,027.7 GFLOPS for the NVIDIA card. The RX 550X also has FP16 performance at 1,211.4 GFLOPS (1:1), while the Tesla has no FP16 support listed.

Power and physical specifications are dramatically different. The RX 550X has a 50 W TDP, requires a 250 W power supply, uses no power connectors, and is 145 mm (5.7 inches) long. The Tesla C2075 has a 247 W TDP, requires a 550 W power supply, uses one 6-pin and one 8-pin connector, and is 248 mm (9.8 inches) long. Both are dual-slot cards. The RX 550X uses a PCIe 3.0 x8 interface and has 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, while the Tesla uses PCIe 2.0 x16 and has only 1x DVI output. The RX 550X supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3, while the Tesla supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6 but no Vulkan.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA Tesla C2075 wins in the specific Geekbench OpenCL test, scoring 10400 against the RX 550X's 9662, a 7.1% advantage. It also offers more memory capacity (6 GB versus 4 GB) and significantly higher memory bandwidth (150.3 GB/s versus 96.00 GB/s). The Tesla has more TMUs (56 versus 32) and three times the ROPs (48 versus 16), which could benefit certain memory-intensive or fill-rate-limited workloads. Its 384-bit memory bus is a legacy feature that still provides substantial bandwidth.

The AMD Radeon RX 550X wins on average benchmark score, with 10481 versus 10400, a 0.8% edge. It has a Vulkan benchmark score of 11299, demonstrating modern API support that the Tesla entirely lacks. The RX 550X also has higher FP32 performance (1,211.4 GFLOPS versus 1,027.7 GFLOPS), higher pixel rate (18.93 GPixel/s versus 16.07 GPixel/s), higher texture rate (37.86 GTexel/s versus 32.14 GTexel/s), and more shading units (512 versus 448). Its 14 nm process gives it dramatically better efficiency, with a 50 W TDP compared to the Tesla's 247 W, and it requires no power connectors versus the Tesla's 6-pin and 8-pin setup. The RX 550X also has modern display outputs including HDMI 2.0b and DisplayPort 1.4a, while the Tesla is limited to a single DVI port.

The Verdict

The data supports different picks depending on the use case. For any workload that uses Vulkan or benefits from modern API features, the AMD Radeon RX 550X is the only option, since the NVIDIA Tesla C2075 has no Vulkan support at all. The RX 550X also wins on raw compute metrics like FP32 throughput, pixel rate, and texture rate, and it does so at a fraction of the power draw—50 W versus 247 W.

For compute workloads specifically using OpenCL, the NVIDIA Tesla C2075 has the edge, winning the head-to-head Geekbench OpenCL test by 7.1% and offering 6 GB of memory with 150.3 GB/s bandwidth. The Tesla's wider memory bus and higher bandwidth could also make it preferable for tasks that are memory-bandwidth-bound rather than compute-bound.

The average benchmark scores tell the real story: the RX 550X is 0.8% ahead of the Tesla overall, and the nearest rival lists place both cards within a 3% band of each other. Neither card is a clear performance winner in aggregate. The RX 550X is the more modern, efficient, and feature-complete card with Vulkan support and lower power requirements. The Tesla C2075 is a legacy workstation part with higher memory capacity and bandwidth, plus a narrow OpenCL win. For most modern use cases, the RX 550X's architectural advantages and API support make it the more practical choice, but the Tesla C2075 remains competitive in its specific niche.