AMD Radeon RX 9060 vs NVIDIA Tesla K80 Comparison

FAQ

Q: How do the NVIDIA Tesla K80 and AMD Radeon RX 9060 compare in raw compute performance?

A: The RX 9060 delivers 21.43 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, while the Tesla K80 provides 4.113 TFLOPS. This represents a substantial generational leap in raw arithmetic throughput.

Q: What are the memory specifications of each card?

A: The Tesla K80 has 12 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus with 240.6 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 9060 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth, giving it higher bandwidth despite less capacity and a narrower bus.

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The Tesla K80 has 2496 shading units, 208 texture mapping units, and 48 ROPs. The RX 9060 has 1792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The older card has more shaders, but the newer card has more ROPs.

Q: What is the power draw difference between these two cards?

A: The Tesla K80 has a 300 W TDP with a suggested 700 W PSU, while the RX 9060 has a 132 W TDP with a suggested 300 W PSU. The RX 9060 consumes less than half the power of the Tesla K80.

Q: Which card supports ray tracing?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9060 includes 28 ray tracing cores as part of its RDNA 4.0 architecture. The NVIDIA Tesla K80, based on Kepler 2.0, has no ray tracing cores listed in the database.

Q: How do their average benchmark scores compare?

A: The Tesla K80 has an average benchmark score of 18866 across its recorded tests, placing it in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs. The RX 9060 averages 16014, placing it in the 59th percentile. However, the RX 9060 runs more diverse tests, including 3DMark and PassMark suites.

The Verdict

The recorded data presents a clear split. The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is the choice for anyone running modern graphics workloads, especially those leveraging DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, or ray tracing. Its 21.43 TFLOPS FP32 performance, 288.0 GB/s memory bandwidth, and active production status make it the forward-looking option.

The NVIDIA Tesla K80, despite being end-of-life, still holds relevance in specific compute contexts. Its 12 GB GDDR5 memory with a 384-bit bus provides higher capacity for memory-hungry workloads, while its 63rd percentile ranking in the database exceeds the RX 9060's 59th percentile. For legacy CUDA workflows or tasks requiring larger framebuffers, the K80 retains utility.

The power envelope alone may decide many purchases. The RX 9060's 132 W TDP versus the K80's 300 W TDP means substantially lower operating demands. The suggested PSU rating of 300 W versus 700 W reinforces this gap.

Buyers should also note the display outputs. The RX 9060 offers 1x HDMI 2.1b and 2x DisplayPort 2.1a outputs, while the Tesla K80 has no outputs at all, requiring a secondary GPU for any visual output.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide spans nearly a decade of GPU design. The Tesla K80 uses the GK210 chip built on Kepler 2.0 architecture, manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 7,100 million transistors across a 561 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.7 million per mm². The chip belongs to the Tesla Kepler generation.

The RX 9060 uses the Navi 44 chip built on RDNA 4.0 architecture, also fabricated by TSMC but on a 4 nm process. It contains 29,700 million transistors on a 199 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 149.2 million per mm². This represents a massive density improvement, roughly 11.7 times the transistors per square millimeter.

The RX 9060 introduces 28 ray tracing cores, a feature entirely absent from the Kepler-based K80. The API support reflects this: the RX 9060 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the K80 tops out at DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.175. Both cards support OpenGL 4.6.

The memory technology differs fundamentally as well. The K80 uses GDDR5, while the RX 9060 uses GDDR6. The bus interface also advances from PCIe 3.0 x16 on the K80 to PCIe 5.0 x16 on the RX 9060, quadrupling the potential host interface bandwidth.

Specification Differences

The clock speeds reveal the generational gap. The Tesla K80 runs at a 562 MHz base clock with an 824 MHz boost. The RX 9060 operates at a 1700 MHz base clock with a 2990 MHz boost and a 2400 MHz game clock. The boost clock represents a 3.6 times increase over the K80's boost.

