NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation vs NVIDIA Tesla T4 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a decisive sweep for the NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation over the NVIDIA Tesla T4 in every benchmark measured. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4000 Ada posts a score of 146,593 against the T4's 61,276, a lead of 139.2%. That is not a marginal gap; it is a generational leap in raw compute throughput, reflecting the massive architectural and process advantages held by the newer card.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 4000 Ada again dominates with 123,842 points versus the T4's 72,190, a delta of 71.6%. While the percentage lead is smaller than in OpenCL, it remains a commanding margin. The Vulkan result is notable because it shows that the RTX 4000 Ada's advantage is not limited to a single API; it extends across both major cross-platform graphics and compute interfaces.

The RTX 4000 Ada also holds a substantial lead in the aggregate benchmark score. Its average benchmark score is 135,218, while the T4 sits at 66,733. That places the RTX 4000 Ada at the 95th percentile among all GPUs in the database, while the T4 sits at the 90th percentile. The percentile difference may look modest, but the raw score gap is over double. The T4's 90th percentile ranking is a reflection of the broad field of older and less capable accelerators still in the database, not of its competitiveness with the RTX 4000 Ada.

Looking at the nearest rivals for each card reinforces the picture. The RTX 4000 Ada's closest competitors are the NVIDIA A10M at 135,230 (0% delta), the AMD Radeon PRO W6800 at 135,396 (-0.1%), the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo at 135,774 (-0.4%), and the AMD Radeon PRO V620 at 136,472 (-0.9%). The RTX 4000 Ada's average score of 135,218 is essentially tied with the A10M, and it trails the fastest of those rivals, the Radeon PRO V620, by less than 1%. This places the RTX 4000 Ada in a tightly contested cluster of high-end workstation GPUs where the differences between products are within single-digit percentages.

The Tesla T4, by contrast, sits in a much lower performance tier. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon VII at 66,004 (1.1% ahead of the T4), the NVIDIA Tesla P40 at 65,095 (2.5% ahead), the AMD Radeon Instinct MI25 at 68,562 (-2.7%), and the Intel Arc A770 at 68,809 (-3%). The T4's average score of 66,733 is within a few percentage points of all of these, meaning it is competitive with its direct peers, but those peers are all firmly in the mid-range or older-generation category. None of them approach the performance level of the RTX 4000 Ada.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 4000 Ada Generation wins on every benchmark recorded in the database, so the use-case split is heavily one-sided. In OpenCL workloads, which often include general-purpose compute, scientific simulation, and rendering tasks, the RTX 4000 Ada's 139.2% advantage over the T4 means tasks that take an hour on the T4 would take roughly 42 minutes on the RTX 4000 Ada, assuming linear scaling. That is a substantial productivity gain for any workstation running compute-heavy applications.

In Vulkan workloads, which are more common in real-time graphics, game engines, and some machine learning inference paths, the RTX 4000 Ada leads by 71.6%. This smaller but still decisive margin suggests that the T4's Turing architecture, despite its age, retains some capability in graphics-oriented tasks relative to its compute performance. The T4's Vulkan score of 72,190 is actually higher than its OpenCL score of 61,276, indicating that the T4 is relatively stronger in graphics workloads than in raw compute. Still, it cannot close the gap with a modern Ada Lovelace GPU.

The T4's only advantages are not measured in the benchmarks but are visible in the specifications. It draws 70 W versus the RTX 4000 Ada's 130 W, making it a lower-power accelerator for dense server deployments where thermal and power budgets are tight. It also has no display outputs, which is typical for a dedicated server inference card, whereas the RTX 4000 Ada includes four DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, making it usable as a workstation graphics card. The T4 is also shorter at 168 mm (6.6 inches) compared to the RTX 4000 Ada's 245 mm (9.6 inches), which could matter in small-form-factor chassis.

For anyone needing maximum compute and graphics performance, the RTX 4000 Ada is the clear choice. For a low-power inference accelerator in a power-constrained server, the T4 retains a niche, but its performance deficit is severe.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is wide. The RTX 4000 Ada is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using a 5 nm process at TSMC, while the Tesla T4 uses the Turing architecture on a 12 nm process, also at TSMC. The process node difference alone explains much of the performance and efficiency gap.

