NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 vs NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB Comparison

NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 and NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB are both end-of-life workstation accelerators, but they target entirely different workloads, and the benchmark data reflects that split. The Tesla P100 holds a single benchmark victory, but the Quadro RTX 6000 counters with a far broader feature set and substantially higher raw compute figures, making the choice dependent on whether the task demands rendering features or pure compute throughput.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only shared benchmark between the two cards is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is a clear, if narrow, win for the Tesla P100. The P100 scores 79,605 points, while the Quadro RTX 6000 scores 74,179 points. This represents a 6.8% deficit for the Quadro, meaning the Pascal-based card is the faster of the two in this specific OpenCL compute test. Given that the P100's average benchmark score is identical to its OpenCL result (79,605), this single test fully defines its performance profile in this database.

The Quadro RTX 6000, however, posts a much higher average benchmark score of 101,872, because it also has a Geekbench Vulkan result of 129,564 points. The P100 has no Vulkan score listed, which is a significant omission given that its API support tops out at Vulkan 1.3, whereas the Quadro supports Vulkan 1.4. In the OpenCL test, the P100's victory is decisive but not overwhelming; the 6.8% delta is smaller than the performance gaps seen between the Quadro and its own closest rivals. For context, the Quadro RTX 6000 sits 4.5% above the AMD Radeon RX 7900M and 4.9% above the AMD Radeon Pro VII, but it trails the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo by 4.6% and the AMD Radeon Pro W6600X by 5.1%.

The P100's nearest rivals paint a different picture of its standing. It is virtually tied with the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB, leading by just 0.3%, and it also edges out the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT by 0.8%. However, it falls 0.3% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 and 1.7% behind the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X. These tight deltas suggest the P100 is highly competitive within its compute-focused niche, but the Quadro's additional Vulkan benchmark gives it a much higher overall average score, placing it in the 94th percentile of all GPUs compared to the P100's 92nd percentile.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear split: choose the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB if the workload is exclusively OpenCL compute and raw FP32 throughput is the priority. The P100 wins the only head-to-head test, and its 9.526 TFLOPS FP32 performance, while lower than the Quadro's 16.31 TFLOPS, is delivered on a simpler architecture without the overhead of real-time ray tracing hardware. For users running legacy compute kernels that rely on OpenCL, the P100's 6.8% advantage is a measurable, real-world benefit.

Choose the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 for everything else. The Quadro does lose the OpenCL test, but it more than compensates with a Vulkan score of 129,564, which is 74.6% higher than its own OpenCL result and 62.7% higher than the P100's best score. The Quadro also offers 24 GB of GDDR6 memory versus 16 GB of HBM2, supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) against the P100's DirectX 12 (12_1), and includes 72 RT cores and 576 Tensor Cores that the P100 lacks entirely. Its higher FP32 throughput (16.31 TFLOPS vs 9.526 TFLOPS) and FP16 throughput (32.62 TFLOPS vs 19.05 TFLOPS) suggest it would dominate any compute task that can leverage its features, even if the available OpenCL data does not show it. The P100 is a dedicated compute card with no display outputs; the Quadro has four DisplayPort 1.4a outputs and a USB Type-C port, making it the only viable choice for any visualization or interactive workload.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins the Geekbench OpenCL benchmark?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB wins with a score of 79,605, compared to the Quadro RTX 6000's 74,179, a margin of 6.8%.

Q: Does the Quadro RTX 6000 have any benchmark where it beats the Tesla P100?

A: Yes, the Quadro RTX 6000 has a Geekbench Vulkan score of 129,564, while the Tesla P100 has no Vulkan benchmark score listed in the data.

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

A: The Quadro RTX 6000 has an average benchmark score of 101,872, which is higher than the Tesla P100's average of 79,605.

Q: How do the two cards compare in terms of memory bandwidth?

A: The Tesla P100 has a higher memory bandwidth of 732.2 GB/s, while the Quadro RTX 6000 provides 672.0 GB/s.

