Intel Arc Pro A30M vs NVIDIA Tesla M60 Comparison

The Intel Arc Pro A30M and the NVIDIA Tesla M60 represent two very different approaches to professional graphics, separated by nearly a decade of architectural evolution. The data available shows a single head-to-head benchmark result, but that result, combined with the full specification sheets, reveals a clear picture of two products designed for entirely different workloads. The Arc Pro A30M is a modern, power-efficient mobile solution, while the Tesla M60 is a legacy, high-power compute accelerator. This analysis will break down their performance, architecture, and specifications based solely on the provided facts.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison point in the data is the Geekbench OpenCL test. In this single benchmark, the Intel Arc Pro A30M emerges victorious with a score of 31894, compared to the NVIDIA Tesla M60's score of 29506. This represents a 8.1% performance advantage for the Intel part. This is a significant margin in a single test, indicating that the newer architecture of the Arc Pro A30M provides a tangible compute advantage over the older Maxwell-based Tesla.

However, it is crucial to contextualize this single result. The Arc Pro A30M's average benchmark score across all tests is 31894, while the Tesla M60's average is 30490. The Tesla M60 has a second benchmark result in Geekbench Vulkan, scoring 31473, which is notably higher than its OpenCL score. This suggests that the Tesla M60's performance can vary significantly depending on the API, while the Intel part's single reported score may not fully represent its range. The Intel GPU sits at the 76th percentile of all GPUs, while the Tesla M60 sits just below at the 75th percentile, confirming that they are in a similar overall performance tier, despite the Arc Pro's win in the OpenCL test.

Looking at the nearest rivals for each card reinforces this positioning. The Arc Pro A30M's closest competitor is the AMD Radeon Pro 570X, which scores 32176 and is 0.9% faster, while the NVIDIA TITAN RTX is 0.7% slower with a score of 31676. The Tesla M60's closest rival is the NVIDIA CMP 70HX, with a score of 30476 and a 0% delta, showing that its performance is very much in line with that specific product. These surrounding data points suggest that while the Arc Pro A30M wins the direct comparison, neither card is a dominant force in its respective performance bracket.

Where Each One Wins

Based on the data, the Intel Arc Pro A30M is the clear winner in raw compute performance as measured by OpenCL. Its 8.1% lead over the Tesla M60 in that specific test is the only direct benchmark win recorded. Furthermore, its higher FP32 throughput of 4.096 TFLOPS compared to the Tesla M60's 4.825 TFLOPS is actually lower, but the benchmark suggests the Intel architecture is more efficient at executing the OpenCL workload. The Arc Pro also supports FP16 at 8.192 TFLOPS (2:1), a feature entirely absent from the Tesla M60, which has no listed FP16 capability. This makes the Intel card more suitable for workloads that can leverage reduced precision for higher throughput.

The NVIDIA Tesla M60 has a different set of strengths that are not captured in the single head-to-head test. Its most significant advantage is its memory subsystem. It has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 160.4 GB/s of bandwidth. This is double the capacity and offers 25% more bandwidth than the Arc Pro A30M's 4 GB GDDR6 memory on a 64-bit bus, which achieves 128.0 GB/s. For workloads that are memory-bound, such as large dataset processing or certain rendering tasks, the Tesla M60's larger memory pool and higher bandwidth could be a deciding factor. However, its higher pixel rate (75.39 GPixel/s vs 64.00 GPixel/s) and texture rate (150.8 GTexel/s vs 128.0 GTexel/s) suggest it also has raw rasterization power that could win in fill-rate-limited scenarios.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gulf between these two GPUs is vast. The Intel Arc Pro A30M is built on the modern Xe-HPG architecture, specifically using the DG2-128 chip. This is a 6 nm part fabricated by TSMC, packing 7,200 million transistors into a 157 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 45.9M / mm². It features 1024 shading units, 64 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and 8 dedicated ray tracing cores. It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), indicating full support for modern graphics features like ray tracing and mesh shaders.

