NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 vs NVIDIA Tesla P4 Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 and the NVIDIA Tesla P4 represent two very different eras of GPU design, and the benchmark data reflects that chasm. In the only two head-to-head tests available, the RTX 5070 dominates completely. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 5070 scores 172,660 against the Tesla P4’s 34,947, a staggering 394.1% advantage. The Vulkan test tells a similar story: the RTX 5070 posts 178,923 versus 40,309, a 343.9% lead. These are not close contests; they are generational wipeouts. However, the Tesla P4 is not without its own niche, and the data shows that its strengths lie in efficiency and specific workload fit rather than raw performance.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The Geekbench OpenCL result is the clearest indicator of the performance gap. The RTX 5070’s score of 172,660 is nearly five times higher than the Tesla P4’s 34,947. This delta of 394.1% reflects not just faster clocks but a fundamentally different architecture designed for compute throughput. The RTX 5070’s FP32 throughput is listed at 30.87 TFLOPS, while the Tesla P4 manages only 5.704 TFLOPS. That is a 5.4x difference in raw floating-point capability, which scales directly into the OpenCL result.

Vulkan performance shows a slightly smaller but still massive gap. The RTX 5070 scores 178,923, with the Tesla P4 at 40,309, resulting in a 343.9% difference. This is interesting because Vulkan is often more efficient on older architectures due to lower overhead. Yet even here, the RTX 5070’s modern driver stack and hardware features—like dedicated ray tracing cores and tensor cores—provide an insurmountable lead. The Tesla P4 has no RT cores and no tensor cores, so it cannot offload these tasks, leaving its 2,560 shading units to do all the work at a boost clock of just 1114 MHz.

The RTX 5070 wins both head-to-head benchmarks, giving it a 2-0 record. There is no benchmark where the Tesla P4 emerges victorious. The closest the Tesla P4 comes is in its average benchmark score relative to its own peer group, but that does not translate into a win against the RTX 5070. The data is unambiguous: in any compute or graphics workload that stresses the GPU, the RTX 5070 is the clear victor by a factor of three to four.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 5070 wins in every measurable performance category. Its 12 GB of GDDR7 memory with 672.0 GB/s bandwidth dwarfs the Tesla P4’s 8 GB of GDDR5 at 192.3 GB/s. This 3.5x bandwidth advantage matters for texture-heavy workloads, high-resolution rendering, and any task that requires moving large datasets. The RTX 5070 also has 6,144 shading units versus 2,560, and 192 tensor cores versus none, making it vastly superior for AI inference and deep learning tasks. Its pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 482.3 GTexel/s are roughly 2.8x and 2.7x higher than the Tesla P4’s 71.30 GPixel/s and 178.2 GTexel/s, respectively.

The Tesla P4’s wins are not in performance but in physical attributes. Its 75 W TDP is a fraction of the RTX 5070’s 250 W, and it requires no power connectors, drawing power entirely from the PCIe slot. The P4 is single-slot and measures 168 mm in length, making it suitable for dense server chassis where space and power are at a premium. It also has no display outputs, which is a feature for a pure compute card—it is not meant to drive monitors, only to crunch numbers. The RTX 5070, by contrast, is dual-slot, requires a 16-pin connector, and has a suggested PSU of 600 W.

In terms of benchmark percentiles, the RTX 5070 sits at the 82nd percentile of all GPUs, while the Tesla P4 is at the 81st. This seems close, but it is misleading because the Tesla P4’s average benchmark score of 37,628 places it alongside modern mid-range cards like the RTX 4070 (37,648) and the RX Vega 56 (37,507). The RTX 5070’s average score of 40,377 puts it near the AMD Radeon Pro 580 (40,318) and Radeon Pro WX 7100 (40,063). The percentile ranking is a relative measure, but the absolute scores show the RTX 5070 is in a higher tier.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap is enormous. The RTX 5070 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using a 5 nm process at TSMC, with 31,100 million transistors packed into a 263 mm² die. This yields a transistor density of 118.3M per mm², a figure made possible by the advanced process node. The Tesla P4, in contrast, uses the Pascal architecture on a 16 nm process, also at TSMC, with only 7,200 million transistors on a larger 314 mm² die. Its transistor density is just 22.9M per mm². That is a 5.2x difference in density, which explains why the RTX 5070 can fit 6,144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 80 ROPs in a smaller package.

