NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 vs NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB Comparison

The NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 represent two very different eras of GPU design, separated by nearly eight years of architectural evolution. The Tesla M40 is a Maxwell 2.0-era compute accelerator launched in late 2015, built for data-center workloads with a massive 24 GB memory pool, while the RTX 4070 is an Ada Lovelace consumer card from 2023 designed for gaming and modern rendering features. Benchmark data shows the RTX 4070 dominates in raw compute tests, but the Tesla M40 still holds relevance in specific memory-capacity scenarios. The head-to-head results are stark, and the architectural gap explains why.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two GPUs share only two common benchmark results in the database: Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan. In both tests, the RTX 4070 wins decisively, and the margin is enormous.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4070 scores 154858, while the Tesla M40 24 GB scores 37439. The deltaPct for the Tesla M40 is -75.8, meaning the RTX 4070 outperforms it by roughly three-quarters in this compute-heavy test. The RTX 4070’s score is over four times higher, reflecting its modern architecture and much higher FP32 throughput. Similarly, in Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 4070 achieves 174152 versus the Tesla M40’s 45975, a deltaPct of -73.6. Again, the RTX 4070 is nearly four times faster in this graphics API test, which exercises both rasterization and compute paths.

The Tesla M40 24 GB wins zero head-to-head benchmarks in this comparison. The RTX 4070 wins both. This is not a close contest in raw performance terms. However, the Tesla M40’s average benchmark score across all its recorded tests is 41707, while the RTX 4070’s average is 37648. That difference is notable: the Tesla M40 actually has a higher average score across its broader benchmark set, despite losing both head-to-head tests. This suggests the Tesla M40’s other benchmarks (not shared with the RTX 4070) are more favorable to it, possibly due to its 24 GB memory capacity in specific workloads. The RTX 4070’s percentile rank is 81 versus the Tesla M40’s 83, indicating the older card sits slightly higher in the overall GPU distribution. The nearest rivals for the Tesla M40 include the NVIDIA Tesla M40 (avgScore 41897, deltaPct -0.5) and the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE (avgScore 42723, deltaPct -2.4), while the RTX 4070’s rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (avgScore 37628, deltaPct 0.1) and the RTX 4080 Mobile (avgScore 38135, deltaPct -1.3). These deltas show both cards are tightly clustered with their peers, but the Tesla M40’s closest rivals are generally higher-scoring than the RTX 4070’s.

Architecture Differences

The Tesla M40 24 GB is built on the GM200 chip using the Maxwell 2.0 architecture, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It contains 8,000 million transistors on a die size of 601 mm², giving a transistor density of 13.3 million transistors per mm². The RTX 4070 uses the AD104 chip with Ada Lovelace architecture, also from TSMC but on a 5 nm process. It packs 35,800 million transistors into a much smaller 294 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 121.8 million per mm² – roughly nine times higher. This density difference is the single biggest architectural leap, enabling the RTX 4070 to fit over four times more transistors in less than half the silicon area.

Clock speeds tell a similar story. The Tesla M40 has a base clock of 948 MHz and a boost clock of 1112 MHz, while the RTX 4070 starts at 1920 MHz and boosts to 2475 MHz. The RTX 4070’s boost clock is more than double the Tesla M40’s base clock. Shading units differ dramatically: the Tesla M40 has 3072 shading units, while the RTX 4070 has 5888 – nearly double. TMU counts are close (192 for Tesla M40, 184 for RTX 4070), but ROPs favor the older card (96 versus 64). The RTX 4070 introduces hardware features the Tesla M40 lacks entirely: 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores. The Tesla M40 has no RT or tensor cores, reflecting its pre-ray-tracing design.

Memory architecture diverges completely. The Tesla M40 uses 24 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, yielding 288.4 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 4070 uses 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 192-bit bus, but achieves 504.2 GB/s bandwidth due to much faster memory clocks (1313 MHz base, 21 Gbps effective versus 1502 MHz, 6 Gbps effective). The Tesla M40’s memory clock is listed as 1502 MHz with 6 Gbps effective, while the RTX 4070’s is 1313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective – the newer memory type delivers far more bandwidth per pin. FP32 compute is a clear win for the RTX 4070: 29.15 TFLOPS versus 6.832 TFLOPS for the Tesla M40, a factor of over four. The RTX 4070 also supports FP16 at 29.15 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio), while the Tesla M40 lists no FP16 capability. Pixel rate and texture rate also favor the RTX 4070: 158.4 GPixel/s versus 106.8 GPixel/s, and 455.4 GTexel/s versus 213.5 GTexel/s.

Where Each One Wins

Based strictly on the benchmark data, the RTX 4070 wins every shared test and is the clear performance leader in compute and graphics throughput. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 154858 and Vulkan score of 174152 are both roughly four times higher than the Tesla M40’s corresponding scores. This makes the RTX 4070 the obvious choice for any workload that relies on raw computational speed, such as real-time rendering, modern game engines, or general-purpose GPU compute that can leverage its tensor and RT cores. The RTX 4070’s higher texture rate (455.4 GTexel/s) and pixel rate (158.4 GPixel/s) also indicate better fill-rate performance for rasterization-heavy tasks.