The RTX 4000 Ada packs 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 121.8 million per square millimeter. The T4, by contrast, has 13,600 million transistors on a much larger 545 mm² die, giving it a density of just 25.0 million per square millimeter. The RTX 4000 Ada crams nearly five times as many transistors per area, which directly translates into higher compute throughput and better power efficiency.

The chip designs also differ substantially. The RTX 4000 Ada uses the AD104 chip, while the T4 uses the TU104 chip. The RTX 4000 Ada has 6,144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. The T4 has 2,560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The RTX 4000 Ada has 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores, while the T4 has 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores. The T4's higher tensor core count is notable, but the RTX 4000 Ada's tensor cores are far more capable per-core due to the newer architecture.

Memory configurations also differ. The RTX 4000 Ada has 20 GB of GDDR6 on a 160-bit bus, delivering 360.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The T4 has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 320.0 GB/s. Despite the narrower bus, the RTX 4000 Ada achieves higher bandwidth thanks to faster memory clocks: 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) versus the T4's 1250 MHz (10 Gbps effective). The RTX 4000 Ada also has more memory capacity, which matters for large models and datasets.

Clock speeds are another major differentiator. The RTX 4000 Ada has a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 2175 MHz. The T4 has a base clock of just 585 MHz and a boost of 1590 MHz. The RTX 4000 Ada's higher clocks, combined with its larger shader count, produce an FP32 throughput of 26.73 TFLOPS versus the T4's 8.141 TFLOPS. In FP16, the RTX 4000 Ada achieves 26.73 TFLOPS (1:1), while the T4 achieves 16.28 TFLOPS (2:1). The T4's FP16 advantage over its own FP32 is due to the 2:1 ratio, but the RTX 4000 Ada's 1:1 FP16 still exceeds it.

Other spec differences: the RTX 4000 Ada uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the T4 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. The RTX 4000 Ada has four DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, while the T4 has no outputs. The RTX 4000 Ada requires a 16-pin power connector and a 300 W suggested PSU, while the T4 has no external power connector and a 250 W suggested PSU. Both cards are single-slot. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation scores 146,593 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 139.2% higher than the Tesla T4's 61,276.

Q: Does the Tesla T4 have any performance advantage?

A: No, the T4 loses both recorded benchmarks. It trails by 139.2% in OpenCL and by 71.6% in Vulkan.

Q: What is the memory configuration of each card?

A: The RTX 4000 Ada has 20 GB of GDDR6 on a 160-bit bus with 360.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Tesla T4 has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 320.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card has higher power consumption?

A: The RTX 4000 Ada has a TDP of 130 W, while the Tesla T4 has a TDP of 70 W. The T4 draws less power, but it also delivers far less performance.

Q: Are both cards single-slot?

A: Yes, both are single-slot cards. The RTX 4000 Ada measures 245 mm (9.6 inches) in length, while the T4 is 168 mm (6.6 inches).

Q: Do both cards support the same APIs?

A: Yes, both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous. The NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation is the superior GPU by a wide margin in every benchmark recorded. It more than doubles the Tesla T4's average benchmark score, leads by 139.2% in OpenCL, and leads by 71.6% in Vulkan. It also offers more memory, higher bandwidth, faster clocks, and a more modern architecture.

Who should pick the RTX 4000 Ada? Anyone running compute-heavy or graphics-heavy workloads on a workstation. Its 26.73 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, 20 GB of memory, and four DisplayPort outputs make it a versatile tool for rendering, simulation, and even AI inference. Its 130 W TDP is manageable for a single-slot card, and its 5 nm process ensures excellent efficiency.

Who should pick the Tesla T4? The T4 is now an end-of-life product, but it still has a role in power-constrained server deployments. Its 70 W TDP, lack of external power connectors, and short 168 mm length make it easy to fit into dense servers. For workloads that are not compute-intensive, such as lightweight inference or video transcoding, the T4 can still serve. But the performance gap is so large that any new deployment should strongly favor the RTX 4000 Ada, unless power constraints are absolute.

The RTX 4000 Ada sits at the 95th percentile among all GPUs in the database, while the T4 sits at the 90th. That 5-point percentile gap understates the true difference in capability. The RTX 4000 Ada is a modern high-end workstation accelerator; the T4 is an older, lower-power inference card. There is no benchmark in the database where the T4 wins.