AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT vs NVIDIA Tesla P4 Comparison

NVIDIA’s Tesla P4 is a 2016-era, single-slot Pascal accelerator designed for datacenter inference, while AMD’s Radeon RX 9070 XT is a 2025 RDNA 4.0 desktop GPU aimed at high-end gaming and compute. The data shows a generational chasm: the RX 9070 XT wins every head-to-head benchmark by a massive margin, yet the Tesla P4 remains a relevant baseline for low-power, passive compute tasks. This analysis draws strictly on the provided benchmark scores, architectural specs, and nearest-rival comparisons.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two cards share only two overlapping benchmark results: Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan. In both, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is decisively ahead. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 9070 XT scores 160,317 against the Tesla P4’s 37,896. That is a delta of -76.4% from the AMD card’s perspective, meaning the Tesla P4 delivers less than a quarter of the AMD card’s compute throughput in this API. The gap is even starker in Geekbench Vulkan: AMD scores 184,026, while NVIDIA manages 40,476, a -78% delta. For context, the Tesla P4’s average benchmark score across all tests is 39,186, while the RX 9070 XT averages 39,647—a difference of only 1.2% in aggregate, but that aggregate is dominated by the AMD card’s vastly larger test suite, which includes 3DMark and Passmark results absent for the Tesla P4.

The per-test deltas are not close. In OpenCL, the RX 9070 XT is roughly 4.2 times faster than the Tesla P4. In Vulkan, it is approximately 4.5 times faster. These are not incremental wins; they are categorical. The Tesla P4’s best individual score (Geekbench Vulkan at 40,476) still falls below the RX 9070 XT’s worst significant compute result (Passmark G3D at 26,795 is lower, but that is a different benchmark with different scaling). The nearest rivals for the Tesla P4—AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 (38,949 avg, +0.6%), NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile (39,568 avg, -1%), and AMD Radeon Pro 575 (39,703 avg, -1.3%)—all sit within a narrow band around its score. Meanwhile, the RX 9070 XT’s nearest rivals (AMD Radeon Pro 575 at 39,703, -0.1%; NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile at 39,568, +0.2%) show that its aggregate score is not exceptional among all GPUs, but its raw compute in OpenCL and Vulkan is an order of magnitude above the Tesla P4.

Where Each One Wins

The Tesla P4 wins in exactly zero head-to-head benchmarks. The data records 0 wins for NVIDIA and 2 wins for AMD. However, the absence of wins does not mean the Tesla P4 lacks a use case—it means its strengths lie outside the tested metrics. The Tesla P4 draws 75 W TDP with no power connectors, runs single-slot, and has no display outputs, making it a low-power, server-oriented inference card. In that role, its Geekbench scores (37,896 OpenCL, 40,476 Vulkan) are respectable for a 2016 part, placing it in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs—identical to the RX 9070 XT’s 82nd percentile, which is a remarkable parity given the age gap.

The RX 9070 XT wins on every measurable compute and graphics front. Its OpenCL score (160,317) is 4.2x the Tesla P4’s, and its Vulkan score (184,026) is 4.5x. Beyond the shared tests, the AMD card posts a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 7,260, a Passmark G3D score of 26,795, and a Passmark GPU Compute score of 15,864. The Tesla P4 has no comparable data, so the AMD card’s advantage in modern DX12 and compute workloads is unquantified but clearly substantial. For gaming, the RX 9070 XT’s 16 GB GDDR6 memory at 644.6 GB/s bandwidth, paired with 4,096 shading units and 64 ray-tracing cores, is designed for rasterization and ray tracing. The Tesla P4’s 8 GB GDDR5 at 192.3 GB/s and 2,560 shading units are insufficient for modern titles at high settings.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap is fundamental. The Tesla P4 uses the GP104 chip on a 16 nm TSMC process, packing 7,200 million transistors into a 314 mm² die—a transistor density of 22.9 million per mm². It is built on the Pascal architecture, which predates ray tracing and tensor cores; neither is present in the spec sheet. Its FP32 throughput is 5.704 TFLOPS, and FP16 is a paltry 89.12 GFLOPS (1:64 ratio), indicating no dedicated half-precision hardware. Memory is GDDR5, 8 GB on a 256-bit bus, yielding 192.3 GB/s. The card runs at a base clock of 886 MHz and boost of 1114 MHz, with a pixel rate of 71.30 GPixel/s and texture rate of 178.2 GTexel/s.

