NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti vs NVIDIA Tesla M40 Comparison

The NVIDIA Tesla M40 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti represent two distinct eras of NVIDIA’s GPU design, separated by nearly six years of architectural evolution. The M40 is a Maxwell-based compute accelerator aimed at datacenter workloads, while the RTX 3080 Ti is an Ampere-based consumer flagship built for gaming and high-performance rendering. The benchmark data shows a clear performance gulf, but the choice between them depends heavily on intended use, as the M40 still holds relevance in specific legacy compute scenarios.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head comparison is decisively one-sided, with the RTX 3080 Ti winning both recorded benchmark tests. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 3080 Ti scores 170,037 against the Tesla M40’s 39,192. That represents a delta of -77%, meaning the M40 trails by a massive margin. The RTX 3080 Ti delivers roughly 4.3 times the raw compute performance in this workload, a gap that reflects the architectural leap from Maxwell to Ampere. The Geekbench Vulkan result tells a similar story: the RTX 3080 Ti scores 192,697 while the M40 manages 44,602, a -76.9% delta. Again, the M40 is outclassed by a factor of over 4.3.

These results align with the broader average benchmark scores. The Tesla M40 posts an average benchmark score of 41,897, while the RTX 3080 Ti sits at 41,187. Despite the M40 holding a 1.7% edge in average score, the head-to-head wins are entirely in the RTX 3080 Ti’s favor, with 2 wins to 0. The discrepancy stems from the fact that the M40’s average includes only its two Geekbench results, while the RTX 3080 Ti’s average incorporates a wider range of tests, including several Passmark workloads where it excels. For instance, the RTX 3080 Ti scores 26,896 in Passmark G3D and 15,282 in Passmark GPU Compute, numbers that dwarf the M40’s limited benchmark presence.

Looking at the nearest rivals, the M40 sits within a tight cluster. Its 41,897 average score is just 0.5% above the Tesla M40 24 GB (41,707) and 1.7% above the RTX 3080 Ti. The AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE posts a higher average at 42,723, putting the M40 1.9% behind. The RTX 3080 Ti, meanwhile, is 0.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (40,870) and 2% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 (40,377). This positioning shows that while the RTX 3080 Ti dominates the M40 in direct comparison, its overall standing among modern GPUs is competitive but not class-leading.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla M40 has a slightly higher average benchmark score of 41,897 compared to the RTX 3080 Ti’s 41,187, a difference of 1.7%.

Q: What is the biggest performance gap between the two in head-to-head tests?

A: The largest gap is in Geekbench OpenCL, where the RTX 3080 Ti scores 170,037 versus the M40’s 39,192, a delta of -77% in favor of the RTX 3080 Ti.

Q: Does the Tesla M40 have any benchmark where it beats the RTX 3080 Ti?

A: No. In the two head-to-head tests recorded—Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan—the RTX 3080 Ti wins both, giving the M40 zero wins overall.

Q: How does the RTX 3080 Ti compare to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti’s average benchmark score of 41,187 is 2% higher than the RTX 5070’s 40,377, according to the nearest rivals data.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference between the two cards?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti has a memory bandwidth of 912.4 GB/s, which is more than three times the Tesla M40’s 288.4 GB/s.

Q: Are both GPUs still in production?

A: No. Both the Tesla M40 and the RTX 3080 Ti are marked as end-of-life in the production status field.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3080 Ti wins in every measured benchmark category available in the head-to-head data. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 170,037 is a clear indicator of general compute superiority, and the Geekbench Vulkan score of 192,697 shows strong graphics API performance. The RTX 3080 Ti also carries the advantage in the broader benchmark suite, with Passmark G3D and GPU Compute scores of 26,896 and 15,282 respectively, though these are not directly compared to the M40. The M40’s only claim to a win is its average benchmark score of 41,897, which edges out the RTX 3080 Ti by 1.7%—but this is an artifact of the limited test set, not a reflection of real-world performance.

For practical use cases, the RTX 3080 Ti is the obvious pick for gaming, real-time ray tracing, and content creation. It has 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and DLSS, features the M40 lacks entirely. The M40, with no display outputs, is not designed for interactive graphics at all. Its strength lies in datacenter compute tasks that rely on raw FP32 throughput, though even there the RTX 3080 Ti’s 34.10 TFLOPS dwarfs the M40’s 6.832 TFLOPS. The M40 could still serve in legacy compute environments where Maxwell-specific optimizations or a lower power draw (250 W versus 350 W) are required, but the performance gap is so large that any modern workload would favor the RTX 3080 Ti.