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The Quadro RTX 6000 has 4,608 shading units, which is significantly more than the Tesla P100's 3,584 shading units.

Q: What is the launch price for each card?

A: The Quadro RTX 6000 has a launch MSRP of 6,299 USD, and the Tesla P100 has a launch MSRP of 5,699 USD.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ substantially in memory configuration. The Quadro RTX 6000 uses 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Tesla P100 uses 16 GB of HBM2 memory on a far wider 4096-bit bus, achieving 732.2 GB/s of bandwidth. Despite having less capacity, the P100 has 8.9% higher memory bandwidth.

Clock speeds also diverge. The Quadro RTX 6000 runs at a base clock of 1440 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz, while the Tesla P100 runs at 1190 MHz base and 1329 MHz boost. The memory clocks are even more distinct: the Quadro's memory runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective), while the P100's memory runs at 715 MHz (1430 Mbps effective).

The compute units differ in count but not in ROPs. The Quadro RTX 6000 has 4,608 shading units, 288 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The Tesla P100 has 3,584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and the same 96 ROPs. The power connectors differ as well: the Quadro requires a 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin configuration, while the P100 uses a single 8-pin connector. Both have a suggested PSU of 600 W and are dual-slot cards with a length of 267 mm. The P100 has no display outputs, whereas the Quadro RTX 6000 offers 4x DisplayPort 1.4a and 1x USB Type-C.

Architecture Differences

The architectures are from different generations. The Quadro RTX 6000 uses the TU102 chip on NVIDIA's Turing architecture, built on a 12 nm process at TSMC. The Tesla P100 uses the GP100 chip on the older Pascal architecture, built on a 16 nm process, also at TSMC. The transistor counts are close but not equal: the TU102 packs 18,600 million transistors on a 754 mm² die, while the GP100 contains 15,300 million transistors on a 610 mm² die. Interestingly, the transistor density is slightly higher on the older Pascal chip at 25.1M / mm², compared to Turing's 24.7M / mm².

The most significant architectural difference is the presence of dedicated acceleration hardware on the Quadro RTX 6000. It includes 72 RT cores for real-time ray tracing and 576 Tensor Cores for AI workloads, neither of which exists on the Tesla P100. This is reflected in the feature set: the Quadro supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the P100 is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. Both support OpenGL 4.6.

The FP32 and FP16 throughput numbers reveal raw compute capability. The Quadro RTX 6000 delivers 16.31 TFLOPS FP32 and 32.62 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1), while the Tesla P100 delivers 9.526 TFLOPS FP32 and 19.05 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1). The Quadro is 71.2% ahead in FP32 and 71.2% ahead in FP16. The pixel and texture rates follow suit: the Quadro achieves 169.9 GPixel/s and 509.8 GTexel/s, versus the P100's 127.6 GPixel/s and 297.7 GTexel/s.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB wins in the narrow category of pure OpenCL compute performance. Its 6.8% lead in that specific benchmark, combined with higher memory bandwidth (732.2 GB/s) and a simpler architecture without RT or Tensor Cores, makes it suited for high-throughput numerical workloads that are optimized for OpenCL and do not require any display output. Its 16 GB HBM2 memory, while smaller, offers superior bandwidth for memory-bound kernels. The P100's launch MSRP of 5,699 USD is lower, and its power draw is slightly lower at 250 W versus 260 W, making it a leaner option for dedicated compute nodes.

The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 wins in every other measurable category. Its Vulkan score of 129,564 is the standout performance figure, and its average benchmark score of 101,872 is 28% higher than the P100's 79,605. The Quadro's 24 GB memory capacity is 50% larger, which is critical for large datasets and rendering scenes. Its 4,608 shading units, 72 RT cores, and 576 Tensor Cores enable features the P100 cannot match: real-time ray tracing, AI-accelerated denoising, and DirectX 12 Ultimate support. The inclusion of display outputs makes it the only option for any workstation task that requires a monitor. For workloads spanning rendering, simulation, or AI inference, the data strongly favors the Quadro RTX 6000, despite its loss in the single OpenCL test.