NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile vs NVIDIA Tesla P4 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a clear overall victory for the NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile, which wins both benchmark comparisons against the NVIDIA Tesla P4. The most significant gap appears in the Geekbench OpenCL test, where the RTX A1000 Mobile scores 48,703 against the Tesla P4's 34,947. That is a delta of 39.4%, meaning the Ampere-based mobile part delivers roughly two-fifths more compute throughput in this particular workload. The OpenCL result is the largest single margin between the two cards, and it underscores how far the architectural leap has moved the needle in general-purpose GPU compute.

The second benchmark, Geekbench Vulkan, tells a similar but less extreme story. The RTX A1000 Mobile posts 46,782, while the Tesla P4 trails at 40,309. The delta here is 16.1%, still a comfortable win for the newer card but notably smaller than the OpenCL gap. This suggests that the Tesla P4 is relatively more competitive in Vulkan workloads, likely because the API's lower-level nature can better exploit the older chip's raw geometry and rasterization resources. Even so, the RTX A1000 Mobile maintains its lead across both recorded tests.

Looking at the average benchmark score, the RTX A1000 Mobile lands at 47,743, which places it in the 85th percentile of all GPUs in the database. The Tesla P4, by contrast, averages 37,628 and sits in the 81st percentile. The percentile difference is modest, only four points, but the raw score gap is substantial: the RTX A1000 Mobile is about 26.9% faster on average. That is a meaningful chasm in real-world terms, even if both cards sit in the upper echelons of the database's rankings.

It is worth remembering the Tesla P4's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 (average score 37,648, delta of -0.1%) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (average score 38,135, delta of -1.3%). This means the Tesla P4 is essentially trading blows with those much newer consumer and mobile parts, despite being a 2016-era accelerator. The RTX A1000 Mobile, on the other hand, sits close to the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (average score 48,477, delta of -1.5%) and the AMD Radeon RX 6550M (average score 46,702, delta of 2.2%). The data implies that the RTX A1000 Mobile is punching well above its mobile-class positioning, while the Tesla P4 is holding its own in a crowded field of newer hardware.

The Verdict

Who should pick which? Strictly from the benchmark data, the choice is straightforward for anyone prioritizing raw compute performance: the NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile wins both head-to-head tests and carries a higher average score. If the workload is OpenCL-heavy, the decision becomes even easier, as the 39.4% lead is decisive. The RTX A1000 Mobile also benefits from being a much more recent design, with architectural features that the Tesla P4 simply lacks, which we will explore in the Architecture Differences section.

However, the Tesla P4 is not without its own arguments. It offers double the memory capacity (8 GB versus 4 GB), which the database shows as a significant specification gap. For workloads that are memory-capacity-bound rather than compute-bound, the Tesla P4 could be the more practical choice. It also has a wider 256-bit memory bus and higher raw fill rates: 71.30 GPixel/s pixel rate and 178.2 GTexel/s texture rate, compared to the RTX A1000 Mobile's 36.48 GPixel/s and 72.96 GTexel/s. Those numbers suggest the Tesla P4 is far better at traditional rasterization throughput, even if its compute scores lag.

The Verdict hinges on the use case. For general compute, AI inference, or modern graphics APIs, the RTX A1000 Mobile is the stronger card. For legacy rasterization, memory-heavy tasks, or situations where 8 GB of VRAM is a hard requirement, the Tesla P4 remains viable. The data does not support declaring a single universal winner; it supports a context-dependent choice.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX A1000 Mobile wins in OpenCL and Vulkan benchmarks, which are the only two recorded tests. Its OpenCL advantage of 39.4% is the standout result, indicating a massive lead in general-purpose compute tasks like physics simulation, image processing, or scientific workloads that leverage OpenCL. The Vulkan win of 16.1% is more moderate but still confirms superiority in modern cross-platform graphics and compute APIs.

The Tesla P4, while losing both benchmark tests, wins on several specification fronts that the benchmark scores do not capture. It has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory versus 4 GB of GDDR6, which means it can hold larger datasets, textures, or model weights in VRAM without spilling to system memory. Its memory bandwidth of 192.3 GB/s is also higher than the RTX A1000 Mobile's 176.0 GB/s, despite the older GDDR5 technology. The Tesla P4's pixel rate (71.30 GPixel/s) is nearly double that of the RTX A1000 Mobile (36.48 GPixel/s), and its texture rate (178.2 GTexel/s) is more than double (72.96 GTexel/s). These figures point to a card that excels in fill-rate-bound scenarios, such as high-resolution rasterization or multi-sample anti-aliasing.

The Tesla P4 also has more shading units (2560 versus 2048), more texture mapping units (160 versus 64), and more render output units (64 versus 32). Yet the RTX A1000 Mobile compensates with dedicated ray tracing cores (16) and tensor cores (64), which the Tesla P4 lacks entirely. For any workload involving ray tracing or tensor-accelerated operations, the RTX A1000 Mobile is the only option between the two.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 47,743, while the NVIDIA Tesla P4 averages 37,628. The RTX A1000 Mobile also holds a higher percentile ranking at 85th versus 81st.

