NVIDIA T550 Mobile vs NVIDIA Tesla M40 Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla M40 records an average benchmark score of 41897, while the NVIDIA T550 Mobile scores 33161. The Tesla M40 sits at the 83rd percentile of all GPUs in the database, whereas the T550 Mobile sits at the 77th percentile.

Q: How large is the performance gap between the two in Vulkan workloads?

A: In the Geekbench Vulkan test, the Tesla M40 scores 44602 against the T550 Mobile's 30801, a difference of 44.8% in favor of the Tesla M40. This is the largest single-test margin recorded between the two.

Q: Do both GPUs support the same DirectX and Vulkan versions?

A: Yes. Both the NVIDIA Tesla M40 and the NVIDIA T550 Mobile report DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 support in the database.

Q: What are the memory configurations of each card?

A: The Tesla M40 comes with 12 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, delivering 288.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The T550 Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus, delivering 96.00 GB/s.

Q: Which GPU has the higher transistor density despite a smaller die?

A: The T550 Mobile has a transistor density of 23.5M per mm² on a 200 mm² die, while the Tesla M40 has 13.3M per mm² on a 601 mm² die. The T550 Mobile packs 4,700 million transistors into a much smaller area.

Q: What is the TDP difference between the two?

A: The Tesla M40 is rated at 250 W and requires an 8-pin EPS power connector, while the T550 Mobile is rated at 23 W and uses no power connectors at all.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA Tesla M40 is built on the GM200 chip using the Maxwell 2.0 architecture, manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC. The NVIDIA T550 Mobile uses the TU117 chip with the Turing architecture, also fabricated by TSMC but on a 12 nm node. This process difference is substantial: the older 28 nm node forces the Tesla M40 to use a 601 mm² die to house 8,000 million transistors, while the T550 Mobile fits 4,700 million transistors onto just 200 mm². The resulting transistor density tells the story of architectural evolution: 13.3M per mm² for the Tesla M40 versus 23.5M per mm² for the T550 Mobile.

The two GPUs also belong to completely different product generations. The Tesla M40 is part of the Tesla Maxwell (Mxx) generation, with its predecessor listed as Tesla Kepler and its successor as Tesla Pascal. The T550 Mobile belongs to the Quadro Turing-M (Tx000) generation, following Quadro Pascal-M and leading into Ampere-MW. These lineage differences reflect their intended roles: the Tesla M40 is a datacenter-oriented accelerator, while the T550 Mobile is a mobile workstation GPU.

Shading resources differ significantly. The Tesla M40 carries 3072 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs. The T550 Mobile has 1024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. Neither GPU includes dedicated ray tracing cores or tensor cores, so both rely on traditional rasterization pipelines. The Tesla M40 records a pixel rate of 106.8 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 213.5 GTexel/s, while the T550 Mobile achieves 53.28 GPixel/s and 106.6 GTexel/s respectively. In raw FP32 throughput, the Tesla M40 reaches 6.832 TFLOPS, nearly double the T550 Mobile's 3.410 TFLOPS. The T550 Mobile does have a notable feature the Tesla M40 lacks: FP16 support at 6.820 TFLOPS (2:1), whereas no FP16 value is recorded for the Tesla M40.

Memory architecture also diverges sharply. The Tesla M40 uses 12 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus with 288.4 GB/s bandwidth. The T550 Mobile uses 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus with 96.00 GB/s bandwidth. The Tesla M40's memory clock is listed as 1502 MHz with 6 Gbps effective, while the T550 Mobile runs at 1500 MHz with 12 Gbps effective. The newer GDDR6 standard allows the T550 Mobile to double its effective data rate despite a similar base clock, but the narrow 64-bit bus limits total bandwidth.

