NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER vs NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a decisive victory for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER in every shared benchmark. The two cards were only measured together in two tests, both compute-oriented, and the RTX 4080 SUPER won both outright.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4080 SUPER scored 219,065 points against the Tesla M40 24 GB's 37,439 points. That is a delta of 485.1%, meaning the newer card delivers nearly five times the raw compute performance in this test. The margin is enormous and reflects the generational gulf between the two architectures.

Geekbench Vulkan tells a similar story. The RTX 4080 SUPER posted 260,075 points, while the Tesla M40 24 GB managed 45,975 points. The delta here is 465.7%, again a near-fivefold advantage. The Vulkan test exercises modern graphics pipeline features, and the Tesla M40's Maxwell 2.0 architecture, which predates Vulkan's widespread adoption, simply cannot keep pace.

The database's average benchmark score metric further contextualizes the gap. The RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 54,209, while the Tesla M40 24 GB sits at 41,707. That is a 30% overall advantage for the RTX 4080 SUPER, though the delta is smaller than in the direct head-to-head tests because the average includes a wider range of workloads, some of which favor the older card's compute characteristics.

It is also worth noting where each card stands relative to its own nearest rivals. The RTX 4080 SUPER is essentially tied with the standard RTX 4080, sitting just 0.1% behind it in average score. It also trails the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X by 1.1%, the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB by 2.7%, and the AMD Radeon 8060S by 2.8%. The Tesla M40 24 GB, meanwhile, is 0.5% behind the original Tesla M40, 1.3% ahead of the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, 2% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 5300, and 2.4% behind the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE. These figures place the RTX 4080 SUPER in the company of modern high-end cards, while the Tesla M40 24 GB sits closer to mid-range or older flagship territory.

Architecture Differences

The architectural chasm between these two GPUs is the primary driver of the benchmark results. The RTX 4080 SUPER is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, specifically the AD103 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The Tesla M40 24 GB uses the Maxwell 2.0 architecture with the GM200 chip, on a 28 nm process, also at TSMC. The process node difference alone, 5 nm versus 28 nm, explains much of the efficiency and density gap.

Transistor counts illustrate the scale of the difference. The RTX 4080 SUPER contains 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 121.1 million per square millimeter. The Tesla M40 24 GB has 8,000 million transistors on a larger 601 mm² die, for a density of just 13.3 million per square millimeter. The newer chip packs over five times the transistors into a smaller area.

The compute resources diverge sharply. The RTX 4080 SUPER has 10,240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 render output units. It also includes 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, specialized hardware absent from the Tesla M40 24 GB entirely. The Tesla M40 24 GB has 3,072 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, with no RT or tensor cores listed. The FP32 throughput tells the story: 52.22 TFLOPS for the RTX 4080 SUPER versus 6.832 TFLOPS for the Tesla M40 24 GB. The newer card is roughly 7.6 times faster in raw single-precision compute.

Memory configurations also differ fundamentally. The RTX 4080 SUPER ships with 16 GB of GDDR6X on a 256-bit bus, delivering 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The Tesla M40 24 GB offers more capacity at 24 GB of GDDR5, but on a 384-bit bus and with a much lower 288.4 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 4080 SUPER's memory clock is listed at 1438 MHz (23 Gbps effective), while the Tesla M40 24 GB runs at 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective). The bandwidth advantage, 736.3 GB/s versus 288.4 GB/s, is over 2.5 times in favor of the RTX 4080 SUPER.

Clock speeds reinforce the gap. The RTX 4080 SUPER has a base clock of 2295 MHz and a boost of 2550 MHz. The Tesla M40 24 GB runs at 948 MHz base and 1112 MHz boost. The RTX 4080 SUPER's boost clock is more than double the Tesla's base clock.

Other differentiating features include the RTX 4080 SUPER's PCIe 4.0 x16 interface versus the Tesla M40 24 GB's PCIe 3.0 x16, and the RTX 4080 SUPER's display outputs (1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a) versus the Tesla M40 24 GB's complete lack of display outputs. The Tesla M40 24 GB is a compute-only accelerator with no video output capability.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 4080 SUPER wins in virtually every measurable category, but the nature of its wins matters for specific use cases. Its 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, combined with 320 tensor cores and 80 RT cores, make it a versatile card for modern graphics workloads, including real-time ray tracing and AI-accelerated features. The 736.3 GB/s memory bandwidth and 16 GB of GDDR6X provide ample headroom for high-resolution textures and large datasets.

The Tesla M40 24 GB, despite its age, retains one clear advantage: memory capacity. At 24 GB, it offers 50% more VRAM than the RTX 4080 SUPER's 16 GB. For workloads that are capacity-bound rather than bandwidth-bound, such as certain large model inference or datasets that fit within 24 GB but not 16 GB, the Tesla M40 24 GB could theoretically accommodate larger working sets. However, its 288.4 GB/s bandwidth and 6.832 TFLOPS compute severely limit the speed at which that capacity can be utilized.