The NVIDIA Tesla M60, in contrast, is based on the older Maxwell 2.0 architecture, using the GM204 chip. It is a 28 nm part, also from TSMC, with 5,200 million transistors on a much larger 398 mm² die, resulting in a much lower transistor density of 13.1M / mm². Its compute configuration is double that of the Intel card in some respects, with 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. However, it has no dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores. Its DirectX support is limited to 12 (12_1), which lacks the full feature set of 12 Ultimate, meaning it cannot perform hardware-accelerated ray tracing. The Tesla M60 also uses a slower 1253 MHz memory clock compared to the Arc Pro's 2000 MHz, but compensates with a wider bus.

Specification Differences

The specification sheets highlight fundamental differences in their design goals. The Intel Arc Pro A30M is a mobile-first, low-power part with a 50 W TDP and no power connectors, drawing all its power from the PCIe slot. It has a PCIe 4.0 x8 interface. Its boost clock is 2000 MHz, and it uses 4 GB of GDDR6 memory.

The NVIDIA Tesla M60 is a high-power, dual-slot server accelerator with a 300 W TDP, requiring a single 8-pin power connector and a 700 W suggested PSU. It uses a PCIe 3.0 x16 interface and is physically long at 267 mm (10.5 inches). Its base clock is a low 557 MHz, but it boosts to 1178 MHz. While it has more memory (8 GB GDDR5), its effective memory speed is 5 Gbps, which is significantly slower than the Arc Pro's 16 Gbps effective speed. The Tesla M60 also has no display outputs, while the Arc Pro's are listed as "Portable Device Dependent," reflecting its intended use in laptops.

The Verdict

The data presents a clear choice based on workload requirements. The Intel Arc Pro A30M is the superior choice for modern, compute-focused tasks that benefit from a recent architecture. Its 8.1% lead in OpenCL performance, support for FP16 with a 2:1 ratio, and hardware ray tracing cores make it a more future-proof option for professional applications that can leverage these features. Its significantly lower 50 W TDP also makes it the only viable choice for mobile or power-constrained environments.

The NVIDIA Tesla M60, despite its age, retains a niche for specific legacy or memory-intensive workloads. Its 8 GB of VRAM is double that of the Intel card, and its 160.4 GB/s bandwidth is substantially higher. For tasks that require loading large textures or datasets that exceed the Arc Pro's 4 GB limit, the Tesla M60 is the only option. Its higher pixel and texture fill rates also suggest it could be more capable in certain traditional rasterization tasks. However, its 300 W TDP and lack of modern features like ray tracing make it a less versatile and less efficient choice overall. The benchmark data shows they are in a similar performance class, but the Arc Pro A30M wins the only direct test and offers a far more modern feature set.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in the Geekbench OpenCL benchmark?

A: The Intel Arc Pro A30M is faster, scoring 31894 compared to the NVIDIA Tesla M60's 29506, a difference of 8.1%.

Q: Does the NVIDIA Tesla M60 have more memory than the Intel Arc Pro A30M?

A: Yes. The Tesla M60 has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory, while the Arc Pro A30M has 4 GB of GDDR6 memory.

Q: Which GPU supports hardware ray tracing?

A: Only the Intel Arc Pro A30M, as it has 8 dedicated ray tracing cores. The NVIDIA Tesla M60 has no RT cores listed.

Q: What are the power consumption differences between the two cards?

A: The Intel Arc Pro A30M has a 50 W TDP, while the NVIDIA Tesla M60 has a 300 W TDP.

Q: Which GPU has higher memory bandwidth?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla M60 has higher memory bandwidth at 160.4 GB/s, compared to the Intel Arc Pro A30M's 128.0 GB/s, despite the newer GDDR6 memory type on the Intel card.

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score across all tests?

A: The Intel Arc Pro A30M has a higher average score of 31894 (based on its single OpenCL score), while the NVIDIA Tesla M60 has an average score of 30490 across its two benchmark results.