NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation vs NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded database contains a single head-to-head benchmark comparison between these two cards, and the result is decisive. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation scores 146,593 points, while the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79,396 points. That is an 84.6% advantage for the RTX 4000 Ada Generation, a massive margin that places the two cards in entirely different performance tiers.

The RTX 4000 Ada Generation also has a Geekbench Vulkan score of 123,842, which is not available for the Tesla P100 in the database. Its average benchmark score across all recorded tests is 135,218, compared to just 79,396 for the Tesla P100. When looking at the broader benchmark landscape, the RTX 4000 Ada Generation sits at the 95th percentile among all GPUs, while the Tesla P100 sits at the 92nd percentile. Despite the close percentile ranking, the actual score gap is substantial.

Examining the nearest rivals for each card helps contextualize these numbers. The RTX 4000 Ada Generation's closest competitor in the database is the NVIDIA A10M, which averages 135,230 points, a delta of 0%. The AMD Radeon PRO W6800 trails by just 0.1% at 135,396 points, and the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo is 0.4% behind at 135,774 points. The AMD Radeon PRO V620 is the farthest of the four at 136,472 points, a 0.9% gap. This tells us that the RTX 4000 Ada Generation is squarely in the upper mid-range workstation tier, trading blows with established professional cards.

The Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB, by contrast, has its own competitive cluster. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB scores 79,605 points, a 0.3% delta, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 scores 79,842 points, a 0.6% delta. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT is 0.6% ahead of the Tesla P100 in the database at 78,940 points, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X leads by 1.9% at 80,959 points. These are all relatively close scores, indicating that the Tesla P100 is competitive within its own generation but is simply outclassed by the newer Ada card.

The OpenCL result is the only direct comparison available, but it is sufficient to establish the hierarchy. The RTX 4000 Ada Generation delivers nearly double the raw compute throughput of the Tesla P100 in this workload, and the absence of a Vulkan score for the Tesla P100 reinforces that it was never designed for graphics-oriented APIs in the same way.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear conclusion: the NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation is the superior card in every measured dimension. Its 84.6% OpenCL lead is not a marginal improvement; it is a generational leap that fundamentally changes the types of workloads each card can handle. The RTX 4000 Ada Generation also carries a 95th percentile ranking among all GPUs, compared to the 92nd percentile for the Tesla P100, and it does so with a significantly more modern architecture.

The Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB remains a functional compute card, and its nearest rivals in the database show it still holds its own against cards like the GeForce RTX 5090 and the Radeon Pro Vega 64X. But those are different comparisons. When placed directly against the RTX 4000 Ada Generation, the Tesla P100 is simply outmatched. The only reason to choose the Tesla P100 would be if a specific legacy workload required its Pascal architecture or its HBM2 memory characteristics, though the database does not provide benchmark evidence that such workloads exist.

For any user selecting between these two based strictly on recorded performance, the RTX 4000 Ada Generation is the only rational choice. It wins the sole head-to-head benchmark, holds a higher average score, and posts a superior percentile ranking. The Tesla P100's end-of-life production status further reinforces that it is not the recommended pick for new deployments.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two cards is wide, reflecting their different release eras. The RTX 4000 Ada Generation is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, specifically the AD104 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The Tesla P100 uses the Pascal architecture with the GP100 chip, manufactured on a 16 nm process, also at TSMC. The process node difference alone, from 16 nm to 5 nm, explains much of the performance and efficiency disparity.

Transistor counts tell a similar story. The RTX 4000 Ada Generation packs 35,800 million transistors into a 294 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 121.8 million per square millimeter. The Tesla P100 has 15,300 million transistors spread across a much larger 610 mm² die, resulting in a density of just 25.1 million per square millimeter. The Ada chip achieves more than double the transistor count in less than half the die area, proof of the manufacturing advancement.

The RTX 4000 Ada Generation features 6,144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units. It also includes 48 ray tracing cores and 192 tensor cores, reflecting its modern feature set. The Tesla P100 has 3,584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units, but it has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores. The Pascal architecture predates both of those hardware accelerators, which are now standard in NVIDIA's workstation lineup.

Memory architectures also diverge sharply. The RTX 4000 Ada Generation uses 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, delivering 360.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Tesla P100 uses 12 GB of HBM2 memory on a 3072-bit bus, delivering 549.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The Tesla P100 actually has higher memory bandwidth, but the RTX 4000 Ada Generation compensates with a much faster core and more modern memory technology. Clock speeds favor the Ada card as well: the RTX 4000 Ada Generation runs at a base of 1500 MHz and a boost of 2175 MHz, while the Tesla P100 runs at 1190 MHz base and 1329 MHz boost.

