AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE vs NVIDIA Tesla P40 Comparison

The NVIDIA Tesla P40 is a compute-oriented professional card from the Pascal era, while the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE is a modern consumer gaming GPU. In the available benchmark data, the RX 9070 GRE is decisively faster, but each card is engineered for a completely different workload. This analysis compares their performance, specifications, and architectural positioning based solely on the data provided.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only shared benchmark between the two cards is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is a lopsided victory for the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE. The RX 9070 GRE scores 109,309 points, while the NVIDIA Tesla P40 manages 62,017 points. This represents a delta of -43.3 percent from the perspective of the Tesla P40, meaning the AMD card is roughly 76 percent faster in this test. The margin is enormous and reflects the generational leap between the two architectures.

Looking at the broader performance context, the average benchmark score for the Tesla P40 is 65,095, while the RX 9070 GRE averages 57,367. This is a notable inversion. The Tesla P40 has a higher average score despite losing the OpenCL test, which suggests that the P40 performs very well in other benchmark suites not shared here. The P40 also holds a higher percentile ranking against all GPUs at 89, versus 87 for the RX 9070 GRE. In practical terms, the Tesla P40 sits in the top 11 percent of all GPUs, while the RX 9070 GRE sits in the top 13 percent.

The nearest rivals for the Tesla P40 illustrate its positioned tier. The AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 scores 64,212, which is 1.4 percent below the P40. The AMD Radeon VII scores 66,004, which is 1.4 percent above. The NVIDIA CMP 30HX and AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT LP both score around 63,800, placing them 2 percent below the P40. For the RX 9070 GRE, the nearest rivals are all close. The Intel Arc A580 scores 57,756, which is 0.7 percent below. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM scores 58,085, 1.2 percent below. The Intel Arc A570M scores 58,239, 1.5 percent below, and the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT scores 58,392, 1.8 percent below.

The RX 9070 GRE also has a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5,424, which is a modern gaming workload test. The Tesla P40 has no corresponding score in that test. The P40 does have a Geekbench Vulkan score of 68,172, which is higher than its OpenCL score, suggesting it performs better in Vulkan compute workloads.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous about raw compute performance: the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE is the faster card in the one shared benchmark, and it does so with a 43.3 percent margin. Anyone choosing between these two strictly on computational speed should select the RX 9070 GRE. It also comes with modern features like ray tracing cores and a much newer architecture.

However, the Tesla P40 is not without reason to exist. It has a higher average benchmark score across all tests (65,095 versus 57,367), which indicates that in other benchmark suites, the P40 outperforms the RX 9070 GRE. The P40 also has a higher percentile ranking against all GPUs. This suggests that the P40 is better suited for specific professional or compute tasks that are not represented in the shared OpenCL test.

The memory configuration is a critical differentiator. The Tesla P40 has 24 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus, while the RX 9070 GRE has 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus. The P40 has double the memory capacity, which matters for large datasets that exceed 12 GB. The RX 9070 GRE has higher bandwidth at 432.0 GB/s versus 347.1 GB/s, but the capacity advantage of the P40 is substantial.

The production status also matters. The Tesla P40 is end-of-life, while the RX 9070 GRE is active. The P40 was released in 2016, while the RX 9070 GRE was released in 2025. The P40 is a legacy product, while the RX 9070 GRE is current. For long-term viability and driver support, the RX 9070 GRE is the safer choice.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE scores 109,309, which is 43.3 percent higher than the NVIDIA Tesla P40's 62,017.

Q: Does the Tesla P40 have any performance advantage?

A: Yes, the Tesla P40 has a higher average benchmark score of 65,095 across all tests, compared to 57,367 for the RX 9070 GRE. It also has a higher percentile ranking at 89 versus 87.

Q: How much memory does each card have?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla P40 has 24 GB of GDDR5 memory, while the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory.

Q: What is the release date of each card?

A: The Tesla P40 was released on 2016-09-12, while the RX 9070 GRE was released on 2025-05-07.

Q: Which card has a higher boost clock?

A: The RX 9070 GRE has a boost clock of 2790 MHz, while the Tesla P40 has a boost clock of 1531 MHz.

Q: Does the RX 9070 GRE support ray tracing?