The RX 9070 XT is a Navi 48 chip on TSMC’s 4 nm node, with 53,900 million transistors in a 357 mm² die—a density of 151.0 million per mm², more than six times higher than the Tesla P4. RDNA 4.0 brings 64 dedicated ray-tracing cores, 4,096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 128 ROPs. FP32 is 48.66 TFLOPS, and FP16 is 97.32 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio), showing native half-rate FP16 support. Memory is 16 GB GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 644.6 GB/s. Clocks are far higher: base 1660 MHz, game 2400 MHz, boost 2970 MHz. Pixel rate is 380.2 GPixel/s and texture rate is 760.3 GTexel/s. The RX 9070 XT also supports PCIe 5.0 x16, while the Tesla P4 is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16. API support differs: the Tesla P4 offers DirectX 12 (12_1), while the RX 9070 XT has DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

The process node alone explains much of the performance delta. The 4 nm node allows nearly double the transistor count in a similar die size, while drawing 304 W (vs. 75 W) and requiring dual-slot cooling and 2x 8-pin power connectors. The Tesla P4’s 250 W suggested PSU is dwarfed by the RX 9070 XT’s 700 W requirement. The Tesla P4 is end-of-life, released September 2016; the RX 9070 XT is active, released March 2025.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT averages 39,647, while the NVIDIA Tesla P4 averages 39,186—a gap of only 1.2%, despite the AMD card’s superior individual test results.

Q: How much faster is the RX 9070 XT in Geekbench Vulkan?

A: The RX 9070 XT scores 184,026 versus the Tesla P4’s 40,476, a -78% delta, meaning the AMD card is approximately 4.5 times faster in that test.

Q: Does the Tesla P4 have any winning benchmarks?

A: No. The head-to-head data shows 0 wins for the Tesla P4 and 2 wins for the RX 9070 XT, across Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The Tesla P4 has 8 GB GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus at 192.3 GB/s; the RX 9070 XT has 16 GB GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus at 644.6 GB/s.

Q: Are they in the same performance percentile?

A: Yes, both cards rank in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs, despite the RX 9070 XT’s vastly higher raw compute scores.

Q: What is the FP16 capability of each card?

A: The Tesla P4 delivers 89.12 GFLOPS FP16 (1:64 ratio), while the RX 9070 XT delivers 97.32 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1 ratio)—a difference of over 1000x.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous for compute-heavy workloads: the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is the superior card by every measured metric. Its Geekbench OpenCL score is 4.2x higher, and its Vulkan score is 4.5x higher than the Tesla P4’s. With 16 GB of memory, 64 ray-tracing cores, and 48.66 TFLOPS FP32, it is designed for modern gaming and compute, and its benchmark results reflect that. The Tesla P4, with 8 GB, no ray tracing, and 5.704 TFLOPS, cannot compete in any shared test.

However, the Tesla P4’s value lies in its constraints. It draws 75 W, requires no power connectors, fits in a single slot, and has no display outputs—ideal for dense server deployments where power and space are limited. Its 82nd percentile ranking, matching the RX 9070 XT, shows that for its era and purpose, it was a competent compute part. The RX 9070 XT, in contrast, demands 304 W, dual-slot cooling, and 2x 8-pin connectors, making it unsuitable for such environments.

Who should pick which? If the task is gaming, ray tracing, or high-throughput FP16/FP32 compute, the RX 9070 XT is the only choice—its scores are orders of magnitude higher. If the task is low-power inference or headless compute in a space-constrained server, the Tesla P4 remains a viable legacy option, though its end-of-life status and lack of modern API features (no DirectX 12 Ultimate) limit its longevity. The numbers do not support any scenario where the Tesla P4 is faster, but they do support a scenario where its power envelope is the deciding factor. The RX 9070 XT is the performance winner; the Tesla P4 is the efficiency specialist.