AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE vs NVIDIA Tesla P4 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows two direct benchmark comparisons between the NVIDIA Tesla P4 and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE. The AMD card wins both tests, and the margins are substantial. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the RX 7900 GRE scores 175,758 against the Tesla P4's 34,947. That puts the AMD card 80.1% ahead. The Geekbench Vulkan result tells a similar story: the RX 7900 GRE posts 99,850 versus 40,309 for the Tesla P4, a 59.6% lead for the AMD part.

To put these numbers in context, the Tesla P4's average benchmark score sits at 37,628, which places it in the 81st percentile of all GPUs in the database. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 at 37,648 (just 0.1% above the Tesla) and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 at 37,507 (0.3% below). The Tesla P4 is clearly competitive with those mid-range desktop cards from later generations, despite its age and professional orientation. The RX 7900 GRE, however, operates in a different performance tier entirely. Its average benchmark score is 32,456, which lands it in the 77th percentile, but that average is dragged down by a wide spread of tests. The nearest rivals list for the RX 7900 GRE includes the AMD FirePro S10000 at 32,388 (0.2% lower), the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 at 32,540 (0.3% higher), and the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME at 32,601 (0.4% higher). These are all older, lower-tier cards, which suggests the RX 7900 GRE's average is heavily weighted by legacy DirectX tests where it does not excel.

The head-to-head data is unambiguous: the RX 7900 GRE dominates in both compute and graphics API workloads recorded. The OpenCL gap is particularly large, reflecting the massive difference in raw compute throughput. The Vulkan gap, while smaller in percentage terms, still represents a 2.5x advantage for the AMD card. The Tesla P4 wins zero of the two recorded comparisons, while the RX 7900 GRE wins both.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from completely different design eras and philosophies. The NVIDIA Tesla P4 uses the GP104 chip on the Pascal architecture, built on a 16 nm process at TSMC. It packs 7,200 million transistors into a 314 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 22.9 million per square millimeter. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE uses the Navi 31 chip on the RDNA 3.0 architecture, also fabricated by TSMC but on a 5 nm process. It holds 57,700 million transistors on a 529 mm² die, with a density of 109.1 million per square millimeter. The density difference is nearly 5x, a direct result of the process node gap.

Memory configurations differ sharply. The Tesla P4 has 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 192.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 7900 GRE doubles the capacity to 16 GB of GDDR6, also on a 256-bit bus, but bandwidth jumps to 576.0 GB/s. The AMD card also runs its memory at a higher effective speed: 18 Gbps versus 6 Gbps for the Tesla.

Compute resources are equally lopsided. The Tesla P4 has 2,560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. The RX 7900 GRE has 5,120 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 160 ROPs, exactly double in each category. The AMD card also includes 80 ray tracing cores, a feature the Pascal-based Tesla does not have at all. The RX 7900 GRE supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the Tesla P4 tops out at DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.4. Both cards support OpenGL 4.6.

Clock speeds tell a story of their own. The Tesla P4 runs at a base of 886 MHz and a boost of 1114 MHz. The RX 7900 GRE starts at 1287 MHz base, boosts to 2245 MHz, and has a game clock of 1880 MHz. The AMD card's boost clock is roughly double the Tesla's boost clock. Pixel rate for the RX 7900 GRE is 359.2 GPixel/s versus 71.30 GPixel/s for the Tesla, and texture rate is 718.4 GTexel/s versus 178.2 GTexel/s.

Power and physical design diverge completely. The Tesla P4 is a single-slot card with no power connectors, running at a 75 W TDP with a 250 W suggested PSU. It has no display outputs, which marks it as a compute or inference accelerator rather than a consumer graphics card. The RX 7900 GRE is a dual-slot card with two 8-pin connectors, a 260 W TDP, and a 600 W suggested PSU. It offers 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, and 1x USB Type-C outputs. The Tesla measures 168 mm long, while the RX 7900 GRE is 276 mm long, 110 mm tall, and 51 mm wide.

Where Each One Wins

Based strictly on the recorded benchmarks, the RX 7900 GRE wins in every measured category. The Geekbench OpenCL result is the headline: 175,758 versus 34,947, an 80.1% advantage. This test stresses general-purpose compute, and the AMD card's 45.98 TFLOPS FP32 throughput versus the Tesla's 5.704 TFLOPS explains the scale of the gap. The RX 7900 GRE also offers 91.96 TFLOPS FP16 (at 2:1 ratio), while the Tesla P4 manages only 89.12 GFLOPS FP16 (at 1:64 ratio). That is a difference of more than a thousandfold in half-precision throughput, which matters for AI inference and certain scientific workloads.

