NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation vs NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB Comparison

The NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB represent two very different eras of GPU design. The RTX 5000 Ada is a modern workstation card built on Ada Lovelace, while the Tesla P100 is a legacy compute accelerator from the Pascal generation. The recorded data shows a decisive performance gap, but the two cards also serve distinct use cases based on architecture, memory, and feature support.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 5000 Ada Generation wins in every recorded benchmark category. The database includes a single head-to-head benchmark, Geekbench OpenCL, where the RTX 5000 Ada scores 175,286 against the Tesla P100’s 79,605, a delta of 120.2%. This is not a marginal lead; it is a doubling of compute throughput in a general-purpose workload. For any task that relies on raw shader performance, OpenCL compute, or modern API features, the RTX 5000 Ada is the clear choice.

The Tesla P100’s advantages are not in performance but in historical context and specific deployment scenarios. It is an end-of-life product with no display outputs, meaning it was designed purely for server-side compute, not desktop graphics. Its 16 GB of HBM2 memory with a 4096-bit bus delivers 732.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is higher than the RTX 5000 Ada’s 576.0 GB/s. In memory-bandwidth-bound workloads that do not require the RTX 5000 Ada’s newer features, the P100 could theoretically hold its own, but the benchmark data does not support that in OpenCL. The P100’s only recorded score is 79,605, placing it at the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX 5000 Ada sits at the 98th percentile. For modern software stacks, the RTX 5000 Ada’s support for DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, and ray tracing cores gives it a functional edge that the P100 cannot match.

Where the P100 wins is in legacy compatibility. It supports PCIe 3.0 x16, which is still common in older servers, and its 250 W TDP matches the RTX 5000 Ada’s, so power delivery is not a differentiator. It also has a launch MSRP of 5,699 USD, which is the only price data available, but that does not reflect current market value. The P100’s success is limited to environments where software is written for Pascal’s compute capabilities and where the RTX 5000 Ada’s newer features are irrelevant.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison in the database is Geekbench OpenCL. The RTX 5000 Ada Generation scores 175,286, while the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB scores 79,605. The delta is 120.2%, meaning the RTX 5000 Ada is more than twice as fast in this test. This is driven by fundamental differences in hardware: the RTX 5000 Ada has 12,800 shading units, 400 texture mapping units, and 176 render output units, compared to the P100’s 3,584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The FP32 throughput is 65.28 TFLOPS versus 9.526 TFLOPS, a 6.85x difference that explains the OpenCL result.

The RTX 5000 Ada’s boost clock is 2550 MHz versus the P100’s 1329 MHz, and while the P100 has a slightly higher base clock (1190 MHz versus 1155 MHz), the boost clock advantage is substantial. The P100 does have a higher memory bandwidth at 732.2 GB/s, but in OpenCL, the compute throughput dominates. The RTX 5000 Ada also benefits from a 5 nm process node versus the P100’s 16 nm node, which allows for 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die, compared to 15,300 million transistors on a 610 mm² die. The transistor density is 125.3M per mm² versus 25.1M per mm², a 5x improvement.

In terms of nearest rivals, the RTX 5000 Ada’s average benchmark score is 184,664, which is 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA A100 SXM4 80 GB (183,725) and 1.4% ahead of the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell (182,109). It is 3.7% ahead of the GeForce RTX 4090 D (178,050). The Tesla P100’s average score of 79,605 is 0.3% ahead of its own 12 GB variant (79,396) but 1.7% behind the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X (80,959). This places the P100 in a much lower performance tier, despite its high percentile ranking relative to all GPUs.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in OpenCL compute?

A: The NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation scores 175,286 versus 79,605 for the Tesla P100, a 120.2% advantage. This is the only head-to-head benchmark recorded.

Q: Does the Tesla P100 have any performance advantage?

A: The P100 has higher memory bandwidth at 732.2 GB/s compared to 576.0 GB/s, but this does not translate to a win in the recorded OpenCL test. The RTX 5000 Ada wins all recorded benchmarks.

Q: Can the Tesla P100 output video to a display?

A: No, the Tesla P100 has no display outputs, whereas the RTX 5000 Ada has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a connectors.

Q: What API support differences exist?

A: The RTX 5000 Ada supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the Tesla P100 supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. Both support OpenGL 4.6.

Q: Are these cards from the same generation?

A: No, the RTX 5000 Ada is from the Workstation Ada generation (released August 2023), while the Tesla P100 is from the Tesla Pascal generation (released June 2016).

Q: Which card has more memory?

A: The RTX 5000 Ada has 32 GB of GDDR6, while the Tesla P100 has 16 GB of HBM2.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification. The RTX 5000 Ada uses a 5 nm process node from TSMC, while the Tesla P100 uses a 16 nm node. The RTX 5000 Ada has 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die, yielding a density of 125.3M per mm²; the P100 has 15,300 million transistors on a 610 mm² die, yielding 25.1M per mm². Clock speeds differ significantly: the RTX 5000 Ada has a base clock of 1155 MHz and boost of 2550 MHz, while the P100 has a base of 1190 MHz and boost of 1329 MHz. Memory is also different: the RTX 5000 Ada has 32 GB GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 576.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the P100 has 16 GB HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus with 732.2 GB/s bandwidth.

