AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM vs NVIDIA Tesla M40 Comparison

The Verdict

The benchmark data presents a clear hierarchy between these two GPUs. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM wins both recorded head-to-head tests, taking Geekbench OpenCL by 59.3% and Geekbench Vulkan by 20.5%. This is not a narrow victory; the AMD card holds a substantial average benchmark score advantage of 58085 versus 41897 for the NVIDIA Tesla M40, a difference of roughly 38.6%.

The AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM sits at the 87th percentile among all GPUs in the database, while the NVIDIA Tesla M40 lands at the 83rd percentile. That gap in percentile ranking, combined with the large delta in average scores, means the AMD part is the more capable general-purpose compute and graphics card in this matchup. For anyone choosing between these two for workloads that resemble the Geekbench suite, the RX 5600 OEM is the data-driven pick.

The NVIDIA Tesla M40 still has a role. It offers 12 GB of memory compared to 6 GB on the AMD card, and its memory bus is twice as wide at 384 bit versus 192 bit. The Tesla M40 has no display outputs at all. That makes it a compute-focused accelerator with a memory capacity advantage. The AMD card has lower power demands, with a TDP of 125 W versus 250 W for the Tesla M40, and it uses a single 8-pin connector versus the M40's 8-pin EPS connector. The AMD card also demands a 300 W suggested PSU, while the Tesla M40 asks for 600 W.

Ultimately, the verdict splits cleanly: the AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM wins on raw benchmark performance and efficiency, while the NVIDIA Tesla M40 wins on memory capacity and interface width. The recorded data cannot justify picking the Tesla M40 for speed, but it can justify picking it for memory-hungry tasks within its performance envelope.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from completely different architectural generations. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM uses the Navi 10 chip built on RDNA 1.0 architecture, fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. The NVIDIA Tesla M40 uses the GM200 chip on Maxwell 2.0 architecture, fabricated on a much older 28 nm process, also at TSMC. The process node difference explains much of the performance-per-watt gap between them.

Transistor counts tell an interesting story. The AMD chip packs 10,300 million transistors into a 251 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 41.0M per mm². The NVIDIA chip has 8,000 million transistors spread across a much larger 601 mm² die, yielding only 13.3M per mm². The AMD chip is denser by a factor of roughly three, which the 7 nm process makes possible. The Tesla M40's die is over twice the physical size of the Navi 10 die, yet it holds fewer transistors.

The AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM belongs to the Radeon RX 5000 series, in the Navi (RX 5000) generation. The NVIDIA Tesla M40 belongs to the Tesla Maxwell (Mxx) generation. Their predecessors and successors also differ: the AMD card follows Vega and leads to Navi II, while the Tesla M40 follows Tesla Kepler and leads to Tesla Pascal.

The memory architectures diverge sharply. The AMD card uses 6 GB of GDDR6 with a 192 bit bus, achieving 288.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Tesla M40 uses 12 GB of GDDR5 with a 384 bit bus, achieving 288.4 GB/s bandwidth. The bandwidth figures are nearly identical, but the AMD card gets there with a narrower bus and faster memory rated at 12 Gbps effective, while the Tesla M40 uses a wider bus and slower 6 Gbps effective memory.

Clock speeds also differ significantly. The AMD card runs at 1130 MHz base and 1560 MHz boost, with a 1375 MHz game clock. The Tesla M40 runs at 948 MHz base and 1112 MHz boost. The AMD card has no game clock field recorded. The AMD card's higher clocks, combined with its newer architecture, drive its benchmark advantage.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The Geekbench OpenCL test shows the AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM scoring 62427 against the NVIDIA Tesla M40's 39192. That is a 59.3% advantage for the AMD card. This is the largest delta in either test, and it reflects the AMD card's higher FP32 throughput of 6.390 TFLOPS versus the Tesla M40's 6.832 TFLOPS. Interestingly, the Tesla M40 actually has a higher raw FP32 figure, yet it loses by a wide margin in OpenCL. The newer RDNA 1.0 architecture and its driver stack likely explain this inversion.