The Geekbench Vulkan test also favors the RX 7900 GRE: 99,850 versus 40,309, a 59.6% gap. Vulkan is a low-level graphics API, and the AMD card's higher clock speeds, double the shading units, and newer architecture all contribute to the result. The Tesla P4's Pascal architecture predates hardware ray tracing, while the RX 7900 GRE has 80 dedicated RT cores. The AMD card's DirectX 12 Ultimate support also gives it access to features like mesh shaders and variable rate shading that the Tesla cannot use.

The niche where the Tesla P4 could still hold appeal is power-constrained or space-constrained environments. Its 75 W TDP requires no power connectors, and its single-slot, 168 mm form factor fits into chassis that cannot accommodate a 276 mm dual-slot card. The Tesla also has a production status of end-of-life, whereas the RX 7900 GRE is actively produced. For workloads that rely on CUDA or NVIDIA's ecosystem, the Pascal architecture may still have software support, but the recorded benchmark data does not include any tests that show the Tesla ahead.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear conclusion: the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE is the superior performer in every benchmark recorded in the database. It wins both head-to-head tests by margins of 59.6% and 80.1%. Its 16 GB GDDR6 memory with 576.0 GB/s bandwidth provides three times the bandwidth of the Tesla P4's GDDR5. Its FP32 throughput of 45.98 TFLOPS is roughly eight times the Tesla's 5.704 TFLOPS. The RX 7900 GRE also has modern features like ray tracing cores, DirectX 12 Ultimate support, and a 5 nm process node that the Tesla cannot match.

The Tesla P4 is not without a role. Its 75 W power draw, single-slot design, and lack of external power connectors make it suitable for passive or low-power compute nodes. Its 81st percentile standing among all GPUs shows it remains a respectable performer for its era and class. But the RX 7900 GRE, despite a lower overall percentile of 77, beats it decisively in the tests that matter for modern workloads. The RX 7900 GRE's launch MSRP is 549 USD. The Tesla P4 has no recorded launch MSRP.

Anyone choosing between these two cards for compute, rendering, or gaming should pick the RX 7900 GRE without hesitation. The Tesla P4 only makes sense for a very specific deployment where power draw and physical size are the dominant constraints and performance is secondary. The RX 7900 GRE's active production status, display outputs, and modern API support make it the practical choice for a general-purpose graphics card. The Tesla P4 is end-of-life and offers no display outputs, limiting it to headless compute roles.

FAQ

Q: Which card has better OpenCL performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE scores 175,758 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 80.1% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla P4's 34,947.

Q: How much memory bandwidth does each card have?

A: The Tesla P4 has 192.3 GB/s from 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus. The RX 7900 GRE has 576.0 GB/s from 16 GB of GDDR6 on the same 256-bit bus.

Q: Does either card support ray tracing?

A: Only the RX 7900 GRE has ray tracing cores, with 80 dedicated RT cores. The Tesla P4 has no RT cores listed.

Q: What are the power requirements?

A: The Tesla P4 runs at 75 W with no power connectors and a 250 W suggested PSU. The RX 7900 GRE runs at 260 W with two 8-pin connectors and a 600 W suggested PSU.

Q: Which card supports newer DirectX features?

A: The RX 7900 GRE supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Tesla P4 only supports DirectX 12 (12_1).

Q: What is the transistor density difference?

A: The RX 7900 GRE has 109.1 million transistors per square millimeter on a 5 nm process, while the Tesla P4 has 22.9 million per square millimeter on a 16 nm process.

Specification Differences

| Field | NVIDIA Tesla P4 | AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE |

|---|---|---|

| Architecture | Pascal | RDNA 3.0 |

| Process Node | 16 nm | 5 nm |

| Transistors | 7,200 million | 57,700 million |

| Die Size | 314 mm² | 529 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 22.9M / mm² | 109.1M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 886 MHz | 1287 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1114 MHz | 2245 MHz |

| Game Clock | Not listed | 1880 MHz |

| Memory Size | 8 GB | 16 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Speed | 6 Gbps effective | 18 Gbps effective |

| Memory Bandwidth | 192.3 GB/s | 576.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 2560 | 5120 |

| TMUs | 160 | 320 |

| ROPs | 64 | 160 |

| Ray Tracing Cores | Not listed | 80 |

| Pixel Rate | 71.30 GPixel/s | 359.2 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 178.2 GTexel/s | 718.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 5.704 TFLOPS | 45.98 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 89.12 GFLOPS (1:64) | 91.96 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 75 W | 260 W |

| Slot Width | Single-slot | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | None | 2x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 250 W | 600 W |

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

| Display Outputs | No outputs | 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, 1x USB Type-C |

| DirectX Support | 12 (12_1) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| Length | 168 mm | 276 mm |

| Production Status | End-of-life | Active |

| Release Date | 2016-09-12 | 2023-07-26 |

| Launch MSRP | Not listed | 549 USD |