NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK vs NVIDIA Tesla C2075 Comparison

The NVIDIA Tesla C2075 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK are both end-of-life GPUs from NVIDIA, but they target entirely different eras and workloads. The Tesla C2075, built on the Fermi 2.0 architecture, is a compute-oriented card from 2011, while the GTX TITAN BLACK, using the Kepler architecture, is a 2014 flagship consumer card. The benchmark data shows a clear performance gap, but the story is more nuanced than a simple win/loss, as the Tesla C2075 holds its own in a specific legacy compute niche.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct benchmark shared between the two cards is Geekbench OpenCL, and the results are decisive. The GTX TITAN BLACK scores 27,218, while the Tesla C2075 scores 10,400. That represents a 61.8% deficit for the Tesla card, meaning the TITAN BLACK delivers roughly 2.6 times the OpenCL performance. This is a massive generational leap, driven by the TITAN BLACK’s 2,880 shading units versus the Tesla’s 448, as well as its 240 texture mapping units compared to 56 on the older card.

Looking at the broader benchmark suite, the TITAN BLACK also posts strong numbers in other tests that the Tesla C2075 never ran. For instance, in Passmark G3D, the TITAN BLACK scores 9,184, and in Passmark GPU Compute it reaches 3,726. The Geekbench Vulkan score of 29,561 further underscores its modern API support, while the Geekbench Metal score of 24,172 shows its versatility across graphics APIs. The Tesla C2075, by contrast, has no Vulkan or Metal scores in the data, indicating it was never designed for those workloads.

The Tesla C2075’s single benchmark result of 10,400 places it at the 48th percentile among all GPUs, which is slightly above average. The TITAN BLACK, despite its far higher raw score, sits at the 46th percentile, a quirk of the broader GPU landscape where newer, more powerful cards have pushed it down. In terms of nearest rivals, the Tesla C2075 is within 0.4% of the AMD Radeon RX 6500M (which scores 10,362) and 1.2% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A (10,273). It trails the AMD Radeon RX 550X by 0.8% and the AMD Radeon R9 M275X by 1.7%. This shows that the Tesla, despite its age, still performs competitively against mid-range mobile and desktop GPUs from later generations in OpenCL.

The TITAN BLACK’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760, which scores 9,458 and is just 0.2% behind, and the AMD Radeon R7 M380 at 9,313, which is 1.7% behind. It also edges out the NVIDIA Quadro K5000 (9,637) by 1.7% and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M (9,645) by 1.8%. These margins are tight, suggesting that the TITAN BLACK’s average benchmark score of 9,474 is representative of a card that sits in a crowded performance tier, rather than dominating it.

Where Each One Wins

The GTX TITAN BLACK is the clear winner in compute and modern graphics workloads. Its OpenCL score is 61.8% higher, which translates to faster rendering, physics simulation, and general-purpose compute tasks. The card also supports Vulkan 1.2.175 and DirectX 12 (11_1), making it compatible with a wider range of contemporary applications and games. Its pixel rate of 58.80 GPixel/s and texture rate of 235.2 GTexel/s are far superior to the Tesla’s 16.07 GPixel/s and 32.14 GTexel/s, making it the better choice for high-resolution gaming, video editing, and any task that relies heavily on rasterization.

The Tesla C2075, on the other hand, wins in the niche of legacy compute compatibility. Its Fermi 2.0 architecture was widely used in scientific and research environments that relied on CUDA for double-precision math or specific older libraries. While it lacks the raw throughput of the TITAN BLACK, its 6 GB of GDDR5 memory with 150.3 GB/s bandwidth is identical in capacity to the TITAN BLACK’s 6 GB, though the latter’s bandwidth is 336.0 GB/s. For workloads that are memory-capacity-bound rather than bandwidth-bound, the Tesla’s equal capacity is a point of parity. Additionally, the Tesla’s PCIe 2.0 x16 interface, while older, is sufficient for many legacy server platforms that lack PCIe 3.0 support, giving it an edge in older systems where the TITAN BLACK might not even be compatible.

