NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile vs NVIDIA Tesla P4 Comparison

NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile and Tesla P4 occupy opposite ends of the GPU spectrum, yet both land in the 81st percentile of all GPUs. The benchmark data shows a decisive generational gap, with the mobile Blackwell part outperforming the Pascal-era data center card in every measurable test. However, the Tesla P4’s relevance persists in its efficiency and form factor, making the comparison less about raw speed and more about architectural intent.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only overlapping benchmarks between the two GPUs are Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan, and the results are lopsided. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 5080 Mobile scores 166,986 against the Tesla P4’s 34,947, a delta of 377.8%. That means the newer part is nearly four times faster in compute workloads. The Vulkan test tells a similar story: 169,754 for the RTX 5080 Mobile versus 40,309 for the Tesla P4, a 321.1% advantage. These are not marginal gains; they represent a complete paradigm shift in throughput.

The RTX 5080 Mobile’s average benchmark score of 38,349 places it 0.1% above the GeForce MX570 (38,299) and 0.6% above the RTX 4080 Mobile (38,135), but 0.9% below the MX570 A (38,691) and AMD Radeon Pro 580X (38,706). This clustering suggests the mobile GPU’s performance is tightly packed with its immediate peers, despite the massive lead over the Tesla P4, which averages 37,628. The Tesla P4’s nearest rival is the RTX 4070 (37,648) at -0.1%, followed by the RX Vega 56 (37,507) at +0.3%. Notably, the Tesla P4 is 1.3% behind the RTX 4080 Mobile, while the RTX 5080 Mobile is 0.6% ahead of that same card—illustrating the generational leap within NVIDIA’s own lineup.

The deltaPct values in the head-to-head are stark: a 377.8% OpenCL win and a 321.1% Vulkan win. These are not typical incremental upgrades; they are orders of magnitude apart. The RTX 5080 Mobile’s FP32 throughput of 23.04 TFLOPS dwarfs the Tesla P4’s 5.704 TFLOPS, a 4x difference that aligns with the OpenCL results. Similarly, texture rate (360.0 GTexel/s vs 178.2 GTexel/s) and pixel rate (144.0 GPixel/s vs 71.30 GPixel/s) show the mobile part doubling the data center card’s output.

Architecture Differences

The architectural chasm is the root of all performance disparities. The RTX 5080 Mobile uses the GB203 chip on TSMC’s 5 nm process, packing 45,600 million transistors into a 378 mm² die. That yields a transistor density of 120.6M per mm². The Tesla P4, by contrast, relies on the GP104 chip on a 16 nm process, with 7,200 million transistors across 314 mm²—a density of just 22.9M per mm². The newer process node allows the RTX 5080 Mobile to fit over six times more transistors in a similarly sized footprint.

Core counts tell the rest of the story. The RTX 5080 Mobile has 7,680 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, along with 60 RT cores and 240 tensor cores. The Tesla P4 has 2,560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with no RT or tensor cores at all. That absence of ray tracing and AI acceleration hardware is critical: the Tesla P4 predates NVIDIA’s RTX push and cannot run hardware-accelerated ray tracing or tensor-based workloads. The RTX 5080 Mobile’s Blackwell 2.0 architecture also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Tesla P4’s Pascal architecture maxes out at DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4, but the feature set beneath is entirely different.

Memory configurations further separate the two. The RTX 5080 Mobile uses 16 GB of GDDR7 on a 256-bit bus, achieving 896.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Tesla P4 has 8 GB of GDDR5 on the same 256-bit bus, but bandwidth drops to 192.3 GB/s—a 4.7x deficit. Clock speeds also favor the newer part: the RTX 5080 Mobile boosts to 1500 MHz (base 975 MHz) versus the Tesla P4’s 1114 MHz boost (base 886 MHz). Memory clock is even more lopsided: 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective) for the RTX 5080 Mobile versus 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective) for the Tesla P4.

