NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D V2 vs NVIDIA Tesla K40c Comparison

The NVIDIA Tesla K40c and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D V2 represent two extremes of NVIDIA’s hardware evolution, separated by more than a decade of architectural progress. The K40c, a Kepler-era compute accelerator from 2013, was designed for high-precision scientific workloads, while the RTX 5090 D V2 is a Blackwell 2.0 consumer flagship aimed at real-time rendering and AI. Benchmark data shows that these cards do not share a single common test, with the K40c scoring 17,468 in Geekbench OpenCL and the RTX 5090 D V2 scoring 16,504 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. Neither card has a direct head-to-head benchmark result, and both hold similar overall percentile ranks (61st for the K40c, 59th for the RTX 5090 D V2), indicating that each excels in its respective domain rather than one being categorically superior. The following analysis breaks down their architectural differences, individual strengths, and specification gaps using only the data provided.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher transistor count?

A: The RTX 5090 D V2 packs 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die, whereas the Tesla K40c has 7,080 million transistors on a 561 mm² die. This represents a massive generational leap in compute resources.

Q: How do the memory subsystems differ?

A: The K40c uses 12 GB of GDDR5 with a 384-bit bus and 288.4 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 5090 D V2 doubles capacity to 24 GB of GDDR7 on the same 384-bit bus but achieves 1.34 TB/s bandwidth, a 4.6x improvement in raw throughput.

Q: What is the performance ranking relative to other GPUs for each card?

A: The K40c’s Geekbench OpenCL score of 17,468 places it within 1% of the AMD Radeon Pro 460 (17,509), Pro 560 (17,551), and Radeon 780M (17,588), with a -0.2% to -0.7% delta. The RTX 5090 D V2’s Steel Nomad score of 16,504 is effectively tied with the NVIDIA T400 (16,508), and slightly ahead of the AMD Radeon PRO W7500 (16,415) by 0.5%.

Q: Which card is built on a more advanced manufacturing process?

A: The RTX 5090 D V2 uses a 5 nm process from TSMC, while the K40c uses a 28 nm process from the same foundry. The transistor density jumps from 12.6M / mm² on the K40c to 122.9M / mm² on the RTX 5090 D V2.

Q: Do these cards support the same API feature levels?

A: No. The K40c supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175. The RTX 5090 D V2 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, adding hardware ray tracing and advanced DX12 features.

Q: What are the clock speeds and power requirements?

A: The K40c runs at a 745 MHz base and 876 MHz boost, drawing 245 W with a 550 W suggested PSU. The RTX 5090 D V2 boosts to 2407 MHz from a 2017 MHz base, requiring 575 W and a 950 W suggested PSU.

Architecture Differences

The Tesla K40c is built on the Kepler architecture, specifically the GK180 chip, using a 28 nm process at TSMC. Its die contains 7,080 million transistors across 561 mm², yielding a transistor density of just 12.6M / mm². Kepler was designed for compute-heavy tasks like double-precision floating point, but the K40c lacks dedicated RT or tensor cores, reflecting a pre-AI era of GPU design. Its memory is 12 GB of GDDR5 running at 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective) on a 384-bit bus, providing 288.4 GB/s of bandwidth.

The RTX 5090 D V2, in contrast, is a Blackwell 2.0 part built on the GB202 chip using a 5 nm process. It packs 92,200 million transistors into a 750 mm² die, achieving a density of 122.9M / mm² — nearly ten times that of the K40c. This card includes 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI workloads. Its memory subsystem is 24 GB of GDDR7 at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective) on the same 384-bit bus, but with a bandwidth of 1.34 TB/s, a 4.6x increase over the K40c.

The compute units also differ drastically. The K40c has 2880 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, while the RTX 5090 D V2 features 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. The RTX 5090 D V2’s FP32 throughput is 104.8 TFLOPS, a 20.8x jump from the K40c’s 5.046 TFLOPS. The RTX 5090 D V2 also offers FP16 at 104.8 TFLOPS (1:1), whereas the K40c has no listed FP16 capability. Pixel and texture rates follow suit: 423.6 GPixel/s and 1,636.8 GTexel/s for the RTX 5090 D V2 versus 52.56 GPixel/s and 210.2 GTexel/s for the K40c.

