NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER vs NVIDIA Tesla M40 Comparison

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER vs NVIDIA Tesla M40

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER and the NVIDIA Tesla M40 occupy opposite ends of the GPU timeline, with the former built on Ada Lovelace and the latter on Maxwell 2.0. The recorded data shows a decisive performance gap, but the comparison is not purely about speed; it also reflects differing design goals, architectural eras, and intended workloads. This analysis breaks down the benchmark results, architectural differences, and specification gaps between these two end-of-life products.

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data is unambiguous: the RTX 4080 SUPER wins every recorded test, taking 2 wins out of 2 head-to-head benchmarks, while the Tesla M40 records 0 wins. The two available tests are Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan, both compute-oriented workloads. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4080 SUPER scores 219,065 against the Tesla M40’s 39,192, a delta of 459%. In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 4080 SUPER scores 260,075 against 44,602, a delta of 483.1%. These are not marginal gains; the newer card is roughly 4.6 to 4.8 times faster in these specific compute tests.

The Tesla M40’s only advantage lies in its legacy positioning. It belongs to the Tesla Maxwell generation, a family designed for datacenter and scientific compute, not consumer graphics. It has no display outputs, which means it cannot drive a monitor, making it unsuitable for any interactive workload. The RTX 4080 SUPER, by contrast, includes display outputs (1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a) and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The Tesla M40 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, but the absence of outputs limits its practical use to headless compute tasks.

The percentile rankings confirm the separation. The RTX 4080 SUPER sits at the 86th percentile among all GPUs, while the Tesla M40 sits at the 83rd percentile. Despite the massive benchmark deltas, the percentile difference is only 3 points, suggesting that the Tesla M40 remains competitive relative to the full historical GPU population, but the RTX 4080 SUPER is clearly in a higher performance tier.

The Verdict

From the recorded data, the choice is straightforward if raw compute performance is the priority. The RTX 4080 SUPER dominates both available benchmarks, with a 459% lead in OpenCL and a 483.1% lead in Vulkan. Its average benchmark score of 54,209 far exceeds the Tesla M40’s 41,897, a difference of roughly 29%. The RTX 4080 SUPER also has a larger memory pool (16 GB vs 12 GB) and a much higher bandwidth (736.3 GB/s vs 288.4 GB/s), which directly impacts memory-bound compute workloads.

However, the Tesla M40 is not without a use case. Its 12 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus provides 288.4 GB/s of bandwidth, which was substantial for its 2015 release. Its 3072 shading units and 96 ROPs are modest by modern standards, but its Maxwell architecture was known for efficient compute in its era. The Tesla M40’s nearest rivals include the Tesla M40 24 GB (0.5% faster) and the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti (1.7% slower), indicating that it still holds its own against much newer hardware in aggregate scores. For legacy compute tasks that do not require modern API features or display output, the Tesla M40 remains functional.

The RTX 4080 SUPER, meanwhile, is positioned against rivals such as the RTX 4080 (0.1% slower) and the Radeon Pro W5700X (1.1% faster), showing that it is tightly clustered with the generation’s top performers. Its 5 nm process node, 45,900 million transistors, and 80 RT cores make it a modern all-rounder. The data indicates that anyone needing current-generation compute, ray tracing, or any display output should choose the RTX 4080 SUPER. Anyone maintaining legacy Maxwell-based compute infrastructure could still rely on the Tesla M40, but they would accept a significant performance penalty.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head results are limited to two tests, but they are decisive. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4080 SUPER scores 219,065 against the Tesla M40’s 39,192. This 459% delta highlights the architectural leap from Maxwell to Ada Lovelace. The RTX 4080 SUPER’s FP32 throughput is 52.22 TFLOPS, while the Tesla M40 manages 6.832 TFLOPS, a ratio of roughly 7.6 to 1. The texture rate follows a similar pattern: 816.0 GTexel/s versus 213.5 GTexel/s, a 3.8 times advantage. The pixel rate is 285.6 GPixel/s versus 106.8 GPixel/s, a 2.7 times advantage.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 4080 SUPER scores 260,075 against 44,602, a 483.1% delta. This test likely benefits from the RTX 4080 SUPER’s newer Vulkan support (1.4) and its 320 tensor cores, which the Tesla M40 lacks entirely. The Tesla M40 has no RT cores and no tensor cores, so any workload leveraging those features would not run on it at all. The RTX 4080 SUPER also has 10,240 shading units versus 3,072, a 3.3 times increase, and 320 TMUs versus 192, a 1.7 times increase.

