NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile vs NVIDIA Tesla K40m Comparison

The Verdict

The data in this comparison is unusually one-sided. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile dominates the shared benchmark, scoring 79,483 in Geekbench OpenCL against the Tesla K40m's 19,885. That is a 75% lead for the mobile part, a gap that defines the entire analysis. If the workload is general compute, the RTX 3060 Mobile is the only sensible choice from this pair.

The Tesla K40m, however, is not without a role. It is a dual-slot, 245 W desktop accelerator with 12 GB of GDDR5 memory, while the RTX 3060 Mobile is a low-power laptop part with 6 GB of GDDR6. For anyone constrained by the database's recorded power envelope, the RTX 3060 Mobile at 80 W is dramatically more efficient. The Tesla's 245 W figure is over three times higher, and it still loses the OpenCL test by a wide margin.

The verdict is straightforward: the RTX 3060 Mobile wins on raw compute, wins on power, and wins on modern API support. The Tesla K40m's only strengths are memory capacity and its launch-era positioning as a professional accelerator. The data shows no benchmark where the Tesla comes out ahead, so its appeal is limited to scenarios where 12 GB capacity matters more than speed, and where the older Kepler architecture's limitations are acceptable.

Where Each One Wins

The head-to-head benchmark list contains only one entry: Geekbench OpenCL. The RTX 3060 Mobile wins it outright with 79,483 versus 19,885.

For the RTX 3060 Mobile, its recorded wins extend beyond that single comparison. Its own benchmark suite includes 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 at 1,821, Passmark G3D at 13,230, Passmark GPU Compute at 5,718, and Geekbench Vulkan at 80,344. These scores establish a strong all-round profile for gaming, compute, and modern graphics APIs.

The Tesla K40m has no wins in the head-to-head data. Its single benchmark score of 19,885 in OpenCL is its only recorded performance point, and it sits below the mobile part by 75%. The Tesla's advantage is purely in memory capacity: 12 GB versus 6 GB. That capacity can matter for datasets that exceed the RTX 3060 Mobile's frame buffer, but the performance penalty is severe.

Use-case split: pick the RTX 3060 Mobile for any task that needs fast compute, low power consumption, or modern feature support. Pick the Tesla K40m only if the workload requires more than 6 GB of video memory and can tolerate the much lower OpenCL throughput.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different eras and fundamentally different design philosophies.

The Tesla K40m uses the GK110B chip, built on a 28 nm TSMC process. It packs 7,080 million transistors into a 561 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.6 million per square millimeter. The architecture is Kepler, which supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175. It has 2,880 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 48 ROPs. There are no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores. The memory subsystem is 12 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, providing 288.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The base clock is 745 MHz with a boost of 876 MHz, and memory runs at 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective). Pixel rate is 52.56 GPixel/s and texture rate is 210.2 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 5.046 TFLOPS, and FP16 is not listed, indicating no dedicated half-precision path.

The RTX 3060 Mobile uses the GA106 chip, built on an 8 nm Samsung process. It has 12,000 million transistors on a much smaller 276 mm² die, giving a density of 43.5 million per square millimeter. The architecture is Ampere, with DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. It has 3,840 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. Critically, it includes 30 ray tracing cores and 120 tensor cores. Memory is 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, with bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. The base clock is 900 MHz and boost is 1425 MHz, with memory at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). Pixel rate is 68.40 GPixel/s and texture rate is 171.0 GTexel/s. FP32 is 10.94 TFLOPS, and FP16 is also 10.94 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio.

The process node difference is stark: 28 nm versus 8 nm. That explains the transistor density gap and the power envelope difference. The Tesla's 245 W TDP versus the RTX 3060 Mobile's 80 W TDP is a four-generation leap in efficiency. The RTX 3060 Mobile also uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the Tesla uses PCIe 3.0 x16. The Tesla has no display outputs; the RTX 3060 Mobile's outputs are portable-device dependent. The Tesla is dual-slot and 267 mm long; the RTX 3060 Mobile has no recorded dimensions, as it is a mobile part.

FAQ

Q: Is the Tesla K40m faster than the RTX 3060 Mobile in any recorded test?

A: No. The only head-to-head benchmark is Geekbench OpenCL, and the RTX 3060 Mobile wins 79,483 to 19,885, a 75% lead. The Tesla K40m has zero recorded wins.

Q: Which GPU has more memory capacity?

A: The Tesla K40m has 12 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus. The RTX 3060 Mobile has 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus. The Tesla has twice the capacity, despite the mobile part having higher bandwidth (336.0 GB/s versus 288.4 GB/s).

Q: Does the RTX 3060 Mobile support ray tracing?

A: Yes, it has 30 ray tracing cores. The Tesla K40m has no ray tracing cores at all. The RTX 3060 Mobile also has 120 tensor cores, which the Tesla lacks.

Q: How do their power requirements compare?