Specification Differences

The specifications differ dramatically across nearly every field. The RTX 3080 Ti uses a GA102 chip on an 8 nm Samsung process, while the M40 uses GM200 on a 28 nm TSMC node. Transistor counts reflect this: the RTX 3080 Ti packs 28,300 million transistors versus the M40’s 8,000 million, and the die sizes are 628 mm² and 601 mm² respectively. The transistor density more than triples, from 13.3M per mm² on the M40 to 45.1M per mm² on the RTX 3080 Ti.

Clock speeds are higher on the RTX 3080 Ti, with a base of 1365 MHz and boost of 1665 MHz, compared to the M40’s 948 MHz base and 1112 MHz boost. Memory configurations are similar in capacity—both have 12 GB—but the type and speed differ. The M40 uses GDDR5 at 6 Gbps effective, while the RTX 3080 Ti uses GDDR6X at 19 Gbps effective. The bus width is identical at 384 bit, but bandwidth jumps from 288.4 GB/s to 912.4 GB/s. The RTX 3080 Ti also has significantly more compute units: 10,240 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 112 ROPs, versus the M40’s 3,072 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs.

Pixel and texture rates follow suit. The RTX 3080 Ti achieves 186.5 GPixel/s and 532.8 GTexel/s, while the M40 manages 106.8 GPixel/s and 213.5 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 34.10 TFLOPS on the RTX 3080 Ti versus 6.832 TFLOPS on the M40, a fivefold difference. The M40 has no FP16 support listed, while the RTX 3080 Ti offers 34.10 TFLOPS FP16 at a 1:1 ratio. Power requirements also differ: the M40 draws 250 W with an 8-pin EPS connector and a suggested 600 W PSU, while the RTX 3080 Ti draws 350 W with a 1x 12-pin connector and a suggested 750 W PSU. The bus interface is PCIe 3.0 x16 on the M40 versus PCIe 4.0 x16 on the RTX 3080 Ti.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide is stark. The M40 is built on Maxwell 2.0, a 2015-era architecture designed for compute efficiency in datacenters. It has no RT cores and no tensor cores, meaning it cannot accelerate ray tracing or AI workloads. Its FP32 performance of 6.832 TFLOPS is purely conventional shader compute. The process node is 28 nm TSMC, which explains the lower transistor density and higher power draw relative to performance. The M40’s memory subsystem uses 12 GB of GDDR5, which was standard for high-end cards of its time, but its 288.4 GB/s bandwidth is now a bottleneck for memory-intensive tasks.

The RTX 3080 Ti is built on Ampere, a 2021 architecture that introduces a host of modern features. It has 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, enabling hardware ray tracing and AI acceleration via DLSS. Its FP32 and FP16 performance are both 34.10 TFLOPS, showing a 1:1 ratio that Maxwell cannot match. The 8 nm Samsung process allows for 28,300 million transistors in a similar die area, nearly quadrupling the transistor density. The GDDR6X memory runs at 19 Gbps effective, delivering 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth—more than triple the M40’s. The API support also differs: the M40 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), while the RTX 3080 Ti supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), which includes features like mesh shaders and variable rate shading. Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

The M40’s lack of display outputs is a defining architectural choice—it is a compute card, not a graphics card. The RTX 3080 Ti, in contrast, includes 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, making it suitable for direct display connection. The physical dimensions also differ: the M40 is 267 mm long with no listed height or width, while the RTX 3080 Ti is 285 mm long, 112 mm tall, and 40 mm wide. Both are dual-slot cards, but the RTX 3080 Ti is physically larger in all dimensions.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the RTX 3080 Ti is the superior GPU in every measured performance metric. It wins both head-to-head benchmarks by margins exceeding 76%, and its architectural advantages—RT cores, tensor cores, higher clock speeds, and over three times the memory bandwidth—make it the only viable choice for modern workloads. The M40’s 1.7% higher average benchmark score is misleading, as it stems from a smaller test sample and does not reflect real-world capability. The RTX 3080 Ti’s 34.10 TFLOPS FP32 performance is five times the M40’s 6.832 TFLOPS, and its 912.4 GB/s bandwidth is transformative for large datasets.

Who should pick the Tesla M40? Only a user with a legacy compute deployment that specifically requires Maxwell architecture, or one who needs a lower 250 W power draw and can accept the massive performance penalty. The M40’s zero display outputs make it unsuitable for any interactive graphics work. Who should pick the RTX 3080 Ti? Anyone building a high-end gaming rig, a workstation for 3D rendering, or a compute node that benefits from ray tracing and tensor core acceleration. Its 12 GB GDDR6X memory, 192,697 Vulkan score, and 170,037 OpenCL score make it a versatile performer. The RTX 3080 Ti is the clear recommendation from the data, with no benchmark evidence supporting the M40 outside of niche legacy scenarios.