AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT vs NVIDIA Tesla C2075 Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT and NVIDIA Tesla C2075 represent two vastly different eras of GPU design, separated by over a decade of architectural evolution. The RX 7800 XT is a modern gaming-focused card built on a 5 nm process, while the Tesla C2075 is an end-of-life compute accelerator from 2011 based on the 40 nm Fermi architecture. Benchmark data shows a single shared test result, with the AMD card delivering a decisive victory, yet the two cards serve fundamentally different purposes in a system.

Where Each One Wins

The data is unambiguous in direct comparison: the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT wins the only head-to-head benchmark available, the Geekbench OpenCL test, with a score of 18,290 against the Tesla C2075’s 10,400. That translates to a 75.9% performance advantage for the AMD card. This is not a marginal win but a substantial generational leap, reflecting the RX 7800 XT’s modern RDNA 3.0 architecture and much higher raw compute throughput.

However, the Tesla C2075 is not without its own niche. It is a compute-oriented card from the Tesla Fermi generation, designed for professional workloads like scientific simulation and data processing rather than gaming. Its single benchmark score of 10,400 places it at the 48th percentile of all GPUs, which is surprisingly competitive for a card released in 2011. In contrast, the RX 7800 XT sits at the 51st percentile, a modest overall ranking that suggests its average benchmark score of 11,627 is pulled down by the inclusion of many legacy tests where it does not excel. The Tesla card’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6500M (0.4% ahead) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A (1.2% behind), indicating that its compute performance remains relevant against much newer entry-level parts.

Where the Tesla C2075 wins is in its specialized role as a dedicated compute accelerator with no display outputs beyond a single DVI port, making it a poor choice for interactive use but potentially useful for headless compute nodes. The RX 7800 XT, by contrast, wins in every practical scenario a builder would consider: gaming, modern API support, and memory capacity. The data shows the RX 7800 XT has a 16 GB GDDR6 memory pool versus the Tesla’s 6 GB GDDR5, and its bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s dwarfs the Tesla’s 150.3 GB/s. For any workload that fits in memory, the AMD card is categorically faster.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two cards is immense. The RX 7800 XT uses the Navi 32 chip built on TSMC’s 5 nm process, packing 28,100 million transistors into a 346 mm² die. That yields a transistor density of 81.2 million per square millimeter. The Tesla C2075 uses the GF110 chip on a 40 nm process, with 3,000 million transistors on a larger 520 mm² die, giving a density of just 5.8 million per square millimeter. This process advantage alone explains much of the performance delta.

The RX 7800 XT features 3,840 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output pipelines, along with 60 dedicated ray tracing cores. It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The Tesla C2075 is far more modest, with 448 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, and no ray tracing hardware. Its API support is limited to DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, with no Vulkan support listed. The RX 7800 XT also offers FP16 compute at a 1:1 ratio with FP32, while the Tesla has no listed FP16 capability.

Clock speeds and memory technology further separate them. The RX 7800 XT runs at a base clock of 1295 MHz, a game clock of 2124 MHz, and a boost clock of 2430 MHz, with memory clocked at 2438 MHz (19.5 Gbps effective). The Tesla C2075 has no base or boost clocks listed, only a memory clock of 783 MHz (3.1 Gbps effective). The AMD card’s PCIe 4.0 x16 interface is twice the bandwidth of the Tesla’s PCIe 2.0 x16, and its display outputs include HDMI 2.1a and three DisplayPort 2.1 connections, versus a single DVI on the Tesla. The Tesla is also end-of-life, while the RX 7800 XT remains in active production.

The Verdict

The data supports only one rational choice for nearly any builder: the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT. It is 75.9% faster in the only shared benchmark, has more than double the memory, offers modern API support including ray tracing and Vulkan, and is built on a process node that is seven generations ahead. Its average benchmark score of 11,627 is 11.8% higher than the Tesla’s 10,400, and it ranks in the 51st percentile of all GPUs versus the Tesla’s 48th. The RX 7800 XT also has a launch MSRP of 499 USD, which is a factual data point, though the Tesla’s launch price is not listed.