The closest the Tesla M40 comes to parity is in ROP count: 96 versus 112, a 17% deficit. However, this does not translate into competitive pixel throughput because the clock speeds differ substantially. The RTX 4080 SUPER boosts to 2550 MHz, while the Tesla M40 boosts to 1112 MHz, a 2.3 times difference. The RTX 4080 SUPER’s memory clock is 1438 MHz (23 Gbps effective) versus 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective), but the wider 256-bit bus on the newer card still delivers 736.3 GB/s against 288.4 GB/s.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 54,209, while the Tesla M40 has 41,897, a difference of about 29%.

Q: Does the Tesla M40 support ray tracing or tensor cores?

A: No, the Tesla M40 has no RT cores and no tensor cores, as indicated by the null values in its specifications.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER has 16 GB of GDDR6X on a 256-bit bus with 736.3 GB/s bandwidth, while the Tesla M40 has 12 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus with 288.4 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Can the Tesla M40 be used for display output?

A: No, the Tesla M40 has no display outputs, whereas the RTX 4080 SUPER includes 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a.

Q: How do the process nodes compare?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER is built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, while the Tesla M40 uses a 28 nm process, also at TSMC.

Q: Which GPU has a higher transistor density?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER has a transistor density of 121.1 million per mm², compared to the Tesla M40’s 13.3 million per mm², a 9.1 times difference.

Architecture Differences

The RTX 4080 SUPER uses the AD103 chip based on Ada Lovelace architecture, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It contains 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die, yielding a density of 121.1 million per mm². The Tesla M40 uses the GM200 chip based on Maxwell 2.0 architecture, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It contains 8,000 million transistors on a 601 mm² die, yielding a density of 13.3 million per mm². Despite the older node, the Tesla M40’s die is significantly larger, but it packs fewer transistors due to the less advanced process.

The Ada Lovelace architecture introduces dedicated RT cores (80 on the RTX 4080 SUPER) and tensor cores (320), both absent from the Maxwell-based Tesla M40. The RTX 4080 SUPER also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), which includes features like mesh shaders and variable rate shading, while the Tesla M40 only supports DirectX 12 (12_1). Both cards support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4, but the newer architecture provides better hardware acceleration for modern APIs.

The shading unit count differs dramatically: 10,240 on the RTX 4080 SUPER versus 3,072 on the Tesla M40. The texture mapping units are 320 versus 192, and the ROPs are 112 versus 96. The clock speeds also diverge, with the RTX 4080 SUPER boosting to 2550 MHz against the Tesla M40’s 1112 MHz. The FP32 compute is 52.22 TFLOPS versus 6.832 TFLOPS, and the RTX 4080 SUPER supports FP16 at 52.22 TFLOPS (1:1), while the Tesla M40 has no listed FP16 performance.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification. The RTX 4080 SUPER has a base clock of 2295 MHz and a boost clock of 2550 MHz, while the Tesla M40 has a base clock of 948 MHz and a boost clock of 1112 MHz. Memory clock is 1438 MHz (23 Gbps effective) versus 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective). Memory size is 16 GB versus 12 GB, type is GDDR6X versus GDDR5, bus width is 256 bit versus 384 bit, and bandwidth is 736.3 GB/s versus 288.4 GB/s.

The RTX 4080 SUPER has a TDP of 320 W with a triple-slot design and a 1x 16-pin power connector, while the Tesla M40 has a TDP of 250 W with a dual-slot design and an 8-pin EPS connector. The suggested PSU is 700 W for the RTX 4080 SUPER and 600 W for the Tesla M40. The bus interface is PCIe 4.0 x16 versus PCIe 3.0 x16.

Dimensions also differ: the RTX 4080 SUPER is 310 mm long, 140 mm tall, and 61 mm wide, while the Tesla M40 is 267 mm long with no recorded height or width. The RTX 4080 SUPER has display outputs, while the Tesla M40 has none. The RTX 4080 SUPER was released on 2024-01-30 with a launch MSRP of 999 USD, while the Tesla M40 was released on 2015-11-09 with no launch MSRP recorded. Both are end-of-life products, with the RTX 4080 SUPER succeeding the GeForce 30 series and preceding the GeForce 50 series, while the Tesla M40 succeeds Tesla Kepler and precedes Tesla Pascal.