AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT vs NVIDIA Tesla K40m Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT and the NVIDIA Tesla K40m represent two distinct eras of GPU design, separated by nearly seven years of architectural evolution. The data shows a clear performance hierarchy, with the Radeon RX 5600 XT achieving an average benchmark score of 20,713 compared to the Tesla K40m's 19,885. While the overall average scores appear close, the sole head-to-head benchmark reveals a massive disparity in compute workloads, highlighting fundamental differences in their design philosophies and target applications.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT has an average benchmark score of 20,713, placing it in the 66th percentile of all GPUs. The NVIDIA Tesla K40m scores 19,885, which places it in the 65th percentile.

Q: How do the two cards compare in the Geekbench OpenCL test?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT scores 68,537, while the NVIDIA Tesla K40m scores 19,885. This represents a 244.7% advantage for the AMD card, making it the decisive winner in the only shared benchmark.

Q: What are the memory specifications of each card?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA Tesla K40m features 12 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus, providing 288.4 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: Which card has a higher transistor density?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT, built on a 7 nm process, has a transistor density of 41.0M per mm². The NVIDIA Tesla K40m, built on a 28 nm process, has a much lower density of 12.6M per mm².

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT has a TDP of 150 W and requires a suggested 450 W power supply. The NVIDIA Tesla K40m has a TDP of 245 W and requires a suggested 550 W power supply.

Q: Do both cards support DirectX 12?

A: Yes, both support DirectX 12, but with different feature levels. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT supports DirectX 12 (12_1), while the NVIDIA Tesla K40m supports DirectX 12 (11_1).

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two GPUs is stark. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT is built on the RDNA 1.0 architecture, utilizing the Navi 10 chip manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC. This modern design packs 10,300 million transistors into a 251 mm² die, achieving a density of 41.0M transistors per mm². In contrast, the NVIDIA Tesla K40m is based on the much older Kepler architecture, using the GK110B chip fabricated on a 28 nm process, also at TSMC. The Kepler chip contains 7,080 million transistors spread across a much larger 561 mm² die, resulting in a significantly lower density of 12.6M transistors per mm².

These process and architectural differences manifest in their compute capabilities. The AMD card features 2,304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 64 raster operations pipelines (ROPs). Its peak FP32 performance is rated at 7.188 TFLOPS, with FP16 performance at 14.38 TFLOPS via a 2:1 ratio. The NVIDIA card, despite having more shading units (2,880) and TMUs (240), has fewer ROPs (48) and a lower peak FP32 throughput of 5.046 TFLOPS. Notably, the Tesla K40m lacks any FP16 capability, a feature present on the Radeon.

Memory technology also differs fundamentally. The RX 5600 XT uses 6 GB of GDDR6 memory clocked at 12 Gbps effective, while the Tesla K40m uses 12 GB of GDDR5 at 6 Gbps effective. Although their total memory bandwidth is nearly identical (288.0 GB/s vs 288.4 GB/s), the newer GDDR6 standard on the AMD card operates at double the effective speed. The bus interface also differs, with the AMD card utilizing PCIe 4.0 x16 and the NVIDIA card limited to PCIe 3.0 x16.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data provides a single, unambiguous data point for direct comparison: the Geekbench OpenCL test. In this compute-heavy workload, the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT delivers a score of 68,537, completely overwhelming the NVIDIA Tesla K40m's score of 19,885. This translates to a delta of 244.7%, meaning the AMD card is nearly three and a half times faster in this specific OpenCL scenario. This result underscores the massive generational leap in compute efficiency, driven by the 7 nm process, higher clock speeds, and modern RDNA architecture.

While the head-to-head data is limited, the broader benchmark suites paint a complementary picture. The RX 5600 XT has a diverse set of results, including a Passmark G3D score of 13,457 and a Geekbench Metal score of 80,376. The Tesla K40m only has the OpenCL score. Given that the K40m's average benchmark score (19,885) is nearly identical to its OpenCL score, it is clear that NVIDIA's card was designed for a narrow range of professional compute tasks, not general-purpose graphics. The 244.7% win in OpenCL is the single most important comparative metric, showing that for any modern compute workload, the RX 5600 XT is in a different league.

Specification Differences

The following table outlines the key specifications where the two GPUs differ:

| Specification | AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT | NVIDIA Tesla K40m |

| :--- | :--- | :--- |

| Architecture | RDNA 1.0 | Kepler |

| Process Node | 7 nm | 28 nm |

| Transistors | 10,300 million | 7,080 million |

| Die Size | 251 mm² | 561 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 41.0M / mm² | 12.6M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1130 MHz | 745 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1560 MHz | 876 MHz |

| Memory Size | 6 GB | 12 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus Width | 192 bit | 384 bit |

| Shading Units | 2304 | 2880 |

| TMUs | 144 | 240 |

| ROPs | 64 | 48 |

| Pixel Rate | 99.84 GPixel/s | 52.56 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 224.6 GTexel/s | 210.2 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 7.188 TFLOPS | 5.046 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 14.38 TFLOPS (2:1) | None |

| TDP | 150 W | 245 W |

| Suggested PSU | 450 W | 550 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 4.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | 1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a | No outputs |

| DirectX Support | 12 (12_1) | 12 (11_1) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.4 | 1.2.175 |

| Launch MSRP | 279 USD | 7,699 USD |

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT wins decisively in nearly every measurable category that matters for modern users. Its 7 nm process node and RDNA architecture provide superior power efficiency, as evidenced by its 150 W TDP versus the Tesla K40m's 245 W. It offers significantly higher FP32 performance (7.188 TFLOPS vs 5.046 TFLOPS) and is the only card of the two with FP16 support. In terms of rendering capabilities, the RX 5600 XT has a higher pixel rate (99.84 GPixel/s vs 52.56 GPixel/s) and texture rate (224.6 GTexel/s vs 210.2 GTexel/s). Its modern display outputs (HDMI 2.0b and DisplayPort 1.4a) make it usable for gaming and content creation, while the Tesla K40m has no display outputs at all, serving purely as a compute accelerator.

The NVIDIA Tesla K40m's wins are narrow and specific. It offers twice the memory capacity (12 GB vs 6 GB) and a wider memory bus (384 bit vs 192 bit), resulting in marginally higher memory bandwidth (288.4 GB/s vs 288.0 GB/s). It also has more shading units (2,880 vs 2,304) and TMUs (240 vs 144). However, these advantages are rendered moot by its much lower clock speeds and older architecture. For any compute task measured by the Geekbench OpenCL test, the RX 5600 XT is 244.7% faster. The K40m's only true strengths are its larger memory pool, which could be beneficial for specific data-intensive workloads that fit within 12 GB, and its professional lineage, though the data shows this comes at a massive performance cost in modern benchmarks.