NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB vs NVIDIA Tesla M40 Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score in the database?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla M40 records an average benchmark score of 41,897, while the NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB records 34,154. The Tesla M40 sits at the 83rd percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX A2000 sits at the 79th percentile.

Q: How do the two cards compare in the only shared benchmark test?

A: In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX A2000 12 GB scores 66,998 versus the Tesla M40's 39,192. That is a 41.5% advantage for the RTX A2000, making it the winner of the only head-to-head test recorded for both.

Q: What are the nearest rivals for each card according to the database?

A: The Tesla M40's closest rival is the Tesla M40 24 GB (0.5% higher average score), followed by the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti (1.7% higher), the Radeon RX 7650 GRE (1.9% lower), and the Radeon Pro 5300 (2.5% higher). The RTX A2000's closest rival is the RTX A1000 (0.2% lower), followed by the Radeon RX 560 XT (0.1% lower), the Radeon RX 480 (0.5% lower), and the TITAN V (0.6% higher).

Q: What memory configuration does each card use?

A: Both cards have 12 GB of memory, but the Tesla M40 uses GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus with 288.4 GB/s of bandwidth, while the RTX A2000 uses GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus with 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: Which card has ray tracing and tensor cores?

A: Only the RTX A2000 has these features. It includes 26 ray tracing cores and 104 tensor cores. The Tesla M40, based on the Maxwell 2.0 architecture, has neither.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The Tesla M40 has a 250 W TDP, requires an 8-pin EPS power connector, and needs a 600 W suggested PSU. The RTX A2000 has a 70 W TDP, requires no power connector, and needs only a 250 W suggested PSU.

Where Each One Wins

The recorded data splits the two cards cleanly by workload type. The RTX A2000 12 GB wins the only directly comparable benchmark, Geekbench OpenCL, by a wide margin. Its score of 66,998 is 71% higher than the Tesla M40's 39,192 in that test. This strongly suggests the Ampere card handles compute workloads that rely on modern instruction sets and higher FP32 throughput with considerably more efficiency.

The Tesla M40, however, holds its own in the broader database standings. Its average benchmark score of 41,897 places it above the RTX A2000's 34,154, and its 83rd percentile rank beats the RTX A2000's 79th. The Tesla M40 also has a Geekbench Vulkan score of 44,602, a test the RTX A2000 does not appear in. For users prioritizing raw aggregate performance across a wide range of legacy and API-specific workloads, the older Maxwell card comes out ahead.

The use-case split is therefore about specialization versus breadth. The RTX A2000 wins the modern OpenCL compute test decisively, and it brings features the Tesla M40 cannot match: ray tracing cores, tensor cores, and DirectX 12 Ultimate support. The Tesla M40 counters with a higher average across the full database and a superior percentile ranking. It also offers a much larger memory bus (384-bit versus 192-bit), which historically benefits bandwidth-sensitive workloads, even though the measured bandwidth figures are nearly identical. The Tesla M40's pixel rate of 106.8 GPixel/s and texture rate of 213.5 GTexel/s far exceed the RTX A2000's 57.60 GPixel/s and 124.8 GTexel/s, giving the older card a clear edge in fill-rate-bound scenarios.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural generations and foundries. The Tesla M40 uses the GM200 chip built on Maxwell 2.0 architecture, fabricated by TSMC on a 28 nm process. It integrates 8,000 million transistors on a 601 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 13.3M per mm². The RTX A2000 uses the GA106 chip built on Ampere architecture, fabricated by Samsung on an 8 nm process. It integrates 12,000 million transistors on a much smaller 276 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 43.5M per mm². The Ampere card packs 50% more transistors into less than half the silicon area.

The compute feature sets diverge sharply. The Tesla M40 has 3,072 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, with no ray tracing or tensor cores. The RTX A2000 has 3,328 shading units, 104 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, plus 26 ray tracing cores and 104 tensor cores. The Maxwell card allocates far more silicon to texture and pixel processing, while the Ampere card dedicates resources to specialized acceleration blocks.

The FP32 throughput numbers reflect the architectural shift. The Tesla M40 delivers 6.832 TFLOPS, while the RTX A2000 delivers 7.987 TFLOPS, a 17% advantage for the newer card. The RTX A2000 also matches FP16 to FP32 at a 1:1 ratio (7.987 TFLOPS), while the Tesla M40 has no recorded FP16 figure. The Ampere card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Maxwell card only reaches DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

The memory systems differ in type and bus width but converge on bandwidth. The Tesla M40 uses 12 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus at 288.4 GB/s. The RTX A2000 uses 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus at 288.0 GB/s. The bandwidth difference is negligible (0.4 GB/s), but the bus width difference is structural: the Maxwell card achieves its bandwidth with twice the physical lanes, while the Ampere card relies on faster memory.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every specification category. The Tesla M40 runs at a base clock of 948 MHz and a boost clock of 1112 MHz, while the RTX A2000 runs at a base clock of 562 MHz and a boost clock of 1200 MHz. The Ampere card has a much lower base clock but a higher boost clock.