The Geekbench Vulkan test narrows the gap but still favors AMD. The RX 5600 OEM scores 53743, while the Tesla M40 scores 44602, a 20.5% delta. The Tesla M40's Vulkan result is proportionally better than its OpenCL result, suggesting the Maxwell architecture handles Vulkan more favorably relative to its own OpenCL performance. Still, the AMD card wins both tests, and the average benchmark score confirms the trend.

The AMD card also has a 2:1 FP16 ratio, listed as 12.78 TFLOPS, while the Tesla M40 has no FP16 figure recorded. That means the AMD card can double its throughput on half-precision workloads, a feature the Tesla M40 does not expose in the database. For compute tasks that use FP16, the RX 5600 OEM has a structural advantage beyond the raw benchmark scores.

The AMD card's pixel rate is 99.84 GPixel/s versus 106.8 GPixel/s for the Tesla M40. The Tesla M40 wins that metric, but the texture rates are closer: 199.7 GTexel/s for AMD versus 213.5 GTexel/s for NVIDIA. The Tesla M40 has more shading units (3072 versus 2048), more TMUs (192 versus 128), and more ROPs (96 versus 64), yet it still loses the benchmark tests. The data suggests that architectural efficiency matters more than raw unit counts in this comparison.

Specification Differences

The recorded specifications where these two cards differ are extensive. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM uses a 7 nm process, while the Tesla M40 uses 28 nm. The AMD chip contains 10,300 million transistors on a 251 mm² die; the NVIDIA chip contains 8,000 million on a 601 mm² die. Transistor density is 41.0M per mm² for AMD and 13.3M per mm² for NVIDIA.

Clock speeds differ at every point. The AMD card has a 1130 MHz base clock and 1560 MHz boost, plus a 1375 MHz game clock. The Tesla M40 has a 948 MHz base and 1112 MHz boost, with no game clock recorded. Memory clock is 1500 MHz with 12 Gbps effective for AMD, versus 1502 MHz with 6 Gbps effective for NVIDIA.

Memory configuration differs: 6 GB GDDR6 on a 192 bit bus for AMD, versus 12 GB GDDR5 on a 384 bit bus for NVIDIA. Bandwidth is nearly identical at 288.0 GB/s versus 288.4 GB/s. The AMD card has 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The Tesla M3 has 3072 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs.

Pixel rate favors the Tesla M40 at 106.8 GPixel/s versus 99.84 GPixel/s. Texture rate also favors NVIDIA at 213.5 GTexel/s versus 199.7 GTexel/s. FP32 is slightly higher on the Tesla M40 at 6.832 TFLOPS versus 6.390 TFLOPS. FP16 favors AMD at 12.78 TFLOPS (2:1), while NVIDIA has no FP16 recorded.

Power and connectivity differ. The AMD card has a 125 W TDP with a 300 W suggested PSU. The Tesla M40 has a 250 W TDP with a 600 W suggested PSU. The AMD card uses a 1x 8-pin power connector; the Tesla M40 uses an 8-pin EPS connector. The AMD card uses PCIe 4.0 x16; the Tesla M40 uses PCIe 3.0 x16.

Display outputs differ completely. The AMD card has 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The Tesla M40 has no outputs. The Tesla M40 is 267 mm long (10.5 inches), while the AMD card has no length recorded. Both support DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Both are end-of-life products. The AMD card released on 2020-01-20, while the Tesla M40 released on 2015-11-09.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins the recorded benchmarks?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM wins both head-to-head tests. It scores 62427 in Geekbench OpenCL versus 39192 for the Tesla M40, and 53743 in Geekbench Vulkan versus 44602. The AMD card has 2 recorded wins, and the Tesla M40 has 0.

