NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 vs NVIDIA Tesla M40 Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 and the NVIDIA Tesla M40 sit at opposite ends of NVIDIA’s hardware timeline, yet both are end-of-life products in the database. The RTX 4080, a GeForce 40-series part built on Ada Lovelace, faces off against a Tesla Maxwell-generation compute card from 2015. The data shows a generational chasm in raw performance, but the Tesla M40’s remaining niche is narrow and specific. Below, the recorded benchmarks and specifications are compared directly.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains only two shared benchmark results between these GPUs: Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan. In both, the RTX 4080 wins decisively. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4080 scores 214,739 against the Tesla M40’s 39,192. That is a delta of 447.9% in favor of the RTX 4080. In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 4080 posts 263,779 versus the Tesla M40’s 44,602, a delta of 491.4%. These are not incremental gains; the RTX 4080 is roughly five times faster in Vulkan and over four times faster in OpenCL.

The wins table confirms the sweep: 2 wins for the RTX 4080, 0 for the Tesla M40. The average benchmark score reinforces this divide. The RTX 4080 carries an average score of 54,247 across all recorded tests, while the Tesla M40 averages 41,897. It is importantly the Tesla M40’s average is pulled from only two tests, so its profile is thinner, but the head-to-head numbers are unambiguous.

Looking at the RTX 4080’s broader benchmark suite, it also has results in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 (6,567), Passmark G3D (34,457), Passmark GPU Compute (20,671), and several DirectX-specific Passmark tests. Those scores place it at the 86th percentile of all GPUs in the database. The Tesla M40 sits at the 83rd percentile, which sounds close, but percentiles are a rank, not a performance level. The gap in raw scores is enormous.

The nearest rivals for each card put the performance gap in context. The RTX 4080’s closest competitor is the RTX 4080 SUPER, which averages 54,209, a delta of just 0.1%. That means the non-SUPER 4080 is effectively within noise of its own updated variant. The Tesla M40’s nearest rival is the Tesla M40 24 GB at 41,707, a delta of 0.5%, so the 12 GB version is slightly ahead of its larger-memory sibling. The RTX 4080 also sits 1.1% behind the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X and 2.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB, both within a few percentage points. The Tesla M40 is 1.7% ahead of the RTX 3080 Ti and 2.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 5300, which shows that even a 2015 compute card can edge out some modern mid-range parts in this specific average metric.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 4080 wins everywhere there is a shared benchmark. OpenCL and Vulkan are both compute-oriented APIs, and the Ada Lovelace architecture is built for them. The RTX 4080’s FP32 throughput is 48.74 TFLOPS, its texture rate is 761.5 GTexel/s, and its pixel rate is 280.6 GPixel/s. The Tesla M40 manages 6.832 TFLOPS FP32, 213.5 GTexel/s, and 106.8 GPixel/s. In every measurable compute or graphics throughput category, the RTX 4080 is several times higher.

Where the Tesla M40 might still be considered is in legacy compute workloads that are tuned for Maxwell’s simpler execution model. The card has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores, which means it cannot accelerate those specific tasks, but for pure FP32 or memory-bound operations that do not require newer instruction sets, its 12 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus (288.4 GB/s bandwidth) could still be functional. That said, the RTX 4080’s 16 GB of GDDR6X on a 256-bit bus delivers 716.8 GB/s, more than double the bandwidth. The Tesla M40’s only structural advantage is its 384-bit memory bus, which is wider, but the RTX 4080’s newer memory technology negates that.

For gaming, the RTX 4080 is the only one with display outputs (1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a), while the Tesla M40 has no outputs at all. That eliminates any desktop or gaming use case for the M40 outright. For compute, the RTX 4080’s support for DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6 matches or exceeds the M40’s DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.4. The RTX 4080 also has 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores, which the M40 lacks entirely.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are separated by two full architecture generations and a process node leap. The RTX 4080 uses the AD103 chip on TSMC’s 5 nm process, with 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die. That works out to a transistor density of 121.1 million per mm². The Tesla M40 uses the GM200 chip on TSMC’s 28 nm process, with 8,000 million transistors on a 601 mm² die, a density of 13.3 million per mm². The RTX 4080 fits more than nine times the transistor density into a smaller die.

