NVIDIA L4 vs NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct benchmark comparison recorded between these two accelerators is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is decisive. The NVIDIA L4 scores 140,838 points, while the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79,396 points. That is a 77.4% advantage for the L4, a commanding lead that places the two cards in completely different performance tiers despite both being professional compute accelerators.

The L4's average benchmark score across all recorded tests is 131,072, while the Tesla P100's average is 79,396. The L4 sits at the 95th percentile among all GPUs in the database, whereas the Tesla P100 sits at the 92nd percentile. While both are high-performing parts, the percentile gap reflects the generational leap: the L4 is not merely faster, it is positioned closer to the top of the entire GPU landscape.

Looking at the nearest rivals in the database provides additional context. The L4's average score of 131,072 places it within 0.7% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti (131,938), and it trails the NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation (135,218) by 3.1%, the NVIDIA A10M (135,230) by 3.1%, and the AMD Radeon PRO W6800 (135,396) by 3.2%. These are narrow margins, indicating the L4 competes with some of the strongest accelerators available. The Tesla P100, by contrast, sits within 0.3% of the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605), within 0.6% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 (79,842), and is 0.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940). Its closest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X (80,959), beats it by 1.9%.

The head-to-head delta of 77.4% is not a small edge; it is a near-doubling of compute throughput in the single recorded test. No benchmark in the database shows the Tesla P100 winning against the L4. The wins tally is 1 for the L4 and 0 for the Tesla P100.

Where Each One Wins

The L4 wins in every measurable category that the database records. In OpenCL compute performance, it is 77.4% ahead. In aggregate benchmark scoring, it holds a 131,072 versus 79,396 advantage. The L4 also carries a higher percentile ranking, 95th versus 92nd, meaning it outperforms a larger share of all GPUs in the database.

The Tesla P100 does not win any recorded benchmark. However, its profile suggests a different era of compute workloads. It is an end-of-life product from 2016, built for a time when double-precision or HBM2 memory characteristics may have been more relevant. But the database does not record any test where those advantages translate into a win. In raw throughput, the L4 is simply the faster card.

For tasks that rely on OpenCL compute, the L4 is the clear pick. For tasks that rely on Vulkan, the L4 also holds the edge, scoring 121,306 in Geekbench Vulkan, a test the Tesla P100 does not appear in. The Tesla P100's only recorded benchmark is OpenCL, and it loses that decisively.

The use-case split is therefore not balanced. The L4 is the superior choice for any workload represented in the database. The Tesla P100's strengths, if any exist in legacy or specialized applications, are not captured by the recorded data.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA L4 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, using the AD104 chip, while the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB uses the Pascal architecture with the GP100 chip. This is a generational gap of roughly seven years in design philosophy. The L4 is manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC, whereas the Tesla P100 uses a 16 nm process, also at TSMC. The transistor counts reflect this: the L4 packs 35,800 million transistors into a 294 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 121.8 million per square millimeter. The Tesla P100 contains 15,300 million transistors on a much larger 610 mm² die, giving a density of just 25.1 million per square millimeter. The L4 is more than four times denser, a direct consequence of the newer process node.

The L4 features 7,424 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output units. It also includes 60 ray tracing cores and 240 tensor cores. The Tesla P100 has 3,584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, but it has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores. The absence of these accelerators on the Pascal part is a major architectural split: the L4 can handle ray tracing and tensor workloads natively, while the Tesla P100 cannot.

The L4's clock behavior also differs. It has a base clock of 795 MHz and a boost clock of 2,040 MHz, while the Tesla P100 has a base of 1,190 MHz and a boost of 1,329 MHz. The L4 has a lower base clock but a much higher boost ceiling, allowing it to scale aggressively under load.

The API support tells a similar story. The L4 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The Tesla P100 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The L4 has a more modern feature set in both DirectX and Vulkan.

Specification Differences

Memory is a major point of divergence. The NVIDIA L4 has 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 300.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 has 12 GB of HBM2 memory on a 3072-bit bus, delivering 549.1 GB/s. The Tesla P100 has nearly double the bandwidth despite half the capacity, a hallmark of HBM2's wide interface. However, the L4's higher capacity may be more useful for large models or datasets that fit within a single GPU.

