NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile vs NVIDIA Tesla K40m Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile and NVIDIA Tesla K40m represent two vastly different eras of GPU design, yet both occupy the same performance percentile. The data shows a single head-to-head benchmark, where the RTX 3070 Mobile delivers a decisive victory. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 3070 Mobile scores 92,939 points against the Tesla K40m’s 19,885 points, a 367.4% advantage. This isn’t a marginal win; it’s a generational gap made visible. The RTX 3070 Mobile’s average benchmark score of 20,534 places it near the Intel Arc B570 (20,556, -0.1%) and Intel Arc A750 (20,582, -0.2%), while the Tesla K40m’s 19,885 average sits close to the AMD FirePro W7000 (19,905, -0.1%) and AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT (19,765, 0.6%). Both GPUs land in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, but the RTX 3070 Mobile reaches that tier with modern architecture, while the Tesla K40m does so with raw compute density from a bygone process.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison available is Geekbench OpenCL, and it paints a stark picture. The RTX 3070 Mobile’s score of 92,939 is not merely higher—it is 367.4% above the Tesla K40m’s 19,885. That delta translates to the RTX 3070 Mobile delivering roughly 4.7 times the OpenCL throughput of the Tesla K40m. For context, the RTX 3070 Mobile’s average score across all tests (20,534) is only 0.1% behind the Intel Arc B570 (20,556) and 0.2% behind the Intel Arc A750 (20,582), meaning its OpenCL result is an outlier on the high side. Meanwhile, the Tesla K40m’s single benchmark result (19,885) is 0.1% below the AMD FirePro W7000 (19,905) and 0.6% above the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT (19,765), indicating it holds its own only against much older or lower-tier parts. The win count is one for the RTX 3070 Mobile and zero for the Tesla K40m, but the magnitude of that single win overshadows the tally. In practical terms, the RTX 3070 Mobile’s OpenCL performance suggests compute workloads that are heavily parallelized will see a massive speedup, while the Tesla K40m’s results imply it struggles to keep pace with even entry-level modern GPUs in this specific API test.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile averages 20,534 points across all its benchmark tests, while the NVIDIA Tesla K40m averages 19,885 points. The RTX 3070 Mobile leads by 649 points, a 3.3% margin, though both share the same 65th percentile ranking among all GPUs.

Q: How do the two GPUs compare in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The RTX 3070 Mobile scores 92,939, while the Tesla K40m scores 19,885. This gives the RTX 3070 Mobile a 367.4% advantage, making it the clear winner in this test.

Q: What is the closest rival to each GPU based on average score?

A: The RTX 3070 Mobile’s nearest rival is the Intel Arc B570, which scores 20,556, a -0.1% difference. The Tesla K40m’s nearest rival is the AMD FirePro W7000, which scores 19,905, also a -0.1% difference.

Q: Do both GPUs support DirectX 12?

A: Yes, but at different levels. The RTX 3070 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Tesla K40m supports DirectX 12 (11_1).

Q: Which GPU has more shading units?

A: The RTX 3070 Mobile has 5,120 shading units, compared to the Tesla K40m’s 2,880 shading units. That’s a 77.8% higher count for the RTX 3070 Mobile.

Q: What is the transistor density difference?

A: The RTX 3070 Mobile has a transistor density of 44.4 million transistors per mm², while the Tesla K40m has 12.6 million per mm². The RTX 3070 Mobile packs over 3.5 times more transistors per square millimeter.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is profound. The RTX 3070 Mobile uses the GA104 chip on a Samsung 8 nm process, while the Tesla K40m uses the GK110B chip on a TSMC 28 nm process. This process shrink allows the RTX 3070 Mobile to fit 17,400 million transistors into a 392 mm² die, achieving 44.4 million transistors per mm². In contrast, the Tesla K40m houses 7,080 million transistors on a larger 561 mm² die, yielding just 12.6 million transistors per mm². The RTX 3070 Mobile is built on the Ampere architecture, which brings features like 40 ray tracing cores and 160 tensor cores—hardware the Tesla K40m, based on Kepler, simply lacks. The RTX 3070 Mobile also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, whereas the Tesla K40m is limited to DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.175. Memory technology differs too: the RTX 3070 Mobile uses 8 GB of GDDR6 with a 256-bit bus, while the Tesla K40m uses 12 GB of GDDR5 on a wider 384-bit bus. However, the RTX 3070 Mobile compensates with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth versus the Tesla K40m’s 288.4 GB/s. The RTX 3070 Mobile also boasts a higher clock speed—base 1110 MHz and boost 1560 MHz—against the Tesla K40m’s 745 MHz base and 876 MHz boost. These numbers reveal a modern part designed for efficiency and feature richness, compared to an older compute-focused card.

