NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M vs NVIDIA Tesla M10 Comparison

NVIDIA’s Tesla M10 and GeForce GTX 850M share a surprising amount of DNA, both built on the GM107 chip and Maxwell architecture, yet their benchmark results and physical designs tell two very different stories. The Tesla M10 edges ahead in every measured test, but the margin is narrower than the specification gap might suggest, and the GTX 850M’s mobile pedigree keeps it competitive in raw compute despite its lower power envelope.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head data shows a clean sweep for the Tesla M10, winning both recorded tests. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Tesla M10 scores 10318 against the GTX 850M’s 9821, a delta of 5.1%. That is a modest but consistent lead, roughly equivalent to the performance gap you would expect from a card with significantly higher clock speeds and memory bandwidth. The Vulkan test tells a similar story: the Tesla M10 scores 9130 versus 8782, a 4% advantage. Neither result is a blowout, but the Tesla M10 wins both, giving it a 2–0 record in head-to-head comparisons.

What is more revealing is how each card stacks against its own nearest rivals. The Tesla M10’s average benchmark score is 9724, placing it just 0.1% above the Tesla C2070 (9716) and 0.6% above the Quadro P4000 (9665). It trails the GeForce GTX 1070 by only 0.6% (9780), which is remarkable for a card from an older generation. The GTX 850M, meanwhile, averages 9302, sitting 0.1% above the GTX 465 (9294) and 0.3% above the GTX 960 (9273). The gap between the two cards in average score is 422 points, or roughly 4.5%, which aligns closely with the head-to-head deltas.

The real insight here is that the Tesla M10’s wins are consistent but not overwhelming. In OpenCL, the 5.1% delta is driven by its higher boost clock of 1306 MHz versus the GTX 850M’s unspecified clocks, and its memory bandwidth of 83.20 GB/s versus 32.03 GB/s. But the GTX 850M holds its own in Vulkan, where the delta shrinks to 4%, suggesting the mobile chip’s architecture scales efficiently when the API overhead is lower. The data implies that the Tesla M10 is the stronger card overall, but the GTX 850M is no slouch in compute tasks that favor raw shader throughput.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The Tesla M10 leads with an average benchmark score of 9724, compared to the GTX 850M’s 9302 — a difference of 422 points, or roughly 4.5%.

Q: How does the Tesla M10 compare to its nearest rival, the GeForce GTX 1070?

A: The Tesla M10’s average score of 9724 is 0.6% lower than the GTX 1070’s 9780, making the Tesla M10 nearly equivalent to a much newer card in synthetic benchmarks.

Q: What is the GTX 850M’s closest competitor according to the data?

A: The GTX 850M’s average score of 9302 puts it 0.1% above the GeForce GTX 465 (9294) and 0.3% above the GTX 960 (9273), making those its nearest performance neighbors.

Q: Does the GTX 850M win any benchmark against the Tesla M10?

A: No. The Tesla M10 wins both head-to-head tests: Geekbench OpenCL (10318 vs 9821) and Geekbench Vulkan (9130 vs 8782).

Q: Are both cards based on the same chip?

A: Yes, both use the GM107 chip with 640 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 16 render output units, fabricated on TSMC’s 28 nm process with 1,870 million transistors.

Q: What is the Tesla M10’s percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The Tesla M10 sits at the 47th percentile, while the GTX 850M is at the 46th percentile — a one-point difference that reflects their closely matched compute performance.

Where Each One Wins

The Tesla M10 wins the compute-focused workloads, as its two benchmark victories indicate. Its higher pixel rate of 20.90 GPixel/s versus 14.43 GPixel/s and texture rate of 52.24 GTexel/s versus 36.08 GTexel/s make it better suited for tasks that stress fill-rate and texture throughput. The 8 GB GDDR5 memory with 83.20 GB/s bandwidth is a substantial advantage over the GTX 850M’s 2 GB DDR3 at 32.03 GB/s, meaning the Tesla M10 can handle larger datasets and memory-intensive workloads without hitting bottlenecks. Its 225 W TDP and dual-slot design with an 8-pin power connector suggest it is built for sustained, high-load operation in a server or workstation chassis.

