AMD Radeon RX 550X vs NVIDIA Tesla M10 Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 550X and NVIDIA Tesla M10 split their two benchmark matchups exactly one win apiece, but the nature of those wins reveals sharply different usage profiles. The RX 550X takes the Geekbench Vulkan test decisively, posting 11,299 points against the Tesla M10’s 9,130 — a 23.8% margin that signals clear superiority in modern graphics API workloads. The Tesla M10 counters in Geekbench OpenCL, scoring 10,318 versus 9,662, a 6.4% advantage that suggests better raw compute throughput in heterogeneous computing tasks.

This split is not merely a statistical curiosity; it maps directly onto intended deployment scenarios. The RX 550X, with its GCN 4.0 architecture and Vulkan 1.3 API support, is built for interactive graphics and consumer-facing rendering workloads. Its Vulkan win indicates that applications leveraging low-level, explicit graphics APIs will favor this card. The Tesla M10, meanwhile, is a server-grade accelerator with no display outputs, designed for datacenter compute, virtualization, and cloud rendering. Its OpenCL win points to strength in general-purpose GPU compute where the API does not factor in. For a desktop user running Vulkan-based games or content creation tools, the RX 550X is the obvious pick. For a server administrator deploying GPU-accelerated compute or virtual desktop infrastructure, the Tesla M10’s OpenCL advantage carries more weight.

The average benchmark scores reinforce this divergence. The RX 550X averages 10,481 across its two tests, while the Tesla M10 averages 9,724 — a difference of roughly 7.8% in favor of the AMD card. However, the percentile rankings tell a nuanced story: the RX 550X sits at the 49th percentile of all GPUs, and the Tesla M10 at the 47th. Both are mid-pack performers, but the AMD card’s higher average is driven entirely by its Vulkan dominance. In OpenCL, the Tesla M10 is the stronger part, and any workload that depends on that API should account for the reversal.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 550X has an average benchmark score of 10,481, while the NVIDIA Tesla M10 averages 9,724. The RX 550X leads by approximately 7.8%.

Q: In which specific test does the NVIDIA Tesla M10 beat the AMD Radeon RX 550X?

A: The Tesla M10 wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 10,318 compared to the RX 550X’s 9,662, a 6.4% margin.

Q: In which test does the AMD Radeon RX 550X outperform the NVIDIA Tesla M10?

A: The RX 550X wins the Geekbench Vulkan test decisively, scoring 11,299 against the Tesla M10’s 9,130, a 23.8% advantage.

Q: How do the two cards compare in terms of memory capacity and bandwidth?

A: The Tesla M10 has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory with 83.20 GB/s bandwidth, while the RX 550X has 4 GB of GDDR5 with 96.00 GB/s bandwidth. Despite having half the capacity, the RX 550X delivers higher bandwidth over a 128-bit bus.

Q: What is the power consumption difference between the two cards?

A: The RX 550X has a TDP of 50 W and requires a 250 W PSU, while the Tesla M10 has a TDP of 225 W and requires a 550 W PSU. The AMD card consumes 175 W less.

Q: Which card has a higher transistor density despite the Tesla M10 having more transistors overall?

A: The RX 550X has a transistor density of 21.4M per mm² from 2,200 million transistors on a 103 mm² die, while the Tesla M10 has 12.6M per mm² from 1,870 million transistors on a 148 mm² die. The AMD card’s 14 nm process enables this density advantage.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two benchmark results are remarkably polarized, with each card winning by a significant margin in its favored test. Starting with Geekbench OpenCL, the Tesla M10 scores 10,318 against the RX 550X’s 9,662. The 6.4% delta may seem modest, but in a datacenter context where dozens of cards run compute workloads, that edge compounds. The Tesla M10’s 640 shading units and 40 texture mapping units provide a wider execution footprint than the RX 550X’s 512 shaders and 32 TMUs, which helps explain the OpenCL advantage. The Tesla M10 also boosts to 1306 MHz, substantially higher than the RX 550X’s 1183 MHz boost clock, further widening the compute gap.

The Geekbench Vulkan test flips the script entirely. The RX 550X delivers 11,299 points, while the Tesla M10 manages only 9,130 — a 23.8% deficit for NVIDIA. This is a staggering reversal. The RX 550X’s Vulkan 1.3 API support, compared to the Tesla M10’s Vulkan 1.4, is not the differentiator; both support modern Vulkan. Instead, the architecture matters. GCN 4.0 was designed with explicit multi-threaded command submission and asynchronous compute in mind, features that Vulkan exploits heavily. The Tesla M10’s Maxwell architecture, while competent, does not schedule Vulkan workloads as efficiently. The result is that in any Vulkan-based rendering, the RX 550X is not just competitive — it is overwhelmingly faster.

Looking at the averages, the RX 550X’s mean of 10,481 versus the Tesla M10’s 9,724 shows that the Vulkan win outweighs the OpenCL loss in aggregate. Yet the nearest rival data for each card contextualizes these numbers further. The RX 550X’s closest competitor, the AMD Radeon R9 M275X, scores 10,582 (1% higher), while the AMD Radeon RX 6600S is 1.4% faster at 10,629. On the Tesla M10 side, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 scores 9,780 (0.6% higher), and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 is 0.7% lower at 9,653. These deltas are all within a few percentage points, indicating that both cards sit in a tightly contested mid-range segment.

