AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT vs NVIDIA Tesla M4 Comparison

# NVIDIA Tesla M4 vs AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT

The only directly comparable benchmark in the data is Geekbench OpenCL, and it produces a striking result: the NVIDIA Tesla M4 scores 16,932 points, while the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT scores 9,524 points. That gives the Tesla M4 a 77.8% advantage. The result is counterintuitive on the surface — the RX 5700 XT is a much larger, faster-clocked, and more modern GPU — but the data consistently places the Tesla M4 in a higher percentile (60th) than the RX 5700 XT (59th) across all GPUs, despite the latter having a far richer benchmark record.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head table contains exactly one entry: Geekbench OpenCL. The Tesla M4's 16,932 versus the RX 5700 XT's 9,524 is not a marginal win; it is a decisive 77.8% gap. This is the single largest divergence in the entire dataset for these two cards, and it flips expectations about generational superiority.

Look at the context around the Tesla M4's score. Its nearest rivals in the overall database include the AMD Radeon HD 7970M at 17,019 (0.5% higher), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 at 17,037 (0.6% higher), and the NVIDIA T400 4 GB at 16,792 (0.8% lower). The Tesla M4 sits almost exactly at parity with these older or lower-tier cards. The RX 5700 XT, by contrast, has an average benchmark score of 16,361 across all its tests, with nearest rivals like the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M (16,351, 0.1% higher) and the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (16,408, 0.3% higher). So while the RX 5700 XT's multi-test average is close to the Tesla M4's single OpenCL result, the specific OpenCL test shows the Tesla M4 far ahead.

What does this mean? The OpenCL workload likely favors the Tesla M4's compute-oriented design. The RX 5700 XT posts much higher scores in other APIs — for instance, Geekbench Vulkan at 68,310 and Geekbench Metal at 74,647 — but those tests are not present in the head-to-head. The data does not include a Vulkan or Metal comparison between these two cards, so the 77.8% OpenCL win stands as the only direct evidence of relative performance. It is a reminder that a single benchmark can paint a lopsided picture, especially when the two GPUs target different use cases.

FAQ

Q: Why does the Tesla M4 beat the RX 5700 XT in Geekbench OpenCL by 77.8%?

A: The Tesla M4 scores 16,932 versus 9,524 for the RX 5700 XT. This could stem from the Tesla M4's compute-oriented driver stack and Maxwell architecture, but the data only shows the result, not the underlying cause. The RX 5700 XT's own Vulkan and Metal scores are far higher, suggesting it excels in different API environments.

Q: What is the RX 5700 XT's best benchmark result?

A: In the provided data, the RX 5700 XT's highest score is 74,647 in Geekbench Metal, followed by 68,310 in Geekbench Vulkan. Its Passmark G3D score is 16,277, and its Geekbench OpenCL score is 9,524. The Tesla M4 has no equivalent Metal or Vulkan results for comparison.

Q: How do the two cards rank relative to all GPUs?

A: The Tesla M4 sits in the 60th percentile, while the RX 5700 XT is in the 59th percentile. Despite the RX 5700 XT's higher raw specs and newer architecture, the percentile gap is minimal — only one percentage point separates them in overall standing.

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The Tesla M4 has an average benchmark score of 16,932, based on its single Geekbench OpenCL result. The RX 5700 XT has an average of 16,361 across eleven tests. The Tesla M4's average is 571 points higher, but it is derived from only one datapoint.

Q: Are there any benchmark tests where the RX 5700 XT wins against the Tesla M4?

A: In the head-to-head dataset, the RX 5700 XT has zero wins. The only comparison listed is Geekbench OpenCL, which the Tesla M4 wins. The RX 5700 XT's other benchmark scores — like Passmark G3D at 16,277 and Passmark GPU Compute at 7,650 — are not matched against Tesla M4 results.

Q: What does the deltaPct in the nearest rivals mean for the Tesla M4?

A: The deltaPct shows how much each rival's average score differs from the Tesla M4's 16,932. For example, the AMD Radeon HD 7970M is 0.5% higher, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 is 0.6% higher, and the NVIDIA T400 4 GB is 0.8% lower. These are small margins, indicating the Tesla M4 clusters tightly with those GPUs in overall performance.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear split: the Tesla M4 is the choice for OpenCL compute workloads, where it beats the RX 5700 XT by 77.8%. The RX 5700 XT, however, offers a broader set of capabilities — it has results in Vulkan, Metal, DirectX, and Passmark tests, while the Tesla M4 has only one benchmark entry. If the task is specifically OpenCL-accelerated, the Tesla M4 is demonstrably faster. If the task involves gaming or modern API workloads, the RX 5700 XT's higher scores in Vulkan (68,310) and Metal (74,647) suggest it is better suited, though no direct head-to-head exists to confirm this.

The percentile ranking complicates the verdict. The Tesla M4 is in the 60th percentile, the RX 5700 XT in the 59th — virtually tied. The RX 5700 XT's average score of 16,361 is lower than the Tesla M4's 16,932, but that average includes many low Passmark scores (e.g., 97 in DirectX 10, 64 in DirectX 12). Those low scores drag its average down, while the Tesla M4's single high score inflates its average. So the average benchmark score is misleading without context.