The memory systems are also generations apart. The RTX 5070 uses GDDR7 with a 192-bit bus, achieving 672.0 GB/s. The Tesla P4 uses GDDR5 with a wider 256-bit bus but only reaches 192.3 GB/s due to much slower memory clocks. The RTX 5070’s memory clock is listed at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective), while the Tesla P4’s is 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective). This is a 4.7x difference in effective memory speed.

The feature sets diverge completely. The RTX 5070 has 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI workloads. It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Tesla P4 only supports DirectX 12 (12_1). The RTX 5070 also has a newer display output configuration with one HDMI 2.1b and three DisplayPort 2.1b, whereas the Tesla P4 has no display outputs at all. The bus interface differs too: the RTX 5070 uses PCIe 5.0 x16, while the Tesla P4 is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16, halving the available bandwidth for data transfers.

Finally, the production status and release dates tell the story. The RTX 5070 was released on 2025-03-03 and is still Active, while the Tesla P4 was released on 2016-09-12 and is End-of-life. The RTX 5070 has a successor (GeForce 60), while the Tesla P4’s successor is Tesla Volta. The RTX 5070’s predecessor is GeForce 40, and the Tesla P4’s predecessor is Tesla Maxwell. The RTX 5070 is the newer, actively supported product; the Tesla P4 is a legacy part.

The Verdict

The data dictates a clear split. For anyone needing compute performance, the RTX 5070 is the only choice. Its 394.1% lead in OpenCL and 343.9% lead in Vulkan are insurmountable. It has more memory, faster memory, more shading units, and dedicated RT and tensor cores. Its 82nd percentile ranking and average score of 40,377 place it in a performance class that the Tesla P4 cannot approach. The RTX 5070 is also an active product with modern API support, including DirectX 12 Ultimate and PCIe 5.0.

The Tesla P4 is for a specific, narrow use case. Its 75 W TDP, single-slot design, and lack of power connectors make it ideal for low-power, space-constrained servers where the workload is light enough that the 5.704 TFLOPS FP32 performance is sufficient. Its 81st percentile ranking is respectable for a 2016 card, and its average score of 37,628 is competitive with modern mid-range GPUs like the RTX 4070. But it is end-of-life, has no RT or tensor cores, and its FP16 performance is a paltry 89.12 GFLOPS compared to the RTX 5070’s 30.87 TFLOPS.

The verdict is simple: pick the RTX 5070 for any modern workload, from gaming to AI to content creation. Pick the Tesla P4 only if your primary constraints are power draw and physical size, and your performance requirements are modest. The data does not support any other conclusion.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the RTX 5070 in OpenCL compared to the Tesla P4?

A: The RTX 5070 scores 172,660 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the Tesla P4 scores 34,947. This gives the RTX 5070 a 394.1% advantage.

Q: Does the Tesla P4 support ray tracing?

A: No. The Tesla P4 has no RT cores listed in its specifications, and its architecture is Pascal, which predates NVIDIA’s dedicated ray tracing hardware.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference between the two cards?

A: The RTX 5070 has 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth from its 12 GB GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus. The Tesla P4 has 192.3 GB/s from 8 GB GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus.

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 5070 has an average benchmark score of 40,377, which is higher than the Tesla P4’s 37,628. The RTX 5070 also ranks in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs, versus the Tesla P4’s 81st.

Q: Are there any benchmarks where the Tesla P4 wins?

A: No. In the head-to-head benchmarks provided, the RTX 5070 wins both Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan. The Tesla P4 has zero wins.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The RTX 5070 has a 250 W TDP and requires a 1x 16-pin power connector with a suggested 600 W PSU. The Tesla P4 has a 75 W TDP, requires no power connectors, and has a suggested 250 W PSU.