Compute resources are not comparable. The RTX 5000 Ada has 12,800 shading units, 400 TMUs, 176 ROPs, 100 RT cores, and 400 tensor cores. The Tesla P100 has 3,584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, with no RT cores or tensor cores. The FP32 performance is 65.28 TFLOPS versus 9.526 TFLOPS, and FP16 is 65.28 TFLOPS (1:1) versus 19.05 TFLOPS (2:1). The RTX 5000 Ada has a pixel rate of 448.8 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,020.0 GTexel/s; the P100 has 127.6 GPixel/s and 297.7 GTexel/s. Power connectors differ: the RTX 5000 Ada uses a 1x 16-pin, while the P100 uses a 1x 8-pin. The bus interface is PCIe 4.0 x16 versus PCIe 3.0 x16. The RTX 5000 Ada has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs; the P100 has none. Both are dual-slot cards with a 250 W TDP and a suggested PSU of 600 W, and both are 267 mm in length.

Architecture Differences

The RTX 5000 Ada is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD102 chip, while the Tesla P100 uses the Pascal architecture with the GP100 chip. This generational gap is reflected in feature support. Ada Lovelace includes dedicated ray tracing cores (100 of them) and tensor cores (400), which enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI workloads. Pascal has no such dedicated units, relying entirely on shader-based compute. The RTX 5000 Ada supports DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, while the P100 is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. The RTX 5000 Ada’s FP16 performance is 1:1 with FP32, meaning it can process FP16 at full rate, whereas the P100’s FP16 is 2:1, half the rate of FP32.

The process node is the biggest architectural driver. TSMC’s 5 nm node allows for a 5x higher transistor density, which enables the RTX 5000 Ada to pack 12,800 shading units into a similar die size. The P100’s 16 nm node limits it to 3,584 shading units. The memory architecture also differs: the P100 uses HBM2 with a massive 4096-bit bus to achieve 732.2 GB/s, while the RTX 5000 Ada uses GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus for 576.0 GB/s. The RTX 5000 Ada’s memory is larger (32 GB versus 16 GB) and faster in terms of effective speed (18 Gbps versus 1430 Mbps), but the P100’s wider bus gives it raw bandwidth superiority. The RTX 5000 Ada supports 4x DisplayPort outputs, making it a hybrid compute and graphics card, while the P100 is compute-only with no display outputs.

The production status also differs: the RTX 5000 Ada is Active, while the Tesla P100 is End-of-life. The P100’s predecessor is Tesla Maxwell and its successor is Tesla Volta, while the RTX 5000 Ada’s predecessor is Workstation Ampere and its successor is Blackwell PRO W. These are different product lines: the RTX 5000 Ada is part of the GeForce 50-series nomenclature for workstation use, while the P100 is a Tesla-branded accelerator.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation outperforms the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB by 120.2% in the only recorded head-to-head benchmark. For any modern workload, the RTX 5000 Ada is the superior choice. It offers 32 GB of memory versus 16 GB, double the FP32 throughput (65.28 TFLOPS versus 9.526 TFLOPS), and features like ray tracing cores, tensor cores, and DisplayPort outputs that the P100 lacks. Its 98th percentile ranking among all GPUs, compared to the P100’s 92nd, confirms its position in a higher performance tier.

The Tesla P100 should only be considered by users with legacy systems that require PCIe 3.0 and cannot use PCIe 4.0, or those running software specifically optimized for Pascal’s compute architecture. Its higher memory bandwidth (732.2 GB/s) is a niche advantage, but it does not overcome the compute deficit. The P100 has no display outputs, so it cannot serve as a graphics card, and its production status is end-of-life, meaning no further driver support or availability. The RTX 5000 Ada, with 4x DisplayPort 1.4a, is a workstation card that can handle both compute and display tasks.

For a builder today, the choice is simple. The RTX 5000 Ada Generation is faster, more feature-rich, and actively produced. The Tesla P100 is a historical artifact. If the workload is modern and the system supports PCIe 4.0, the RTX 5000 Ada is the only rational pick. If the workload is confined to Pascal-era software or requires the P100’s specific HBM2 memory layout, the P100 remains functional, but the benchmark data shows it is outclassed in general compute. The RTX 5000 Ada’s 0.5% lead over the A100 SXM4 80 GB and 3.7% lead over the RTX 4090 D further demonstrates that it competes with the best in its class, while the P100’s closest rival is the Radeon Pro Vega 64X, which is 1.7% faster. The verdict is clear: pick the RTX 5000 Ada for performance, features, and longevity.