A: Yes, the RX 9070 GRE has 48 ray tracing cores. The Tesla P40 has no ray tracing cores listed.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every specification. The Tesla P40 has 3,840 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs. The RX 9070 GRE has 3,072 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The P40 has more shaders and TMUs, but the RX 9070 GRE runs at much higher clocks.

The base clock for the P40 is 1303 MHz, with a boost of 1531 MHz. The RX 9070 GRE has a base of 1420 MHz, a game clock of 2220 MHz, and a boost of 2790 MHz. The AMD card boosts nearly twice as high as the NVIDIA card.

Memory is another major split. The P40 uses 24 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus with 347.1 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 9070 GRE uses 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus with 432.0 GB/s bandwidth. The P40 has more capacity, while the RX 9070 GRE has more bandwidth.

The power requirements also differ. The Tesla P40 has a TDP of 250 W and requires an 8-pin EPS power connector. The RX 9070 GRE has a TDP of 220 W and requires two 8-pin connectors. The suggested PSU is 600 W for the P40 and 550 W for the RX 9070 GRE.

The interface and display outputs are completely different. The P40 uses PCIe 3.0 x16 and has no display outputs. The RX 9070 GRE uses PCIe 5.0 x16 and has 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1a outputs.

The physical dimensions are only available for the P40, which is 267 mm long and 111 mm tall. The RX 9070 GRE dimensions are not listed.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap is massive. The Tesla P40 is built on the Pascal architecture, using the GP102 chip, fabricated on a 16 nm process at TSMC. The RX 9070 GRE uses the RDNA 4.0 architecture, with the Navi 48 chip, fabricated on a 4 nm process at TSMC.

The transistor counts tell a story of density. The P40 has 11,800 million transistors on a 471 mm² die, for a density of 25.1 million transistors per mm². The RX 9070 GRE has 53,900 million transistors on a 357 mm² die, for a density of 151.0 million transistors per mm². The RX 9070 GRE packs over four times more transistors into a smaller die.

The compute capabilities are dramatically different. The P40 has an FP32 throughput of 11.76 TFLOPS, while the RX 9070 GRE achieves 34.28 TFLOPS. The FP16 performance is even more divergent. The P40 only manages 183.7 GFLOPS (1:64 ratio), while the RX 9070 GRE hits 34.28 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio). The RX 9070 GRE has full-rate FP16, while the P40 has heavily crippled FP16.

The RX 9070 GRE also has 48 ray tracing cores, which the P40 lacks entirely. The P40 has no tensor cores either, while the RX 9070 GRE also has no tensor cores listed. Both support DirectX 12, but the P40 is limited to 12_1, while the RX 9070 GRE supports 12 Ultimate (12_2). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

The pixel and texture rates also favor the RX 9070 GRE. The P40 has a pixel rate of 147.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 367.4 GTexel/s. The RX 9070 GRE has a pixel rate of 267.8 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 535.7 GTexel/s.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE wins decisively in the shared OpenCL benchmark, with a 43.3 percent margin over the Tesla P40. It also wins on raw compute specs, with nearly triple the FP32 throughput (34.28 vs 11.76 TFLOPS) and full-rate FP16. The RX 9070 GRE is the clear choice for modern gaming workloads, including ray tracing, and for any compute task that benefits from high clock speeds and high bandwidth.

The RX 9070 GRE also wins on power efficiency, with a lower TDP of 220 W versus 250 W, while delivering much higher performance. It also has modern display outputs, making it suitable for consumer use.

The NVIDIA Tesla P40 wins on memory capacity, offering 24 GB versus 12 GB. This is critical for machine learning inference or large dataset processing where the model or batch size exceeds 12 GB. The P40 also has a higher average benchmark score across all tests, indicating it performs well in other professional benchmark suites not included in the shared data.

The P40 also has a higher percentile ranking against all GPUs, at 89 versus 87. This suggests that in the full benchmark database, the P40 outperforms a larger fraction of all GPUs than the RX 9070 GRE does, despite losing the head-to-head OpenCL test.

For a server or workstation environment with no display output requirement, the P40's lack of outputs is irrelevant. Its 384-bit memory bus and 24 GB capacity make it suitable for data-intensive workloads. The RX 9070 GRE is the right choice for gaming, content creation, and any workload that leverages modern APIs and ray tracing. The P40 is the right choice for legacy compute deployments that require large memory capacity and do not need modern graphics features.