The Tesla M40 24 GB, despite losing both head-to-head tests, has one clear advantage in the data: memory capacity. Its 24 GB of GDDR5 is double the RTX 4070’s 12 GB. For workloads that require loading very large datasets into VRAM – such as certain machine learning inference tasks, large-scale scientific simulations, or massive texture sets – the Tesla M40 can hold more data without spilling to system memory. The Tesla M40 also has a higher ROP count (96 versus 64), which can benefit certain pixel-heavy operations, though its lower pixel rate (106.8 GPixel/s) suggests this advantage is not realized in practice. Its average benchmark score of 41707 exceeds the RTX 4070’s 37648, suggesting that in its full benchmark suite, the Tesla M40 performs competitively against its own peers. The Tesla M40’s percentile rank (83) is also slightly higher than the RTX 4070’s (81), indicating it sits marginally better relative to all GPUs in the database.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX 4070 has 504.2 GB/s bandwidth versus 288.4 GB/s for the Tesla M40 24 GB, despite the Tesla M40 having a wider 384-bit bus. The RTX 4070’s GDDR6X memory runs at 21 Gbps effective versus 6 Gbps for the Tesla M40’s GDDR5.

Q: Does the Tesla M40 support ray tracing?

A: No. The Tesla M40 24 GB has no RT cores listed in its specifications. The RTX 4070 includes 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores, which enable ray tracing and AI-accelerated features.

Q: What is the transistor density difference?

A: The Tesla M40 has a transistor density of 13.3 million per mm² on a 28 nm process, while the RTX 4070 achieves 121.8 million per mm² on a 5 nm process. The RTX 4070’s density is roughly nine times higher.

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The Tesla M40 24 GB has an average benchmark score of 41707, while the RTX 4070 averages 37648. However, the RTX 4070 wins both shared head-to-head tests (Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan) by significant margins.

Q: What is the power draw difference?

A: The Tesla M40 24 GB has a TDP of 250 W and requires a 600 W suggested PSU, while the RTX 4070 has a TDP of 200 W and a 550 W suggested PSU. The RTX 4070 delivers higher performance with lower power consumption.

Q: Which GPU has more memory?

A: The Tesla M40 24 GB has 24 GB of GDDR5, double the RTX 4070’s 12 GB of GDDR6X. The Tesla M40’s memory is slower but larger, while the RTX 4070’s is faster but smaller.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every core specification. The Tesla M40 24 GB uses a 28 nm process node, while the RTX 4070 uses 5 nm. Transistor count is 8,000 million for the Tesla M40 versus 35,800 million for the RTX 4070, with die sizes of 601 mm² and 294 mm² respectively. Base clock is 948 MHz versus 1920 MHz, boost clock is 1112 MHz versus 2475 MHz. Memory size is 24 GB GDDR5 versus 12 GB GDDR6X, with bus widths of 384-bit versus 192-bit and bandwidth of 288.4 GB/s versus 504.2 GB/s. Shading units are 3072 versus 5888, TMUs are 192 versus 184, and ROPs are 96 versus 64. The RTX 4070 adds 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores, which the Tesla M40 lacks entirely. FP32 compute is 6.832 TFLOPS versus 29.15 TFLOPS, and the RTX 4070 also has FP16 at 29.15 TFLOPS while the Tesla M40 has no FP16 listing. Pixel rate is 106.8 GPixel/s versus 158.4 GPixel/s, texture rate is 213.5 GTexel/s versus 455.4 GTexel/s. TDP is 250 W versus 200 W, with suggested PSUs of 600 W versus 550 W. The Tesla M40 uses a PCIe 3.0 x16 interface and has no display outputs, while the RTX 4070 uses PCIe 4.0 x16 and has 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The RTX 4070 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) versus DirectX 12 (12_1) for the Tesla M40, though both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. The Tesla M40 is 267 mm long, while the RTX 4070 is 240 mm long with dimensions of 240 mm x 110 mm x 40 mm.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear split based on workload priorities. If raw performance is the sole criterion, the RTX 4070 wins outright – it is roughly four times faster in Geekbench OpenCL (154858 versus 37439) and Geekbench Vulkan (174152 versus 45975), has over four times the FP32 compute (29.15 TFLOPS versus 6.832 TFLOPS), and does so with lower power draw (200 W versus 250 W). The RTX 4070 also brings modern features like ray tracing cores and tensor cores, which the Tesla M40 cannot match. Any user needing maximum compute throughput, modern API support, or display outputs should choose the RTX 4070.

The Tesla M40 24 GB, however, remains relevant strictly for its memory capacity. Its 24 GB VRAM is double the RTX 4070’s 12 GB, and for workloads where capacity trumps speed – loading entire datasets into GPU memory – this advantage is significant. Its higher average benchmark score (41707 versus 37648) and percentile rank (83 versus 81) also suggest it holds its own against its contemporaries. The Tesla M40 has no display outputs and uses an older PCIe 3.0 interface, making it unsuitable for consumer gaming or modern workstation use. It is a compute-only card from a different era, and its 250 W TDP with an 8-pin EPS connector reflects that heritage. Users with memory-bound compute tasks and no need for modern rendering features might still find the Tesla M40 viable, but for virtually every other metric, the RTX 4070 is the superior choice.