NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 vs NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB Comparison

# NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070: A Generational Leap

The NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 represent two very different eras of GPU design. The M6000, built on Maxwell 2.0 architecture with a 28 nm process, was a professional workstation card aimed at compute and rendering tasks. The RTX 4070, using the newer Ada Lovelace architecture on a 5 nm process, is a consumer gaming card with modern features. The benchmark data shows a stark contrast: the RTX 4070 wins both recorded head-to-head tests by a massive margin, while the M6000 holds a respectable position in its own generation. The average benchmark scores tell the story: the M6000 averages 43,262 points, while the RTX 4070 averages 37,648 points, though this is skewed by the RTX 4070's inclusion of many different test types. In the two directly comparable tests, the RTX 4070 is decisively faster.

Where Each One Wins

The data shows a clear split in workload types. The Quadro M6000 wins in one specific area: legacy compute and OpenCL workloads relative to its own generation. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 40,098 and Vulkan score of 46,425 are respectable for a 2016 card, and its average benchmark score of 43,262 places it in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs. This means it outperforms the vast majority of graphics cards ever tested, even those released years later. The M6000's strength lies in raw compute throughput for professional applications that were optimized for Maxwell-era hardware.

The GeForce RTX 4070, however, wins decisively in every direct comparison. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 154,858 is 74.1% higher than the M6000's, and its Vulkan score of 174,152 is 73.3% higher. In the broader PassMark suite, the RTX 4070 shows mixed results: it scores 26,927 in G3D, 14,720 in GPU Compute, but only 139 in DirectX 10, 244 in DirectX 11, 103 in DirectX 12, and 320 in DirectX 9. These lower DirectX scores are unusual, but the G3D and Compute scores demonstrate strong general performance. The RTX 4070 also has a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3,854, which indicates modern gaming capability.

The RTX 4070 wins where modern features matter: real-time ray tracing, DLSS, and DirectX 12 Ultimate support. With 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores, it is built for ray-traced gaming and AI-assisted rendering. The M6000 has no such hardware, making it incapable of hardware-accelerated ray tracing. For gaming, the RTX 4070 is the clear choice; for legacy professional compute, the M6000 still holds value.

The Verdict

The choice between these two cards depends entirely on the workload. For anyone running modern games, the RTX 4070 is the only rational option. It wins both recorded head-to-head benchmarks by over 70%, has a much higher average G3D score at 26,927, and includes hardware for ray tracing and tensor operations. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory, while half the M6000's capacity, runs at 504.2 GB/s bandwidth, which is 58.9% higher than the M6000's 317.4 GB/s. The RTX 4070 also consumes less power at 200 W versus 250 W, despite being dramatically faster.

For professional users with legacy compute pipelines, the M6000 still has a place. Its 24 GB of GDDR5 memory is double the RTX 4070's capacity, which matters for datasets that exceed 12 GB. Its 384-bit memory bus provides stable throughput for large buffer workloads. The M6000's 83rd percentile ranking among all GPUs shows it remains competitive even today, and its 6.844 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is sufficient for many scientific and engineering applications. However, the RTX 4070's 29.15 TFLOPS is over 4 times higher, so any workload that can use the RTX 4070's compute will finish much faster.

The data suggests that if you can only own one card, the RTX 4070 is the better investment for most users. Its launch MSRP of 599 USD is significantly lower than the M6000's 4,999 USD, and it offers modern features that the M6000 cannot match. The M6000 is end-of-life with no further driver optimizations, while the RTX 4070, though also end-of-life, represents a much newer architecture.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two recorded head-to-head tests show a dominant performance from the RTX 4070. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4070 scores 154,858 against the M6000's 40,098, a delta of -74.1% from the M6000's perspective. This means the RTX 4070 is approximately 3.86 times faster in OpenCL compute. In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 4070 scores 174,152 against the M6000's 46,425, a delta of -73.3%. This translates to roughly 3.75 times faster in Vulkan workloads.

