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

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data presents a clear split between these two NVIDIA workstation cards, though the comparison is limited to a single shared test. The NVIDIA RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation wins the only head-to-head benchmark recorded, the Geekbench OpenCL test, by a substantial 57.2% margin. This is the only category where both cards have recorded scores, so the win tally stands at 1 for the Ada card and 0 for the Pascal card.

The RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation also holds a second benchmark result, a Geekbench Vulkan score of 109364, which the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB lacks entirely. That absence is meaningful for users targeting Vulkan workloads, as the database contains no comparable data point for the older card. The Ada card's average benchmark score across its two tests is 117088, placing it in the 95th percentile of all GPUs tracked in the database. The Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB, with only its OpenCL score of 79396, sits at a 92nd percentile ranking.

Where each card wins is therefore less about workload diversity and more about generational positioning. The RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation dominates the recorded compute metrics, while the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB has no recorded test where it comes out ahead. In practical terms, the data shows the Ada card winning the OpenCL compute race outright, and the Tesla card lacking any countervailing benchmark victory in the database.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two cards spans five years of NVIDIA GPU design. The RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation uses the AD104 chip built on Ada Lovelace architecture, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It packs 35,800 million transistors onto a 294 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 121.8 million per square millimeter. The Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB, by contrast, uses the GP100 chip on the older Pascal architecture, built on a 16 nm process, also at TSMC. It contains 15,300 million transistors spread across a much larger 610 mm² die, giving a density of just 25.1 million per square millimeter.

The memory subsystems diverge sharply. The Ada card comes with 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, delivering 280.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Pascal card has 12 GB of HBM2 memory on a 3072-bit bus, achieving 549.1 GB/s. The older card actually provides nearly double the memory bandwidth, a direct result of its wide HBM2 interface, but the Ada card counters with nearly double the capacity.

Compute resources tell a story of architectural evolution. The RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation features 6144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, 64 ROPs, 48 ray tracing cores, and 192 tensor cores. The Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB has 3584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, but no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores whatsoever. The Pascal card's higher TMU and ROP counts reflect its different design priorities, while the Ada card's dedicated ray tracing and tensor hardware points toward modern graphics and AI workloads.

Clock speeds and power draw also differ. The Ada card runs at a 720 MHz base clock and 1560 MHz boost, while the Pascal card runs at 1190 MHz base and 1329 MHz boost. Despite lower clocks, the Ada card's FP32 throughput reaches 19.17 TFLOPS versus 9.526 TFLOPS for the Pascal card. In FP16, the Ada card again hits 19.17 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio, while the Pascal card reaches 19.05 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio. The Ada card does this within a 70 W TDP, compared to 250 W for the Pascal card.

The Pascal card supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The Ada card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, giving it the more current API feature set.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only recorded head-to-head benchmark is Geekbench OpenCL, and it is not close. The RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation scores 124812, while the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79396. That works out to a 57.2% advantage for the Ada card, a massive gap in compute performance.

Context from the nearest rivals reinforces this result. The RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation's average benchmark score of 117088 sits just 0.3% below the NVIDIA GB10 (117393), 1.6% below the AMD Radeon PRO W7700 (118976), 2.4% above the NVIDIA Tesla V100 SXM2 16 GB (114395), and 2.8% above the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile (113944). The card is tightly clustered with these peers, trading places within a few percentage points.

The Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB's average score of 79396 places it 0.3% below the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79605), 0.6% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 (79842), 0.6% above the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78940), and 1.9% below the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X (80959). The Pascal card is similarly grouped with its own set of rivals, but that cluster sits roughly 32% below the Ada card's cluster in raw average score.

The Vulkan result for the Ada card, 109364, further widens the functional gap. There is no corresponding Vulkan score for the Tesla card in the database, meaning users cannot even verify how it would perform in that API. The absence of data is itself a limitation for anyone considering the Pascal card for modern cross-API workloads.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation has an average benchmark score of 117088, while the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB has an average score of 79396.

Q: How large is the OpenCL performance gap between the two cards?

A: The RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation scores 124812 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 57.2% higher than the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB's score of 79396.

Q: Does the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB support ray tracing or tensor cores?

A: No, the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores, whereas the RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation has 48 ray tracing cores and 192 tensor cores.

Q: What are the memory capacity and type differences?

A: The RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation has 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus with 280.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB has 12 GB of HBM2 memory on a 3072-bit bus with 549.1 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card draws less power?

A: The RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation has a 70 W TDP with no power connectors, while the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB has a 250 W TDP and requires a single 8-pin power connector.

Q: What is the production status of each card?

A: The RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation is listed as Active, while the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB is listed as End-of-life.

The Verdict

The data points to a decisive generational shift. The RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation leads by 57.2% in the only shared benchmark, and its average score of 117088 is roughly 47.5% higher than the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB's 79396. The Ada card also brings modern features the Pascal card simply lacks: ray tracing cores, tensor cores, DirectX 12 Ultimate support, Vulkan 1.4, and a 5 nm process with 35,800 million transistors versus 15,300 million.

Users who need compute performance in OpenCL workloads should choose the RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation without hesitation. The data shows it winning the only head-to-head test by a wide margin, and its additional Vulkan score of 109364 indicates broader API coverage. The card also offers 20 GB of memory versus 12 GB, which matters for larger datasets, even though the Tesla card's HBM2 bandwidth of 549.1 GB/s exceeds the Ada card's 280.0 GB/s.

Users who need maximum memory bandwidth might still consider the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB, since its 549.1 GB/s figure is the higher of the two. The card also has a higher pixel rate at 127.6 GPixel/s versus 99.84 GPixel/s, and a higher texture rate at 297.7 GTexel/s versus 299.5 GTexel/s, though the texture difference is negligible. However, the Tesla card is end-of-life, requires a 600 W suggested power supply versus 250 W, and has no display outputs at all.

The RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation is the better choice for virtually every recorded metric that matters for modern workloads. The Pascal card's only advantages in the database are memory bandwidth, pixel rate, and its launch MSRP of 4,599 USD. For any user prioritizing compute speed, API support, power efficiency, or longevity, the Ada card is the clear winner in this comparison.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation | NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB |

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

| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Pascal |

| Chip | AD104 | GP100 |

| Process Node | 5 nm | 16 nm |

| Transistors | 35,800 million | 15,300 million |

| Die Size | 294 mm² | 610 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 121.8M / mm² | 25.1M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 720 MHz | 1190 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1560 MHz | 1329 MHz |

| Memory Size | 20 GB | 12 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR6 | HBM2 |

| Memory Bus Width | 160 bit | 3072 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 280.0 GB/s | 549.1 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 6144 | 3584 |

| TMUs | 192 | 224 |

| ROPs | 64 | 96 |

| RT Cores | 48 | None |

| Tensor Cores | 192 | None |

| Pixel Rate | 99.84 GPixel/s | 127.6 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 299.5 GTexel/s | 297.7 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 19.17 TFLOPS | 9.526 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 19.17 TFLOPS (1:1) | 19.05 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 70 W | 250 W |

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

| Suggested PSU | 250 W | 600 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 4.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | 4x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a | No outputs |

| DirectX Support | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | 12 (12_1) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.4 | 1.3 |

| OpenGL Support | 4.6 | 4.6 |

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

| Production Status | Active | End-of-life |

| Release Date | 2023-03-20 | 2016-06-19 |

| Predecessor | Workstation Ampere | Tesla Maxwell |

| Successor | Blackwell PRO W | Tesla Volta |

| Launch MSRP | Not provided | 4,599 USD |