Where Each One Wins

The Tesla K40c wins in legacy compute and compatibility scenarios. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 17,468 places it in the 61st percentile of all GPUs, with its nearest rivals being the AMD Radeon Pro 460 (17,509, -0.2%) and Radeon Pro 560 (17,551, -0.5%). This suggests that for OpenCL-based scientific or simulation tasks, the K40c remains competitive with much newer mid-range parts, despite its age. Its 12 GB of GDDR5 and 288.4 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for datasets that fit within that capacity, and its 245 W TDP with a 550 W suggested PSU makes it a lower-power option for compute nodes. The K40c’s dual-slot design and 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin power connectors are also more compatible with older server infrastructure.

The RTX 5090 D V2 wins in every modern performance metric. Its Steel Nomad DX12 score of 16,504, while in the 59th percentile, is within 0.6% of the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (16,408) and 0.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (16,361). For gaming, ray tracing, and AI inference, the RTX 5090 D V2 is the clear choice: its 21,760 shading units, 170 RT cores, and 680 tensor cores provide the hardware foundation for these workloads. The 24 GB GDDR7 memory and 1.34 TB/s bandwidth enable large textures and models, while the 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 and FP16 performance handles both rasterization and neural network computations. The card’s active production status and 2025 release date also mean driver and software support are current.

Specification Differences

| Specification | Tesla K40c | RTX 5090 D V2 |

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

| Architecture | Kepler | Blackwell 2.0 |

| Process Node | 28 nm | 5 nm |

| Transistors | 7,080 million | 92,200 million |

| Die Size | 561 mm² | 750 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 12.6M / mm² | 122.9M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 745 MHz | 2017 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 876 MHz | 2407 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1502 MHz (6 Gbps) | 1750 MHz (28 Gbps) |

| Memory Size | 12 GB | 24 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR7 |

| Memory Bus | 384 bit | 384 bit |

| Bandwidth | 288.4 GB/s | 1.34 TB/s |

| Shading Units | 2880 | 21760 |

| TMUs | 240 | 680 |

| ROPs | 48 | 176 |

| RT Cores | None | 170 |

| Tensor Cores | None | 680 |

| FP32 | 5.046 TFLOPS | 104.8 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | None | 104.8 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 245 W | 575 W |

| Power Connectors | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin | 1x 16-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 550 W | 950 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 5.0 x16 |

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

| DirectX | 12 (11_0) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| Vulkan | 1.2.175 | 1.4 |

| Length | 267 mm (10.5 in) | 304 mm (12 in) |

| Release Date | 2013-10-07 | 2025-08-14 |

| Production Status | End-of-life | Active |

| Launch MSRP | 7,699 USD | 2,299 USD |

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

There are no direct head-to-head benchmark results between the Tesla K40c and the RTX 5090 D V2, as each was tested under different workloads and scoring systems. The K40c’s sole benchmark is Geekbench OpenCL, where it scored 17,468, placing it 0.2% behind the AMD Radeon Pro 460 (17,509) and 0.5% behind the Radeon Pro 560 (17,551). Its closest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, scored 17,639, which is 1% higher. This indicates that the K40c’s compute performance in OpenCL is still within striking distance of modern entry-level and integrated GPUs, despite being end-of-life.

The RTX 5090 D V2’s only benchmark is 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, where it scored 16,504. This result is virtually identical to the NVIDIA T400 (16,508, 0% delta) and slightly ahead of the AMD Radeon PRO W7500 (16,415, 0.5% delta). The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell trails by 0.6% (16,408), and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is 0.9% behind (16,361). These margins are tight, suggesting that the RTX 5090 D V2’s DX12 rasterization performance is comparable to professional workstation cards and a mid-range gaming GPU from a previous generation, which is surprising given its massive compute advantage.

The lack of overlapping benchmarks makes a direct performance comparison impossible from the data. However, the architectural differences are stark: the RTX 5090 D V2 has 7.6x more shading units, 20.8x higher FP32 throughput, and 4.6x more memory bandwidth than the K40c. The K40c’s 61st percentile rank versus the RTX 5090 D V2’s 59th percentile suggests that, within their respective test suites, each card performs admirably against its peers. The K40c’s OpenCL score is buoyed by its compute-focused design, while the RTX 5090 D V2’s Steel Nomad score reflects its gaming and DX12 capabilities. For a user choosing between them, the decision hinges on workload: the K40c is a legacy compute workhorse, while the RTX 5090 D V2 is a modern multi-purpose GPU with ray tracing and AI features.