NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB vs NVIDIA Tesla P4 Comparison

The Verdict

The NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB is the clear performance leader in this comparison, winning both recorded benchmark tests by margins of roughly 15%. For users who prioritize raw compute throughput in OpenCL and Vulkan workloads, the Quadro M6000 24 GB delivers a decisive advantage, while the Tesla P4 offers a dramatically more efficient footprint in a single-slot, low-power design. The data shows the Quadro M6000 24 GB sits at the 83rd percentile among all GPUs, while the Tesla P4 ranks at the 81st percentile, a modest gap in overall standing that belies the larger benchmark deltas.

The Quadro M6000 24 GB is the choice for workstations where maximum shading power, 24 GB of VRAM, and display outputs are essential. Its 3072 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 96 render output units feed a 384-bit memory bus that delivers 317.4 GB/s of bandwidth, making it suited for high-resolution rendering and large dataset manipulation. The Tesla P4, by contrast, is a compute-oriented accelerator with no display outputs, 8 GB of VRAM, and a 256-bit bus that caps bandwidth at 192.3 GB/s. It draws only 75 W and requires no power connectors, which makes it viable for dense server installations where the Quadro's 250 W TDP and dual-slot cooler would be impractical.

Benchmark results indicate the Quadro M6000 24 GB leads the Tesla P4 by 14.7% in Geekbench OpenCL and 15.2% in Geekbench Vulkan. These are substantial wins, but they come with a physical cost: the Quadro measures 267 mm in length and occupies dual slots, while the Tesla P4 fits in a single slot at 168 mm long. The Tesla P4 has no suggested PSU requirement beyond 250 W, whereas the Quadro asks for a 600 W power supply and a single 8-pin connector. For users with space and power constraints, the Tesla P4 remains a capable accelerator despite its lower scores, while the Quadro M6000 24 GB asserts itself as the higher-performing card for unrestricted environments.

Where Each One Wins

The Quadro M6000 24 GB wins outright in both recorded benchmark categories. In Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 40098 against the Tesla P4's 34947, a 14.7% advantage. In Geekbench Vulkan, the margin expands slightly to 15.2%, with the Quadro posting 46425 versus 40309. These wins stem from its larger silicon: the GM200 chip packs 8,000 million transistors on a 601 mm² die, compared to the GP104's 7,200 million transistors on 314 mm². The Quadro's 3072 shading units versus 2560 on the Tesla P4, combined with 192 TMUs against 160, and 96 ROPs against 64, translate directly into higher pixel and texture rates: 106.9 GPixel/s and 213.9 GTexel/s for the Quadro, versus 71.30 GPixel/s and 178.2 GTexel/s for the Tesla P4.

The Tesla P4 wins in efficiency and physical integration. Its 75 W TDP is one-third of the Quadro's 250 W, and its single-slot, 168 mm length allows for far greater installation density. It also features a newer 16 nm process node from TSMC versus the Quadro's 28 nm node, yielding a transistor density of 22.9M per mm² compared to 13.3M per mm². While the Tesla P4's FP16 throughput is listed at 89.12 GFLOPS with a 1:64 ratio, a figure that is negligible for practical half-precision work, its FP32 output of 5.704 TFLOPS remains respectable at 83.3% of the Quadro's 6.844 TFLOPS. For inference or lightweight compute tasks in power-constrained racks, the Tesla P4 offers a compelling balance of performance per watt, though the recorded benchmarks do not capture that efficiency directly.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different NVIDIA generations. The Quadro M6000 24 GB uses the GM200 chip built on Maxwell 2.0 architecture at a 28 nm process node, while the Tesla P4 employs the GP104 chip on the Pascal architecture at a 16 nm node. Both are fabricated by TSMC, but the process shrink gives the Tesla P4 a significant density advantage: 22.9M transistors per mm² versus 13.3M per mm². The Maxwell chip is physically larger at 601 mm² with 8,000 million transistors, whereas the Pascal chip measures 314 mm² with 7,200 million transistors.

Memory architecture differs substantially. The Quadro M6000 24 GB has 24 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, delivering 317.4 GB/s of bandwidth at an effective 6.6 Gbps. The Tesla P4 has 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 192.3 GB/s at 6 Gbps effective. This gives the Quadro a 65% bandwidth advantage, which is critical for memory-intensive workloads. Clock speeds are closer: the Quadro runs at 988 MHz base and 1114 MHz boost, while the Tesla P4 runs at 886 MHz base and 1114 MHz boost. The identical boost clock means the Quadro's performance edge comes primarily from more compute units and wider memory paths, not higher frequencies.

Feature sets diverge in practical ways. The Quadro M6000 24 GB provides 1x DVI and 4x DisplayPort 1.2 outputs, making it a display-capable workstation card. The Tesla P4 has no display outputs, reflecting its server-oriented role. Both support DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so API compatibility is equal. The Quadro's power delivery requires a single 8-pin connector and a 600 W suggested PSU, while the Tesla P4 draws power entirely from the PCIe slot with no connectors and a 250 W suggested PSU. The Tesla P4's 75 W TDP allows passive or low-profile cooling in dense servers, whereas the Quadro's dual-slot cooler is designed for standard workstation chassis.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in the recorded benchmarks?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB wins both recorded tests. It scores 40098 in Geekbench OpenCL and 46425 in Geekbench Vulkan, versus 34947 and 40309 for the NVIDIA Tesla P4, representing leads of 14.7% and 15.2%, respectively.

Q: What is the main advantage of the Tesla P4 over the Quadro M6000 24 GB?

