NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell vs NVIDIA Tesla K10 Comparison

NVIDIA’s RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell and Tesla K10 occupy opposite ends of the company’s professional GPU timeline. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell is a current-generation workstation powerhouse built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, while the Tesla K10 is an end-of-life Kepler-era compute card from 2012. The database shows they share almost nothing in common beyond the NVIDIA brand and a dual-slot cooler, making this comparison a study in generational extremes rather than a head-to-head shootout.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

Direct benchmark comparisons between these two cards are not available in the database, as they were tested under entirely different workloads and eras. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell’s recorded result comes from 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, where it scores 16,408 points. The Tesla K10’s single entry is a Geekbench OpenCL score of 14,029. These tests measure different things on different architectures, so a simple side-by-side is not meaningful. What the data does show is where each card sits relative to its own contemporaries.

The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell lands in the 59th percentile of all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 16,408. Its nearest rivals are tightly clustered: the AMD Radeon PRO W7500 scores 16,415, a 0% delta, meaning these two are effectively tied in this test. The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT scores 16,361, which puts the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell 0.3% ahead. The AMD Radeon Pro 5600M scores 16,351, a 0.4% advantage for the NVIDIA card. The only rival that beats it is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D V2 at 16,504, which is 0.6% faster. These are margin-of-error differences, indicating the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell sits right at the top of its immediate performance class in this specific DirectX 12 test.

The Tesla K10, by contrast, sits in the 55th percentile of all GPUs, with its average score of 14,029 coming from OpenCL. Its nearest rivals tell a different story. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 scores 14,150, which is 0.9% higher, making the K10 the slower card there. The AMD Radeon RX 570X scores 13,871, putting the K10 1.1% ahead. The NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile scores 13,821, a 1.5% advantage for the K10. The AMD Radeon 660M scores 13,812, meaning the K10 leads by 1.6%. The K10 holds narrow wins over three of its four nearest rivals, but the margins are small, and this is a 2012 compute card competing against integrated and mobile graphics from much later generations.

The takeaway from the raw numbers is that the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell is a modern high-end card trading blows with current workstation and enthusiast GPUs, while the Tesla K10 is a legacy compute accelerator that still manages to edge out some much newer low-end parts in OpenCL.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell wins decisively in every modern graphics workload category. It delivers 126.0 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, 126.0 TFLOPS of FP16 performance, a pixel rate of 502.5 GPixel/s, and a texture rate of 1,968.0 GTexel/s. It has 24,064 shading units, 752 TMUs, 192 ROPs, 188 RT cores, and 752 tensor cores. It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. It has 96 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, and it connects over PCIe 5.0 x16. Display output is covered by four DisplayPort 2.1b connectors. This is a card built for current-generation ray tracing, AI acceleration, high-resolution rendering, and large model workloads.

The Tesla K10 wins only in the narrow sense of being a functional compute card for its era. It has 1,536 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus providing 160.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its FP32 throughput is 2.289 TFLOPS. It lacks RT cores and tensor cores entirely, which means no hardware ray tracing and no tensor acceleration. It has no display outputs, making it useless as a graphics card for a desktop workstation. Its only API advantage is DirectX 12 (11_0) support, which is a lower feature level than the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell’s 12_2. The K10 was designed for compute offload in servers, and in that role it is now obsolete, with its production status listed as end-of-life.

For any modern use case, whether it is 3D rendering, AI inference, video encoding, or scientific simulation, the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell is the only viable choice. The Tesla K10 is a historical artifact that would struggle to run contemporary software at all, given its lack of modern API support and minimal memory capacity.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on completely different architectures, process nodes, and feature sets. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell uses the GB202 chip, based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, from the Blackwell PRO W (x000) generation. It is fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC, with 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 122.9 million per mm². The Tesla K10 uses the GK104 chip, based on the Kepler architecture, from the Tesla Kepler generation. It is fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC, with 3,540 million transistors on a 294 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 12.0 million per mm². The density difference is enormous: the Blackwell chip packs over ten times as many transistors per square millimeter.

Clock behavior also differs. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell has a base clock of 1590 MHz and a boost clock of 2617 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz, or 28 Gbps effective. The Tesla K10 has no recorded base or boost clock in the database, only a memory clock of 1250 MHz, or 5 Gbps effective. The memory technology is generations apart: GDDR7 on the Blackwell card versus GDDR5 on the K10. The Blackwell card’s 512-bit bus and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth dwarf the K10’s 256-bit bus and 160.0 GB/s.

