NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti vs NVIDIA Tesla M60 Comparison

The NVIDIA Tesla M60 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti occupy opposite ends of the GPU spectrum, separated by six years of architectural evolution. The data shows a decisive victory for the RTX 3070 Ti in every shared benchmark, yet the Tesla M60’s position in the 75th percentile of all GPUs reveals it remains a competent compute workhorse. The average benchmark scores tell the story: the RTX 3070 Ti scores 29,945 versus the M60’s 30,490, a 1.8% gap that flatters the older card only because its limited benchmark set is exceptionally favorable. The head-to-head results are unambiguous — the RTX 3070 Ti delivers 4.06x the OpenCL performance and 4.43x the Vulkan performance. This is not a contest of equals; it is a generational chasm.

The Verdict

The RTX 3070 Ti is the clear choice for any workload involving modern graphics, ray tracing, or general-purpose compute. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 119,718 dwarfs the M60’s 29,506, representing a 75.4% deficit for the older card. The Vulkan gap is even wider: 139,541 versus 31,473, a 77.4% shortfall. For anyone running DirectX 12 Ultimate titles, the RTX 3070 Ti’s API support (12_2) versus the M60’s older 12_1 implementation is a decisive factor. The Tesla M60, with its 4.825 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 160.4 GB/s memory bandwidth, simply cannot keep pace with the RTX 3070 Ti’s 21.75 TFLOPS and 608.3 GB/s.

The Tesla M60 retains niche appeal for legacy compute tasks. Its 75th percentile ranking, equal to the RTX 3070 Ti’s, suggests it still outclasses many modern consumer cards in raw compute scenarios. The M60’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6700 (0.2% faster) and the RX 6800 (1.3% faster), indicating it remains within striking distance of contemporary mid-range parts. However, with zero wins in head-to-head benchmarks and an end-of-life production status, the M60 is only justifiable in environments where its specific Maxwell 2.0 features (such as 64 ROPs and 128 TMUs) are required for legacy software compatibility.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two NVIDIA GPUs is vast. The Tesla M60 uses the GM204 chip built on TSMC’s 28 nm process node, packing 5,200 million transistors into a 398 mm² die. The RTX 3070 Ti employs the GA104 chip on Samsung’s 8 nm node, fitting 17,400 million transistors into a slightly smaller 392 mm² die. This represents a 3.35x increase in transistor count and a 3.4x improvement in transistor density (44.4M/mm² versus 13.1M/mm²), achieved despite the similar physical size.

Core configurations differ dramatically. The M60 offers 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The RTX 3070 Ti triples shading units to 6,144, increases TMUs to 192, and ROPs to 96. Critically, the RTX 3070 Ti adds dedicated hardware the M60 lacks entirely: 48 ray tracing cores and 192 tensor cores. These enable features like DLSS and real-time ray tracing that are physically impossible on the Maxwell architecture. The M60’s FP32 throughput of 4.825 TFLOPS is less than a quarter of the RTX 3070 Ti’s 21.75 TFLOPS, and the newer card also delivers 21.75 TFLOPS FP16 with 1:1 ratio support, whereas the M60 has no listed FP16 capability.

Memory subsystems diverge significantly. Both cards feature 8 GB and 256-bit buses, but the RTX 3070 Ti uses GDDR6X at 19 Gbps effective versus the M60’s GDDR5 at 5 Gbps. This yields 608.3 GB/s bandwidth versus 160.4 GB/s — a 3.8x advantage. Clock speeds also favor the newer card: 1,575 MHz base and 1,770 MHz boost versus the M60’s 557 MHz base and 1,178 MHz boost. The RTX 3070 Ti’s pixel rate (169.9 GPixel/s) and texture rate (339.8 GTexel/s) are both roughly 2.25x higher than the M60’s 75.39 GPixel/s and 150.8 GTexel/s.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only two shared benchmarks are Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan, and both produce landslide victories for the RTX 3070 Ti. In OpenCL, the RTX 3070 Ti scores 119,718 against the M60’s 29,506, a delta of -75.4% from the perspective of the older card. This 4.06x margin aligns with the FP32 compute difference (21.75 TFLOPS versus 4.825 TFLOPS), suggesting the benchmark is compute-bound and scales almost linearly with shading unit count.

The Vulkan result is even more lopsided: 139,541 versus 31,473, a -77.4% delta. The RTX 3070 Ti’s 4.43x advantage here exceeds the raw compute ratio, indicating the newer architecture’s driver optimizations and hardware scheduling improvements provide additional headroom beyond raw shader throughput. The M60’s Vulkan score of 31,473 is actually higher than its OpenCL score of 29,506, showing modest API efficiency on Maxwell, but this is irrelevant against the Ampere card’s absolute dominance.

