NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 vs NVIDIA Tesla M4 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct benchmark comparison recorded between the NVIDIA Tesla M4 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is the Geekbench OpenCL test. This single data point is decisive: the RTX 2060 scores 65,014, while the Tesla M4 scores 16,932. That translates to a 74% deficit for the Tesla M4, meaning the RTX 2060 delivers roughly four times the compute throughput in this OpenCL workload.

To put that margin in perspective, the Tesla M4’s nearest rivals in the database cluster tightly around its score. The AMD Radeon HD 7970M sits just 0.5% above it, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 is 0.6% higher, and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is 0.9% above. The NVIDIA T400 4 GB trails by 0.8%. So the Tesla M4 is not an outlier on the low end; it is simply anchored in a middle tier of GPUs, all scoring between roughly 16,800 and 17,100. The RTX 2060, by contrast, is in a completely different league: its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (0% delta), the AMD Radeon 680M (0.1% delta), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (0.6% delta), and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 (0.8% delta). The RTX 2060’s nearest competitor is the GTX 580, a much older flagship, and even that card is effectively tied with it.

The benchmark data also reveals a striking split in percentile rankings. The Tesla M4 sits at the 60th percentile among all GPUs, while the RTX 2060 sits at the 58th percentile. This is counterintuitive at first glance: the RTX 2060 crushes the Tesla M4 in raw OpenCL score, yet it ranks slightly lower in the overall distribution. The explanation lies in the fact that the RTX 2060’s average benchmark score across all recorded tests is 15,290, which is dragged down by its weaker DirectX and compute results relative to its OpenCL peak. The Tesla M4’s average equals its single OpenCL score of 16,932, so the two cards end up in similar percentile territory despite the massive head-to-head gap.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins the only recorded head-to-head benchmark?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 65,014, versus 16,932 for the NVIDIA Tesla M4. The delta is 74% in favor of the RTX 2060.

Q: How does the Tesla M4 compare to its closest rivals in the database?

A: The Tesla M4’s nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon HD 7970M (0.5% above), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (0.6% above), the NVIDIA T400 4 GB (0.8% below), and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (0.9% above). All are within roughly 1% of its score.

Q: What is the RTX 2060’s closest competition according to the database?

A: The RTX 2060’s nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (0% delta), the AMD Radeon 680M (0.1% delta), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (0.6% delta), and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 (0.8% delta). Its average score is 15,290.

Q: Which GPU has the higher overall percentile ranking?

A: The Tesla M4 ranks at the 60th percentile among all GPUs, while the RTX 2060 ranks at the 58th percentile. Despite the RTX 2060’s dominant OpenCL win, its average score across other tests lowers its standing.

Q: Are there any benchmark categories where the Tesla M4 leads?

A: No. The recorded head-to-head data shows zero wins for the Tesla M4 and one win for the RTX 2060. There are no other direct comparison points in the database.

Q: What does the RTX 2060’s benchmark suite reveal beyond OpenCL?

A: The RTX 2060 has multiple recorded scores: 1,242 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 65,846 in Geekbench Vulkan, 98 in Passmark DirectX 10, 110 in DirectX 11, 53 in DirectX 12, 190 in DirectX 9, 745 in G2D, 14,111 in G3D, and 5,488 in GPU compute. Its OpenCL score is its second-highest after Vulkan.

Architecture Differences

The Tesla M4 is built on the GM206 chip using Maxwell 2.0 architecture, manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 2,940 million transistors into a 228 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.9 million per square millimeter. The RTX 2060, in contrast, uses the TU106 chip with Turing architecture on a 12 nm process, also from TSMC. It contains 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die, for a density of 24.3 million per square millimeter. The RTX 2060 therefore has roughly 3.7 times the transistor count and nearly double the die area, but its density is about 1.9 times higher.

The Maxwell 2.0 architecture in the Tesla M4 offers no ray tracing or tensor core hardware. The Turing architecture in the RTX 2060 includes 30 ray tracing cores and 240 tensor cores, which enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI-based features such as DLSS. These are absent from the Tesla M4 entirely.

The Tesla M4 belongs to the Tesla Maxwell generation and lists its predecessor as Tesla Kepler and successor as Tesla Pascal. The RTX 2060 belongs to the GeForce 20-series, with predecessor GeForce 10 and successor GeForce 30. The Tesla M4 is a compute-oriented accelerator with no display outputs, while the RTX 2060 is a consumer graphics card with a full set of display connections. Both support DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, but the RTX 2060’s DirectX version is 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Tesla M4 supports 12 (12_1).