These results are consistent with the architectural differences. The RTX 4070 has 5,888 shading units compared to the M6000's 3,072, and its boost clock of 2,475 MHz is more than double the M6000's 1,114 MHz. The RTX 4070's texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s is 112.9% higher than the M6000's 213.9 GTexel/s, and its pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s is 48.2% higher than the M6000's 106.9 GPixel/s. These raw throughput advantages translate directly into the benchmark wins.

The M6000's closest rivals in the database include the GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile (average score 43,268, delta 0%), the Quadro M6000 (43,301, -0.1%), the RTX 4070 SUPER (43,223, 0.1%), and the RTX 4090 Mobile (43,667, -0.9%). This positioning shows the M6000 sits in a narrow performance band with these cards, all within 1% of each other. The RTX 4070's nearest rivals include the Tesla P4 (37,628, 0.1%), Radeon RX Vega 56 (37,507, 0.4%), RTX 4080 Mobile (38,135, -1.3%), and Radeon PRO W6400 (37,157, 1.3%). The RTX 4070's 81st percentile ranking is slightly lower than the M6000's 83rd, but this is due to the different benchmark sets each card was tested with.

FAQ

Q: Which card has more memory?

A: The Quadro M6000 has 24 GB of GDDR5 memory, while the RTX 4070 has 12 GB of GDDR6X. The M6000 has double the capacity, but the RTX 4070 has higher bandwidth at 504.2 GB/s versus 317.4 GB/s.

Q: Is the RTX 4070 faster in every benchmark?

A: In the two recorded head-to-head tests (Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan), the RTX 4070 wins both by over 73%. However, the M6000 has a higher average benchmark score (43,262) than the RTX 4070 (37,648), though this includes different test suites.

Q: Which card supports ray tracing?

A: Only the RTX 4070 has dedicated RT cores (46 of them). The M6000 has no ray tracing hardware, so it cannot accelerate ray-traced workloads.

Q: What are the power requirements?

A: The M6000 has a TDP of 250 W and requires a 600 W power supply. The RTX 4070 has a TDP of 200 W and requires a 550 W power supply.

Q: Which card is better for compute workloads?

A: The RTX 4070 has much higher raw compute performance at 29.15 TFLOPS FP32 versus the M6000's 6.844 TFLOPS. However, the M6000's larger memory capacity may benefit workloads that need more than 12 GB of VRAM.

Q: What is the release date difference?

A: The M6000 was released in March 2016, while the RTX 4070 was released in April 2023, a gap of just over seven years.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is enormous. The M6000 uses the GM200 chip on Maxwell 2.0 architecture, manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It contains 8,000 million transistors on a 601 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 13.3 million per mm². The RTX 4070 uses the AD104 chip on Ada Lovelace architecture, manufactured on a 5 nm process, also at TSMC. It contains 35,800 million transistors on a much smaller 294 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 121.8 million per mm², which is over 9 times higher.

The memory subsystems differ significantly. The M6000 uses GDDR5 with a 384-bit bus, providing 317.4 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 4070 uses GDDR6X with a 192-bit bus, yet achieves 504.2 GB/s due to much higher effective memory clock speeds (21 Gbps versus 6.6 Gbps). The core configurations are also different: the M6000 has 3,072 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, while the RTX 4070 has 5,888 shading units, 184 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The RTX 4070's lower ROP count is offset by its much higher clock speeds and pixel rate.

The RTX 4070 introduces hardware that the M6000 completely lacks: 46 RT cores for ray tracing and 184 tensor cores for AI acceleration. These enable features like DLSS and hardware-accelerated ray tracing, which are standard in modern games. The M6000's API support includes DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.4, while the RTX 4070 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4. Both support OpenGL 4.6.

The physical dimensions also differ. The M6000 is 267 mm long and 111 mm high, while the RTX 4070 is 240 mm long, 110 mm high, and 40 mm wide, making it slightly more compact. The power connectors differ: the M6000 uses a single 8-pin, while the RTX 4070 uses a single 16-pin. The bus interface is also newer on the RTX 4070, with PCIe 4.0 x16 versus PCIe 3.0 x16 on the M6000. Display outputs show another generational shift: the M6000 has DVI and DisplayPort 1.2, while the RTX 4070 has HDMI 2.1 and three DisplayPort 1.4a outputs.