In gaming, the TITAN BLACK is the only one of the two that can be considered viable. The Tesla C2075 has a single DVI output and no display outputs beyond that, limiting it to headless compute or basic display tasks. The TITAN BLACK offers 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.2, making it a functional consumer card. Passmark scores for the TITAN BLACK in DirectX 9 (133), DirectX 10 (47), DirectX 11 (73), and DirectX 12 (34) show it handles legacy and modern APIs, though its lower DirectX 12 score suggests diminishing returns on newer titles. The Tesla has no such scores, confirming it was never intended for gaming.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher OpenCL benchmark score?

A: The GTX TITAN BLACK scores 27,218, which is 61.8% higher than the Tesla C2075’s 10,400.

Q: Do both cards have the same memory capacity?

A: Yes, both have 6 GB of GDDR5 memory, but the TITAN BLACK’s bandwidth is 336.0 GB/s versus 150.3 GB/s on the Tesla C2075.

Q: Which card supports Vulkan?

A: Only the GTX TITAN BLACK supports Vulkan, with version 1.2.175. The Tesla C2075 has no Vulkan support listed.

Q: What is the TITAN BLACK’s boost clock?

A: The TITAN BLACK has a boost clock of 980 MHz, while the Tesla C2075 has no base or boost clock listed.

Q: How does the Tesla C2075 compare to its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6500M?

A: The Tesla C2075 is 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6500M, with scores of 10,400 and 10,362, respectively.

Q: Which card has a higher pixel rate?

A: The GTX TITAN BLACK has a pixel rate of 58.80 GPixel/s, far exceeding the Tesla C2075’s 16.07 GPixel/s.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every specification except memory size and type. The Tesla C2075 has 448 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, while the TITAN BLACK has 2,880 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The TITAN BLACK’s FP32 performance is 5.645 TFLOPS compared to the Tesla’s 1,027.7 GFLOPS. Memory clocks also differ: the Tesla runs at 783 MHz (3.1 Gbps effective), while the TITAN BLACK runs at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective). The TITAN BLACK has a base clock of 889 MHz and a boost clock of 980 MHz; the Tesla lists no base or boost clock.

Power and physical specs also diverge. The Tesla C2075 has a TDP of 247 W and a suggested PSU of 550 W, while the TITAN BLACK has a TDP of 250 W and a suggested PSU of 600 W. Both are dual-slot cards with a 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin power connector. The Tesla is 248 mm (9.8 inches) long, while the TITAN BLACK is 267 mm (10.5 inches) long, with defined dimensions of 111 mm (4.4 inches) in height and 38 mm (1.5 inches) in width. The Tesla has a single DVI output; the TITAN BLACK has 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.2. The Tesla uses a PCIe 2.0 x16 interface, while the TITAN BLACK uses PCIe 3.0 x16.

Architecture Differences

The Tesla C2075 is built on the Fermi 2.0 architecture with the GF110 chip, manufactured on a 40 nm process at TSMC. It contains 3,000 million transistors on a 520 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 5.8M per mm². The TITAN BLACK uses the Kepler architecture with the GK110B chip, also from TSMC, but on a 28 nm process. It packs 7,080 million transistors into a 561 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 12.6M per mm². This doubling of transistor density is a key reason for the TITAN BLACK’s performance advantage.

The Tesla’s generation is listed as "Tesla Fermi (x20xx)," and its predecessor is "Tesla," with a successor of "Tesla Kepler." The TITAN BLACK belongs to the GeForce 700 generation, with a predecessor of "GeForce 600" and a successor of "GeForce 900." In terms of API support, the Tesla offers DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, but no Vulkan. The TITAN BLACK supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175. The Tesla has no listed FP16 performance, and neither card has RT cores or tensor cores, indicating neither is designed for ray tracing or AI acceleration. The TITAN BLACK’s launch MSRP is 999 USD, while the Tesla C2075 has no launch MSRP listed.