The GTX 850M, by contrast, wins on portability and power efficiency. Its 45 W TDP is a fraction of the Tesla M10’s 225 W, and its IGP form factor with no power connectors makes it suitable for laptops where space and thermals are constrained. While it loses in raw compute, its 640 shading units and 40 TMUs are identical to the Tesla M10’s, so in workloads that are not memory-bandwidth-limited, the GTX 850M can deliver comparable shader performance. The Vulkan score of 8782, only 348 points behind the Tesla M10, indicates that in API-efficient scenarios, the mobile card holds its ground. For users who need GPU acceleration in a mobile form factor, the GTX 850M is the practical choice, even if the Tesla M10 is faster on paper.

Specification Differences

The two cards diverge most sharply in memory and power. The Tesla M10 has 8 GB GDDR5 memory, while the GTX 850M has 2 GB DDR3 — a 6 GB difference that also changes the memory type. Bandwidth follows suit: 83.20 GB/s versus 32.03 GB/s, a 2.6x advantage for the Tesla M10. Clock speeds differ dramatically as well: the Tesla M10 runs at 1033 MHz base and 1306 MHz boost, while the GTX 850M’s base and boost clocks are not specified in the data. Memory clocks are 1300 MHz (5.2 Gbps effective) for the Tesla M10 and 1001 MHz (2 Gbps effective) for the GTX 850M.

Power delivery is another clear differentiator. The Tesla M10 draws 225 W, requires a dual-slot cooler, and needs a 1x 8-pin power connector plus a 550 W suggested PSU. The GTX 850M is an IGP with no power connectors and no suggested PSU, drawing just 45 W. The Tesla M10 measures 267 mm (10.5 inches) in length, while the GTX 850M has no listed dimensions, reflecting its mobile integration. Display outputs also differ: the Tesla M10 has no outputs, while the GTX 850M is "portable device dependent." Both share PCIe 3.0 x16 interfaces, and both support DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Architecture Differences

Both cards are built on the GM107 chip using NVIDIA’s Maxwell architecture, fabricated at TSMC on a 28 nm process. They share identical transistor counts of 1,870 million and a die size of 148 mm², with a transistor density of 12.6 million transistors per square millimeter. The shading units (640), TMUs (40), and ROPs (16) are identical, meaning the core compute configuration is exactly the same. Neither card has dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores, which is consistent with their Maxwell-generation design.

The key architectural difference lies in their positioning. The Tesla M10 belongs to the "Tesla Maxwell (Mxx)" generation and is the successor to Tesla Kepler, while the GTX 850M is part of the "GeForce 800M" generation, succeeding GeForce 700M and preceding GeForce 900M. The Tesla M10’s FP32 compute is 1.672 TFLOPS, while the GTX 850M delivers 1,154.6 GFLOPS (approximately 1.155 TFLOPS), a 45% difference driven by the Tesla M10’s higher clocks. Pixel rate and texture rate follow the same pattern, with the Tesla M10 at 20.90 GPixel/s and 52.24 GTexel/s versus the GTX 850M’s 14.43 GPixel/s and 36.08 GTexel/s. Both cards lack FP16 support, and neither provides a codename in the data.

The Verdict

The data points to the Tesla M10 as the stronger card for compute-intensive workloads. It wins both head-to-head benchmarks, offers 4x the memory capacity, and delivers over 2.5x the memory bandwidth. Its 45% higher FP32 throughput (1.672 TFLOPS vs 1,154.6 GFLOPS) and 45% higher pixel rate (20.90 GPixel/s vs 14.43 GPixel/s) make it the obvious choice for tasks like scientific computing, virtualization, or any workload that stresses memory and fill-rate. The 47th percentile ranking versus the GTX 850M’s 46th percentiles reflects this edge, but only marginally — the Tesla M10 is just one percentile point higher in the overall GPU hierarchy.

The GTX 850M, however, is not a poor performer in absolute terms. Its average score of 9302 puts it within striking distance of desktop cards like the GTX 960 (9273) and GTX 465 (9294), and its 45 W TDP makes it a far more practical choice for portable devices. With identical shader counts and the same Maxwell architecture, the GTX 850M is a legitimate compute option for users who prioritize mobility over peak performance. The 4% Vulkan delta suggests that in lighter workloads, the mobile chip can nearly match the Tesla M10.

For a server or workstation where power and space are not constraints, the Tesla M10 is the clear winner. For a laptop user needing GPU acceleration, the GTX 850M is the only viable choice — and the data shows it is surprisingly capable. The 422-point average score gap is real but not transformative, and the GTX 850M’s 46th percentile ranking confirms it sits just below the Tesla M10 in overall performance. Each card wins in its intended environment, and the benchmark data supports both as competent Maxwell-era solutions.