NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile vs NVIDIA Tesla P40 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded benchmark data places the NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile clearly ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P40 in both available tests. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX A4500 Mobile scores 105,307 against the Tesla P40’s 62,017, a lead of 69.8%. That is a substantial margin, indicating a generational leap in raw compute throughput for workloads that rely on OpenCL acceleration. The Vulkan test narrows the gap somewhat, with the RTX A4500 Mobile scoring 76,960 versus the Tesla P40’s 68,172, a 12.9% advantage. While still a decisive win, the smaller delta suggests that Vulkan-based tasks, which may be more sensitive to driver optimizations or specific pipeline features, do not amplify the architectural differences as strongly as OpenCL does.

The average benchmark score reinforces this picture. The RTX A4500 Mobile posts an average of 91,134, while the Tesla P40 averages 65,095. That difference places the RTX A4500 Mobile in the 93rd percentile of all GPUs in the database, whereas the Tesla P40 sits in the 89th percentile. The percentile gap is modest, but the raw score difference is large, meaning the RTX A4500 Mobile occupies a higher tier of overall performance. The nearest rivals for the RTX A4500 Mobile include the NVIDIA RTX A4500 (average score 91,671, a delta of -0.6%), the AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 (92,466, delta -1.4%), the NVIDIA Quadro GP100 (87,445, delta 4.2%), and the AMD Radeon PRO W7600 (87,108, delta 4.6%). These comparisons show the RTX A4500 Mobile sits within a few percentage points of its closest competitors, effectively trading blows with the desktop RTX A4500 and the MI60, while comfortably outperforming the older Quadro GP100 and the W7600.

For the Tesla P40, the nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 (64,212, delta 1.4%), the AMD Radeon VII (66,004, delta -1.4%), the NVIDIA CMP 30HX (63,842, delta 2%), and the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT LP (63,830, delta 2%). The Tesla P40’s average score of 65,095 places it slightly above the WX 9100 and the CMP 30HX, but slightly below the Radeon VII. This clustering indicates that the Tesla P40 is not an outlier; it performs in line with other high-end GPUs from its era, though it cannot match the newer Ampere architecture in the RTX A4500 Mobile.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX A4500 Mobile wins both benchmark tests, so there is no test in which the Tesla P40 takes the lead. However, the nature of the wins matters. The OpenCL test shows a 69.8% advantage for the RTX A4500 Mobile, which suggests a massive difference in compute-heavy workloads such as scientific simulation, rendering, or machine learning inference that leverage OpenCL. The Vulkan test, with a 12.9% advantage, indicates that the RTX A4500 Mobile also leads in graphics-oriented tasks, but the smaller gap implies that the Tesla P40 is relatively more competitive in this area. The Tesla P40’s higher pixel rate (147.0 GPixel/s versus 144.0 GPixel/s) and texture rate (367.4 GTexel/s versus 276.0 GTexel/s) hint that for certain rasterization tasks, the older Pascal design retains some strength. Yet the benchmark scores show that even in Vulkan, where these rates might matter, the RTX A4500 Mobile still comes out ahead.

In terms of use cases, the data suggests the RTX A4500 Mobile is the better choice for any workload that shows up in these benchmarks. The Tesla P40, with its 24 GB of GDDR5 memory and 384-bit bus, offers more memory capacity and a wider bus, but its bandwidth of 347.1 GB/s is lower than the RTX A4500 Mobile’s 512.0 GB/s. For tasks that are bandwidth-limited, such as large data transfers or certain deep learning operations, the RTX A4500 Mobile has a clear edge. The Tesla P40’s larger memory pool could be an advantage for models or datasets that exceed 16 GB, but the RTX A4500 Mobile’s higher bandwidth and newer architecture likely compensate in most scenarios.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural generations. The RTX A4500 Mobile uses the GA104 chip based on the Ampere architecture, manufactured on an 8 nm process at Samsung. It packs 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 44.4 million per square millimeter. In contrast, the Tesla P40 uses the GP102 chip based on the Pascal architecture, built on a 16 nm process at TSMC. It has 11,800 million transistors on a larger 471 mm² die, with a density of 25.1 million per square millimeter. The smaller process node allows the RTX A4500 Mobile to nearly double the transistor density, which explains its higher compute throughput despite having a smaller physical die.

The memory subsystems differ as well. The RTX A4500 Mobile features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, running at 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective speed, delivering 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Tesla P40 offers 24 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus, at 1808 MHz with 7.2 Gbps effective speed, providing 347.1 GB/s. The RTX A4500 Mobile’s memory clock and effective speed are far higher, more than compensating for the narrower bus. The Tesla P40’s larger capacity is its main asset, but the bandwidth deficit is significant.

