AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX vs NVIDIA Tesla M4 Comparison

The Verdict

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX and NVIDIA Tesla M4 occupy entirely different corners of the GPU landscape, and the recorded data leaves no ambiguity about which one dominates in raw compute. The RX 7900 XTX wins the only shared benchmark, Geekbench OpenCL, by 198% over the Tesla M4, posting a score of 50465 against 16932. That is not a marginal gap; it is a threefold difference in raw throughput. The database places the RX 7900 XTX at the 64th percentile among all GPUs, while the Tesla M4 sits at the 60th percentile, yet their average benchmark scores tell a more dramatic story: 19410 for the RX 7900 XTX versus 16932 for the Tesla M4.

Who should pick which? The data suggests the RX 7900 XTX is the choice for anyone needing serious graphics or compute performance, as it carries 24 GB of GDDR6 memory, 6144 shading units, and 61.39 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput. The Tesla M4, by contrast, is a 50 W single-slot card with no display outputs, 4 GB of GDDR5, and 2.195 TFLOPS FP32. It is not a gaming card, nor is it a compute powerhouse by modern standards. The Tesla M4 only makes sense for legacy server workloads where its low power draw and compact form factor matter more than performance. The RX 7900 XTX is end-of-life, but its successor is listed as Navi IV; the Tesla M4 is also end-of-life, with Tesla Pascal as its successor. For anyone choosing between these two today, the RX 7900 XTX is the only reasonable pick unless the specific constraint is a 50 W power budget in a headless server.

Where Each One Wins

The recorded head-to-head data shows a single shared benchmark: Geekbench OpenCL. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX wins that test outright with a score of 50465, versus 16932 for the NVIDIA Tesla M4, a delta of 198%. There is no benchmark in the database where the Tesla M4 beats the RX 7900 XTX. The win count is 1 for AMD and 0 for NVIDIA.

Looking at the broader benchmark suite, the RX 7900 XTX has nine additional recorded scores that the Tesla M4 does not have: 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 at 6841, Geekbench Vulkan at 85612, Passmark DirectX 10 at 166, DirectX 11 at 356, DirectX 12 at 131, DirectX 9 at 330, G2D at 1267, G3D at 31238, and GPU Compute at 17689. The Tesla M4 has no scores in any of these tests, meaning the database shows no scenario where the Tesla M4 wins a compute or graphics workload.

The use-case split is therefore stark. The RX 7900 XTX is the winner in every measurable category: DX9 through DX12, Vulkan, OpenCL, 2D, 3D, and GPU compute. The Tesla M4's only advantage is qualitative: it is a single-slot card with a 50 W TDP and a 250 W suggested PSU, versus the RX 7900 XTX's dual-slot design, 355 W TDP, and 750 W suggested PSU. If the workload is constrained by power and space, the Tesla M4 is the only option that fits. If the workload demands performance, the RX 7900 XTX wins every recorded benchmark.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different architectural generations and process nodes. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX uses the Navi 31 chip, built on RDNA 3.0 architecture with the codename Plum Bonito, and is part of the Navi III (RX 7000) generation. It is fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC, with 57,700 million transistors on a 529 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 109.1 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA Tesla M4 uses the GM206 chip, built on Maxwell 2.0 architecture, part of the Tesla Maxwell (Mxx) generation. It is fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC, with 2,940 million transistors on a 228 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.9 million per square millimeter. The RX 7900 XTX packs roughly 19.6 times more transistors and over twice the die area.

Memory architecture differs substantially. The RX 7900 XTX has 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 384 bit bus, with 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Tesla M4 has 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128 bit bus, with 88.00 GB/s of bandwidth. That is a bandwidth gap of nearly 11 times. Clock speeds also diverge: the RX 7900 XTX has a base clock of 1929 MHz, boost of 2498 MHz, and game clock of 2365 MHz, with memory at 2500 MHz (20 Gbps effective). The Tesla M4 has a base clock of 872 MHz, boost of 1072 MHz, and memory at 1375 MHz (5.5 Gbps effective).

Compute resources are not comparable in scale. The RX 7900 XTX has 6144 shading units, 384 TMUs, 192 ROPs, and 96 ray tracing cores. The Tesla M4 has 1024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with no ray tracing cores. The RX 7900 XTX's pixel rate is 479.6 GPixel/s and texture rate is 959.2 GTexel/s. The Tesla M4's pixel rate is 34.30 GPixel/s and texture rate is 68.61 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput is 61.39 TFLOPS versus 2.195 TFLOPS. The RX 7900 XTX also supports FP16 at 122.8 TFLOPS (2:1), while the Tesla M4 has no recorded FP16 capability.

API support differs in DirectX: the RX 7900 XTX supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Tesla M4 supports DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. The RX 7900 XTX uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the Tesla M4 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs also separate them: the RX 7900 XTX has 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, and 1x USB Type-C, while the Tesla M4 has no outputs at all.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in OpenCL?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX scores 50465 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 198% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla M4's 16932.

