NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation vs NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data contains a single head-to-head comparison between these two GPUs in Geekbench OpenCL. The NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation delivers a score of 311,629, while the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79,396. This results in a 292.5% advantage for the RTX 6000 Ada, a decisive margin that makes the comparison effectively one-sided in compute workloads. The RTX 6000 Ada wins the only recorded benchmark, and it does so by a factor of nearly four.

The RTX 6000 Ada also holds a substantial lead in the broader database. Its average benchmark score of 287,237 places it in the 99th percentile among all GPUs, meaning it outperforms the overwhelming majority of recorded hardware. In contrast, the Tesla P100's average score of 79,396 sits in the 92nd percentile. While the P100 is by no means a weak performer, the gap between the 92nd and 99th percentile is enormous, with the RTX 6000 Ada performing roughly 3.6 times better on average.

The RTX 6000 Ada's nearest rivals in the database further contextualize its performance. It is 1.1% ahead of the NVIDIA L40 (average score 284,111) and 14.4% ahead of the NVIDIA L20 (average score 251,147). It trails the NVIDIA L40S by 2.9% (average score 295,763) and the AMD Instinct MI300X by 9.7% (average score 317,994). These results show that the RTX 6000 Ada competes at the top tier of compute accelerators, but it is not the absolute fastest in the database.

The Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB, by contrast, has nearest rivals with far lower scores. It is 0.3% behind the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (average score 79,605) and 0.6% behind the GeForce RTX 5090 (average score 79,842). It is 0.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (average score 78,940) and 1.9% behind the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X (average score 80,959). The P100 is therefore clustered tightly with similar-generation hardware, but that entire cluster is far below the RTX 6000 Ada's performance tier.

In single-test terms, the OpenCL result is the only direct comparison available, and it is definitive: the RTX 6000 Ada is 292.5% faster. This is not a marginal improvement; it represents a multi-generational leap in raw compute throughput. The RTX 6000 Ada also shows a Vulkan score of 262,845 in its own benchmark list, though the P100 has no Vulkan result recorded, so a direct comparison in that API is not possible.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from entirely different architectural eras. The RTX 6000 Ada is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, using the AD102 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm TSMC process. It contains 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 125.3 million transistors per mm². The Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB uses the Pascal architecture, with the GP100 chip, fabricated on a 16 nm TSMC process. It contains 15,300 million transistors on a 610 mm² die, for a transistor density of 25.1 million per mm². The die sizes are nearly identical, but the RTX 6000 Ada packs roughly five times as many transistors into the same physical area, reflecting the process node advantage.

The compute resources differ dramatically. The RTX 6000 Ada has 18,176 shading units, 568 texture mapping units, and 192 ROPs. It also includes 142 RT cores and 568 tensor cores, making it a fully featured workstation accelerator for ray tracing and AI workloads. The Tesla P100 has 3,584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. It has no RT cores and no tensor cores, so it cannot accelerate ray tracing or tensor operations in hardware. The shading unit count is over five times higher on the RTX 6000 Ada.

Memory architecture is another major split. The RTX 6000 Ada uses 48 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The P100 uses 12 GB of HBM2 memory on a 3072-bit bus, delivering 549.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The P100's HBM2 has a wider bus but lower effective speed, and it ends up with less than 60% of the bandwidth of the RTX 6000 Ada. The RTX 6000 also has four times the memory capacity, which is critical for large datasets and multi-application workloads.

Clock speeds and power also differ. The RTX 6000 Ada has a base clock of 915 MHz and a boost clock of 2505 MHz, with a TDP of 300 W. The P100 has a base clock of 1190 MHz and a boost clock of 1329 MHz, with a TDP of 250 W. The RTX 6000 Ada boosts to nearly double the clock of the P100 while drawing only 50 W more power. The P100 uses a single 8-pin power connector and recommends a 600 W PSU; the RTX 6000 Ada uses a single 16-pin connector and recommends a 700 W PSU. Both are dual-slot cards, and both share the same 267 mm length.

The bus interface also reflects the generational difference: the RTX 6000 Ada uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the P100 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. The RTX 6000 Ada has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, while the P100 has no display outputs at all, which is typical for a compute-focused Tesla card. The API support differs as well: the RTX 6000 Ada supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the P100 supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. Both have OpenGL 4.6.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the RTX 6000 Ada in the recorded OpenCL benchmark?

A: The RTX 6000 Ada scores 311,629 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79,396. This is a 292.5% lead for the RTX 6000 Ada.

Q: Does the Tesla P100 support ray tracing or tensor operations?

A: No. The P100 has no RT cores and no tensor cores. The RTX 6000 Ada includes 142 RT cores and 568 tensor cores.

Q: What is the memory capacity and bandwidth difference?

A: The RTX 6000 Ada has 48 GB of GDDR6 with 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The P100 has 12 GB of HBM2 with 549.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 6000 Ada provides four times the capacity and roughly 75% more bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU is in the higher performance percentile?

