NVIDIA L4 vs NVIDIA Tesla V100S PCIe 32 GB Comparison

The NVIDIA Tesla V100S PCIe 32 GB and NVIDIA L4 represent two distinct eras of server acceleration, separated by a generation gap in architecture and design philosophy. The data shows a clear, singular benchmark comparison, but the underlying specifications reveal a more nuanced story about how each card approaches compute. The V100S, an end-of-life Volta product, dominates in the one available OpenCL test, yet the L4, built on modern Ada Lovelace, counters with dramatically higher efficiency and newer feature support. This analysis breaks down what the numbers mean for real-world deployment.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct benchmark result available is Geekbench OpenCL, where the Tesla V100S achieves a score of 194,415 against the L4's 140,838. This represents a 38% advantage for the V100S, a substantial margin that underscores its raw compute dominance in this legacy API test. The V100S's victory here is not marginal; it is a decisive win that places it firmly above its rival in this specific workload.

However, context matters. The V100S's score of 194,415 places it in the 98th percentile of all GPUs, while the L4's score of 140,838 lands it in the 95th percentile. While both are high performers, the V100S's percentile ranking is noticeably higher, confirming its position as a top-tier compute part even in its twilight years. The L4, despite its lower score, is still within striking distance of many powerful cards, as its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti, scores 131,938, a mere 0.7% behind the L4. This indicates the L4 is not a weak performer; it is simply outclassed by the V100S in this particular test.

The delta between the two cards is stark, but it is essential to note that this is a single data point. The Geekbench OpenCL test may favor the V100S's massive memory bandwidth and HBM2 architecture, which are designed for high-throughput compute. The L4, with its GDDR6 memory and lower bandwidth, may be optimized for different workloads where its newer architecture and features shine. The benchmark results indicate a clear winner in this test, but they do not tell the whole story of each card's capabilities.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two GPUs is profound. The V100S is built on the Volta architecture, using a 12 nm process at TSMC, with a massive 815 mm² die housing 21,100 million transistors. This results in a transistor density of 25.9 million per mm², a figure that reflects the older, less dense manufacturing process. In contrast, the L4 uses the Ada Lovelace architecture on a current-generation 5 nm process, packing 35,800 million transistors into a much smaller 294 mm² die. This yields a transistor density of 121.8 million per mm², a 4.7x improvement over the V100S, showcasing the immense efficiency gains of the newer node.

The chip designs are fundamentally different. The V100S features 5,120 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 128 ROPs, while the L4 has 7,424 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. Despite having fewer shading units, the L4 achieves a higher FP32 throughput of 30.29 TFLOPS compared to the V100S's 16.35 TFLOPS. This is a direct result of the Ada Lovelace architecture's higher clock speeds, with the L4 boosting to 2040 MHz versus the V100S's 1597 MHz. The L4's FP16 performance is identical to its FP32 at 30.29 TFLOPS, indicating a 1:1 ratio, while the V100S's FP16 is double its FP32 at 32.71 TFLOPS, using a 2:1 ratio.

Memory architecture also diverges sharply. The V100S uses 32 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, delivering a staggering 1.13 TB/s of bandwidth. The L4 uses 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 300.1 GB/s. This is a 3.8x difference in bandwidth, which explains the V100S's dominance in memory-intensive tasks. The L4 compensates with newer features, including 60 RT cores and 240 tensor cores, while the V100S has 640 tensor cores but no dedicated RT cores. The L4 also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the V100S is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1), indicating a newer feature set for graphics and ray tracing.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher raw compute score in the available benchmark?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla V100S PCIe 32 GB scores 194,415 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 38% higher than the NVIDIA L4's score of 140,838.

Q: How do the two cards compare in terms of power consumption?

A: The V100S has a TDP of 250 W and requires two 8-pin power connectors, while the L4 has a much lower TDP of 72 W and requires no power connectors, drawing power solely from the PCIe slot.

Q: What are the memory specifications for each card?

A: The V100S has 32 GB of HBM2 memory with a 4096-bit bus and 1.13 TB/s bandwidth, whereas the L4 has 24 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 192-bit bus and 300.1 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has a higher boost clock speed?

A: The NVIDIA L4 has a boost clock of 2040 MHz, significantly higher than the Tesla V100S's boost clock of 1597 MHz.

Q: What is the production status of each card?

