NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile vs NVIDIA Tesla P40 Comparison

The NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile and the NVIDIA Tesla P40 represent two distinct eras of GPU design, with the former being a modern, power-efficient Ampere mobile part and the latter a high-throughput Pascal compute accelerator. The benchmark data reveals a clear split in their strengths: the RTX A3000 Mobile dominates in OpenCL workloads, while the Tesla P40 takes the lead in Vulkan. The average benchmark scores show the RTX A3000 Mobile at 70,140, placing it in the 91st percentile of all GPUs, while the Tesla P40 scores 65,095, placing it in the 89th percentile.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most significant performance gap between these two cards appears in the Geekbench OpenCL test. In this compute-heavy benchmark, the NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile scores 79,091, while the NVIDIA Tesla P40 scores 62,017. This results in a decisive 27.5% victory for the Ampere-based mobile GPU. This substantial lead suggests that the RTX A3000 Mobile’s architecture is far more efficient at handling the parallel compute tasks typical of OpenCL, likely benefiting from its modern design and dedicated hardware features that the older Pascal architecture lacks.

However, the tables turn in the Geekbench Vulkan test. Here, the NVIDIA Tesla P40 posts a score of 68,172, outperforming the RTX A3000 Mobile’s 61,189. The delta of -10.2% for the RTX A3000 Mobile indicates that the Tesla P40 is roughly 11.4% faster in this graphics API. This is a notable reversal, as Vulkan workloads often favor raw fill rate and rasterization throughput, areas where the Tesla P40’s high pixel and texture rates may provide an advantage.

Looking at the broader context, the RTX A3000 Mobile’s average score of 70,140 places it just 0.2% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 (69,986) and 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro WX 8200 (69,870). It also outperforms the NVIDIA CMP 90HX (69,000) by 1.7%, but trails the AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE (70,829) by 1%. The Tesla P40’s average of 65,095 sits 1.4% above the AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 (64,212) and 2% above both the NVIDIA CMP 30HX (63,842) and AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT LP (63,830). It trails the AMD Radeon VII (66,004) by 1.4%. With each card claiming one benchmark victory, the overall score is a 1-1 tie, making the choice between them heavily dependent on the specific workload.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two GPUs is stark, stemming from a five-year generational gap. The RTX A3000 Mobile is built on the Ampere architecture using the GA104 chip, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. This modern node allows for a transistor density of 44.4 million per square millimeter, packing 17,400 million transistors into a 392 mm² die. In contrast, the Tesla P40 uses the older Pascal architecture with the GP102 chip, built on TSMC’s 16 nm process. This results in a lower transistor density of 25.1 million per square millimeter, with 11,800 million transistors spread across a larger 471 mm² die.

These process differences lead to major feature disparities. The RTX A3000 Mobile includes 32 RT cores and 128 Tensor cores, dedicated hardware for ray tracing and AI acceleration that are entirely absent from the Tesla P40. This makes the RTX A3000 Mobile a far more versatile processor, capable of handling modern graphics effects and machine learning inference tasks. The Tesla P40, with no such hardware, is purely a rasterization and compute engine.

Memory configurations also differ significantly. The RTX A3000 Mobile uses 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 264.0 GB/s. The Tesla P40, on the other hand, is equipped with 24 GB of GDDR5 memory on a wider 384-bit bus, achieving a higher bandwidth of 347.1 GB/s. While the Tesla P40 has more capacity and bandwidth, the RTX A3000 Mobile’s GDDR6 memory operates at a higher effective speed of 11 Gbps compared to the P40’s 7.2 Gbps. The RTX A3000 Mobile also supports PCIe 4.0, while the Tesla P40 is limited to PCIe 3.0.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX A3000 Mobile is the clear winner in OpenCL compute tasks, as evidenced by its 27.5% lead. This suggests it is better suited for general-purpose GPU computing, scientific simulations, and workloads that leverage OpenCL’s cross-platform capabilities. Its inclusion of Tensor cores also makes it the superior choice for AI and deep learning inference. Furthermore, its 70 W TDP and lack of power connectors make it ideal for mobile workstations, offering a high level of performance in a power-constrained environment. The RTX A3000 Mobile’s support for DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) also means it can handle the latest graphics features and ray tracing, something the Tesla P40 cannot do.

The Tesla P40 wins in the Vulkan API, showing a 10.2% advantage. This indicates its strength in graphics rendering tasks that utilize Vulkan, potentially benefiting from its higher pixel rate of 147.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 367.4 GTexel/s. With 24 GB of VRAM, it is also the clear choice for workloads that require massive memory footprints, such as large-scale data processing, high-resolution rendering, or model training where the entire dataset must reside in GPU memory. Its higher raw FP32 throughput of 11.76 TFLOPS, compared to the RTX A3000 Mobile’s 10.08 TFLOPS, makes it a strong candidate for traditional high-performance computing tasks that do not rely on specialized cores. The Tesla P40 also has a higher base clock of 1303 MHz and boost clock of 1531 MHz, compared to 600 MHz and 1230 MHz on the mobile part.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in OpenCL benchmarks?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile is significantly faster, scoring 79,091 compared to the NVIDIA Tesla P40’s 62,017, a 27.5% difference.

Q: Which GPU performs better in Vulkan workloads?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla P40 takes the lead in Vulkan, scoring 68,172 versus the RTX A3000 Mobile’s 61,189, giving it a 10.2% advantage.

Q: How much memory does each card have?

A: The RTX A3000 Mobile has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the Tesla P40 has 24 GB of GDDR5 memory.

Q: Does the Tesla P40 support ray tracing?

A: No, the Tesla P40 is based on the Pascal architecture and does not include RT cores. The RTX A3000 Mobile includes 32 RT cores for ray tracing.

Q: What are the power requirements for these cards?

A: The RTX A3000 Mobile has a TDP of 70 W and requires no power connectors, while the Tesla P40 has a TDP of 250 W and requires an 8-pin EPS connector, with a suggested PSU of 600 W.

Q: Which card is better for AI and machine learning tasks?

A: The RTX A3000 Mobile is better suited for AI tasks due to its 128 Tensor cores, which are not present on the Tesla P40.

Specification Differences

The following table outlines the key differences in specifications between the two GPUs.

| Specification | NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile | NVIDIA Tesla P40 |

| :--- | :--- | :--- |

| Architecture | Ampere | Pascal |

| Chip | GA104 | GP102 |

| Process Node | 8 nm | 16 nm |

| Foundry | Samsung | TSMC |

| Transistors | 17,400 million | 11,800 million |

| Die Size | 392 mm² | 471 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 44.4M / mm² | 25.1M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 600 MHz | 1303 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1230 MHz | 1531 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1375 MHz (11 Gbps effective) | 1808 MHz (7.2 Gbps effective) |

| Memory Size | 6 GB | 24 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus Width | 192 bit | 384 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 264.0 GB/s | 347.1 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 4096 | 3840 |

| TMUs | 128 | 240 |

| ROPs | 64 | 96 |

| RT Cores | 32 | 0 |

| Tensor Cores | 128 | 0 |

| Pixel Rate | 78.72 GPixel/s | 147.0 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 157.4 GTexel/s | 367.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 10.08 TFLOPS | 11.76 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 10.08 TFLOPS (1:1) | 183.7 GFLOPS (1:64) |

| TDP | 70 W | 250 W |

| Power Connectors | None | 8-pin EPS |

| Suggested PSU | None | 600 W |

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

| Display Outputs | Portable Device Dependent | No outputs |

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

| Dimensions | Not specified | 267 mm (10.5 inches) length, 111 mm (4.4 inches) height |