NVIDIA L40 vs NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB Comparison

The NVIDIA L40 and NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB represent two very different eras of NVIDIA server hardware. The L40, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, is a modern compute accelerator with a 99th percentile ranking among all GPUs. The Tesla P100, a Pascal-generation workhorse from 2016, still holds a respectable 92nd percentile ranking, but the benchmark data shows a decisive generational gap. In the only shared benchmark, Geekbench OpenCL, the L40 scores 330,926 against the P100’s 79,605, a 315.7% advantage. The L40 wins every measured category, and the database records one win for the L40 and zero for the P100.

The Verdict

For any workload where raw compute throughput, memory capacity, and modern API support matter, the NVIDIA L40 is the clear choice. Its average benchmark score of 284,111 places it far above the Tesla P100’s 79,605. The L40’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation (average score 287,237, only 1.1% higher) and the NVIDIA L40S (295,763, 3.9% higher), meaning the L40 sits in a competitive tier of current-generation accelerators. The Tesla P100, by contrast, ranks near the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 (79,842, only 0.3% higher) and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940, 0.8% lower), indicating it now performs at the level of consumer or older professional parts.

The L40 is the only rational selection for new deployments. Its 48 GB of GDDR6 memory with 864.0 GB/s bandwidth dwarfs the P100’s 16 GB of HBM2 at 732.2 GB/s. The L40 also delivers 90.52 TFLOPS FP32 performance versus 9.526 TFLOPS for the P100, a 9.5x gap in raw single-precision compute. The P100 does offer FP16 at 19.05 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio, but the L40 matches its FP32 rate at 90.52 TFLOPS FP16 with a 1:1 ratio, so the L40 is also far ahead in half-precision work.

The Tesla P100 retains relevance only in legacy environments where software is locked to Pascal and where the 16 GB memory pool is sufficient. Its 16 nm process node, 15,300 million transistors, and PCIe 3.0 interface are all dated. The L40 uses a 5 nm process, 76,300 million transistors, and PCIe 4.0. The P100 also has no display outputs, while the L40 provides four DisplayPort 1.4a connections, making the L40 suitable for visualization tasks that the P100 cannot handle.

In short, the data supports one verdict: the L40 is overwhelmingly superior in every measurable benchmark, and the P100’s only advantage is its lower launch MSRP of 5,699 USD, which is not a performance metric and does not change the outcome for current workloads.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the NVIDIA L40 than the Tesla P100 in OpenCL?

A: The L40 scores 330,926 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the P100 scores 79,605. This is a 315.7% higher score for the L40, making it more than four times faster in this benchmark.

Q: What is the memory difference between the two cards?

A: The L40 has 48 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 864.0 GB/s bandwidth. The P100 has 16 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, delivering 732.2 GB/s bandwidth. The L40 has three times the capacity and 18% more bandwidth.

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

A: No. The P100’s specifications list no RT cores and no tensor cores. The L40 includes 142 RT cores and 568 tensor cores, enabling ray-traced rendering and AI acceleration.

Q: Which card has a higher transistor count?

A: The L40 uses 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die with a 5 nm process. The P100 uses 15,300 million transistors on a 610 mm² die with a 16 nm process. The L40 has roughly 5x more transistors despite a similar die size.

Q: Can the Tesla P100 output video?

A: No. The P100 has no display outputs. The L40 has four DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, so it can drive displays directly.

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

A: The L40 has a 300 W TDP with a 700 W suggested PSU. The P100 has a 250 W TDP with a 600 W suggested PSU. The L40 uses 50 W more power but delivers far higher performance per watt based on the benchmark scores.

Architecture Differences

The L40 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, using the AD102 chip. The P100 uses the Pascal architecture with the GP100 chip. These are separated by two full generations of NVIDIA GPU design. The L40 belongs to the Server Ada generation, while the P100 belongs to the Tesla Pascal generation.

The manufacturing process is a major differentiator. The L40 uses a 5 nm process at TSMC, while the P100 uses a 16 nm process, also at TSMC. This leads to a dramatic difference in transistor density. The L40 packs 125.3 million transistors per square millimeter, while the P100 achieves 25.1 million per square millimeter. The L40’s die measures 609 mm², nearly identical to the P100’s 610 mm², but the L40 fits 76,300 million transistors versus 15,300 million. The newer process enables quintuple the transistor count on the same physical footprint.

The L40 includes hardware features that did not exist in Pascal. It has 142 RT cores for ray tracing and 568 tensor cores for AI workloads. The P100 has neither, listing null values for both. This means the L40 can accelerate ray-traced rendering and matrix math operations, while the P100 relies on traditional shader compute.

The memory architecture also differs fundamentally. The L40 uses GDDR6 memory with a 384-bit bus, while the P100 uses HBM2 with a 4096-bit bus. The P100’s wider bus gives it a respectable 732.2 GB/s bandwidth, but the L40’s faster GDDR6 clocks achieve 864.0 GB/s. The L40’s memory runs at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective), while the P100’s runs at 715 MHz (1430 Mbps effective). The L40’s higher effective speed compensates for the narrower bus.

API support is also split. The L40 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The P100 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The L40’s DirectX 12 Ultimate support enables hardware ray tracing and mesh shaders, features unavailable on the P100.

