NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D V2 vs NVIDIA Tesla K80 Comparison

The NVIDIA Tesla K80 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D V2 represent two distinct eras of GPU design. The K80 is a Kepler-based compute accelerator from 2014, built for scientific workloads, while the RTX 5090 D V2 is a Blackwell-based consumer flagship from 2025. The data in the database shows a stark generational gap in almost every measurable specification, yet the benchmark scores tell a more nuanced story when placed against their respective contemporaries.

FAQ

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

A: The Tesla K80 has an average benchmark score of 18,866, while the RTX 5090 D V2 has an average benchmark score of 16,504. The K80’s score is based on Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan tests, whereas the RTX 5090 D V2’s score comes from a single 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test.

Q: How does each GPU rank among all GPUs in the database?

A: The Tesla K80 sits at the 63rd percentile, while the RTX 5090 D V2 sits at the 59th percentile. Despite the K80 being older, its percentile rank is slightly higher.

Q: What are the nearest rivals for the Tesla K80?

A: The nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (average score 18,789, 0.4% difference), the NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation (18,954, -0.5%), the NVIDIA Quadro K6000 (19,030, -0.9%), and the AMD Radeon RX 6600 (19,036, -0.9%).

Q: What are the nearest rivals for the RTX 5090 D V2?

A: The nearest rivals are the NVIDIA T400 (16,508, 0% difference), the AMD Radeon PRO W7500 (16,415, 0.5%), the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (16,408, 0.6%), and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (16,361, 0.9%).

Q: What is the memory configuration of each GPU?

A: The Tesla K80 uses 12 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 240.6 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 5090 D V2 uses 24 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.34 TB/s bandwidth.

Q: What are the production statuses of these two GPUs?

A: The Tesla K80 is marked as end-of-life, while the RTX 5090 D V2 is marked as active. The K80 was released in 2014, and the RTX 5090 D V2 was released in 2025.

Architecture Differences

The Tesla K80 is built on the GK210 chip using the Kepler 2.0 architecture. It is fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC, with 7,100 million transistors packed into a 561 mm² die. The transistor density is 12.7 million per mm². The RTX 5090 D V2 uses the GB202 chip with the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It contains 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 122.9 million per mm². This represents a density increase of roughly tenfold.

The K80 has 2,496 shading units, 208 texture mapping units, and 48 render output units. It has no dedicated ray tracing cores and no tensor cores. The RTX 5090 D V2 packs 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. It includes 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores. These core counts indicate a massive shift in parallel compute capability, with the newer GPU offering nearly nine times the shading units.

Clock speeds differ substantially. The K80 runs at a base clock of 562 MHz with a boost clock of 824 MHz. Its memory runs at 1253 MHz, which translates to 5 Gbps effective. The RTX 5090 D V2 has a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz, with memory at 1750 MHz, translating to 28 Gbps effective. The boost clock alone is nearly three times higher on the newer card.

The memory subsystem shows a generational leap. The K80 uses 12 GB of GDDR5 with a 384-bit bus and 240.6 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 5090 D V2 uses 24 GB of GDDR7 with a 384-bit bus and 1.34 TB/s bandwidth. The bandwidth is over five times higher on the RTX 5090 D V2.

Power requirements also diverged. The K80 has a TDP of 300 W and uses a single 8-pin power connector with a suggested PSU of 700 W. The RTX 5090 D V2 has a TDP of 575 W, uses a single 16-pin connector, and requires a suggested PSU of 950 W. The bus interface changed from PCIe 3.0 x16 to PCIe 5.0 x16.

The K80 has no display outputs, reflecting its compute-only design. The RTX 5090 D V2 offers one HDMI 2.1b port and three DisplayPort 2.1b outputs. The API support also differs: the K80 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), 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.

The Verdict

The recorded data shows two GPUs aimed at entirely different workloads. The Tesla K80, despite its age, holds a higher percentile rank (63rd) than the RTX 5090 D V2 (59th). This is driven by its average benchmark score of 18,866 from Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan tests, which are compute-oriented workloads. The RTX 5090 D V2’s score of 16,504 comes from a single 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, which is a gaming-oriented DX12 benchmark. Directly comparing these two averages is misleading because they measure different types of performance.

For users seeking a legacy compute accelerator with strong OpenCL and Vulkan performance, the K80 remains viable. It sits within 1% of the Quadro K6000 and Radeon RX 6600, indicating it still trades blows with mid-range GPUs from later generations. However, it is end-of-life, has no display outputs, and its 12 GB GDDR5 bandwidth is a fraction of the newer card’s.

For users needing modern gaming features, ray tracing, tensor cores, and a 24 GB GDDR7 frame buffer, the RTX 5090 D V2 is the clear choice. It is active, supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, and carries display outputs. Its raw compute figures are far superior in FP32 and FP16, both at 104.8 TFLOPS, compared to the K80’s 4.113 TFLOPS FP32. The data indicates the RTX 5090 D V2 is the only option for current gaming or AI workloads.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every field. The process node shifts from 28 nm to 5 nm. Transistor count goes from 7,100 million to 92,200 million. Die size increases from 561 mm² to 750 mm². Transistor density rises from 12.7M per mm² to 122.9M per mm².