Specification Differences

The specifications reveal two fundamentally different design philosophies. The RX 550X is a compact, low-power consumer card, while the Tesla M10 is a large, power-hungry server accelerator. The most striking difference is TDP: the RX 550X draws 50 W, the Tesla M10 draws 225 W — a 175 W gap that makes the AMD card suitable for small form factor systems with no power connectors, while the Tesla M10 requires a single 8-pin connector and a 550 W PSU. Physical dimensions follow suit: the RX 550X measures 145 mm (5.7 inches) in length, while the Tesla M10 stretches to 267 mm (10.5 inches). Both are dual-slot cards, but the Tesla M10 is substantially longer.

Memory configurations differ in capacity but not in bus width. The Tesla M10 offers 8 GB of GDDR5, double the RX 550X’s 4 GB, yet both use a 128-bit interface. The RX 550X compensates with faster memory — 1500 MHz (6 Gbps effective) versus 1300 MHz (5.2 Gbps effective) — yielding 96.00 GB/s bandwidth versus 83.20 GB/s. This means the AMD card moves more data per second despite having less total memory. The bus interface also differs: the RX 550X uses PCIe 3.0 x8, while the Tesla M10 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, giving NVIDIA double the host bandwidth for data transfer.

Display outputs are another clear separator. The RX 550X includes 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a, making it a fully functional graphics card for desktop use. The Tesla M10 has no display outputs whatsoever, confirming its role as a compute-only accelerator. Shading resources favor the Tesla M10 with 640 shading units and 40 TMUs against the RX 550X’s 512 and 32, respectively. Both have 16 ROPs. The Tesla M10 also has a higher boost clock (1306 MHz vs 1183 MHz) and a higher base clock (1033 MHz vs 1100 MHz, though the RX 550X has a higher base). The RX 550X’s pixel rate is 18.93 GPixel/s versus 20.90 GPixel/s for the Tesla M10, and the texture rate is 37.86 GTexel/s versus 52.24 GTexel/s.

Architecture Differences

The architectural chasm between these two cards is generational. The RX 550X is built on GlobalFoundries’ 14 nm process using the GCN 4.0 architecture, codenamed Lexa, part of the Polaris (RX 500X) generation. The Tesla M10 uses TSMC’s 28 nm process with the Maxwell architecture, chip GM107, from the Tesla Maxwell (Mxx) generation. The process node difference is stark: 14 nm versus 28 nm, which directly explains the transistor density gap of 21.4M per mm² versus 12.6M per mm². The RX 550X packs 2,200 million transistors onto a 103 mm² die, while the Tesla M10 fits 1,870 million onto a larger 148 mm² die.

In terms of compute capabilities, the RX 550X offers FP32 performance of 1,211.4 GFLOPS and FP16 performance of 1,211.4 GFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio. The Tesla M10 provides 1.672 TFLOPS of FP32 but has no FP16 support listed. This makes the Tesla M10 nominally faster in single-precision compute but entirely incapable of half-precision workloads that the RX 550X handles at full rate. API support differs as well: the RX 550X supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3, while the Tesla M10 supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The DirectX feature level difference (12_0 vs 11_0) means the RX 550X can execute more advanced DX12 features, which is relevant for gaming and graphics applications.

Release timelines reflect the generational gap. The RX 550X launched on December 15, 2018, while the Tesla M10 launched on May 17, 2016 — a gap of roughly two and a half years. Both are now end-of-life products, with the RX 550X succeeding Polaris and preceding Vega, and the Tesla M10 succeeding Tesla Kepler and preceding Tesla Pascal. The RX 550X’s power efficiency is a direct consequence of its newer 14 nm node and smaller die, while the Tesla M10’s 225 W TDP reflects its older 28 nm process and larger physical footprint. Neither card has ray tracing or tensor cores, as those technologies postdate both architectures.

The Verdict

The data supports a clear use-case split. Choose the AMD Radeon RX 550X if your workload prioritizes Vulkan performance, power efficiency, or display output. Its 23.8% Vulkan lead over the Tesla M10 is decisive, and its 50 W TDP (versus 225 W) makes it viable in systems where power and space are constrained. The 4 GB memory is sufficient for 1080p-class rendering, and the 96.00 GB/s bandwidth exceeds the Tesla M10’s despite the smaller capacity. The RX 550X also offers FP16 support at full rate, which the Tesla M10 lacks entirely.

Choose the NVIDIA Tesla M10 if your application relies on OpenCL compute or requires more than 4 GB of memory. Its 6.4% OpenCL advantage over the RX 550X, combined with 8 GB of GDDR5, makes it better suited for datacenter workloads that process large datasets. The Tesla M10’s 640 shading units and 40 TMUs provide more parallel execution resources, and its 1.672 TFLOPS FP32 throughput exceeds the RX 550X’s 1,211.4 GFLOPS. The PCIe 3.0 x16 interface also provides double the host bandwidth of the RX 550X’s x8 link, which benefits compute tasks that frequently transfer data between CPU and GPU.

For a desktop user or workstation, the RX 550X is the sensible choice. It has display outputs, lower power requirements (no external power connector), a shorter length (145 mm), and a higher average benchmark score (10,481 vs 9,724). For a server administrator, the Tesla M10’s larger memory pool and OpenCL strength are more relevant, despite its higher power draw and lack of display outputs. Both cards sit near the 47th-49th percentile of all GPUs, so neither is a high-end performer. The decision hinges entirely on the API and workload in question: Vulkan favors AMD, OpenCL favors NVIDIA, and the cost of each win is measured in power, memory, and physical footprint.