NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile vs NVIDIA Tesla P4 Comparison

NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile and Tesla P4 occupy opposite ends of the GPU spectrum, yet the benchmark database places them within 1.3% of each other in average score. The RTX 4080 Mobile is a modern Ada Lovelace part aimed at laptops, while the Tesla P4 is a 2016-era Pascal accelerator designed for data center inference. Their near-identical average benchmark scores — 38,135 vs 37,628 — mask profound architectural and workload differences. The data shows the RTX 4080 Mobile dominates in compute-heavy tasks, but the Tesla P4’s efficiency and form factor tell a different story for specific deployments.

FAQ

Q: How do the average benchmark scores compare between the two GPUs?

A: The RTX 4080 Mobile scores 38,135, while the Tesla P4 scores 37,628. The delta is 1.3% in favor of the RTX 4080 Mobile, placing them as direct rivals in the database.

Q: Which GPU wins in OpenCL and Vulkan benchmarks, and by how much?

A: The RTX 4080 Mobile wins both. In Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 159,575 vs 34,947 — a 356.6% advantage. In Geekbench Vulkan, it scores 145,807 vs 40,309 — a 261.7% lead.

Q: What is the transistor count and process node difference?

A: The RTX 4080 Mobile uses 35,800 million transistors on a 5 nm TSMC process. The Tesla P4 uses 7,200 million transistors on a 16 nm TSMC process. The RTX 4080 Mobile packs 121.8 million transistors per mm² vs 22.9 million for the Tesla P4.

Q: Does the Tesla P4 have ray tracing or tensor cores?

A: No. The Tesla P4 lacks both RT cores and tensor cores entirely. The RTX 4080 Mobile includes 58 RT cores and 232 tensor cores.

Q: What are the memory specifications for each card?

A: The RTX 4080 Mobile has 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus with 432.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Tesla P4 has 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 192.3 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has a higher pixel fill rate?

A: The RTX 4080 Mobile achieves 133.2 GPixel/s, while the Tesla P4 reaches 71.30 GPixel/s. The RTX 4080 Mobile is nearly double in this metric.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are separated by two full generations of NVIDIA architecture. The RTX 4080 Mobile is built on Ada Lovelace, the architecture powering GeForce 40-series mobile parts. It uses TSMC’s 5 nm process, which is a dramatic shrink from the 16 nm node used by the Tesla P4’s Pascal architecture. The transistor density tells the story: 121.8 million transistors per mm² on the RTX 4080 Mobile versus 22.9 million on the Tesla P4. The RTX 4080 Mobile crams 35,800 million transistors into a 294 mm² die, while the Tesla P4 fits 7,200 million into a larger 314 mm² die.

Compute resources diverge sharply. The RTX 4080 Mobile has 7,424 shading units, 232 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. The Tesla P4 has 2,560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. More importantly, the RTX 4080 Mobile adds 58 RT cores and 232 tensor cores — hardware the Tesla P4 does not have at all. The RTX 4080 Mobile also doubles the FP32 throughput at 24.72 TFLOPS vs 5.704 TFLOPS. FP16 performance is even more lopsided: 24.72 TFLOPS on the RTX 4080 Mobile versus 89.12 GFLOPS on the Tesla P4, a 277x gap stemming from the Tesla P4’s 1:64 FP16 ratio.

Memory architecture reflects their different eras. The RTX 4080 Mobile uses 12 GB GDDR6 at 18 Gbps effective, delivering 432.0 GB/s over a 192-bit bus. The Tesla P4 uses 8 GB GDDR5 at 6 Gbps effective, delivering 192.3 GB/s over a 256-bit bus. The RTX 4080 Mobile supports PCIe 4.0 x16, while the Tesla P4 is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16. The Tesla P4 has no display outputs, while the RTX 4080 Mobile’s outputs are portable-device dependent. The RTX 4080 Mobile is listed as an IGP slot width with no power connectors, drawing 110 W TDP. The Tesla P4 is single-slot with no power connectors, drawing 75 W TDP and requiring a 250 W suggested PSU.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database includes only two shared benchmark tests, and the RTX 4080 Mobile wins both decisively. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4080 Mobile scores 159,575 against the Tesla P4’s 34,947. That is a 356.6% delta — more than four and a half times the raw score. The gap is so large that the Tesla P4’s OpenCL result is closer to the RTX 4080 Mobile’s Vulkan score of 145,807 than to its own Vulkan number.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 4080 Mobile scores 145,807, while the Tesla P4 manages 40,309. The 261.7% delta is smaller than OpenCL but still represents a 3.6x advantage. The Tesla P4’s Vulkan score of 40,309 is actually higher than its OpenCL score of 34,947, suggesting the Pascal architecture handles Vulkan better relative to OpenCL. However, the RTX 4080 Mobile’s Vulkan score drops 8.6% compared to its OpenCL result, while the Tesla P4’s Vulkan score rises 15.3% over its OpenCL result. This indicates the Tesla P4 has relatively stronger Vulkan drivers or instruction scheduling, but absolute performance remains far below the RTX 4080 Mobile.