Memory configurations differ in capacity and type. The K80 offers 12 GB GDDR5 across a 384-bit bus. The RX 9060 provides 8 GB GDDR6 across a 128-bit bus. Despite the narrower bus and smaller capacity, the RX 9060 achieves higher bandwidth at 288.0 GB/s versus 240.6 GB/s, thanks to faster memory running at 18 Gbps effective versus 5 Gbps effective.

Compute resources shift in composition. The K80 has 2496 shading units, 208 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The RX 9060 has 1792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The RX 9060 compensates for fewer shading units with much higher clocks, resulting in 21.43 TFLOPS FP32 versus 4.113 TFLOPS. The RX 9060 also supports FP16 at 21.43 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio, while the K80 has no listed FP16 capability.

Pixel and texture rates reflect the clock advantage. The RX 9060 achieves 191.4 GPixel/s and 334.9 GTexel/s, compared to the K80's 42.85 GPixel/s and 171.4 GTexel/s. Power consumption reverses the trend: the K80 draws 300 W with a 700 W suggested PSU, while the RX 9060 draws 132 W with a 300 W suggested PSU.

Physical specifications remain similar in slot width, both dual-slot, and both use a single 8-pin power connector. The K80 measures 267 mm or 10.5 inches in length, while the RX 9060 has no recorded dimensions.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 wins in modern graphics workloads. Its DirectX 12 Ultimate support, ray tracing cores, Vulkan 1.4 compatibility, and 21.43 TFLOPS FP32 performance position it for current gaming and professional graphics tasks. The 288.0 GB/s memory bandwidth supports high-resolution texture streaming. The much lower 132 W TDP and 300 W suggested PSU make it suitable for systems with modest power budgets. Display outputs allow direct monitor connection.

The NVIDIA Tesla K80 wins in legacy compute scenarios. Its 12 GB memory capacity across a 384-bit bus provides a larger working set for data-intensive applications. The 63rd percentile ranking versus the RX 9060's 59th percentile suggests that in the shared benchmark tests, the K80 performs competitively relative to the broader GPU landscape. Its end-of-life status may appeal to users maintaining legacy infrastructure who need consistent behavior with existing Kepler-based software stacks.

In the shared benchmarks, the RX 9060 dominates. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 88183 versus 18620 represents a 78.9% advantage. The Geekbench Vulkan score of 39476 versus 19111 represents a 51.6% advantage. The RX 9060 wins both recorded head-to-head comparisons.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records two direct comparisons between these cards, both favoring the AMD Radeon RX 9060 decisively.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 9060 scores 88183 against the Tesla K80's 18620. This is a 78.9% delta, meaning the RX 9060 outperforms the K80 by nearly four times. The RX 9060's FP32 throughput of 21.43 TFLOPS against the K80's 4.113 TFLOPS explains this gap, as OpenCL workloads typically scale with raw compute throughput.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the RX 9060 scores 39476 against the K80's 19111, a 51.6% advantage. The K80's Vulkan support is limited to version 1.2.175, while the RX 9060 supports Vulkan 1.4. The newer architecture's superior driver optimization and hardware features contribute to this result.

Contextualizing these scores against rivals clarifies their meaning. The Tesla K80's average benchmark score of 18866 places it within 0.4% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (18789), 0.5% behind the NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation (18954), and 0.9% behind both the NVIDIA Quadro K6000 (19030) and AMD Radeon RX 6600 (19036). The K80 essentially trades blows with these cards in aggregate performance.

The RX 9060's average score of 16014 sits 0.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16129), 1% ahead of the AMD Radeon R9 370X (15862) and AMD Radeon RX 7700 (15852), and 2.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15679). This places the RX 9060 in a competitive mid-range position despite its lower raw average, which reflects the broader and more demanding test suite it runs.

The RX 9060 also records additional benchmarks beyond the shared tests. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3322, PassMark G3D score of 17631, and PassMark GPU Compute score of 9919 provide further evidence of its capabilities in modern workloads. The PassMark DirectX scores show 280 in DX9, 182 in DX11, 104 in DX10, and 44 in DX12, with a G2D score of 1002. These additional data points suggest strong performance across legacy and modern API paths, though the Tesla K80 has no comparable recorded results in these tests.