GPU Comparison

The Verdict

The data presents a clear generational split. The Intel Arc A580 wins every head-to-head benchmark in this comparison, taking 2 out of 2 possible wins. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Arc A580 scores 91,657 against the Tesla P40’s 62,017, a 32.3% advantage. In Geekbench Vulkan, the Arc A580 leads with 79,381 versus 68,172, a 14.1% margin. The Tesla P40 does not win a single benchmark in this matchup.

However, the two cards serve fundamentally different purposes. The NVIDIA Tesla P40 is an end-of-life compute accelerator from the Pascal generation, released in September 2016, with no display outputs. It is a dual-slot, 250 W card that was launched with an MSRP of 5,699 USD. The Intel Arc A580 is an active consumer graphics card from the Alchemist generation, released in October 2023, with modern display outputs including HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2.0, and a lower 175 W TDP.

From the data, the Arc A580 is the clear choice for anyone needing a working graphics card with display outputs, modern API support, and higher raw compute scores in the tested workloads. The Tesla P40, with its 24 GB of GDDR5 memory and 384-bit bus, might be considered for memory-heavy compute tasks, but its benchmark scores are decisively lower. The verdict is unambiguous: the Intel Arc A580 is the superior performer in every measured test, and the Tesla P40’s strengths lie elsewhere, specifically in its larger memory pool and its historical position as a compute-oriented data center product.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap here is massive. The Tesla P40 uses NVIDIA’s Pascal architecture on a 16 nm TSMC process, with a chip code named GP102. It packs 11,800 million transistors on a die size of 471 mm², resulting in a transistor density of 25.1 million per square millimeter. The Intel Arc A580 uses Intel’s Xe-HPG architecture on a 6 nm TSMC process, with a chip code named DG2-512. It contains 21,700 million transistors on a smaller 406 mm² die, giving it a much higher transistor density of 53.4 million per square millimeter.

The memory subsystems differ significantly. The Tesla P40 has 24 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 347.1 GB/s and memory clocked at 1808 MHz (7.2 Gbps effective). The Arc A580 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, with a higher bandwidth of 512.0 GB/s and memory clocked at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective). Despite having a narrower bus, the Arc A580’s faster GDDR6 memory delivers substantially more bandwidth.

Compute resources also differ. The Tesla P40 has 3840 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The Arc A580 has 3072 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The Tesla P40 has more shading units and TMUs, but the Arc A580 counters with 24 ray tracing cores, which the Tesla P40 lacks entirely. The Tesla P40 also has no tensor cores. In terms of raw throughput, the Tesla P40 achieves 11.76 TFLOPS FP32 and 183.7 GFLOPS FP16 (at 1:64 ratio), while the Arc A580 achieves 12.29 TFLOPS FP32 and 24.58 TFLOPS FP16 (at 2:1 ratio). The Arc A580’s FP16 performance is over 100 times higher.

The bus interface differs as well. The Tesla P40 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the Arc A580 uses PCIe 4.0 x16. API support shows the generational leap: the Tesla P40 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The Arc A580 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The power delivery is also different: the Tesla P40 uses a single 8-pin EPS connector and has a 250 W TDP with a suggested 600 W PSU, while the Arc A580 uses two 8-pin connectors, has a 175 W TDP, and a suggested 450 W PSU.

Where Each One Wins

Based strictly on benchmark results, the Intel Arc A580 wins everywhere that was tested. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Arc A580 outperforms the Tesla P40 by 32.3%. In Geekbench Vulkan, the Arc A580 leads by 14.1%. There are no benchmark categories where the Tesla P40 comes out ahead in this dataset.

However, the data also shows areas where the Tesla P40 has structural advantages that are not reflected in these particular tests. Its 24 GB memory capacity is three times larger than the Arc A580’s 8 GB. For workloads that require large memory footprints, such as certain inference or data processing tasks, this capacity could be decisive, even if the raw compute scores are lower. The Tesla P40’s 384-bit bus and 347.1 GB/s bandwidth are also notable, though the Arc A580’s 512.0 GB/s bandwidth is higher.

The Arc A580 is the winner for general-purpose graphics and compute work. Its higher FP32 throughput (12.29 TFLOPS versus 11.76 TFLOPS), vastly superior FP16 performance (24.58 TFLOPS versus 183.7 GFLOPS), ray tracing support, and modern display outputs make it the more versatile card. The Tesla P40, being an end-of-life compute accelerator with no display outputs, is not suitable for any workstation or gaming use case that requires a monitor connection. The Arc A580’s active production status and its PCIe 4.0 interface also position it as the more future-proof option.

FAQ

Q: Which card has higher overall benchmark scores?

A: The Intel Arc A580 has a higher average benchmark score of 57,756 compared to the NVIDIA Tesla P40’s 65,095. However, in the direct head-to-head tests, the Arc A580 wins both Geekbench OpenCL (91,657 vs 62,017) and Geekbench Vulkan (79,381 vs 68,172).