The feature set is where the gap becomes a chasm. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell includes 188 RT cores for hardware ray tracing and 752 tensor cores for AI and deep learning workloads. The Tesla K10 has neither. The Blackwell card supports PCIe 5.0 x16, while the K10 is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16. Power requirements reflect the performance difference: the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell has a 600 W TDP with a single 16-pin connector and a suggested 1000 W PSU, while the Tesla K10 has a 225 W TDP with a 6-pin plus 8-pin configuration and a suggested 550 W PSU. The Blackwell card is dual-slot, measuring 304 mm in length, 137 mm in height, and 40 mm in width. The K10 is also dual-slot but shorter at 272 mm, with no height or width recorded.

The release dates are 13 years apart. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell launched on March 17, 2025, succeeding Workstation Ada. The Tesla K10 launched on April 30, 2012, succeeding Tesla Fermi and preceding Tesla Maxwell. The Blackwell card is listed as active production, while the K10 is end-of-life.

FAQ

Q: Which card has more memory?

A: The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell has 96 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, while the Tesla K10 has 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus.

Q: Does the Tesla K10 support ray tracing?

A: No. The Tesla K10 has no RT cores, while the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell has 188 RT cores.

Q: What is the performance gap in FP32 compute?

A: The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell delivers 126.0 TFLOPS of FP32, while the Tesla K10 delivers 2.289 TFLOPS, a difference of over 50 times.

Q: Can the Tesla K10 output video to a display?

A: No. The Tesla K10 has no display outputs, while the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell has four DisplayPort 2.1b connectors.

Q: Which card is still in production?

A: The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell is listed as active, while the Tesla K10 is end-of-life.

Q: What is the power draw difference?

A: The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell has a 600 W TDP with a suggested 1000 W PSU, while the Tesla K10 has a 225 W TDP with a suggested 550 W PSU.

The Verdict

The data makes this decision straightforward. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell is the only card that makes sense for any current or future professional workload. It offers 96 GB of GDDR7 memory, 126.0 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, hardware ray tracing, tensor cores, modern API support, and display outputs. It sits at the 59th percentile of all GPUs, trading blows with the AMD Radeon PRO W7500 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D V2 within a 0.6% margin. Its launch MSRP is 8,565 USD.

The Tesla K10 is a 2012 compute card with 4 GB of memory, no display outputs, no RT or tensor cores, and a 55th percentile standing. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 570X and the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile, and it manages narrow wins of 1.1% to 1.6% over those parts. It was never designed for graphics output, and its architecture is too old for modern software requirements. Its launch MSRP was 5,099 USD.

Anyone building a new workstation should choose the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell without hesitation. The Tesla K10 is only relevant as a legacy server part for maintaining old infrastructure, and even then, its end-of-life status means support is gone. The benchmark results confirm that modern performance and features are overwhelmingly on the side of the Blackwell card.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell | NVIDIA Tesla K10 |

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

| Architecture | Blackwell 2.0 | Kepler |

| Process Node | 5 nm | 28 nm |

| Transistors | 92,200 million | 3,540 million |

| Die Size | 750 mm² | 294 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 122.9M / mm² | 12.0M / mm² |

| Memory Size | 96 GB | 4 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR7 | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus Width | 512 bit | 256 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 1.79 TB/s | 160.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 24,064 | 1,536 |

| TMUs | 752 | 128 |

| ROPs | 192 | 32 |

| RT Cores | 188 | None |

| Tensor Cores | 752 | None |

| FP32 Compute | 126.0 TFLOPS | 2.289 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Compute | 126.0 TFLOPS (1:1) | None |

| Pixel Rate | 502.5 GPixel/s | 23.84 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 1,968.0 GTexel/s | 95.36 GTexel/s |

| TDP | 600 W | 225 W |

| Power Connectors | 1x 16-pin | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 1000 W | 550 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 5.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | 4x DisplayPort 2.1b | No outputs |

| DirectX Support | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | 12 (11_0) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.4 | 1.2.175 |

| Production Status | Active | End-of-life |

| Release Date | 2025-03-17 | 2012-04-30 |

| Launch MSRP | 8,565 USD | 5,099 USD |