A: The RTX 6000 Ada is in the 99th percentile of all GPUs in the database, with an average score of 287,237. The P100 is in the 92nd percentile, with an average score of 79,396.

Q: What process nodes are used for each chip?

A: The RTX 6000 Ada (AD102) is on TSMC's 5 nm process, while the P100 (GP100) is on TSMC's 16 nm process. The transistor density is 125.3M per mm² for the RTX 6000 Ada and 25.1M per mm² for the P100.

Q: Does the P100 have any video outputs?

A: No, the P100 has no display outputs. The RTX 6000 Ada has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across almost every specification field. The RTX 6000 Ada has a die of 609 mm², while the P100 has a die of 610 mm², so the physical size is nearly the same, but the transistor count and density are vastly different. The RTX 6000 Ada has 76,300 million transistors compared to 15,300 million for the P100.

Memory specifications diverge sharply: 48 GB GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus versus 12 GB HBM2 on a 3072-bit bus. Bandwidth is 960.0 GB/s versus 549.1 GB/s. The RTX 6000 Ada has 18,176 shading units, 568 TMUs, and 192 ROPs; the P100 has 3,584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The RTX 6000 Ada also has 142 RT cores and 568 tensor cores, while the P100 has neither.

Clock speeds: the RTX 6000 Ada bases at 915 MHz and boosts to 2505 MHz, with memory at 2500 MHz (20 Gbps effective). The P100 bases at 1190 MHz and boosts to 1329 MHz, with memory at 715 MHz (1430 Mbps effective). The pixel rate is 481.0 GPixel/s for the RTX 6000 Ada versus 127.6 GPixel/s for the P100. The texture rate is 1,422.8 GTexel/s versus 297.7 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 91.06 TFLOPS versus 9.526 TFLOPS, a difference of nearly 9.6 times.

FP16 compute is 91.06 TFLOPS on the RTX 6000 Ada (1:1 ratio), while the P100 achieves 19.05 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio). TDP is 300 W for the RTX 6000 Ada and 250 W for the P100. Power connectors are 1x 16-pin for the RTX 6000 Ada and 1x 8-pin for the P100, with suggested PSU ratings of 700 W and 600 W, respectively. The bus interface is PCIe 4.0 x16 versus PCIe 3.0 x16. The RTX 6000 Ada has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs; the P100 has no outputs. The RTX 6000 Ada supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the P100 supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. Both use OpenGL 4.6.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 6000 Ada Generation wins in every recorded benchmark and every measurable specification category. Its 292.4% lead in the OpenCL test is the decisive factor, and it also holds a massive advantage in raw compute metrics such as FP32 (91.06 TFLOPS versus 9.526 TFLOPS) and texture rate (1,422.8 GTexel/s versus 297.7 GTexel/s). The RTX 6000 Ada is the clear choice for any workload that is compute-bound, memory-bound, or both. Its 48 GB of GDDR6 memory with 960 GB/s bandwidth allows it to handle datasets that would completely exhaust the P100's 12 GB HBM2 frame buffer. The inclusion of RT cores and tensor cores means it can also handle ray tracing and AI inference, which are not possible on the P100.

The Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB wins in a few narrow respects. It has a lower TDP, 250 W versus 300 W, and it uses an 8-pin power connector rather than a 16-pin connector, which means it fits in power and cabling infrastructure that is more common in older servers. It also has a lower suggested PSU requirement at 600 W versus 700 W. Its base clock is higher at 1190 MHz versus 915 MHz, but its boost clock is much lower at 1329 MHz versus 2505 MHz, so the base clock advantage is not meaningful in sustained workloads. The P100 uses HBM2 memory, which has a wider 3072-bit bus, but the lower effective memory speed means it still has lower bandwidth.

In terms of use cases, the P100 is a legacy compute card for inference or simulation workloads that were designed in the Pascal era and do not require large memory or modern API features. It has no display outputs, so it is strictly a headless accelerator. Its process node, 16 nm, is significantly older, and its transistor density is nearly five times lower, which means it is not efficient for modern workloads that benefit from the RTX 6000 Ada's 5 nm process and 76,300 million transistors.

The RTX 6000 Ada is the winner for any new deployment involving AI, ray tracing, high-resolution rendering, or large-scale data processing. Its 99th percentile ranking and average score of 287,237 place it at the top of the database, while the P100's 92nd percentile and average score of 79,396 place it in a much lower tier. The only meaningful trade-off is the higher power draw of the RTX 6000 Ada, which is a modest 50 W increase over the P100, and the need for a 16-pin power connector, which is a cable standard that is newer and not as universally available in existing servers.

The verdict is clear from the recorded data: the RTX 6000 Ada Generation is superior in every benchmark and almost every specification. The Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB is a product of its time, and its performance is simply not in the same range as the Ada Generation card, which leads by a factor of 3.6 in average score and a factor of 3.9 in the only head-to-head test.