A: The Tesla K40m is rated at 245 W with a suggested power supply of 550 W. The RTX 3060 Mobile is rated at 80 W with no power connectors and no suggested PSU listed. The mobile part uses roughly one third of the power.

Q: What is the architectural generation difference?

A: The Tesla K40m is Kepler on 28 nm TSMC, supporting DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.175. The RTX 3060 Mobile is Ampere on 8 nm Samsung, supporting DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4. The RTX 3060 Mobile also has FP16 at 1:1 ratio, while the Tesla has no recorded FP16 performance.

Q: Which GPU has a higher FP32 compute rating?

A: The RTX 3060 Mobile, at 10.94 TFLOPS, more than double the Tesla K40m's 5.046 TFLOPS. This aligns with the OpenCL benchmark result.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records exactly one head-to-head test between these two GPUs: Geekbench OpenCL. The RTX 3060 Mobile scores 79,483, and the Tesla K40m scores 19,885. The delta is -75% from the perspective of the Tesla, meaning the Tesla achieves only a quarter of the mobile part's score. This is the single largest and most decisive data point in the comparison.

Looking at the broader benchmark sets, the RTX 3060 Mobile's other scores reinforce its dominance. In Geekbench Vulkan it reaches 80,344, nearly identical to its OpenCL result. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1,821 shows modern API proficiency. Passmark results include G3D at 13,230 and GPU Compute at 5,718, with DX9 at 146, DX10 at 90, DX11 at 110, and DX12 at 58. The G2D score is 588.

The Tesla K40m has no corresponding scores in those tests. Its only recorded benchmark is the OpenCL run, so the database provides no evidence of it competing in Vulkan, DirectX 12, or Passmark suites. Its nearest rivals in the database are the AMD FirePro W7000 at 19,905 (0.1% ahead), the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT at 19,765 (0.6% behind), the AMD FirePro D300 at 19,637 (1.3% behind), and the NVIDIA Quadro K5200 at 19,602 (1.4% behind). These deltas are tiny, placing the Tesla in a tight cluster of mid-range workstation cards from its generation.

The RTX 3060 Mobile's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 at 18,189 (0.2% ahead), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER at 18,093 (0.4% behind), the AMD Radeon RX 460 at 18,373 (1.2% behind), and the Intel Arc A770M at 18,383 (1.2% behind). Notice that these are average scores across multiple benchmarks, not just OpenCL. The RTX 3060 Mobile's average benchmark score is 18,159, while the Tesla's is 19,885. This is a rare case where the losing GPU in the head-to-head has a higher average score, because the average includes the RTX 3060 Mobile's lower-scoring DirectX and Passmark tests. The OpenCL gap remains the definitive comparison.

Specification Differences

The table below lists only the fields where the two GPUs differ.

| Field | Tesla K40m | RTX 3060 Mobile |

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

| Series | None | GeForce 30-series |

| Chip | GK110B | GA106 |

| Architecture | Kepler | Ampere |

| Generation | Tesla Kepler (Kxx) | GeForce 30 Mobile |

| Process Node | 28 nm | 8 nm |

| Foundry | TSMC | Samsung |

| Transistors | 7,080 million | 12,000 million |

| Die Size | 561 mm² | 276 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 12.6M / mm² | 43.5M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 745 MHz | 900 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 876 MHz | 1425 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1502 MHz, 6 Gbps effective | 1750 MHz, 14 Gbps effective |

| Memory Size | 12 GB | 6 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus Width | 384 bit | 192 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 288.4 GB/s | 336.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 2880 | 3840 |

| TMUs | 240 | 120 |

| RT Cores | None | 30 |

| Tensor Cores | None | 120 |

| Pixel Rate | 52.56 GPixel/s | 68.40 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 210.2 GTexel/s | 171.0 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 5.046 TFLOPS | 10.94 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | None recorded | 10.94 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 245 W | 80 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | Not recorded |

| Power Connectors | Not recorded | None |

| Suggested PSU | 550 W | Not recorded |

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

| Display Outputs | No outputs | Portable Device Dependent |

| DirectX | 12 (11_1) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| Vulkan | 1.2.175 | 1.4 |

| Dimensions | 267 mm, 10.5 inches | Not recorded |

| Release Date | 2013-11-21 | 2021-01-11 |

| Predecessor | Tesla Fermi | GeForce 20 Mobile |

| Successor | Tesla Maxwell | None |

| Launch MSRP | 7,699 USD | None recorded |

The Tesla K40m carries a launch MSRP of 7,699 USD. The RTX 3060 Mobile has no recorded launch MSRP. The release dates are over seven years apart, which explains the architectural and efficiency gaps. The Tesla is end-of-life, as is the RTX 3060 Mobile, but the former is a workstation accelerator from 2013 while the latter is a mobile gaming part from 2021. Every meaningful performance metric favors the RTX 3060 Mobile, and the only counterpoints are the Tesla's larger memory pool and its historical positioning.