The L4's memory clock is listed at 1,563 MHz with 12.5 Gbps effective, while the Tesla P100's memory runs at 715 MHz with 1,430 Mbps effective. The L4's effective data rate is far higher, but the Tesla P100 compensates with its bus width.

Compute throughput numbers show the L4's dominance. The L4 delivers 30.29 TFLOPS of FP32 and 30.29 TFLOPS of FP16 at a 1:1 ratio. The Tesla P100 delivers 9.526 TFLOPS of FP32 and 19.05 TFLOPS of FP16 at a 2:1 ratio. The L4 is over three times faster in FP32 and about 59% faster in FP16, despite the Tesla P100's 2:1 FP16 advantage. Pixel and texture rates also favor the L4: 163.2 GPixel/s versus 127.6 GPixel/s, and 489.6 GTexel/s versus 297.7 GTexel/s.

Power and physical design differ sharply. The L4 has a TDP of 72 W, is single-slot, and requires no power connectors, with a suggested PSU of 250 W. The Tesla P100 has a TDP of 250 W, is dual-slot, requires one 8-pin connector, and suggests a 600 W PSU. The L4 delivers far more performance at less than a third of the power draw. The L4 is also shorter at 169 mm (6.7 inches) versus 267 mm (10.5 inches) for the Tesla P100. Both cards have no display outputs.

The bus interface differs as well: the L4 uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the Tesla P100 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Production status also differs, with the L4 listed as Active and the Tesla P100 as End-of-life. The Tesla P100 has a recorded launch MSRP of 4,599 USD, while the L4 has no listed launch MSRP.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in OpenCL compute benchmarks?

A: The NVIDIA L4 scores 140,838 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79,396. The L4 leads by 77.4%.

Q: Does the Tesla P100 win any benchmark against the L4?

A: No. The database records 1 win for the L4 and 0 wins for the Tesla P100 in head-to-head tests.

Q: How much memory does each card have?

A: The L4 has 24 GB of GDDR6, while the Tesla P100 has 12 GB of HBM2. The Tesla P100 has higher bandwidth at 549.1 GB/s versus 300.1 GB/s.

Q: Does the Tesla P100 support ray tracing or tensor cores?

A: No. The Tesla P100 has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores, while the L4 includes 60 RT cores and 240 tensor cores.

Q: What is the power consumption difference?

A: The L4 has a TDP of 72 W and needs no power connectors, while the Tesla P100 has a TDP of 250 W and requires one 8-pin connector.

Q: What is the production status of each card?

A: The L4 is listed as Active, while the Tesla P100 is End-of-life. The Tesla P100 has a launch MSRP of 4,599 USD; the L4 has no recorded launch MSRP.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous. The NVIDIA L4 is the superior accelerator in every recorded benchmark and specification category that matters for modern compute workloads. It delivers 77.4% higher OpenCL performance, triple the FP32 throughput, nearly double the FP16 throughput, and more than triple the memory capacity, all while drawing 72 W compared to 250 W. The L4 also adds ray tracing and tensor cores, supports newer APIs, uses a denser 5 nm process, and is an active product rather than an end-of-life one.

The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB retains one notable advantage: memory bandwidth. Its HBM2 memory provides 549.1 GB/s versus the L4's 300.1 GB/s, which could matter for bandwidth-bound workloads that fit within its 12 GB capacity. It also has a wider 3072-bit memory bus. But the database records no benchmark where this translates into a win.

For anyone choosing between these two cards based on the recorded data, the L4 is the clear pick. It is faster, more efficient, more modern, and better equipped for the feature set of current software. The Tesla P100 is a legacy part from 2016, and its performance tier, as shown by the 92nd percentile and 79,396 average score, places it far behind the L4's 95th percentile and 131,072 average. The only reason to select the Tesla P100 would be a specific requirement for its high-bandwidth HBM2 memory or its 3072-bit bus, but even then, the L4's overall compute dominance makes it the safer recommendation.