GPU Comparison

The NVIDIA Tesla T4 and Intel Arc Pro A60 represent two distinct approaches to professional graphics, separated by nearly five years of architectural evolution. The benchmark data reveals a fascinating split: the Tesla T4 dominates in one major API workload while the Arc Pro A60 counters in another, making this a nuanced comparison rather than a clear-cut victory for either card.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The Geekbench results show a stark divergence in API-specific performance. In the Vulkan test, the NVIDIA Tesla T4 delivers a commanding score of 72190, which is 26.3% higher than the Intel Arc Pro A60's 57166. This is the single largest performance gap between the two cards in any measured workload. The T4's Vulkan advantage is substantial enough that it places the card in the 90th percentile of all GPUs, while the Arc Pro A60 sits at the 88th percentile. For applications leveraging Vulkan, the Tesla T4 offers a decisive edge that could translate into faster rendering times or smoother real-time graphics workloads.

However, the tables turn in the OpenCL benchmark. Here, the Intel Arc Pro A60 scores 63485, edging out the Tesla T4's 61276 by 3.5%. While this margin is smaller than the Vulkan delta, it demonstrates that Intel's architecture holds its own in compute-heavy OpenCL tasks. The Arc Pro A60's average benchmark score of 60326 places it in close company with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, which scores 60347, a difference of just 0.1%. This near-parity with one of NVIDIA's flagship consumer cards is notable, though it reflects the specific workloads captured by these benchmarks rather than overall gaming or compute superiority.

Looking at the broader competitive landscape, the Tesla T4's average score of 66733 puts it 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon VII (66004) and 2.5% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P40 (65095). Conversely, the Arc Pro A60 trails the AMD Radeon Instinct MI25 (68562) by 2.7% and the Intel Arc A770 (68809) by 3.0%. These relative positions suggest that while neither card is a top-tier performer, both hold their own against contemporary and slightly older professional offerings. The Tesla T4's win in Vulkan is particularly significant because it outpaces the Arc Pro A60 by a much larger margin than the Arc Pro A60's OpenCL victory over the T4.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla T4 achieves an average benchmark score of 66733, compared to the Intel Arc Pro A60's 60326. This puts the T4 approximately 10.6% ahead in overall average performance, despite the Arc Pro A60 winning the OpenCL test.

Q: How do the two cards compare in Vulkan performance?

A: The Tesla T4 scores 72190 in Geekbench Vulkan, which is 26.3% higher than the Arc Pro A60's 57166. This represents the T4's most significant advantage in any benchmark test.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The Tesla T4 features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 320.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Arc Pro A60 has 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, but achieves higher bandwidth at 384.0 GB/s due to faster effective memory speeds.

Q: Which card has a higher boost clock?

A: The Intel Arc Pro A60 has a boost clock of 2050 MHz, substantially higher than the Tesla T4's 1590 MHz boost. The Arc Pro A60 also has a higher base clock at 900 MHz versus 585 MHz.

Q: Are there differences in ray tracing capabilities?

A: Yes, the Tesla T4 includes 40 RT cores, while the Arc Pro A60 has 16 RT cores. However, the Arc Pro A60 does include ray tracing support through its Xe-HPG architecture.

Q: What is the production status of each card?

A: The Tesla T4 is marked as end-of-life, having been released in September 2018. The Arc Pro A60 is listed as active production, with a release date of June 2023.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different architectural eras. The Tesla T4 is built on NVIDIA's Turing architecture, manufactured on a 12 nm process at TSMC. The chip, designated TU104, contains 13,600 million transistors on a 545 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 25.0 million per square millimeter. This design dates back to the Tesla Turing generation, positioning it as a mature implementation of NVIDIA's pre-Ampere compute architecture.

In contrast, the Arc Pro A60 utilizes Intel's Xe-HPG architecture, specifically the DG2-256 chip, built on a much more advanced 6 nm process, also at TSMC. This newer node allows Intel to pack 11,500 million transistors into a significantly smaller 269 mm² die, achieving a substantially higher transistor density of 42.8 million per square millimeter. The smaller, denser chip reflects the process advantages available to Intel's Alchemist generation, which launched in 2023.

The architectural differences extend to the compute units. The Tesla T4 features 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. It also includes 40 ray tracing cores and 320 tensor cores, the latter being a hallmark of NVIDIA's AI-focused compute capabilities. The Arc Pro A60 counters with 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, plus 16 ray tracing cores. Notably, the Arc Pro A60 has no tensor core equivalent listed, which could impact AI or machine learning workloads where the T4's tensor cores provide dedicated acceleration.

The Verdict

The data presents a clear choice based on workload priorities. For applications that leverage Vulkan, the NVIDIA Tesla T4 is the unequivocal winner. Its 26.3% lead in that benchmark is substantial and could translate to real-world performance gains in Vulkan-based rendering engines or compute frameworks. The T4 also offers a higher average benchmark score overall (66733 versus 60326) and sits at the 90th percentile of all GPUs, compared to the Arc Pro A60's 88th percentile.

However, the Intel Arc Pro A60 should not be discounted. Its OpenCL victory, though narrower at 3.5%, demonstrates competitive compute performance. The card also benefits from being an active product with modern features like 4x DisplayPort 2.0 outputs, whereas the Tesla T4 has no display outputs at all, a critical distinction for professional users who need direct display connectivity. The Arc Pro A60's higher boost clock of 2050 MHz and greater memory bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s also suggest headroom in bandwidth-sensitive tasks.

For pure compute performance in a server or data center context, the Tesla T4's tensor cores and higher average scores make it the safer choice, despite its end-of-life status. For workstation users requiring display outputs and modern API support with competitive OpenCL performance, the Arc Pro A60 presents a forward-looking option. The T4's Vulkan dominance cannot be overstated, but the Arc Pro A60's balanced feature set and active production status make it the more versatile pick for ongoing deployments.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA Tesla T4 | Intel Arc Pro A60 |

|---|---|---|

| Architecture | Turing | Xe-HPG |

| Process Node | 12 nm | 6 nm |

| Transistors | 13,600 million | 11,500 million |

| Die Size | 545 mm² | 269 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 25.0M / mm² | 42.8M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 585 MHz | 900 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1590 MHz | 2050 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1250 MHz (10 Gbps effective) | 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) |

| Memory Size | 16 GB | 12 GB |

| Memory Bus Width | 256 bit | 192 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 320.0 GB/s | 384.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 2560 | 2048 |

| TMUs | 160 | 128 |

| RT Cores | 40 | 16 |

| Tensor Cores | 320 | None |

| Pixel Rate | 101.8 GPixel/s | 131.2 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 254.4 GTexel/s | 262.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 8.141 TFLOPS | 8.397 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 16.28 TFLOPS (2:1) | 16.79 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 70 W | 130 W |

| Suggested PSU | 250 W | 300 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | No outputs | 4x DisplayPort 2.0 |

| Release Date | 2018-09-12 | 2023-06-05 |

| Production Status | End-of-life | Active |