Memory differs in type and effective speed: the Tesla M40 uses GDDR5 at 6 Gbps effective, while the RTX A2000 uses GDDR6 at 12 Gbps effective. Both have 12 GB capacity, but the bus widths differ (384-bit versus 192-bit). The bandwidth figures are nearly equal (288.4 GB/s versus 288.0 GB/s).

The compute unit counts differ unevenly. The Tesla M40 has 3,072 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The RTX A2000 has 3,328 shading units, 104 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The RTX A2000 adds 26 ray tracing cores and 104 tensor cores; the Tesla M40 has none. Pixel rate and texture rate favor the Tesla M40 heavily: 106.8 GPixel/s versus 57.60 GPixel/s, and 213.5 GTexel/s versus 124.8 GTexel/s. FP32 favors the RTX A2000: 7.987 TFLOPS versus 6.832 TFLOPS.

Power and physical dimensions differ dramatically. The Tesla M40 has a 250 W TDP, requires an 8-pin EPS connector, and needs a 600 W suggested PSU. The RTX A2000 has a 70 W TDP, needs no power connector, and requires only a 250 W suggested PSU. The Tesla M40 measures 267 mm (10.5 inches) in length; the RTX A2000 measures 167 mm (6.6 inches) in length and 69 mm (2.7 inches) in height. Both are dual-slot cards.

The bus interfaces differ by generation: the Tesla M40 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the RTX A2000 uses PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs differ completely: the Tesla M40 has no outputs, while the RTX A2000 has 4x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a. The Tesla M40 was released in 2015 and belongs to the Tesla Maxwell generation; the RTX A2000 was released in 2021 and belongs to the Workstation Ampere generation. The RTX A2000 has a recorded launch MSRP of 449 USD. Both cards are end-of-life.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains one direct head-to-head benchmark between these two cards: Geekbench OpenCL. The RTX A2000 12 GB scores 66,998, while the Tesla M40 scores 39,192. This is a 41.5% delta in favor of the Ampere card, and it is the only recorded instance where both cards ran the same test. The margin is substantial and points to a generational leap in compute efficiency. The RTX A2000 achieves this with a 70 W TDP versus the Tesla M40's 250 W, meaning it delivers far higher OpenCL performance per watt.

The Tesla M40 has no direct head-to-head win in the database, but its aggregate position is stronger. Its average benchmark score of 41,897 comes from two recorded tests: Geekbench OpenCL at 39,192 and Geekbench Vulkan at 44,602. The RTX A2000's average of 34,154 comes from Geekbench OpenCL at 66,998 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 at 1,309. The Tesla M40's Vulkan score of 44,602 is particularly notable because the RTX A2000 has no Vulkan score recorded at all. The Tesla M40 also outperforms several nearby rivals in the database, sitting within 2.5% of the Radeon Pro 5300 and the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, while the RTX A2000 clusters tightly with cards like the Radeon RX 560 XT and the RTX A1000, all within 0.6%.

Looking at the nearest rival data, the Tesla M40's average score of 41,897 is 0.5% higher than the Tesla M40 24 GB, 1.7% higher than the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, and 2.5% higher than the Radeon Pro 5300. It trails the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE by 1.9%. The RTX A2000's average of 34,154 is 0.1% higher than the Radeon RX 560 XT, 0.5% higher than the Radeon RX 480, and 0.6% lower than the TITAN V, while being 0.2% lower than the RTX A1000. The Tesla M40 competes in a higher performance tier overall, while the RTX A2000 sits in a mid-range cluster.

The Verdict

The data supports a clear verdict for compute-focused buyers: the RTX A2000 12 GB is the better choice when modern OpenCL workloads matter. Its 66,998 Geekbench OpenCL score crushes the Tesla M40's 39,192 by 41.5%, and it does so with a 70 W TDP, no power connector, and a 167 mm length. It also adds ray tracing cores, tensor cores, DirectX 12 Ultimate, and PCIe 4.0, features the Maxwell card simply does not have. For any workstation use case involving contemporary rendering, machine learning inference, or power-constrained deployments, the RTX A2000 is the obvious pick.

The Tesla M40 12 GB, however, remains relevant for different reasons. Its average benchmark score of 41,897 exceeds the RTX A2000's 34,154, and its 83rd percentile rank beats the RTX A2000's 79th. It offers a 384-bit memory bus, a 106.8 GPixel/s pixel rate, and a 213.5 GTexel/s texture rate, all far above the Ampere card. Its Geekbench Vulkan score of 44,602 is the only Vulkan data point between the two. Buyers who need raw fill-rate throughput, Vulkan compute, or legacy Maxwell compatibility will find the Tesla M40 competitive, provided they can accommodate its 250 W TDP, 8-pin EPS connector, 600 W PSU requirement, 267 mm length, and lack of display outputs.

The verdict is not a blanket endorsement of either card. It depends on the workload. The RTX A2000 wins the only shared benchmark decisively and brings modern features. The Tesla M40 wins the aggregate database average and offers superior rasterization throughput. The RTX A2000 is the more versatile and efficient modern workstation card. The Tesla M40 is a specialized legacy compute card with a higher overall database standing. Choose the RTX A2000 for current-generation compute and efficiency. Choose the Tesla M40 for fill-rate-bound or Vulkan-specific workloads where its higher aggregate score and wider memory bus matter.