The Tesla C2075 only makes sense in a very specific scenario: if you need a compute card for legacy software that requires Fermi architecture, or if you are building a system around a PCIe 2.0 slot and have no need for display output or modern gaming features. Its 6 GB of memory and 150.3 GB/s bandwidth are severely limiting, and its 247 W TDP is nearly as high as the RX 7800 XT’s 263 W despite offering a fraction of the performance. For any new build, the RX 7800 XT is the clear winner. For a vintage compute node, the Tesla remains functional but obsolete.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in OpenCL compute?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT scores 18,290 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 75.9% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla C2075’s 10,400.

Q: Does the Tesla C2075 support ray tracing?

A: No. The Tesla C2075 has no ray tracing cores listed, while the RX 7800 XT has 60 dedicated ray tracing cores.

Q: How much memory does each card have?

A: The RX 7800 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, while the Tesla C2075 has 6 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The RX 7800 XT offers 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth, which is 4.15 times the Tesla C2075’s 150.3 GB/s.

Q: Which card has better API support?

A: The RX 7800 XT supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6. The Tesla C2075 supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, but has no Vulkan support.

Q: Is the Tesla C2075 still in production?

A: No, the Tesla C2075 is marked as end-of-life, while the RX 7800 XT is in active production.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison available is the Geekbench OpenCL test, and it is a blowout. The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT scores 18,290, while the NVIDIA Tesla C2075 scores 10,400. The delta is 75.9% in favor of the AMD card. This is not a close contest; it reflects the fundamental difference in compute throughput between a modern RDNA 3.0 part and a Fermi-era accelerator.

Looking at the broader benchmark landscape, the RX 7800 XT’s average benchmark score of 11,627 is based on ten tests spanning DirectX 9 through DirectX 12, OpenCL, Vulkan, and compute workloads. Its best results include a 54,228 in Geekbench Vulkan and a 24,176 in Passmark G3D, alongside a strong 13,473 in Passmark GPU Compute. The Tesla C2075 has only one benchmark result, the Geekbench OpenCL score of 10,400, which means its average is identical to that single score. This limited data makes direct extrapolation difficult, but the one shared test is sufficient to establish a clear hierarchy.

The RX 7800 XT’s nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (0.5% ahead), the AMD Radeon Pro 5500M (0.9% behind), and the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT (1.8% behind). The Tesla C2075’s nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 6500M (0.4% ahead) and the AMD Radeon RX 550X (0.8% behind). This placement shows that the Tesla, despite its age, sits in a similar performance band to modern entry-level mobile GPUs, but the RX 7800 XT is in a different class altogether when compared directly.

Specification Differences

The specification sheet tells the story of two completely different design philosophies. The RX 7800 XT is built on a 5 nm process with 28,100 million transistors, while the Tesla C2075 uses a 40 nm process with 3,000 million transistors. The die sizes are 346 mm² versus 520 mm², respectively, meaning the AMD card packs 81.2 million transistors per square millimeter versus the Tesla’s 5.8 million.

Clock speeds are drastically different, with the RX 7800 XT boosting to 2430 MHz and the Tesla having no listed base or boost clocks. The memory subsystems are also worlds apart: the RX 7800 XT uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, while the Tesla uses 6 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus. Bandwidth is 624.1 GB/s versus 150.3 GB/s. Compute throughput favors the AMD card at 37.32 TFLOPS FP32, while the Tesla manages 1,027.7 GFLOPS FP32. The RX 7800 XT also has FP16 at 37.32 TFLOPS, a feature the Tesla lacks entirely.

The RX 7800 XT has 3,840 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, with 60 ray tracing cores. The Tesla has 448 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, with no ray tracing. Power requirements are similar, with the RX 7800 XT rated at 263 W TDP and the Tesla at 247 W, though the AMD card suggests a 600 W PSU versus 550 W for the Tesla. The RX 7800 XT uses two 8-pin power connectors, while the Tesla uses one 6-pin and one 8-pin. The RX 7800 XT supports PCIe 4.0 x16, the Tesla only PCIe 2.0 x16. Display outputs are another clear differentiator: the RX 7800 XT has HDMI 2.1a and three DisplayPort 2.1 outputs, while the Tesla has only a single DVI port. The RX 7800 XT is 267 mm long, 111 mm tall, and 50 mm wide, while the Tesla is 248 mm long with no listed height or width. The RX 7800 XT was released in 2023 and is active, while the Tesla was released in 2011 and is end-of-life.