A: The Tesla V100S is listed as end-of-life, while the NVIDIA L4 is currently active in production.

Q: Which card supports ray tracing hardware?

A: The NVIDIA L4 includes 60 RT cores for ray tracing, while the Tesla V100S does not have any RT cores listed in its specifications.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every key specification. The process node is a major differentiator, with the V100S using a 12 nm process and the L4 using a 5 nm process. Transistor counts also vary, with the V100S at 21,100 million and the L4 at 35,800 million. Die size is significantly larger on the V100S at 815 mm² versus the L4's 294 mm². The base clock for the V100S is 1245 MHz, while the L4 starts at a lower 795 MHz, but the L4's boost clock of 2040 MHz far exceeds the V100S's 1597 MHz. Memory clocks also differ, with the V100S running at 1107 MHz and the L4 at 1563 MHz.

The shading unit count is higher on the L4 (7,424) than the V100S (5,120), but the V100S has more TMUs (320 vs. 240) and ROPs (128 vs. 80). The L4 has 60 RT cores, which the V100S lacks entirely, and 240 tensor cores compared to the V100S's 640. Pixel and texture rates are slightly higher on the V100S, with 204.4 GPixel/s and 511.0 GTexel/s, respectively, versus the L4's 163.2 GPixel/s and 489.6 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is nearly double on the L4 at 30.29 TFLOPS versus the V100S's 16.35 TFLOPS, but FP16 performance is higher on the V100S at 32.71 TFLOPS versus the L4's 30.29 TFLOPS.

The TDP is a stark contrast, with the V100S drawing 250 W and the L4 only 72 W. The physical form factor also differs, with the V100S being a dual-slot card requiring 2x 8-pin connectors, while the L4 is a single-slot card with no power connectors. The bus interface is PCIe 3.0 x16 on the V100S and PCIe 4.0 x16 on the L4. The V100S supports DirectX 12 (12_1), while the L4 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2). The L4 has specific dimensions of 169 mm in length and 56 mm in height, while the V100S does not have listed dimensions. Release dates also differ, with the V100S launching in 2019 and the L4 in 2023.

Where Each One Wins

The Tesla V100S wins decisively in raw compute throughput for legacy OpenCL workloads, as evidenced by its 38% higher benchmark score. Its massive 1.13 TB/s memory bandwidth and 32 GB of HBM2 make it an ideal candidate for tasks that require moving large datasets, such as high-performance computing simulations and large-scale data analytics. The V100S also holds an advantage in texture and pixel fill rates, with 511.0 GTexel/s and 204.4 GPixel/s respectively, which can benefit certain rendering pipelines. Its 640 tensor cores provide substantial matrix math capabilities, even if they are from an older generation.

The L4 wins on efficiency and modern features. Its 72 W TDP is a fraction of the V100S's 250 W, making it vastly more power-efficient for data center deployments where energy costs are a concern. The L4's 2040 MHz boost clock and 30.29 TFLOPS FP32 performance give it a significant edge in compute tasks that are not memory-bandwidth limited. The inclusion of 60 RT cores enables hardware-accelerated ray tracing, a feature entirely absent on the V100S, making the L4 suitable for graphics-intensive workloads like rendering and visualization. The L4's support for DirectX 12 Ultimate and PCIe 4.0 also ensures better compatibility with modern software and systems.

The Verdict

The data presents a clear choice based on workload priorities. The NVIDIA Tesla V100S PCIe 32 GB is the superior choice for applications that demand maximum memory bandwidth and high FP16 throughput. Its 38% lead in Geekbench OpenCL and its 1.13 TB/s bandwidth make it a formidable tool for scientific computing and large-scale matrix operations. Its 98th percentile ranking indicates it remains a top-tier performer despite its end-of-life status. Users with legacy codebases optimized for Volta architecture may find it irreplaceable.

The NVIDIA L4 is the better option for modern, power-constrained environments that require the latest features. Its 72 W TDP and single-slot design make it ideal for dense server configurations. The L4's higher FP32 performance, ray tracing capabilities, and support for DirectX 12 Ultimate position it as a versatile accelerator for AI inference, graphics rendering, and edge computing. While it lags in raw memory bandwidth, its 5 nm process and architectural efficiency offer a forward-looking solution. The choice hinges on whether raw, memory-bound compute (V100S) or efficiency and modern feature support (L4) is the priority.