Physical design and power delivery reflect their different deployment scenarios. The Tesla M40 is a dual-slot card measuring 267 mm (10.5 inches) with an 8-pin EPS connector and a suggested PSU of 600 W. The T550 Mobile is an IGP form factor with no power connectors and no suggested PSU listed. The Tesla M40 has no display outputs, while the T550 Mobile's display outputs are listed as "Portable Device Dependent," meaning they vary by the laptop implementation. The Tesla M40 was released in November 2015 and is marked end-of-life, as is the T550 Mobile, although no release date is recorded for the latter.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains two direct head-to-head comparisons between the NVIDIA Tesla M40 and the NVIDIA T550 Mobile: Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan. The Tesla M40 wins both tests, giving it a clean 2-0 record in this matchup.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the Tesla M40 scores 39192 against the T550 Mobile's 35521. This is a 10.3% advantage for the Tesla M40. The margin is meaningful but not overwhelming, suggesting that OpenCL workloads do not fully exploit the Tesla M40's larger memory bus and higher shading unit count. The T550 Mobile's newer Turing architecture and FP16 capabilities may partially compensate for its smaller compute footprint in certain OpenCL paths, though the recorded data shows the older card still holds the lead.

The Geekbench Vulkan result tells a very different story. The Tesla M40 scores 44602, while the T550 Mobile manages only 30801. The delta is 44.8%, a much larger gap than OpenCL. This suggests that Vulkan workloads, which tend to favor raw throughput and memory bandwidth, strongly benefit the Tesla M40's 384-bit memory interface and 288.4 GB/s bandwidth. The T550 Mobile's 64-bit bus and 96.00 GB/s bandwidth become a bottleneck in these tests, despite its higher boost clock of 1665 MHz versus the Tesla M40's 1112 MHz.

Looking at the broader context, the Tesla M40's average benchmark score of 41897 places it close to the NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB variant, which scores 41707, a mere 0.5% difference. It also edges out the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, which averages 41187, by 1.7%. The AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE scores 42723, putting it 1.9% ahead of the Tesla M40, and the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 trails by 2.5% at 40870. The Tesla M40 thus sits in a competitive mid-to-high range among its nearest rivals.

The T550 Mobile's average of 33161 is essentially tied with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile at 33170 (0% delta) and the AMD Radeon Pro 570 at 33207 (-0.1% delta). It leads the NVIDIA P104-100 by 0.5% (32982) and the NVIDIA T600 Mobile by 1% (32849). This clustering indicates the T550 Mobile is firmly in the laptop-class performance tier, far below the Tesla M40's desktop-class results.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every major specification category. The Tesla M40 uses a 28 nm process, while the T550 Mobile uses 12 nm. Transistor counts are 8,000 million versus 4,700 million. Die sizes are 601 mm² versus 200 mm². Transistor density favors the T550 Mobile at 23.5M per mm² versus 13.3M per mm².

Clock speeds differ substantially. The Tesla M40 has a base clock of 948 MHz and a boost clock of 1112 MHz. The T550 Mobile runs at 1065 MHz base and 1665 MHz boost, giving it a significantly higher boost ceiling. Memory clocks are nearly identical in base frequency (1502 MHz versus 1500 MHz), but effective rates differ: 6 Gbps for the Tesla M40 versus 12 Gbps for the T550 Mobile.

Memory specifications are dramatically different. The Tesla M40 has 12 GB of GDDR5 with a 384-bit bus and 288.4 GB/s bandwidth. The T550 Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 with a 64-bit bus and 96.00 GB/s bandwidth.

Compute resources: the Tesla M40 has 3072 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The T550 Mobile has 1024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. Pixel rate is 106.8 GPixel/s versus 53.28 GPixel/s. Texture rate is 213.5 GTexel/s versus 106.6 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 6.832 TFLOPS versus 3.410 TFLOPS. The T550 Mobile has FP16 at 6.820 TFLOPS (2:1); the Tesla M40 has no recorded FP16 value.

Power and physical specifications diverge completely. TDP is 250 W for the Tesla M40 versus 23 W for the T550 Mobile. The Tesla M40 is dual-slot with an 8-pin EPS connector and a 600 W suggested PSU. The T550 Mobile is IGP with no power connectors and no suggested PSU. The Tesla M40 has no display outputs; the T550 Mobile has portable-device-dependent outputs. The Tesla M40 measures 267 mm (10.5 inches) in length; no dimensions are recorded for the T550 Mobile. Both use PCIe 3.0 x16 and support DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

The Verdict

The benchmark data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA Tesla M40 outperforms the NVIDIA T550 Mobile in every recorded test. It wins Geekbench OpenCL by 10.3% and Geekbench Vulkan by 44.8%. Its average benchmark score of 41897 places it six percentage points higher in the overall GPU percentile distribution (83rd versus 77th). Anyone choosing between these two strictly on performance should select the Tesla M40.