The RTX 4080 Mobile also has a much broader benchmark presence. It has nine recorded benchmarks across PassMark DirectX 9, 10, 11, 12, G2D, G3D, and GPU Compute, plus the two Geekbench tests. The Tesla P4 only has the two Geekbench results. The RTX 4080 Mobile’s PassMark G3D score is 24,926, and its GPU Compute score is 11,191. These additional metrics show the RTX 4080 Mobile handles legacy DirectX workloads, with scores ranging from 96 in DirectX 12 to 286 in DirectX 9. The Tesla P4 lacks any PassMark data, meaning its average score is computed solely from the two Geekbench tests.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear split: the RTX 4080 Mobile is the overwhelming compute performer, while the Tesla P4 is the efficiency-focused accelerator for narrow deployment scenarios. The RTX 4080 Mobile wins both head-to-head benchmarks by 261.7% and 356.6%, respectively. Its 24.72 TFLOPS FP32, 232 tensor cores, and 58 RT cores make it suitable for modern AI inference, ray tracing, and high-throughput graphics. The Tesla P4, with 5.704 TFLOPS FP32 and no tensor or RT cores, is limited to older Pascal-era workloads.

The average benchmark scores are nearly identical — 38,135 vs 37,628 — but that parity is misleading. The Tesla P4’s average is based on only two tests, both of which it loses by a wide margin. The RTX 4080 Mobile’s average includes nine tests, several of which (PassMark G2D at 929, PassMark DirectX 9 at 286) are low-scoring but drag the average down. In purely compute terms, the RTX 4080 Mobile is the superior part by every measured metric. The Tesla P4’s 75 W TDP and single-slot form factor make it a lower-power option, but the RTX 4080 Mobile’s 110 W TDP is still modest for its performance class.

For buyers, the choice hinges on workload. If the task involves modern graphics APIs, ray tracing, tensor-accelerated AI, or high-FP32 throughput, the RTX 4080 Mobile is the only rational pick. If the task is a legacy Pascal-optimized inference pipeline that requires minimal power draw and a single-slot profile, the Tesla P4 has a place — but the data shows it is 261% to 356% slower in the shared benchmarks. The RTX 4080 Mobile is also marked as Active production status, while the Tesla P4 is End-of-life.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every technical field. The RTX 4080 Mobile uses the AD104 chip on 5 nm, while the Tesla P4 uses GP104 on 16 nm. Transistor count is 35,800 million vs 7,200 million, and die size is 294 mm² vs 314 mm². The RTX 4080 Mobile has a base clock of 1290 MHz and boost of 1665 MHz, versus 886 MHz base and 1114 MHz boost on the Tesla P4. Memory clocks are 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) vs 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective).

Shading units: 7,424 vs 2,560. TMUs: 232 vs 160. ROPs: 80 vs 64. The RTX 4080 Mobile has 58 RT cores and 232 tensor cores; the Tesla P4 has none. Pixel rate is 133.2 GPixel/s vs 71.30 GPixel/s. Texture rate is 386.3 GTexel/s vs 178.2 GTexel/s. FP32 is 24.72 TFLOPS vs 5.704 TFLOPS. FP16 is 24.72 TFLOPS vs 89.12 GFLOPS. TDP is 110 W vs 75 W. Slot width is IGP vs single-slot. Power connectors are none for both. Bus interface is PCIe 4.0 x16 vs PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs are portable-device dependent vs no outputs. DirectX support is 12 Ultimate (12_2) vs 12 (12_1). The Tesla P4 has a 168 mm (6.6 inches) length; the RTX 4080 Mobile has no listed dimensions.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 4080 Mobile wins every shared benchmark, so its advantage is comprehensive in compute. The 356.6% OpenCL lead and 261.7% Vulkan lead show it excels in general-purpose GPU compute and cross-platform graphics. Its 4.3x FP32 throughput (24.72 TFLOPS vs 5.704 TFLOPS) makes it the choice for any FP32-heavy workload like scientific simulation or high-resolution rendering. The tensor cores enable AI inferencing and DLSS-style features that the Tesla P4 cannot accelerate. The 12 GB GDDR6 with 432.0 GB/s bandwidth also gives it 2.2x the memory bandwidth, which helps with large datasets.

The Tesla P4 wins in power efficiency and physical footprint. At 75 W TDP, it draws 68% of the RTX 4080 Mobile’s 110 W. Its single-slot design and 168 mm length make it easier to fit in dense servers. The 256-bit memory bus, while slower overall, provides more addressable channels for certain access patterns. The Tesla P4 also has a lower suggested PSU requirement of 250 W, though the RTX 4080 Mobile has no suggested PSU listed. For workloads that are already optimized for Pascal and do not need tensor cores or ray tracing, the Tesla P4 might still run reliably — but the data shows it will take 3.6x to 4.6x longer to complete the same compute tasks.

The RTX 4080 Mobile’s DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 (shared by both) make it future-proof for modern game engines. The Tesla P4’s DirectX 12 (12_1) support is an older feature level. The RTX 4080 Mobile also has a successor (GeForce 50 Mobile) and predecessor (GeForce 30 Mobile), indicating an active product line, while the Tesla P4 is end-of-life with Tesla Volta as its successor. For any new deployment, the RTX 4080 Mobile is the data-backed winner. The Tesla P4 only makes sense for existing Pascal-based inference stacks where power and space constraints override the massive performance gap.