The P100 is the predecessor to the Tesla Volta generation, and its successor is Tesla Volta. The L40’s predecessor is Server Ampere, and its successor is Server Hopper. Both cards are marked as end-of-life in production status, so neither is actively manufactured.

Specification Differences

The core counts show the scale of the L40’s advantage. The L40 has 18,176 shading units, 568 TMUs, and 192 ROPs. The P100 has 3,584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The L40 has more than 5x the shading units, 2.5x the TMUs, and exactly 2x the ROPs.

Clock speeds tell a mixed story. The L40 has a lower base clock at 735 MHz but a much higher boost clock at 2490 MHz. The P100 has a higher base clock at 1190 MHz but a boost clock of only 1329 MHz. The L40’s boost clock is nearly double the P100’s, which contributes to its massive performance lead.

Pixel and texture rates reflect the combined effect of clocks and core counts. The L40 achieves 478.1 GPixel/s pixel rate and 1,414.3 GTexel/s texture rate. The P100 achieves 127.6 GPixel/s and 297.7 GTexel/s. The L40 is 3.7x faster in pixel throughput and 4.7x faster in texture throughput.

FP32 compute is 90.52 TFLOPS for the L40 versus 9.526 TFLOPS for the P100. FP16 compute is 90.52 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio) for the L40 versus 19.05 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio) for the P100. The L40’s FP16 performance equals its FP32 performance, while the P100’s FP16 is only double its FP32 rate.

Power and connectivity differ. The L40 uses a 300 W TDP with a 1x 16-pin power connector and a 700 W suggested PSU. The P100 uses a 250 W TDP with a 1x 8-pin connector and a 600 W suggested PSU. The L40 uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the P100 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. The L40 has four DisplayPort 1.4a outputs; the P100 has none.

Physical dimensions are similar. Both cards are 267 mm (10.5 inches) long and dual-slot. The L40 is 111 mm (4.4 inches) tall, while the P100’s height is not recorded.

Release dates are far apart. The L40 launched on 2022-10-12, while the P100 launched on 2016-06-19, a gap of over six years. The P100 has a recorded launch MSRP of 5,699 USD, while the L40 has no MSRP recorded.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains exactly one shared benchmark between the two cards: Geekbench OpenCL. The L40 scores 330,926, and the P100 scores 79,605. The delta is 315.7% in favor of the L40, meaning the L40 delivers more than four times the OpenCL performance of the P100.

This single result is decisive. The L40’s average benchmark score across all recorded tests is 284,111, while the P100’s average is 79,605. The L40’s OpenCL score is above its own average, while the P100’s OpenCL score is exactly its average because it has only one benchmark recorded. The L40 also has a Geekbench Vulkan score of 237,295, a test the P100 does not appear in.

The L40’s nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation, which scores 287,237 on average, only 1.1% higher than the L40. The NVIDIA L40S scores 295,763, 3.9% higher. The AMD Instinct MI300X scores 317,994, 10.7% higher. The NVIDIA L20 scores 251,147, which is 13.1% lower than the L40. This places the L40 in a tight cluster of high-end accelerators, all within a 15% band.

The P100’s nearest rivals are much closer. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79,396, just 0.3% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 scores 79,842, 0.3% higher. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78,940, 0.8% lower. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scores 80,959, 1.7% higher. The P100 is surrounded by consumer and older professional parts, none of which approach the L40’s performance class.

The wins tally is one for the L40 and zero for the P100. There is no benchmark where the P100 beats the L40. The only shared test, OpenCL, is a landslide. The L40’s Vulkan score of 237,295 would rank it even higher, but the P100 has no comparable result.

Where Each One Wins

The L40 wins in every workload category implied by the data. Its 48 GB memory capacity suits large model training, rendering scenes with heavy texture data, and data-parallel compute tasks. Its 864.0 GB/s bandwidth supports high-throughput data movement. Its 90.52 TFLOPS FP32 and FP16 performance handles both scientific computing and AI inference. The 142 RT cores and 568 tensor cores enable ray-traced rendering and tensor operations that the P100 cannot accelerate at all. The four DisplayPort outputs allow direct display connectivity, making the L40 suitable for visualization workstations as well as compute servers.

The L40’s 5 nm process and PCIe 4.0 interface reduce latency and improve data transfer rates relative to the P100’s PCIe 3.0. The L40 also supports Vulkan 1.4 and DirectX 12 Ultimate, opening modern graphics APIs that the P100’s DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3 cannot use. For any new software stack, the L40 is the only compatible choice.

The Tesla P100’s only recorded wins are historical. It has no RT cores, no tensor cores, no display outputs, and only 16 GB of memory. Its 19.05 TFLOPS FP16 performance is higher than its FP32, but the L40’s 90.52 TFLOPS FP16 is 4.7x higher. The P100’s 4096-bit memory bus is wide, but the effective bandwidth of 732.2 GB/s is lower than the L40’s 864.0 GB/s. The P100’s 250 W TDP is lower, but the performance per watt is drastically lower given the 315.7% OpenCL delta.

The P100 might still serve in a legacy production environment where the software stack was written specifically for Pascal and where 16 GB is sufficient. Its 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs shows it is not obsolete in absolute terms. However, against the L40, it is outclassed in every single metric. The database shows one winner and no ties. For new purchases or upgrades, the L40 is the only data-supported choice. For existing P100 deployments, the data suggests replacing them with L40-class hardware to achieve modern performance levels.