For a buyer or integrator, the choice hinges on workload. The Tesla M4 is a single-slot, 50 W card with no display outputs — it is built for server-side compute. The RX 5700 XT is a dual-slot, 225 W card with display outputs, designed for gaming and workstation use. The data does not include a direct gaming comparison, so any gaming verdict must rely on the RX 5700 XT's DirectX and Vulkan scores, which the Tesla M4 lacks entirely.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs diverge sharply on nearly every specification. The Tesla M4 uses 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding 88.00 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 5700 XT uses 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s — more than five times the bandwidth. Clock speeds differ substantially: the Tesla M4 has a base clock of 872 MHz and a boost of 1072 MHz, while the RX 5700 XT runs at 1605 MHz base, 1755 MHz game, and 1905 MHz boost. Memory clocks also diverge: 1375 MHz (5.5 Gbps effective) for the Tesla M4 versus 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) for the RX 5700 XT.

The compute units scale accordingly. The Tesla M4 has 1,024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The RX 5700 XT has 2,560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs — 2.5 times the shaders, 2.5 times the TMUs, and twice the ROPs. Pixel rate is 34.30 GPixel/s for the Tesla M4 versus 121.9 GPixel/s for the RX 5700 XT. Texture rate is 68.61 GTexel/s versus 304.8 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 2.195 TFLOPS versus 9.754 TFLOPS. The RX 5700 XT also has FP16 capability at 19.51 TFLOPS (2:1), which the Tesla M4 lacks entirely.

Power and physical specs differ as well: the Tesla M4 is 50 W with a suggested 250 W PSU, while the RX 5700 XT is 225 W with a suggested 550 W PSU. The Tesla M4 is single-slot with no display outputs; the RX 5700 XT is dual-slot with 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. The RX 5700 XT measures 272 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 36 mm in width. The Tesla M4's dimensions are not listed. The bus interface is PCIe 3.0 x16 for the Tesla M4 and PCIe 4.0 x16 for the RX 5700 XT.

Architecture Differences

The Tesla M4 is built on NVIDIA's Maxwell 2.0 architecture, using the GM206 chip, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 2,940 million transistors on a 228 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 12.9 million per mm². The RX 5700 XT uses AMD's RDNA 1.0 architecture, based on the Navi 10 chip, on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It contains 10,300 million transistors on a 251 mm² die, yielding a density of 41.0 million per mm² — more than three times denser than the Tesla M4.

The generation gap is clear: the Tesla M4 is part of the Tesla Maxwell generation, released in November 2015, and its predecessor is Tesla Kepler, with Tesla Pascal as successor. The RX 5700 XT belongs to the Radeon RX 5000 series (Navi generation), released in July 2019, with Vega as predecessor and Navi II as successor. The process node shrink from 28 nm to 7 nm explains the RX 5700 XT's higher transistor count despite a similar die size.

Neither card has ray tracing cores or tensor cores — both are listed as null. The API support is identical: DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 for both. The RX 5700 XT's FP16 support (19.51 TFLOPS) indicates a 2:1 ratio over FP32, a feature absent from the Tesla M4's specifications. The RX 5700 XT also has a game clock of 1755 MHz, which is a defined clock state that the Tesla M4 does not list.

Where Each One Wins

The Tesla M4 wins the only direct head-to-head benchmark: Geekbench OpenCL, with a 77.8% margin. That is its singular, unambiguous victory. Its 50 W power draw and single-slot design make it a low-power compute accelerator, and its 60th percentile ranking places it above the RX 5700 XT's 59th percentile despite the latter's far larger transistor budget. The Tesla M4's closest rivals — the HD 7970M, GTX 690, and T400 4 GB — are all in a similar performance band, reinforcing that it competes in a specific, older compute niche.

The RX 5700 XT wins in every other measurable dimension. Its Vulkan score of 68,310 and Metal score of 74,647 are orders of magnitude higher than anything the Tesla M4 has on record. Its Passmark G3D score of 16,277 is close to the Tesla M4's OpenCL score, but the RX 5700 XT also has Passmark DirectX 9 (226), DirectX 11 (116), DirectX 10 (97), and DirectX 12 (64) results, which the Tesla M4 does not provide. The RX 5700 XT's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth make it far more capable for memory-intensive workloads, and its display outputs enable direct rendering, which the Tesla M4 cannot do.

The use-case split is stark: the Tesla M4 is a headless compute card for OpenCL-style workloads, where it outperforms the RX 5700 XT by a wide margin. The RX 5700 XT is a general-purpose graphics card that excels in Vulkan and Metal environments, and its higher clock speeds, more shading units, and larger memory pool make it the better choice for any task that is not specifically OpenCL-bound. The data does not include a gaming benchmark, but the RX 5700 XT's DirectX and Passmark scores suggest it is the only one of the two that can handle such workloads at all.