Q: How large is the performance gap in OpenCL?

A: The RTX A1000 Mobile scores 48,703 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the Tesla P4 scores 34,947. That represents a 39.4% advantage for the RTX A1000 Mobile.

Q: Does the Tesla P4 have any memory advantage?

A: Yes, the Tesla P4 has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, while the RTX A1000 Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus. The Tesla P4 also has higher memory bandwidth at 192.3 GB/s versus 176.0 GB/s.

Q: Which GPU supports ray tracing?

A: The RTX A1000 Mobile includes 16 ray tracing cores and 64 tensor cores. The Tesla P4 has neither ray tracing cores nor tensor cores, as it is based on the older Pascal architecture.

Q: How does the Tesla P4 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Tesla P4's average score of 37,628 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 (37,648, a -0.1% delta) and slightly below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (38,135, a -1.3% delta). It is also ahead of the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37,507, a 0.3% delta).

Q: What is the power consumption difference?

A: The RTX A1000 Mobile has a TDP of 60 W, while the Tesla P4 has a TDP of 75 W. The Tesla P4 also lists a suggested PSU of 250 W, while the RTX A1000 Mobile has no suggested PSU listed.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from entirely different architectural eras. The RTX A1000 Mobile is built on the Ampere architecture using the GA107 chip, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. It packs 8,700 million transistors into a 200 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 43.5 million per square millimeter. The Tesla P4, by contrast, uses the Pascal architecture with the GP104 chip, built on a 16 nm process at TSMC. It has 7,200 million transistors spread across a larger 314 mm² die, resulting in a lower density of 22.9 million per square millimeter. The process node difference (8 nm versus 16 nm) explains why the newer chip achieves higher transistor density despite having more transistors on a smaller die.

The RTX A1000 Mobile is part of the Ampere-MW generation (Ax000 series), while the Tesla P4 belongs to the Tesla Pascal (Pxx) generation. The RTX A1000 Mobile includes hardware features that simply did not exist in the Pascal generation: 16 ray tracing cores and 64 tensor cores. These enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing and tensor operations, which the Tesla P4 cannot perform. The Tesla P4, lacking these units, relies purely on its 2560 shading units for compute.

Another major architectural difference is in the FP16 capability. The RTX A1000 Mobile delivers 4.669 TFLOPS of FP16 throughput, with a 1:1 ratio to its FP32 performance (also 4.669 TFLOPS). The Tesla P4, however, has a severely limited FP16 rate of 89.12 GFLOPS, which is a 1:64 ratio relative to its FP32 output of 5.704 TFLOPS. This means the Tesla P4 is practically useless for FP16 workloads, while the RTX A1000 Mobile handles them at full speed.

The memory technologies also differ fundamentally: the RTX A1000 Mobile uses GDDR6 with an effective 11 Gbps data rate, while the Tesla P4 uses GDDR5 at 6 Gbps effective. The RTX A1000 Mobile has a 128-bit bus and 4 GB capacity, while the Tesla P4 has a 256-bit bus and 8 GB capacity. Despite the older memory type, the Tesla P4's wider bus gives it higher total bandwidth (192.3 GB/s versus 176.0 GB/s).

Specification Differences

The specification table shows several clear distinctions beyond the architectural ones. The RTX A1000 Mobile has a base clock of 630 MHz and a boost clock of 1140 MHz, while the Tesla P4 runs at 886 MHz base and 1114 MHz boost. The Tesla P4 has a higher base clock but the RTX A1000 Mobile has a slightly higher boost clock, which partially explains why the newer card wins on compute despite the older card's higher shader count.

Memory specifications differ significantly. The RTX A1000 Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 with a 128-bit bus and 176.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Tesla P4 has 8 GB of GDDR5 with a 256-bit bus and 192.3 GB/s bandwidth. The Tesla P4 also has a higher pixel rate (71.30 GPixel/s versus 36.48 GPixel/s) and a much higher texture rate (178.2 GTexel/s versus 72.96 GTexel/s).

The compute specifications are mixed. The RTX A1000 Mobile has 2048 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, plus 16 RT cores and 64 tensor cores. The Tesla P4 has 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, but no RT or tensor cores. In raw FP32 throughput, the Tesla P4 leads with 5.704 TFLOPS versus 4.669 TFLOPS for the RTX A1000 Mobile. However, in FP16, the RTX A1000 Mobile dominates with 4.669 TFLOPS versus the Tesla P4's 89.12 GFLOPS.

Power and physical specifications also diverge. The RTX A1000 Mobile has a TDP of 60 W and is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with no power connectors, designed for portable devices. The Tesla P4 has a TDP of 75 W, is a single-slot card with no power connectors, and lists a suggested PSU of 250 W. The Tesla P4 measures 168 mm (6.6 inches) in length, while the RTX A1000 Mobile has no listed dimensions due to its IGP form factor. The RTX A1000 Mobile uses a PCIe 4.0 x8 interface, while the Tesla P4 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. The RTX A1000 Mobile has display outputs described as "portable device dependent," while the Tesla P4 has no display outputs at all. API support also differs: the RTX A1000 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Tesla P4 only supports DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.