The RTX 3070 Ti’s broader benchmark portfolio reveals consistent strength: PassMark G3D scores 23,356, GPU compute 11,601, and DirectX 12 at 91. The M60 lacks these tests entirely, so direct comparison is impossible. However, the RTX 3070 Ti’s 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3,478 provides a modern gaming reference point the M60 cannot offer.

FAQ

Q: Is the Tesla M60 competitive with the RTX 3070 Ti in any metric?

A: No. The RTX 3070 Ti wins both shared benchmarks decisively — OpenCL by 75.4% and Vulkan by 77.4%. The M60’s only comparative strength is its average benchmark score of 30,490 versus 29,945, which reflects the M60’s limited benchmark set rather than superior performance.

Q: Why does the Tesla M60 have a higher average benchmark score than the RTX 3070 Ti?

A: The M60’s average of 30,490 is based on only two Geekbench tests, both of which are OpenCL and Vulkan compute workloads. The RTX 3070 Ti’s 29,945 average includes ten tests spanning gaming (3DMark), compute (PassMark), and older DirectX APIs, which pull its average down. The head-to-head deltas (-75.4% and -77.4%) are the accurate comparison.

Q: Can the Tesla M60 handle ray tracing?

A: No. The M60 has zero ray tracing cores and zero tensor cores. The RTX 3070 Ti includes 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI features. The M60’s DirectX 12_1 support also predates the DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) specification the RTX 3070 Ti supports.

Q: Which card has better memory bandwidth for large datasets?

A: The RTX 3070 Ti, with 608.3 GB/s from GDDR6X memory, offers 3.8x the bandwidth of the M60’s 160.4 GB/s GDDR5. Both use 256-bit buses, but the RTX 3070 Ti’s 19 Gbps effective memory clock versus 5 Gbps is the decisive factor.

Q: Are these cards the same physical size?

A: Yes, both are 267 mm (10.5 inches) long and dual-slot. The RTX 3070 Ti is also 112 mm (4.4 inches) tall, while the M60’s height is not specified. Both use PCIe x16 interfaces, but the RTX 3070 Ti uses PCIe 4.0 versus the M60’s PCIe 3.0.

Q: What are the power requirements?

A: The M60 has a 300 W TDP and suggests a 700 W PSU with a single 8-pin connector. The RTX 3070 Ti has a 290 W TDP, suggests a 600 W PSU, and uses a single 12-pin connector. Despite lower power draw, the RTX 3070 Ti delivers vastly higher performance.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3070 Ti wins decisively in every measurable category. For gaming and real-time graphics, its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3,478 and DirectX 12 Ultimate support make it the only viable choice. The 6,144 shading units and 192 tensor cores enable modern features like DLSS that the M60 cannot execute at any performance level. The 608.3 GB/s bandwidth ensures texture streaming and high-resolution assets do not bottleneck the GPU. The RTX 3070 Ti’s display outputs (1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a) versus the M60’s complete lack of outputs further cement its consumer-oriented superiority.

The Tesla M60’s niche is narrow but real. Its 64 ROPs and 128 TMUs, combined with Maxwell’s mature compute model, may appeal to legacy datacenter applications that predate Ampere. The M60’s 75th percentile ranking places it alongside the RX 6700 (0.2% slower) and RX 6800 (1.3% slower), showing it can still handle basic compute workloads competitively. Its 5,200 million transistor design on 28 nm is power-inefficient by modern standards, but the 300 W TDP is only 10 W higher than the RTX 3070 Ti, making it surprisingly comparable in power draw. For organizations with software locked to Maxwell-era features or requiring the M60’s specific memory configuration (8 GB GDDR5, 256-bit), the card remains functional but is strictly a compatibility choice.

Specification Differences

| Specification | Tesla M60 | RTX 3070 Ti |

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

| Architecture | Maxwell 2.0 | Ampere |

| Process Node | 28 nm | 8 nm |

| Foundry | TSMC | Samsung |

| Transistors | 5,200 million | 17,400 million |

| Die Size | 398 mm² | 392 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 13.1M/mm² | 44.4M/mm² |

| Base Clock | 557 MHz | 1,575 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1,178 MHz | 1,770 MHz |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR6X |

| Memory Clock | 5 Gbps effective | 19 Gbps effective |

| Memory Bandwidth | 160.4 GB/s | 608.3 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 2,048 | 6,144 |

| TMUs | 128 | 192 |

| ROPs | 64 | 96 |

| RT Cores | 0 | 48 |

| Tensor Cores | 0 | 192 |

| Pixel Rate | 75.39 GPixel/s | 169.9 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 150.8 GTexel/s | 339.8 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 4.825 TFLOPS | 21.75 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | Not specified | 21.75 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 300 W | 290 W |

| Power Connectors | 1x 8-pin | 1x 12-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 700 W | 600 W |

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

| Display Outputs | None | 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |

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

| Release Date | 2015-08-29 | 2021-05-30 |