Q: Does the Tesla M4 support ray tracing?

A: No. The Tesla M4 has no ray tracing cores listed in the database, while the RX 7900 XTX has 96 ray tracing cores.

Q: How much memory does each card have?

A: The RX 7900 XTX has 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 384 bit bus with 960.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Tesla M4 has 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128 bit bus with 88.00 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Can the Tesla M4 output video?

A: No. The Tesla M4 has no display outputs, while the RX 7900 XTX offers 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, and 1x USB Type-C.

Q: Which card has a higher transistor density?

A: The RX 7900 XTX has a transistor density of 109.1 million per square millimeter, versus 12.9 million per square millimeter for the Tesla M4.

Q: What power draw do these cards have?

A: The RX 7900 XTX has a TDP of 355 W and requires a 750 W suggested PSU. The Tesla M4 has a TDP of 50 W and requires a 250 W suggested PSU.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison available in the database is Geekbench OpenCL. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX scored 50465, while the NVIDIA Tesla M4 scored 16932. That is a delta of 198% in favor of AMD. To put that in perspective, the RX 7900 XTX's score is almost exactly three times the Tesla M4's score. This is not a close contest by any measure.

The RX 7900 XTX also dominates in every benchmark where the Tesla M4 has no recorded score. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 6841. In Geekbench Vulkan, it scores 85612. In Passmark, it scores 166 in DirectX 10, 356 in DirectX 11, 131 in DirectX 12, 330 in DirectX 9, 1267 in G2D, 31238 in G3D, and 17689 in GPU Compute. The Tesla M4 has no entries for any of these tests, so the RX 7900 XTX wins all of them by default.

The nearest rival data reinforces the stratification. The RX 7900 XTX's average benchmark score is 19410, putting it near the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB (19334, delta 0.4%), NVIDIA Quadro K5200 (19602, delta -1%), AMD FirePro D300 (19637, delta -1.2%), and NVIDIA TITAN Xp (19177, delta 1.2%). The Tesla M4's average score of 16932 places it near the AMD Radeon HD 7970M (17019, delta -0.5%), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (17037, delta -0.6%), NVIDIA T400 4 GB (16792, delta 0.8%), and AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (17083, delta -0.9%). The RX 7900 XTX sits in a performance tier roughly 12.6% higher than the Tesla M4 in average score, but the OpenCL head-to-head shows a far larger gap of 198%. The average score comparison understates the difference because the RX 7900 XTX's average includes several older DirectX tests with lower raw scores.

The biggest win for the RX 7900 XTX is in raw compute throughput, where its 61.39 TFLOPS FP32 dwarfs the Tesla M4's 2.195 TFLOPS. The biggest win for the Tesla M4 is efficiency: 50 W versus 355 W, a factor of 7.1 in power draw. But in terms of recorded benchmark wins, the RX 7900 XTX wins 1 out of 1 head-to-head tests, and the Tesla M4 wins 0.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every specification field. The RX 7900 XTX uses a 5 nm process, the Tesla M4 a 28 nm process. Transistor counts are 57,700 million versus 2,940 million. Die size is 529 mm² versus 228 mm². Transistor density is 109.1M per mm² versus 12.9M per mm².

Clocks differ: base 1929 MHz versus 872 MHz, boost 2498 MHz versus 1072 MHz, memory 2500 MHz (20 Gbps effective) versus 1375 MHz (5.5 Gbps effective). The RX 7900 XTX also has a game clock of 2365 MHz, which the Tesla M4 does not have.

Memory: 24 GB GDDR6 versus 4 GB GDDR5, 384 bit versus 128 bit bus, 960.0 GB/s versus 88.00 GB/s bandwidth. Compute units: 6144 shading units versus 1024, 384 TMUs versus 64, 192 ROPs versus 32. The RX 7900 XTX has 96 ray tracing cores; the Tesla M4 has none. Pixel rate is 479.6 GPixel/s versus 34.30 GPixel/s. Texture rate is 959.2 GTexel/s versus 68.61 GTexel/s. FP32 is 61.39 TFLOPS versus 2.195 TFLOPS. FP16 is 122.8 TFLOPS (2:1) for the RX 7900 XTX, with no recorded FP16 for the Tesla M4.

Power and physical specs: TDP 355 W versus 50 W, dual-slot versus single-slot, 2x 8-pin power connectors versus none, suggested PSU 750 W versus 250 W. Bus interface is PCIe 4.0 x16 versus PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs: 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, 1x USB Type-C versus no outputs. DirectX support is 12 Ultimate (12_2) versus 12 (12_1). The RX 7900 XTX has dimensions of 287 mm length, 110 mm height, and 51 mm width; the Tesla M4 has no recorded dimensions. Release dates are 2022-11-02 for the RX 7900 XTX and 2015-11-09 for the Tesla M4, a gap of roughly seven years. The RX 7900 XTX has a launch MSRP of 999 USD; the Tesla M4 has no recorded launch MSRP.