Specification Differences

The two GPUs diverge sharply on memory. The Tesla M4 has 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 88.00 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 2060 has 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 336.0 GB/s, nearly four times the bandwidth. Memory clock rates differ as well: the Tesla M4 runs at 1375 MHz (5.5 Gbps effective), while the RTX 2060 runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective).

Compute resources are heavily skewed toward the RTX 2060. The Tesla M4 has 1,024 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The RTX 2060 has 1,920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. Pixel fill rates are 34.30 GPixel/s for the Tesla M4 versus 80.64 GPixel/s for the RTX 2060. Texture fill rates are 68.61 GTexel/s versus 201.6 GTexel/s. Floating-point performance: the Tesla M4 delivers 2.195 TFLOPS in FP32, while the RTX 2060 delivers 6.451 TFLOPS in FP32 and 12.90 TFLOPS in FP16 (2:1), a capability the Tesla M4 does not list.

Clock speeds also favor the RTX 2060: base 1365 MHz versus 872 MHz, boost 1680 MHz versus 1072 MHz. Power envelopes are very different: the Tesla M4 has a TDP of 50 W with a suggested PSU of 250 W, while the RTX 2060 has a TDP of 160 W with a suggested PSU of 450 W. The Tesla M4 is single-slot with no power connectors; the RTX 2060 is dual-slot with one 8-pin connector. Physical dimensions are recorded only for the RTX 2060: 229 mm length, 113 mm height, 35 mm width. The Tesla M4 has no recorded dimensions, but its slot width is single-slot versus dual-slot.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 2060 wins the only direct benchmark and wins overwhelmingly. It also holds advantages in every measurable specification category: compute units, memory capacity and bandwidth, clock speeds, fill rates, and FP32 throughput. It adds ray tracing and tensor cores that the Tesla M4 lacks. For any workload that relies on raw graphics or compute throughput, the data points squarely at the RTX 2060.

The Tesla M4’s case is built on efficiency and form factor. Its 50 W TDP is one-third of the RTX 2060’s 160 W. It requires only a 250 W suggested PSU versus 450 W. It is single-slot with no power connectors, making it suitable for dense, low-power environments where the RTX 2060’s dual-slot footprint and 8-pin connector would not fit. The Tesla M4 also has no display outputs, which is a feature in headless compute or server contexts, whereas the RTX 2060 has a full display output array: 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, 2x DisplayPort 1.4a, and 1x USB Type-C.

The percentile data complicates the picture slightly. The Tesla M4 ranks 60th percentile overall, two points above the RTX 2060’s 58th, because the RTX 2060’s average score is dragged down by weaker DirectX and compute results. But the head-to-head OpenCL result is unambiguous: the RTX 2060 is 74% faster. For single-test comparisons, the RTX 2060 is the clear winner. For sustained low-power operation, the Tesla M4 has a structural advantage that no benchmark score captures.

The Verdict

The benchmark data makes the performance hierarchy obvious. The RTX 2060 is 74% ahead of the Tesla M4 in the only shared test, and its specification sheet reinforces that dominance across every compute metric. Anyone prioritizing raw throughput, modern feature support, or gaming-capable output should choose the RTX 2060. It offers 6 GB of faster GDDR6 memory, 30 ray tracing cores, 240 tensor cores, and roughly three times the FP32 performance of the Tesla M4.

The Tesla M4 is not without a rationale, but that rationale is not found in benchmark scores. It draws only 50 W, fits in a single slot, needs no auxiliary power, and has no display outputs, making it a candidate for constrained, headless deployments where power and space are the limiting factors. Its 60th percentile ranking, slightly above the RTX 2060’s 58th, suggests that in the broader database context it holds its own relative to all GPUs, but that is a statistical artifact of the RTX 2060’s mixed test results, not evidence of parity.

In practical terms: if the task is compute or graphics performance, the RTX 2060 wins outright. If the task is minimal-power, minimal-footprint compute in a server chassis, the Tesla M4’s 50 W envelope and single-slot design make it the only viable option of the two. The data does not support any middle ground. One card is a performance product, the other is an efficiency product, and the head-to-head benchmark reflects exactly that divide.