AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE vs NVIDIA Tesla T4 Comparison

The Verdict

The data presents a stark generational mismatch. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE is the clear performance leader in the only head-to-head benchmark available, scoring 109309 in Geekbench OpenCL against the NVIDIA Tesla T4's 61276, a decisive 43.9% advantage. However, the Tesla T4 holds a higher percentile rank (90th vs. 87th) and a higher average benchmark score (66733 vs. 57367), which indicates that the NVIDIA card sits in a different performance class relative to its peers. The Tesla T4 is an end-of-life, single-slot, 70W server accelerator with no display outputs, while the RX 9070 GRE is an active, dual-slot, 220W consumer graphics card with full display connectivity. Therefore, the RX 9070 GRE is the obvious pick for any workstation or gaming rig requiring rendering output and maximum raw compute; the Tesla T4 is only justifiable in a legacy server environment where low power draw, a single-slot footprint, and no external power connectors are non-negotiable constraints. The RX 9070 GRE also carries a launch MSRP of 549 USD, which can be stated once for reference.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE wins outright in raw compute performance. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 109309 is nearly double that of the Tesla T4, and its FP32 throughput of 34.28 TFLOPS dwarfs the T4's 8.141 TFLOPS. The RX 9070 GRE also dominates in memory bandwidth (432.0 GB/s vs. 320.0 GB/s), pixel rate (267.8 GPixel/s vs. 101.8 GPixel/s), and texture rate (535.7 GTexel/s vs. 254.4 GTexel/s). This makes it the superior choice for any compute-heavy workload, AI inference, or modern gaming.

The NVIDIA Tesla T4 wins in power efficiency and form factor. Its 70W TDP is dramatically lower than the RX 9070 GRE's 220W, and it requires no power connectors, while the AMD card needs 2x 8-pin connectors. The Tesla T4's single-slot, 168mm length design also allows for dense server installations where space is at a premium. Furthermore, the Tesla T4's 16 GB of VRAM exceeds the RX 9070 GRE's 12 GB, which could benefit certain memory-bound workloads despite the lower bandwidth. The T4's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon VII (1.1% ahead) and the NVIDIA Tesla P40 (2.5% ahead), placing it in a competitive mid-range server bracket.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from entirely different architectural eras. The NVIDIA Tesla T4 is built on the Turing architecture using a 12 nm process at TSMC, with a die size of 545 mm² and 13,600 million transistors. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE uses the RDNA 4.0 architecture on a 4 nm process, also at TSMC, but packs 53,900 million transistors into a smaller 357 mm² die. This results in a transistor density of 151.0M / mm² for the AMD chip, versus 25.0M / mm² for the NVIDIA chip, highlighting the massive manufacturing advantage of the newer node.

The compute layouts differ significantly. The Tesla T4 has 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, while the RX 9070 GRE has 3072 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The AMD card also has more ray tracing cores (48 vs. 40). Crucially, the Tesla T4 has 320 Tensor Cores, which are absent from the RX 9070 GRE's specification sheet; the AMD card reports no tensor core count. Clock speeds tell the story of the generational leap: the Tesla T4 runs at a 585 MHz base and 1590 MHz boost, while the RX 9070 GRE runs at 1420 MHz base and 2790 MHz boost, with a 2220 MHz game clock. The AMD card's FP16 performance is 34.28 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio), whereas the Tesla T4 achieves 16.28 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio, meaning the AMD chip does not halve its throughput for FP16.

Memory configurations also diverge. The Tesla T4 uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, while the RX 9070 GRE uses 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus. The AMD card compensates with a higher effective memory clock of 18 Gbps versus 10 Gbps, yielding the bandwidth advantage mentioned earlier. The bus interface also differs: PCIe 3.0 x16 for the Tesla T4, PCIe 5.0 x16 for the RX 9070 GRE. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, but the Tesla T4 has no display outputs, while the RX 9070 GRE offers 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1a.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla T4 has an average benchmark score of 66733, which is higher than the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE's 57367, despite the AMD card winning the head-to-head OpenCL test.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The Tesla T4 has a 70W TDP and requires no power connectors with a suggested PSU of 250W. The RX 9070 GRE has a 220W TDP, needs 2x 8-pin connectors, and recommends a 550W PSU.

Q: Why does the Tesla T4 rank higher in percentile despite losing the benchmark?

A: The Tesla T4's percentileVsAllGpus is 90, while the RX 9070 GRE's is 87. The T4's nearest rivals (AMD Radeon VII at 66004, NVIDIA Tesla P40 at 65095) are all within 2.5% of its score, whereas the RX 9070 GRE's rivals (Intel Arc A580, AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM) are slightly below it, suggesting different comparison pools.

Q: Can the Tesla T4 output video to a display?

A: No, the Tesla T4 has no display outputs. The RX 9070 GRE has 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1a.

Q: How much VRAM does each card have, and what is the bandwidth?

A: The Tesla T4 has 16 GB of GDDR6 with 320.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 9070 GRE has 12 GB of GDDR6 with 432.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: What is the release timeline for these products?

A: The Tesla T4 was released on 2018-09-12 and is end-of-life, with the Tesla Volta as predecessor and Server Ampere as successor. The RX 9070 GRE was released on 2025-05-07, is active, and has Navi III as predecessor.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The single head-to-head test between the two cards is Geekbench OpenCL, and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE wins decisively. The AMD card scores 109309, while the NVIDIA Tesla T4 scores 61276, producing a deltaPct of -43.9% relative to the AMD card. This is a massive 78.4% improvement in raw score for the RX 9070 GRE. The result aligns with the respective FP32 specifications: the RX 9070 GRE's 34.28 TFLOPS is over four times the Tesla T4's 8.141 TFLOPS, and the AMD card's texture rate of 535.7 GTexel/s is more than double the T4's 254.4 GTexel/s.

However, looking at the broader benchmark context, the Tesla T4's average score of 66733 benefits from its two included tests (Geekbench OpenCL at 61276 and Geekbench Vulkan at 72190), while the RX 9070 GRE's average of 57367 is dragged down by its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5424, despite its strong OpenCL showing. This explains the paradox where the RX 9070 GRE wins the single comparison but has a lower aggregate score. The Tesla T4's Vulkan score of 72190 is notably higher than its OpenCL score, suggesting the Turing architecture handles Vulkan compute efficiently, but this is not enough to overcome the AMD card's raw power advantage in OpenCL. The RX 9070 GRE's nearest rival, the Intel Arc A580, sits just -0.7% below its average score, while the Tesla T4's closest competitor, the AMD Radeon VII, is a mere 1.1% higher, indicating both cards exist in competitive tiers within their respective ecosystems.