Q: Does the Tesla P40 have advantage in memory capacity?

A: Yes. The Tesla P40 has 24 GB of GDDR5 memory, which is three times the 8 GB of GDDR6 found on the Arc A580. The Tesla P40 also has a wider 384-bit bus, though the Arc A580’s 512.0 GB/s bandwidth exceeds the Tesla P40’s 347.1 GB/s.

Q: Which card supports ray tracing?

A: Only the Intel Arc A580 supports ray tracing, with 24 dedicated RT cores. The NVIDIA Tesla P40 has no ray tracing cores listed in its specifications.

Q: Can the Tesla P40 connect to a display?

A: No. The Tesla P40 has no display outputs. The Intel Arc A580 includes 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 2.0 outputs.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The Tesla P40 has a 250 W TDP and requires a 600 W power supply with a single 8-pin EPS connector. The Arc A580 has a 175 W TDP and requires a 450 W power supply with two 8-pin connectors.

Q: Which card is more recent?

A: The Intel Arc A580 was released in October 2023 and is marked as Active. The NVIDIA Tesla P40 was released in September 2016 and is marked as End-of-life.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two benchmark comparisons in the dataset both favor the Intel Arc A580, but the margins differ notably. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Arc A580 scores 91,657 against the Tesla P40’s 62,017. This is a delta of 32.3% in favor of Intel. The OpenCL test is particularly revealing because it shows the Arc A580 delivering nearly 50% more raw compute performance in a cross-platform compute workload. The Tesla P40’s Pascal architecture, despite having more shading units (3840 vs 3072), cannot overcome the Arc A580’s architectural efficiency and higher clock speeds. The Arc A580 boosts to 2000 MHz, while the Tesla P40 boosts to 1531 MHz.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the gap narrows but remains decisive. The Arc A580 scores 79,381, which is 14.1% ahead of the Tesla P40’s 68,172. The smaller delta in Vulkan suggests that the Tesla P40’s driver maturity or architectural design handles the Vulkan API relatively better than OpenCL, but it still cannot match the Arc A580. The Arc A580’s Vulkan 1.4 support and Xe-HPG architecture appear to give it a consistent edge.

The overall win tally is 2-0 in favor of the Arc A580. The Tesla P40’s percentile ranking among all GPUs is 89, slightly higher than the Arc A580’s 87, but this ranking is based on average benchmark scores across a broader set of tests, not the head-to-head data presented here. In the direct comparison, the Arc A580 is the clear winner. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM (0.6% lower), Intel Arc A570M (0.8% lower), and AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT (1.1% lower), which places it in a competitive performance tier. The Tesla P40’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 (1.4% lower) and AMD Radeon VII (1.4% higher), showing it is slightly below the Arc A580’s performance neighborhood.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every specification field. The manufacturing process shows the largest generational gap: the Tesla P40 uses 16 nm TSMC, while the Arc A580 uses 6 nm TSMC. Transistor counts are 11,800 million versus 21,700 million, and die sizes are 471 mm² versus 406 mm². Transistor density is 25.1M per mm² for NVIDIA and 53.4M per mm² for Intel.

Clock speeds differ substantially. The Tesla P40 has a base clock of 1303 MHz and a boost clock of 1531 MHz. The Arc A580 has a base clock of 1700 MHz and a boost clock of 2000 MHz. Memory clocks are 1808 MHz (7.2 Gbps effective) for the Tesla P40 and 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) for the Arc A580.

Memory configurations are different in size, type, and bus width. The Tesla P40 has 24 GB GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus with 347.1 GB/s bandwidth. The Arc A580 has 8 GB GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 512.0 GB/s bandwidth. Shading units are 3840 for NVIDIA versus 3072 for Intel. TMUs are 240 versus 192, while ROPs are equal at 96. The Arc A580 adds 24 RT cores; the Tesla P40 has none.

Pixel and texture rates favor Intel: 192.0 GPixel/s and 384.0 GTexel/s for the Arc A580, compared to 147.0 GPixel/s and 367.4 GTexel/s for the Tesla P40. FP32 performance is similar (11.76 TFLOPS vs 12.29 TFLOPS), but FP16 performance is vastly different: 183.7 GFLOPS for NVIDIA versus 24.58 TFLOPS for Intel.

Power and physical specs differ as well. The Tesla P40 has a 250 W TDP with a single 8-pin EPS connector and a 600 W suggested PSU. The Arc A580 has a 175 W TDP with two 8-pin connectors and a 450 W suggested PSU. The Tesla P40 is 267 mm long and 111 mm tall; the Arc A580’s dimensions are not listed. Both are dual-slot cards. Bus interfaces are PCIe 3.0 x16 for NVIDIA and PCIe 4.0 x16 for Intel. Display outputs are absent on the Tesla P40, while the Arc A580 offers 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 2.0. Production status is End-of-life for the Tesla P40 and Active for the Arc A580.