Clock speeds tell a similar story. The RTX 4080 has a base clock of 2205 MHz and a boost of 2505 MHz. The Tesla M40 runs at 948 MHz base and 1112 MHz boost. The memory clocks differ as well: the RTX 4080’s GDDR6X runs at 1400 MHz (22.4 Gbps effective), while the M40’s GDDR5 runs at 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective). The RTX 4080’s effective memory speed is nearly four times higher.

Shader resources are also lopsided. The RTX 4080 has 9,728 shading units, 304 TMUs, and 112 ROPs. The Tesla M40 has 3,072 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The RTX 4080 also adds 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores, which are absent from the M40. The power envelope is higher on the RTX 4080 (320 W TDP versus 250 W), and it requires a 16-pin connector with a 700 W suggested PSU, while the M40 uses an 8-pin EPS with a 600 W suggested PSU. The RTX 4080 is triple-slot and 310 mm long; the M40 is dual-slot and 267 mm long.

The bus interfaces differ too: PCIe 4.0 x16 on the RTX 4080 versus PCIe 3.0 x16 on the M40. Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4, but the RTX 4080’s DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) is a newer feature set than the M40’s DirectX 12 (12_1). The release dates are 2022-09-19 for the RTX 4080 and 2015-11-09 for the M40, a seven-year gap that explains most of the architectural delta.

The Verdict

The data is clear: the RTX 4080 is the superior card in every recorded metric. It wins both head-to-head benchmarks, has a higher average score (54,247 versus 41,897), and sits in the 86th percentile versus the M40’s 83rd. The RTX 4080 is over 400% faster in OpenCL and nearly 500% faster in Vulkan. If the workload is modern compute or any graphics task, the RTX 4080 is the only choice.

The Tesla M40’s only conceivable role is as a legacy compute accelerator for software that was written for Maxwell and does not benefit from newer features. Its 12 GB of memory and 288.4 GB/s bandwidth are still serviceable for low-intensity inference or batch processing, but the RTX 4080’s 716.8 GB/s bandwidth and 16 GB capacity make it strictly better for any task that can use them. The M40 has no display outputs, so it cannot be used for any interactive graphics. The RTX 4080 also has a launch MSRP of 1,199 USD, but the M40 never had one recorded.

For a user with a modern driver stack and a workload that supports Ada Lovelace, the RTX 4080 is the obvious pick. For a user stuck with Maxwell-only code or a system that cannot supply a 16-pin power connector, the M40 remains a functional fallback, but the benchmark data offers no scenario where the M40 wins.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the RTX 4080 in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The RTX 4080 scores 214,739 versus the Tesla M40’s 39,192, a delta of 447.9% in favor of the RTX 4080.

Q: Does the Tesla M40 have any benchmark win over the RTX 4080?

A: No. In the two shared benchmarks (Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan), the RTX 4080 wins both. The wins tally is 2 for the RTX 4080 and 0 for the Tesla M40.

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each card?

A: The RTX 4080 has an average benchmark score of 54,247, while the Tesla M40 averages 41,897. The RTX 4080 is in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, the M40 in the 83rd.

Q: Can the Tesla M40 be used for gaming?

A: No. The Tesla M40 has no display outputs, so it cannot drive a monitor. The RTX 4080 has 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs.

Q: Which card has higher memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX 4080 has 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth from 16 GB of GDDR6X on a 256-bit bus. The Tesla M40 has 288.4 GB/s from 12 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus.

Q: What are the nearest rivals for each card?

A: The RTX 4080’s closest rival is the RTX 4080 SUPER (avg score 54,209, delta 0.1%). The Tesla M40’s closest rival is the Tesla M40 24 GB (avg score 41,707, delta 0.5%).

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 | NVIDIA Tesla M40 |

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

| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Maxwell 2.0 |

| 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 | 2205 MHz | 948 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 2505 MHz | 1112 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1400 MHz (22.4 Gbps effective) | 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective) |

| Memory Size | 16 GB | 12 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR6X | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus Width | 256 bit | 384 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 716.8 GB/s | 288.4 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 9728 | 3072 |

| TMUs | 304 | 192 |

| ROPs | 112 | 96 |

| RT Cores | 76 | None |

| Tensor Cores | 304 | None |

| Pixel Rate | 280.6 GPixel/s | 106.8 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 761.5 GTexel/s | 213.5 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 48.74 TFLOPS | 6.832 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 48.74 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) |

| Release Date | 2022-09-19 | 2015-11-09 |

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