Base clock moves from 562 MHz to 2017 MHz. Boost clock moves from 824 MHz to 2407 MHz. Memory clock changes from 1253 MHz (5 Gbps effective) to 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). Memory size doubles from 12 GB to 24 GB. Memory type changes from GDDR5 to GDDR7. Bandwidth increases from 240.6 GB/s to 1.34 TB/s.

Shading units jump from 2,496 to 21,760. TMUs increase from 208 to 680. ROPs increase from 48 to 176. The RTX 5090 D V2 adds 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores, which the K80 lacks entirely. Pixel rate goes from 42.85 GPixel/s to 423.6 GPixel/s. Texture rate goes from 171.4 GTexel/s to 1,636.8 GTexel/s. FP32 performance leaps from 4.113 TFLOPS to 104.8 TFLOPS. The RTX 5090 D V2 also offers FP16 at 104.8 TFLOPS, while the K80 has no recorded FP16 figure.

TDP rises from 300 W to 575 W. Power connector changes from 1x 8-pin to 1x 16-pin. Suggested PSU increases from 700 W to 950 W. Bus interface moves from PCIe 3.0 x16 to PCIe 5.0 x16. Display outputs go from none to 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b. DirectX support moves from 12 (11_1) to 12 Ultimate (12_2). Vulkan support moves from 1.2.175 to 1.4.

Physical dimensions also differ. The K80 is 267 mm long (10.5 inches). The RTX 5090 D V2 is 304 mm long (12 inches), 137 mm tall (5.4 inches), and 48 mm wide (1.9 inches). The K80’s height and width are not recorded. Both are dual-slot cards.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database does not contain any direct head-to-head benchmark results between these two GPUs. The wins count for each is zero, and the head-to-head benchmark list is empty. Therefore, any comparison must rely on the individual benchmark scores each GPU has recorded.

The Tesla K80’s Geekbench OpenCL score is 18,620, and its Geekbench Vulkan score is 19,111. These are compute-heavy workloads that stress raw shader throughput and memory bandwidth. The average of these two scores is 18,866. Against its nearest rivals, the K80 trails the RTX 2070 by 0.4%, the RTX 2000 Ada Generation by 0.5%, the Quadro K6000 by 0.9%, and the Radeon RX 6600 by 0.9%. This places the K80 squarely in the middle of a pack of GPUs from 2016 to 2022, a remarkable outcome for a 2014 card in compute benchmarks.

The RTX 5090 D V2’s only recorded benchmark is 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, with a score of 16,504. This test emphasizes DX12 rendering, including ray tracing and mesh shaders. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA T400 (16,508, 0% difference), the AMD Radeon PRO W7500 (16,415, 0.5% ahead), the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (16,408, 0.6% ahead), and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (16,361, 0.9% ahead). The RTX 5090 D V2 essentially matches the T400, while trailing the W7500 and RTX PRO 6000 by less than one percentage point. This suggests the Steel Nomad test may be bottlenecked by something other than raw compute, given the RTX 5090 D V2’s vastly superior specifications.

The biggest wins for the K80 come from its percentile rank (63rd vs 59th) and its average benchmark score (18,866 vs 16,504). The biggest wins for the RTX 5090 D V2 come from every architectural specification: FP32 performance is over 25 times higher, memory bandwidth is over five times higher, and transistor count is over 13 times higher.

Where Each One Wins

The Tesla K80 wins in synthetic compute benchmarks that use OpenCL and Vulkan. Its Geekbench scores of 18,620 and 19,111 place it above the RTX 5090 D V2’s 3DMark score of 16,504. In the context of its peers, the K80 is competitive with the RTX 2070, which scores 18,789, and the Radeon RX 6600, which scores 19,036. This makes the K80 a reasonable choice for legacy compute tasks that rely on OpenCL or Vulkan compute shaders, particularly if the workload does not require modern features like ray tracing or tensor cores. The K80 also has a lower power draw at 300 W compared to 575 W, and it uses a standard 8-pin connector rather than a 16-pin connector, which may simplify integration into older systems. Its 12 GB GDDR5 memory, while slower, is still adequate for many scientific workloads that fit within that capacity.

The RTX 5090 D V2 wins in every modern performance metric. Its FP32 throughput of 104.8 TFLOPS dwarfs the K80’s 4.113 TFLOPS. Its FP16 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS is unmatched by the K80, which has no FP16 figure. The 24 GB GDDR7 memory with 1.34 TB/s bandwidth enables large datasets and high-resolution textures that the K80 cannot handle. The 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores open up hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI inference, features entirely absent from the K80. The RTX 5090 D V2 also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, which includes features like variable rate shading and mesh shaders, while the K80 only supports DirectX 12 (11_1).

For gaming, the RTX 5090 D V2 is the only viable choice, as the K80 has no display outputs. The RTX 5090 D V2’s display outputs (1x HDMI 2.1b, 3x DisplayPort 2.1b) and modern API support make it usable for current titles. For scientific computing, the choice depends on the workload. If the application uses OpenCL or Vulkan compute, the K80’s higher average benchmark score may be relevant. If the application uses CUDA, FP16, or tensor cores, the RTX 5090 D V2 is overwhelmingly superior. The RTX 5090 D V2 is also active in production, while the K80 is end-of-life, which affects long-term driver support and availability. The data clearly shows that the RTX 5090 D V2 is the forward-looking purchase, while the K80 remains a niche compute relic with competitive OpenCL and Vulkan scores.