Q: How much faster is the AMD card in average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM has an average benchmark score of 58085, while the NVIDIA Tesla M40 averages 41897. That is a difference of approximately 38.6% in favor of the AMD card.

Q: Does the Tesla M40 have any advantages in raw specifications?

A: Yes. The Tesla M40 has 12 GB of memory versus 6 GB, a 384 bit bus versus 192 bit, more shading units (3072 versus 2048), more TMUs (192 versus 128), and more ROPs (96 versus 64). It also has a higher FP32 rating at 6.832 TFLOPS versus 6.390 TFLOPS.

Q: Why does the Tesla M40 lose benchmarks despite higher raw specs?

A: The data shows architectural differences. The AMD card uses RDNA 1.0 on a 7 nm process with a 1560 MHz boost clock, while the Tesla M40 uses Maxwell 2.0 on 28 nm with a 1112 MHz boost clock. The Tesla M40 has higher theoretical FP32, but the AMD card still wins both recorded tests by 59.3% and 20.5%.

Q: Which card has higher power requirements?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla M40 has a 250 W TDP and a 600 W suggested PSU. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM has a 125 W TDP and a 300 W suggested PSU. The Tesla M40 uses an 8-pin EPS power connector, while the AMD card uses a 1x 8-pin connector.

Q: Can the Tesla M40 output video to displays?

A: No. The Tesla M40 has no display outputs recorded. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM has 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM wins in every recorded benchmark category. In Geekbench OpenCL, it leads by 59.3%, and in Geekbench Vulkan, it leads by 20.5%. Its average benchmark score of 58085 places it at the 87th percentile of all GPUs, compared to the Tesla M40's 83rd percentile. The AMD card also wins on efficiency: 125 W TDP versus 250 W, a 300 W suggested PSU versus 600 W, and a 7 nm process versus 28 nm. For compute workloads that resemble Geekbench OpenCL or Vulkan, the RX 5600 OEM is the stronger choice.

The NVIDIA Tesla M40 wins on memory capacity and interface width. It offers 12 GB of GDDR5 versus 6 GB of GDDR6, and a 384 bit bus versus 192 bit. Its memory bandwidth of 288.4 GB/s is essentially identical to the AMD card's 288.0 GB/s. The Tesla M40 also has higher pixel rate (106.8 GPixel/s versus 99.84 GPixel/s) and texture rate (213.5 GTexel/s versus 199.7 GTexel/s). Its FP32 rating of 6.832 TFLOPS exceeds the AMD card's 6.390 TFLOPS. For workloads that need more memory capacity or higher theoretical fill rates, the Tesla M40 holds the advantage, though it loses the recorded benchmarks.

The AMD card wins the FP16 comparison outright, with 12.78 TFLOPS (2:1) versus no recorded FP16 for the Tesla M40. The AMD card also wins on connectivity, with PCIe 4.0 x16 versus PCIe 3.0 x16, and display outputs versus none. The Tesla M40 is a compute-only accelerator with no video output capability, which limits its use cases to headless compute servers or similar environments.

The percentile rankings reinforce this split. The AMD card's 87th percentile places it above the Tesla M40's 83rd percentile, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc A570M (delta of -0.3%), the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT (delta of -0.5%), and the NVIDIA P102-100 (delta of -0.8%). The Tesla M40's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB (delta of 0.5%), the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti (delta of 1.7%), and the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (delta of 2.5%). These rival deltas show that the AMD card competes with newer and more powerful parts, while the Tesla M40 sits near cards like the RTX 3080 Ti in the database's ranking, despite its older architecture.

For a user choosing between these two, the decision depends on the workload. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM is the faster card in every benchmark test recorded, with better efficiency and a newer feature set. The NVIDIA Tesla M40 offers double the memory capacity and a wider memory bus, but it cannot match the AMD card's benchmark results. The recorded data supports the AMD card for general compute and graphics performance, and the Tesla M40 only for memory-capacity-sensitive tasks where its benchmark deficit is acceptable.