NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile vs NVIDIA Tesla M60 Comparison

The NVIDIA Tesla M60 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile represent two distinct eras of GPU design, one built for passive compute density in enterprise servers and the other for active mobile performance. The recorded data shows a decisive performance gap between them. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the RTX 4070 Mobile scores 109,197 against the Tesla M60’s 29,506, a 73% advantage. The Vulkan results are similarly lopsided, with the RTX 4070 Mobile posting 108,367 versus 31,473 for the Tesla M60, a 71% lead. Across the two head-to-head benchmarks, the RTX 4070 Mobile wins both, giving it a clean 2-0 record in direct comparisons.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most striking result is the OpenCL delta. The RTX 4070 Mobile’s score of 109,197 is nearly four times the Tesla M60’s 29,506. In percentage terms, the data records a 73% difference, which places the mobile part in a completely different performance class. The Tesla M60’s average benchmark score across all tests is 30,490, and its nearest rivals in the database, such as the NVIDIA CMP 70HX at 30,476 and the AMD Radeon RX 6700 at 30,433, cluster tightly around this figure. This indicates the Tesla M60 is competitive with those desktop cards from its own era, but the RTX 4070 Mobile’s OpenCL output is far beyond that entire cluster.

Vulkan shows a similar pattern. The RTX 4070 Mobile scores 108,367, while the Tesla M60 manages 31,473. The 71% delta is slightly smaller than the OpenCL gap, but it still represents a massive performance advantage. The Tesla M60’s Vulkan result is actually its stronger benchmark, exceeding its OpenCL score by about 2,000 points, yet it remains far behind the mobile GPU. The RTX 4070 Mobile’s Vulkan score is slightly lower than its OpenCL score, but the difference is negligible, less than 1%. This consistency across both APIs suggests the RTX 4070 Mobile’s advantage is not workload-specific but rather a fundamental architectural superiority.

Looking at the broader database context, the RTX 4070 Mobile holds a 73rd percentile ranking among all GPUs, while the Tesla M60 sits at the 75th percentile. Despite the older card’s slightly higher percentile, its average benchmark score of 30,490 is well below the RTX 4070 Mobile’s 27,435. The apparent contradiction is explained by the mobile part’s lower overall standing in the full database, but in the head-to-head tests, only the two Geekbench results matter, and the RTX 4070 Mobile dominates both. The Tesla M60’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6800 at 30,095 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti at 29,945, both within 2% of the Tesla M60. The RTX 4070 Mobile’s nearest rivals, such as the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT at 27,425 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 at 27,565, show that it trades blows with high-end desktop parts from previous generations.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is enormous. The Tesla M60 is built on the GM204 chip using Maxwell 2.0 architecture, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. The die contains 5,200 million transistors spread across 398 mm², giving it a transistor density of 13.1 million per square millimeter. The RTX 4070 Mobile uses the AD106 chip with Ada Lovelace architecture and a 5 nm process, also from TSMC. It packs 22,900 million transistors into just 188 mm², achieving a density of 121.8 million per square millimeter. That is a 9.3 times higher transistor density, which fundamentally changes what can be placed on the die.

The RTX 4070 Mobile’s transistor budget enables a much larger compute configuration. It has 4,608 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 48 ROPs. The Tesla M60 has 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. While the Tesla M60 has more ROPs, the RTX 4070 Mobile more than doubles the shading unit count and adds 16 extra TMUs. The FP32 throughput tells the real story: the RTX 4070 Mobile delivers 15.62 TFLOPS, more than triple the Tesla M60’s 4.825 TFLOPS. The RTX 4070 Mobile also supports FP16 at a 1:1 ratio, with 15.62 TFLOPS, while the Tesla M60 has no recorded FP16 capability.

The memory subsystems differ as well. Both cards have 8 GB of VRAM, but the Tesla M60 uses GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 160.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 4070 Mobile uses GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus but achieves 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The narrower bus is offset by faster memory, resulting in a 60% bandwidth advantage for the mobile part. Clock speeds also favor the RTX 4070 Mobile, with a base of 1,395 MHz and boost of 1,695 MHz, compared to the Tesla M60’s 557 MHz base and 1,178 MHz boost.

The RTX 4070 Mobile introduces features that did not exist in the Maxwell generation. It has 36 ray tracing cores and 144 tensor cores, while the Tesla M60 has none. It also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate with feature level 12_2, whereas the Tesla M60 is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. The Tesla M60 is a dual-slot card with a 300 W TDP and a single 8-pin power connector, while the RTX 4070 Mobile is an integrated mobile part with a 115 W TDP and no power connectors. The Tesla M60 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, the RTX 4070 Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x8. The Tesla M60 has no display outputs, while the RTX 4070 Mobile’s outputs are portable device dependent.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 4070 Mobile wins in every recorded benchmark category. In OpenCL, it scores 109,197 against 29,506. In Vulkan, it scores 108,367 against 31,473. The PassMark suite, which is only recorded for the RTX 4070 Mobile, shows additional strengths: 19,587 in G3D, 8,399 in GPU compute, 763 in G2D, and DX9, DX10, DX11, and DX12 scores of 223, 116, 179, and 85 respectively. These numbers are not available for the Tesla M60, so no direct comparison can be made, but they indicate the mobile part’s versatility across different graphics APIs.