However, the choice is rarely that simple, because the two cards occupy entirely different physical and thermal envelopes. The Tesla M40 is a 250 W dual-slot accelerator requiring an 8-pin EPS connector and a 600 W suggested PSU, with no display outputs. The T550 Mobile is a 23 W IGP with no power connectors, designed for portable devices. The Tesla M40 cannot be installed in a laptop, and the T550 Mobile cannot be installed in a desktop workstation in any conventional sense. The data shows two different solutions for two different problems.

The T550 Mobile's advantages are architectural, not performance-based. It uses a newer 12 nm Turing design, supports FP16 at 6.820 TFLOPS, and achieves nearly double the boost clock (1665 MHz versus 1112 MHz). Its transistor density is 76.7% higher, reflecting the efficiency gains of the newer process. For workloads that leverage FP16 or benefit from higher clock speeds, the T550 Mobile may deliver better efficiency per watt, though the database does not record efficiency metrics directly.

The Tesla M40's advantages are raw and structural. It has three times the memory capacity (12 GB versus 4 GB), a six times wider memory bus (384-bit versus 64-bit), and triple the memory bandwidth (288.4 GB/s versus 96.00 GB/s). It has three times the shading units (3072 versus 1024), six times the ROPs (96 versus 32), and exactly double the FP32 throughput (6.832 TFLOPS versus 3.410 TFLOPS). These are not marginal differences; they are generational gaps in compute capability.

The verdict depends entirely on deployment context. For a fixed installation with power and cooling available, the Tesla M40 is the clear choice. For a mobile workstation where power draw must stay minimal, the T550 Mobile is the only viable option of the two. The data does not suggest any scenario where the T550 Mobile wins on raw performance, but it does not need to: its purpose is efficiency and portability, not peak throughput.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA Tesla M40 wins in all measured compute benchmarks. It is 10.3% ahead in Geekbench OpenCL and 44.8% ahead in Geekbench Vulkan. It also wins on every raw specification that drives traditional rendering and compute workloads: FP32 throughput, pixel rate, texture rate, memory capacity, memory bus width, and memory bandwidth. Applications that are bandwidth-bound, such as large dataset processing or high-resolution textures, should show a clear preference for the Tesla M40 based on its 288.4 GB/s versus 96.00 GB/s advantage.

The Tesla M40 also wins in the context of its nearest rivals. It scores within 0.5% of the Tesla M40 24 GB, 1.7% above the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, and 2.5% above the Radeon Pro 5300. Only the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE beats it among recorded rivals, by 1.9%. This places the Tesla M40 in a performance tier that remains competitive even against much newer hardware.

The NVIDIA T550 Mobile wins in power efficiency and physical footprint. Its 23 W TDP is less than one-tenth of the Tesla M40's 250 W. It requires no power connectors, fits an IGP form factor, and draws so little power that no suggested PSU is listed. For battery-powered or thermally constrained environments, the T550 Mobile is the only sensible choice.

The T550 Mobile also wins on architectural modernity. It uses a 12 nm process, supports FP16 at 6.820 TFLOPS, and has a boost clock of 1665 MHz, which is 553 MHz higher than the Tesla M40's boost clock. Its transistor density of 23.5M per mm² shows a much more efficient use of silicon area. In the nearest rival comparison, the T550 Mobile is essentially tied with the GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile (0% delta) and the Radeon Pro 570 (-0.1% delta), and it leads the T600 Mobile by 1%. This indicates it is competitive within its own mobile-class segment, even if it cannot challenge the Tesla M40's absolute performance.

In practical terms: the Tesla M40 is the winner for any workload where performance is the sole criterion and power is available. The T550 Mobile is the winner for any workload that must run on a portable device, where its 23 W draw and connector-free design are decisive advantages. The data records two benchmark victories for the Tesla M40 and none for the T550 Mobile, but the specification sheet records a clear victory for the T550 Mobile in efficiency-focused deployment scenarios.