The Tesla M40 24 GB also has a lower power draw at 250 W versus the RTX 4080 SUPER's 320 W, and it is a dual-slot card compared to the RTX 4080 SUPER's triple-slot design. For systems with strict power or space constraints, the Tesla M40 24 GB may be easier to integrate, provided the compute performance is sufficient.

In practice, the RTX 4080 SUPER's wins are comprehensive. The database shows it ahead in both shared benchmarks by margins exceeding 465%. There are no recorded benchmarks where the Tesla M40 24 GB wins. The RTX 4080 SUPER's percentile ranking of 86 among all GPUs, versus the Tesla M40 24 GB's 83, reflects its higher standing in the overall performance distribution.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER outperforms the NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB by a massive margin in every recorded benchmark. The 485.1% lead in Geekbench OpenCL and the 465.7% lead in Geekbench Vulkan are not incremental improvements; they represent completely different performance tiers.

For anyone building a system for modern gaming, ray tracing, AI workloads, or general GPU compute, the RTX 4080 SUPER is the clear choice. Its 52.22 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, 320 tensor cores, and 80 RT cores provide capabilities the Tesla M40 24 GB cannot match at all. The RTX 4080 SUPER also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Tesla M40 24 GB only supports DirectX 12 (12_1), a meaningful difference for current game titles.

The Tesla M40 24 GB's only justification would be a workload that specifically requires more than 16 GB of VRAM and does not benefit from the RTX 4080 SUPER's compute, tensor, or RT capabilities. Even then, the 288.4 GB/s bandwidth and 6.832 TFLOPS compute would make such workloads painfully slow. The Tesla M40 24 GB's 83rd percentile ranking, while not far behind the RTX 4080 SUPER's 86th, masks the fact that its average score of 41,707 is 23% lower.

The verdict is straightforward: the RTX 4080 SUPER is the superior GPU by every recorded metric. The Tesla M40 24 GB is an end-of-life product from 2015, and the data reflects that age. Unless a specific need for 24 GB of GDDR5 memory exists and performance is secondary, the RTX 4080 SUPER wins without qualification.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the RTX 4080 SUPER than the Tesla M40 24 GB in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER scored 219,065 points versus 37,439 points for the Tesla M40 24 GB, a delta of 485.1%.

Q: Does the Tesla M40 24 GB have more memory than the RTX 4080 SUPER?

A: Yes, the Tesla M40 24 GB has 24 GB of GDDR5, while the RTX 4080 SUPER has 16 GB of GDDR6X. However, the RTX 4080 SUPER's bandwidth is 736.3 GB/s versus 288.4 GB/s.

Q: Which card has ray tracing cores?

A: Only the RTX 4080 SUPER has RT cores, with 80 of them. The Tesla M40 24 GB has no RT cores listed.

Q: What is the average benchmark score difference between the two cards?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 54,209, while the Tesla M40 24 GB has 41,707.

Q: Does the Tesla M40 24 GB support display outputs?

A: No, the Tesla M40 24 GB has no display outputs. The RTX 4080 SUPER has 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a.

Q: What is the process node difference between the two GPUs?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER is on a 5 nm process, while the Tesla M40 24 GB is on a 28 nm process, both from TSMC.

Specification Differences

| Field | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER | NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB |

|-------|-------------------------------|------------------------|

| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Maxwell 2.0 |

| Chip | AD103 | GM200 |

| Process Node | 5 nm | 28 nm |

| Transistors | 45,900 million | 8,000 million |

| Die Size | 379 mm² | 601 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 121.1M / mm² | 13.3M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 2295 MHz | 948 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 2550 MHz | 1112 MHz |

| Memory Size | 16 GB | 24 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR6X | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus Width | 256 bit | 384 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 736.3 GB/s | 288.4 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 10240 | 3072 |

| TMUs | 320 | 192 |

| ROPs | 112 | 96 |

| RT Cores | 80 | None |

| Tensor Cores | 320 | None |

| Pixel Rate | 285.6 GPixel/s | 106.8 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 816.0 GTexel/s | 213.5 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 52.22 TFLOPS | 6.832 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 52.22 TFLOPS (1:1) | None |

| TDP | 320 W | 250 W |

| Slot Width | Triple-slot | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | 1x 16-pin | 8-pin EPS |

| Suggested PSU | 700 W | 600 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 4.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a | No outputs |

| DirectX Support | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | 12 (12_1) |

| Length | 310 mm (12.2 inches) | 267 mm (10.5 inches) |

| Release Date | 2024-01-30 | 2015-11-09 |

| Launch MSRP | 999 USD | None |