The Verdict

The benchmark data clearly favors the RTX 3070 Mobile for nearly any workload. In the sole head-to-head test, it outperforms the Tesla K40m by 367.4%, and its average score is 3.3% higher. The RTX 3070 Mobile’s 15.97 TFLOPS FP32 performance dwarfs the Tesla K40m’s 5.046 TFLOPS, making it roughly 3.2 times faster in raw single-precision compute. The Tesla K40m does have advantages: it offers 12 GB of memory versus 8 GB, and its 384-bit bus is wider, but the RTX 3070 Mobile’s higher bandwidth (448.0 GB/s vs 288.4 GB/s) negates that. The Tesla K40m also has a higher texture rate? No—the RTX 3070 Mobile’s 249.6 GTexel/s beats the Tesla K40m’s 210.2 GTexel/s. The pixel rate is also lopsided: 124.8 GPixel/s for the RTX 3070 Mobile versus 52.56 GPixel/s for the Tesla K40m. Given these figures, the RTX 3070 Mobile is the superior choice for gaming, modern compute, and any application leveraging ray tracing or tensor cores. The Tesla K40m’s only niche would be legacy workloads that require its specific Kepler architecture or its larger 12 GB frame buffer, but the performance deficit makes it hard to recommend. The RTX 3070 Mobile also supports PCIe 4.0 x16, while the Tesla K40m is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16, further widening the gap in data transfer efficiency.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every major specification. The RTX 3070 Mobile has a base clock of 1110 MHz and boost clock of 1560 MHz, while the Tesla K40m operates at 745 MHz base and 876 MHz boost. Memory size differs: 8 GB GDDR6 for the RTX 3070 Mobile versus 12 GB GDDR5 for the Tesla K40m. The memory bus is 256-bit for the RTX 3070 Mobile and 384-bit for the Tesla K40m, but bandwidth favors the RTX 3070 Mobile at 448.0 GB/s versus 288.4 GB/s. Shading units: 5,120 on the RTX 3070 Mobile, 2,880 on the Tesla K40m. Texture mapping units: 160 vs 240, favoring the Tesla K40m, but raster operation units: 80 vs 48, favoring the RTX 3070 Mobile. The RTX 3070 Mobile includes 40 ray tracing cores and 160 tensor cores, which the Tesla K40m lacks. FP32 performance is 15.97 TFLOPS for the RTX 3070 Mobile versus 5.046 TFLOPS for the Tesla K40m. The RTX 3070 Mobile supports FP16 at 15.97 TFLOPS (1:1), while the Tesla K40m has no listed FP16 capability. Power draw is another differentiator: the RTX 3070 Mobile has a 115 W TDP, while the Tesla K40m draws 245 W. The Tesla K40m is a dual-slot card, 267 mm long, requires a 550 W power supply, and has no display outputs; the RTX 3070 Mobile’s display outputs are portable-device dependent. The Tesla K40m’s launch MSRP was 7,699 USD. The RTX 3070 Mobile is a PCIe 4.0 x16 device, while the Tesla K40m is PCIe 3.0 x16.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3070 Mobile wins in virtually every benchmark scenario where modern features or raw speed matter. Its 15.97 TFLOPS FP32 compute is 3.2 times the Tesla K40m’s 5.046 TFLOPS, making it the clear choice for general-purpose compute, including machine learning inference, where its 160 tensor cores provide dedicated acceleration. The RTX 3070 Mobile’s 40 ray tracing cores enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing, a feature absent on the Tesla K40m. In gaming, the RTX 3070 Mobile’s higher pixel rate (124.8 GPixel/s vs 52.56 GPixel/s) and texture rate (249.6 GTexel/s vs 210.2 GTexel/s) translate to smoother visuals at higher resolutions. The RTX 3070 Mobile also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, which unlocks modern rendering techniques like variable rate shading and mesh shaders that the Tesla K40m cannot run. For memory-intensive workloads, the Tesla K40m’s 12 GB frame buffer exceeds the RTX 3070 Mobile’s 8 GB, which could benefit tasks like large dataset processing or certain scientific simulations that exceed 8 GB. However, the Tesla K40m’s lower bandwidth (288.4 GB/s vs 448.0 GB/s) means it will transfer data slower, potentially negating its capacity advantage. The Tesla K40m’s wider 384-bit bus does not compensate for its slower GDDR5 memory. In legacy CUDA applications written specifically for Kepler architecture, the Tesla K40m might avoid compatibility issues, but for any forward-looking workload, the RTX 3070 Mobile’s Ampere architecture and feature set—including PCIe 4.0—make it the dominant option. The data shows one GPU is a relic of a compute-only era, while the other is a versatile modern part.