Compute resources also diverge. The RTX A4500 Mobile has 5,888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, 96 ROPs, 46 ray tracing cores, and 184 tensor cores. The Tesla P40 has 3,840 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, but no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores. The RTX A4500 Mobile’s FP32 performance is 17.66 TFLOPS, while the Tesla P40 manages 11.76 TFLOPS. For FP16, the RTX A4500 Mobile achieves 17.66 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio, whereas the Tesla P40 is limited to 183.7 GFLOPS with a 1:64 ratio, a massive gap that makes the Tesla P40 unsuitable for workloads relying on half-precision arithmetic. The RTX A4500 Mobile also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Tesla P40 only reaches DirectX 12 (12_1), reflecting the newer feature set of Ampere.

Power and physical design differ sharply. The RTX A4500 Mobile has a TDP of 140 W and requires no external power connectors, making it suitable for mobile or compact systems. The Tesla P40 draws 250 W, needs an 8-pin EPS connector, and its suggested PSU is 600 W. It is a dual-slot card measuring 267 mm in length and 111 mm in height, with no display outputs, whereas the RTX A4500 Mobile’s display outputs are portable device dependent. The bus interfaces also differ: the RTX A4500 Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the Tesla P40 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. The Tesla P40 was released on 2016-09-12, with a launch MSRP of 5,699 USD, and its production status is end-of-life. The RTX A4500 Mobile was released on 2022-03-21, also end-of-life, but its successor is Ada-MW, while the Tesla P40’s successor is Tesla Volta.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher FP32 performance?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile delivers 17.66 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, while the NVIDIA Tesla P40 delivers 11.76 TFLOPS, giving the RTX A4500 Mobile a clear advantage in single-precision compute.

Q: Can the Tesla P40 handle ray tracing workloads?

A: No, the Tesla P40 has no ray tracing cores. The RTX A4500 Mobile includes 46 ray tracing cores, allowing it to accelerate ray-traced rendering tasks.

Q: How does memory bandwidth compare between the two?

A: The RTX A4500 Mobile has 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth from its GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, whereas the Tesla P40 has 347.1 GB/s from GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus. The RTX A4500 Mobile is substantially faster in this regard.

Q: Which GPU supports a newer PCIe standard?

A: The RTX A4500 Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the Tesla P40 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, offering double the bandwidth per lane on the newer interface.

Q: What is the difference in shading units?

A: The RTX A4500 Mobile has 5,888 shading units, compared to the Tesla P40’s 3,840, a difference of over 50% in favor of the Ampere-based card.

Q: Does the Tesla P40 have tensor cores for AI workloads?

A: No, the Tesla P40 lacks tensor cores entirely. The RTX A4500 Mobile includes 184 tensor cores, which accelerate matrix operations common in deep learning.

The Verdict

Based strictly on the benchmark data, the NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile is the superior performer. It wins both recorded tests, with a 69.8% lead in OpenCL and a 12.9% lead in Vulkan. Its average benchmark score of 91,134 versus 65,095 places it in a higher percentile of all GPUs (93rd versus 89th). For any task that relies on OpenCL or Vulkan, the RTX A4500 Mobile is the clear choice. The Tesla P40’s only advantage is its larger 24 GB memory capacity, which could be relevant for workloads that need to hold very large datasets in VRAM, but the RTX A4500 Mobile’s higher bandwidth and newer architecture mitigate that benefit. The RTX A4500 Mobile also offers ray tracing and tensor cores, features entirely absent from the Tesla P40, making it more versatile for modern graphics and AI workloads. The Tesla P40, being a Pascal-era card with a higher TDP and older memory technology, is better suited only for legacy compute tasks where its 24 GB capacity is essential. For most users, the data points unequivocally to the RTX A4500 Mobile.

Specification Differences

| Field | NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile | NVIDIA Tesla P40 |

|-------|-------------------------|------------------|

| Chip | GA104 | GP102 |

| Architecture | Ampere | Pascal |

| Generation | Ampere-MW (Ax000) | Tesla Pascal (Pxx) |

| 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 | 930 MHz | 1303 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1500 MHz | 1531 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 2000 MHz, 16 Gbps effective | 1808 MHz, 7.2 Gbps effective |

| Memory Size | 16 GB | 24 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus Width | 256 bit | 384 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 512.0 GB/s | 347.1 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 5888 | 3840 |

| TMUs | 184 | 240 |

| ROPs | 96 | 96 |

| RT Cores | 46 | None |

| Tensor Cores | 184 | None |

| Pixel Rate | 144.0 GPixel/s | 147.0 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 276.0 GTexel/s | 367.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 17.66 TFLOPS | 11.76 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 17.66 TFLOPS (1:1) | 183.7 GFLOPS (1:64) |

| TDP | 140 W | 250 W |

| Slot Width | Not specified | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | None | 8-pin EPS |

| Suggested PSU | Not specified | 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) |

| Release Date | 2022-03-21 | 2016-09-12 |

| Predecessor | Quadro Turing-M | Tesla Maxwell |

| Successor | Ada-MW | Tesla Volta |

| Launch MSRP | Not specified | 5,699 USD |