Specification Differences

Several specification fields differ between the two cards, and these are worth enumerating directly. The RTX 4000 Ada Generation belongs to the GeForce 40-series and the Workstation Ada generation, while the Tesla P100 belongs to the Tesla Pascal generation. The process nodes are 5 nm versus 16 nm, and the transistor counts are 35,800 million versus 15,300 million. Die sizes are 294 mm² versus 610 mm², and transistor densities are 121.8M per mm² versus 25.1M per mm².

Memory specifications differ in capacity, type, bus width, and bandwidth: 20 GB GDDR6 on 160-bit with 360.0 GB/s versus 12 GB HBM2 on 3072-bit with 549.1 GB/s. The RTX 4000 Ada Generation has 6,144 shading units, 192 TMUs, 64 ROPs, 48 RT cores, and 192 tensor cores. The Tesla P100 has 3,584 shading units, 224 TMUs, 96 ROPs, and no RT or tensor cores. Pixel rates are 139.2 GPixel/s versus 127.6 GPixel/s, and texture rates are 417.6 GTexel/s versus 297.7 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 26.73 TFLOPS versus 9.526 TFLOPS, and FP16 performance is 26.73 TFLOPS (1:1) versus 19.05 TFLOPS (2:1).

Power and physical specifications also diverge. The RTX 4000 Ada Generation has a 130 W TDP, is single-slot, uses a 1x 16-pin power connector, and recommends a 300 W PSU. The Tesla P100 has a 250 W TDP, is dual-slot, uses a 1x 8-pin connector, and recommends a 600 W PSU. The RTX 4000 Ada Generation uses PCIe 4.0 x16 and has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, while the Tesla P100 uses PCIe 3.0 x16 and has no display outputs. The RTX 4000 Ada Generation measures 245 mm in length, while the Tesla P100 measures 267 mm. The RTX 4000 Ada Generation supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, while the Tesla P100 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The RTX 4000 Ada Generation is active in production, while the Tesla P100 is end-of-life.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in OpenCL performance?

A: The NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation scores 146,593 points in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 84.6% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB's score of 79,396 points.

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 RTX 4000 Ada Generation includes 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores.

Q: What is the memory capacity and type for each card?

A: The RTX 4000 Ada Generation has 20 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the Tesla P100 has 12 GB of HBM2 memory. The Tesla P100 has a wider 3072-bit bus and higher bandwidth at 549.1 GB/s, compared to the RTX 4000 Ada Generation's 160-bit bus and 360.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The RTX 4000 Ada Generation has a 130 W TDP and recommends a 300 W PSU, while the Tesla P100 has a 250 W TDP and recommends a 600 W PSU.

Q: Which card has display outputs?

A: The RTX 4000 Ada Generation has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. The Tesla P100 has no display outputs, as it is a compute-focused card.

Q: What is the production status of each card?

A: The RTX 4000 Ada Generation is listed as active in production, while the Tesla P100 is end-of-life.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 4000 Ada Generation wins in the vast majority of measurable categories. It dominates in raw compute performance, as evidenced by the 84.6% OpenCL lead. It wins on FP32 throughput (26.73 TFLOPS versus 9.526 TFLOPS), shading units (6,144 versus 3,584), pixel rate (139.2 GPixel/s versus 127.6 GPixel/s), and texture rate (417.6 GTexel/s versus 297.7 GTexel/s). It also wins on power efficiency, with a 130 W TDP versus 250 W, and on physical footprint, being single-slot versus dual-slot. Its modern feature set, including ray tracing and tensor cores, gives it capabilities the Pascal card simply lacks.

The Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB wins in a few narrow areas. It has higher memory bandwidth at 549.1 GB/s versus 360.0 GB/s, a wider memory bus at 3072-bit versus 160-bit, and more texture mapping units (224 versus 192) and raster output units (96 versus 64). Its FP16 performance of 19.05 TFLOPS, while lower than the RTX 4000 Ada Generation's 26.73 TFLOPS, is achieved at a 2:1 ratio, meaning it can process half-precision data at twice the rate of FP32. This could be relevant for certain legacy scientific workloads that relied on Pascal's FP16 capabilities. The Tesla P100 also has a larger die at 610 mm², though this is a consequence of its older manufacturing process rather than an advantage.

In practical terms, the RTX 4000 Ada Generation is the clear choice for modern workloads, including graphics, ray tracing, AI inference, and general compute. The Tesla P100 retains niche relevance for environments that specifically require HBM2 memory or Pascal-generation compatibility, but the benchmark data shows no scenario where it outperforms the RTX 4000 Ada Generation in a head-to-head test. The database records exactly one head-to-head benchmark, and the RTX 4000 Ada Generation wins it by a landslide. That single result, combined with the architectural and specification advantages, makes the verdict unambiguous.