A: The Tesla P4 draws only 75 W, fits in a single slot at 168 mm length, and requires no power connectors. This makes it far more suitable for dense server installations compared to the Quadro's 250 W TDP, dual-slot design, and 267 mm length.

Q: How do memory capacities and bandwidth compare?

A: The Quadro M6000 24 GB has 24 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus with 317.4 GB/s bandwidth. The Tesla P4 has 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 192.3 GB/s bandwidth. The Quadro offers 65% more bandwidth.

Q: Are there any display output differences?

A: Yes. The Quadro M6000 24 GB has 1x DVI and 4x DisplayPort 1.2 outputs. The Tesla P4 has no display outputs, making it strictly a compute accelerator.

Q: Which card has a higher transistor density?

A: The Tesla P4, built on a 16 nm process, has 22.9M transistors per mm². The Quadro M6000 24 GB, on a 28 nm process, has 13.3M per mm². Despite this, the Quadro has a larger overall transistor count at 8,000 million versus 7,200 million.

Q: Do both cards support the same graphics APIs?

A: Yes, both support DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The difference lies in compute resources and memory, not API feature levels.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The Geekbench OpenCL test shows a clear separation. The Quadro M6000 24 GB posts 40098 points, while the Tesla P4 scores 34947. The 14.7% delta reflects the Quadro's 20% more shading units (3072 versus 2560), 20% more TMUs (192 versus 160), and 50% more ROPs (96 versus 64). Memory bandwidth also plays a role: 317.4 GB/s versus 192.3 GB/s gives the Quadro a 65% advantage in moving data to and from the GPU cores. The Tesla P4's higher transistor density does not translate into a compute win here, as the Maxwell architecture's larger die and wider memory interface dominate the workload.

The Geekbench Vulkan test widens the gap slightly. The Quadro M6000 24 GB achieves 46425 points against the Tesla P4's 40309, a 15.2% lead. This suggests Vulkan workloads benefit even more from the Quadro's additional ROPs and texture units, as well as its higher pixel rate of 106.9 GPixel/s versus 71.30 GPixel/s. The Quadro's FP32 throughput of 6.844 TFLOPS versus 5.704 TFLOPS on the Tesla P4 provides a 20% raw compute advantage, which is consistent with the benchmark deltas observed. Both cards share a boost clock of 1114 MHz, so the performance difference is purely structural: more cores, more memory bandwidth, and wider buses on the Quadro.

In both tests, the Quadro M6000 24 GB's nearest rivals include the GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile, Quadro M6000, RTX 4070 SUPER, and RTX 4090 Mobile, with score deltas ranging from -0.9% to +0.1%. The Tesla P4's nearest rivals, including the GeForce RTX 4070, Radeon RX Vega 56, Radeon PRO W6400, and RTX 4080 Mobile, show a similar tight clustering with deltas from -1.3% to +1.3%. This indicates both cards sit near the center of their respective performance tiers, but the Quadro's tier is measurably higher, as confirmed by the 14.7% to 15.2% head-to-head margins.

Specification Differences

The table below lists only the fields where the two NVIDIA cards differ, based on the recorded data.

| Specification | NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB | NVIDIA Tesla P4 |

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

| Chip | GM200 | GP104 |

| Architecture | Maxwell 2.0 | Pascal |

| Generation | Quadro Maxwell (Mx000) | Tesla Pascal (Pxx) |

| Process Node | 28 nm | 16 nm |

| Transistors | 8,000 million | 7,200 million |

| Die Size | 601 mm² | 314 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 13.3M / mm² | 22.9M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 988 MHz | 886 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1653 MHz, 6.6 Gbps effective | 1502 MHz, 6 Gbps effective |

| Memory Size | 24 GB | 8 GB |

| Memory Bus Width | 384 bit | 256 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 317.4 GB/s | 192.3 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 3072 | 2560 |

| TMUs | 192 | 160 |

| ROPs | 96 | 64 |

| Pixel Rate | 106.9 GPixel/s | 71.30 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 213.9 GTexel/s | 178.2 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 6.844 TFLOPS | 5.704 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | null | 89.12 GFLOPS (1:64) |

| TDP | 250 W | 75 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | Single-slot |

| Power Connectors | 1x 8-pin | None |

| Suggested PSU | 600 W | 250 W |

| Display Outputs | 1x DVI, 4x DisplayPort 1.2 | No outputs |

| Length | 267 mm (10.5 inches) | 168 mm (6.6 inches) |

| Height | 111 mm (4.4 inches) | null |

| Release Date | 2016-03-04 | 2016-09-12 |

| Predecessor | Quadro Kepler | Tesla Maxwell |

| Successor | Quadro Pascal | Tesla Volta |

| Launch MSRP | 4,999 USD | null |

| Geekbench OpenCL | 40098 | 34947 |

| Geekbench Vulkan | 46425 | 40309 |

| Percentile vs All GPUs | 83 | 81 |

| Avg Benchmark Score | 43262 | 37628 |

Both cards share the same PCIe 3.0 x16 interface, GDDR5 memory type, DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 support, and an identical 1114 MHz boost clock. The Quadro M6000 24 GB was released earlier in March 2016, while the Tesla P4 followed in September 2016. Both are end-of-life products, with the Quadro's launch MSRP recorded at 4,999 USD and no MSRP listed for the Tesla P4. The Quadro's average benchmark score of 43262 places it 15.0% above the Tesla P4's 37628, confirming the performance hierarchy established in the head-to-head tests.