The Tesla M60’s only advantages are structural. It has a wider 256-bit memory bus compared to the 128-bit bus on the RTX 4070 Mobile, and it has 64 ROPs versus 48. It also has a higher pixel rate of 75.39 GPixel/s, though the RTX 4070 Mobile is close at 81.36 GPixel/s, which is actually higher. The texture rate also favors the RTX 4070 Mobile at 244.1 GTexel/s versus 150.8 GTexel/s. The Tesla M60’s dual-slot form factor and 300 W TDP suggest it was designed for server racks where power is not a constraint, while the RTX 4070 Mobile’s 115 W TDP and integrated form factor make it suitable for laptops.

For use cases, the data points to a clear split. The Tesla M60, with its end-of-life production status and release date of August 2015, belongs in legacy server deployments where its compute density and dual-slot design are still serviceable. Its 75th percentile ranking among all GPUs suggests it remains functional for its intended workloads, but its raw scores are far below modern parts. The RTX 4070 Mobile, released in January 2023 and still in active production, is the logical choice for any new system requiring GPU acceleration. Its 73rd percentile ranking and higher absolute scores in both OpenCL and Vulkan make it the superior performer in every measurable way.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla M60 has an average benchmark score of 30,490, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile has an average of 27,435. However, in the head-to-head Geekbench tests, the RTX 4070 Mobile wins both by a wide margin.

Q: How large is the performance gap in OpenCL?

A: The RTX 4070 Mobile scores 109,197 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the Tesla M60 scores 29,506. The delta is 73%, favoring the RTX 4070 Mobile.

Q: What are the memory bandwidth differences?

A: The Tesla M60 has 160.4 GB/s of bandwidth on a 256-bit bus with GDDR5 memory. The RTX 4070 Mobile has 256.0 GB/s on a 128-bit bus with GDDR6 memory.

Q: Does the Tesla M60 support ray tracing?

A: No. The Tesla M60 has no ray tracing cores, while the RTX 4070 Mobile has 36 ray tracing cores and 144 tensor cores.

Q: What is the transistor density of each chip?

A: The Tesla M60’s GM204 chip has a density of 13.1 million transistors per square millimeter. The RTX 4070 Mobile’s AD106 chip has a density of 121.8 million per square millimeter.

Q: What is the TDP of each GPU?

A: The Tesla M60 has a TDP of 300 W and requires a dual-slot form factor with a single 8-pin power connector. The RTX 4070 Mobile has a TDP of 115 W and uses no power connectors.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile is the superior GPU in every recorded benchmark comparison. It wins both head-to-head tests with deltas of 73% and 71% in OpenCL and Vulkan, respectively. Its raw FP32 throughput of 15.62 TFLOPS, 4,608 shading units and 36 ray tracing cores place it in a different performance tier compared to the Tesla M60’s 2,048 shading units and 4.825 TFLOPS. The architectural divide, from a 28 nm process with 13.1 million transistors per square millimeter to a 5 nm process with 121.8 million per square millimeter, explains the gap. The RTX 3D 4070 Mobile’s 73rd percentile and Tesla M60’s 75th percentile ranking in the database do not change the outcome of the head-to-head tests.

New system builders should choose the RTX 4070 Mobile for any workload requiring modern GPU acceleration. Its active production status, released in January 2023 with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth, makes it ready for gaming, compute and compute workloads. It has DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, Vulkan 1.4 support, and a 115 W TDP that fits in laptops and mobile devices. The Tesla M60 remains a legacy server part from 2015 with its 300 W TDP end-of-life status. It is a legacy server part with no display outputs and PCIe 3.0 x16 interface. For those maintaining existing Tesla M60 deployments, it can still function as a server accelerator, but its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 160.0 GB/s of bandwidth. It is a valid compute card for existing server racks.

The verdict is not a close call. The RTX 4070 Mobile, 2-0 in head-to-head benchmarks, is the clear performance winner. The Tesla M60, 0-2 in head-to-head performance, is the loser. The RTX 4070 Mobile has 144 tensor cores and 144 TMUs for AI workloads. The Tesla M60 has 128 TMUs with no tensor core. The RTX 4070 Mobile has 4,608 shading units and 1,695 MHz boost clock rate. The Tesla M60 has 2,048 shading units at a 1,178 MHz boost clock rate, 73% slower in OpenCL and 71% slower in Vulkan.