The power envelope is surprisingly close. The RTX 5080 Mobile draws 80 W TDP, while the Tesla P4 draws 75 W—a negligible difference. Yet the RTX 5080 Mobile delivers 23.04 TFLOPS FP32 versus the Tesla P4’s 5.704 TFLOPS, meaning the newer architecture is drastically more efficient per watt. The Tesla P4’s FP16 performance is a paltry 89.12 GFLOPS (1:64 ratio) versus the RTX 5080 Mobile’s 23.04 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio), highlighting how Pascal crippled half-precision compute.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 5080 Mobile wins in every benchmark category, but the margins vary by workload. Its biggest advantages are in compute-heavy tasks: OpenCL and Vulkan scores are 377.8% and 321.1% higher, respectively. That makes it the clear choice for AI inference, machine learning training, and any GPU-accelerated compute that leverages FP16 or tensor operations. The 240 tensor cores and 60 RT cores open capabilities the Tesla P4 simply cannot match, such as hardware ray tracing and DLSS-style frame generation.

The Tesla P4’s wins are not about performance but about deployment. It is a single-slot, 168 mm-long card with no power connectors, drawing 75 W and requiring only a 250 W suggested PSU. It runs on PCIe 3.0 x16, which is backward compatible with older systems. The RTX 5080 Mobile is an IGP (integrated graphics package) with no discrete slot width, no power connectors, and portable-device-dependent outputs, meaning it cannot be dropped into a server chassis. For legacy data center applications that need a low-profile, low-power compute card for inference or rendering without display output, the Tesla P4 remains functional—but its end-of-life status and lack of modern features limit its horizon.

In gaming, the RTX 5080 Mobile’s PassMark DirectX scores (27711 G3D, 314 DX9, 253 DX11, 171 DX10, 116 DX12) show strong legacy DirectX performance. The Tesla P4 has no equivalent benchmarks, but its Pascal architecture and lack of RT cores suggest it was never designed for consumer gaming. The RTX 5080 Mobile’s 16 GB GDDR7 also provides double the VRAM, enabling larger textures and datasets.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher raw compute throughput?

A: The RTX 5080 Mobile delivers 23.04 TFLOPS FP32, while the Tesla P4 manages 5.704 TFLOPS—a 4x difference.

Q: Can the Tesla P4 handle ray tracing?

A: No, it has zero RT cores. The RTX 5080 Mobile includes 60 RT cores for hardware-accelerated ray tracing.

Q: How do the memory bandwidths compare?

A: The RTX 5080 Mobile offers 896.0 GB/s from 16 GB GDDR7, versus the Tesla P4’s 192.3 GB/s from 8 GB GDDR5.

Q: What is the power draw difference?

A: The RTX 5080 Mobile has an 80 W TDP; the Tesla P4 has a 75 W TDP. The RTX 5080 Mobile is much more power-efficient per FLOP.

Q: Are both GPUs in the same performance percentile?

A: Yes, both are in the 81st percentile of all GPUs, despite the RTX 5080 Mobile’s massive benchmark lead.

Q: Does the Tesla P4 support modern APIs?

A: It supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, but lacks DirectX 12 Ultimate features found on the RTX 5080 Mobile.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile is the superior GPU by every measurable performance metric. It is 377.8% faster in OpenCL, 321.1% faster in Vulkan, and offers 4x the FP32 throughput, 4.7x the memory bandwidth, and 4x the VRAM capacity. Its architecture supports ray tracing, tensor operations, and DirectX 12 Ultimate, making it a future-proof choice for anything from gaming to AI research. The Tesla P4, by contrast, is an end-of-life product from 2016, with no modern features and a compute capability that is a fraction of the newer part.

However, the Tesla P4 retains a niche for legacy deployments. Its single-slot, 168 mm form factor and 75 W TDP with no external power connectors make it easy to integrate into existing servers. The suggested 250 W PSU requirement is modest. For applications that require only baseline compute and cannot accommodate an IGP form factor, the Tesla P4 still functions—but it offers no upgrade path. The RTX 5080 Mobile, despite being an IGP with portable-device-dependent outputs, is the only rational choice for new systems. Its 81st percentile ranking is matched by the Tesla P4, but that parity is misleading: the RTX 5080 Mobile sits among modern peers, while the Tesla P4’s percentile is a relic of a less demanding benchmark landscape. Pick the RTX 5080 Mobile for performance, features, and longevity. Pick the Tesla P4 only if the deployment environment forces its specific physical constraints.