NVIDIA T550 Mobile vs NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows the NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB winning both head-to-head tests decisively. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Tesla M40 scores 37,439 against the T550 Mobile's 35,521, a 5.4% advantage. The gap widens substantially in Geekbench Vulkan, where the Tesla M40 reaches 45,975 versus the T550 Mobile's 30,801, a 49.3% difference. The Vulkan result is the standout disparity between these two cards, with the Tesla M40 delivering nearly half again as much raw score.

The aggregate benchmark average reinforces this pattern. The Tesla M40 24 GB posts an average benchmark score of 41,707, while the T550 Mobile sits at 33,161. That places the desktop Tesla card roughly 25.8% higher overall. The Tesla M40 also ranks in the 83rd percentile against all GPUs in the database, while the T550 Mobile lands in the 77th percentile. Both cards outperform the median GPU, but the Tesla M40 sits noticeably higher in the distribution.

Context from the nearest rivals clarifies where each card stands. The Tesla M40 24 GB's average score of 41,707 is within 0.5% of the original NVIDIA Tesla M40 (41,897), essentially a tie. It edges out the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti (41,187) by 1.3%, the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (40,870) by 2%, but trails the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE (42,723) by 2.4%. This places the Tesla M40 24 GB in a tight cluster of high-end workstation and desktop cards, despite its age. The T550 Mobile, by contrast, sits at 33,161, which is within 0.1% of the AMD Radeon Pro 570 (33,207) and essentially matches the GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile (33,170). It leads the NVIDIA P104-100 (32,982) by 0.5% and the T600 Mobile (32,849) by 1%. These deltas are small, indicating the T550 Mobile is squarely in the mid-range mobile tier, while the Tesla M40 24 GB competes with much stronger desktop hardware.

The OpenCL margin of 5.4% is modest enough that real-world differences in that workload would be noticeable but not transformative. The Vulkan margin of 49.3% is another matter entirely. Applications that leverage Vulkan will strongly favor the Tesla M40 24 GB, and the data suggests the gap comes from architectural capabilities rather than mere clock speed or memory size.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different design eras and target completely different physical environments. The Tesla M40 24 GB uses the GM200 chip built on Maxwell 2.0 architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 28 nm process. The die is large at 601 mm² and contains 8,000 million transistors, yielding a transistor density of 13.3 million per square millimeter. The T550 Mobile uses the TU117 chip on Turing architecture, built on a 12 nm process at TSMC. Its die is far smaller at 200 mm² with 4,700 million transistors, giving it a higher density of 23.5 million per square millimeter. The Turing chip crams more transistors per area despite having fewer total transistors, a direct consequence of the smaller process node.

The compute resources differ sharply. The Tesla M40 24 GB has 3,072 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 96 raster operation pipelines. The T550 Mobile has 1,024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. That means the Tesla card has three times the shader count, three times the TMUs, and three times the ROPs. Neither card has ray tracing cores or tensor cores, so both rely on pure rasterization and compute throughput.

Memory configurations are also fundamentally different. The Tesla M40 24 GB carries 24 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, with memory clocked at 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective) and bandwidth of 288.4 GB/s. The T550 Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus, with memory at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) and bandwidth of 96.00 GB/s. The Tesla card has six times the memory capacity and three times the bandwidth. The newer GDDR6 standard in the T550 Mobile runs at double the effective data rate, but the narrow 64-bit bus limits total throughput.

Clock behavior reflects their different roles. The Tesla M40 24 GB runs at a base clock of 948 MHz and a boost clock of 1112 MHz. The T550 Mobile has a base of 1065 MHz and a boost of 1665 MHz. The mobile Turing chip runs substantially higher clocks, especially in boost, which helps it close part of the raw compute gap. Still, the Tesla card's larger execution resources win out in measured performance. Pixel rate for the Tesla M40 is 106.8 GPixel/s versus 53.28 GPixel/s for the T550 Mobile, and texture rate is 213.5 GTexel/s versus 106.6 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput is 6.832 TFLOPS for the Tesla M40 and 3.410 TFLOPS for the T550 Mobile. The T550 Mobile does offer FP16 at 6.820 TFLOPS (2:1), a feature the Maxwell-based Tesla M40 lacks entirely, but the database benchmarks do not include FP16 workloads.

Power and physical design are where the two diverge most drastically. The Tesla M40 24 GB has a 250 W TDP, uses a dual-slot cooler with an 8-pin EPS power connector, and requires a 600 W suggested power supply. It measures 267 mm (10.5 inches) in length and has no display outputs, making it a pure compute accelerator. The T550 Mobile has a 23 W TDP, is an IGP-class mobile part with no power connectors, and its display outputs are listed as portable device dependent. The Tesla M40 is built for a server chassis or workstation with power to spare; the T550 Mobile is designed to slip into a laptop and run off the system's existing power delivery.

Where Each One Wins

The Tesla M40 24 GB wins in every benchmark category recorded in the database, but the magnitude of the win varies. In OpenCL, the 5.4% lead means the Tesla M40 is the better choice for compute tasks that rely on OpenCL, though not by a huge margin. In Vulkan, the 49.3% lead makes the Tesla M40 the clear pick for any workload that uses the Vulkan API, whether that is rendering, compute, or a mix of both.

The Tesla M40 24 GB also wins on memory capacity and bandwidth, which matters for large datasets that must stay resident in VRAM. With 24 GB versus 4 GB, the Tesla card can hold six times more data locally, avoiding PCIe transfers. Its 288.4 GB/s bandwidth is three times the T550 Mobile's 96.00 GB/s, so even memory-heavy tasks that fit in both cards will run faster on the Tesla M40.

The T550 Mobile wins on efficiency and physical integration. Its 23 W TDP is roughly one eleventh of the Tesla M40's 250 W. It needs no external power connectors and fits into a laptop as an IGP, while the Tesla M40 is a dual-slot accelerator requiring an 8-pin EPS connector and a 600 W power supply. For mobile workloads where power is limited, the T550 Mobile is the only viable option of the two. Its higher boost clock of 1665 MHz also gives it an edge in lightly threaded tasks that depend on single-core GPU clock speed, though the database benchmarks do not isolate that scenario.

The T550 Mobile's FP16 capability at 6.820 TFLOPS is noteworthy, but the absence of FP16 results in the benchmark suite means it cannot be validated against the Tesla M40, which offers no FP16 support at all. In the workloads that were actually measured, the T550 Mobile trails.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in Vulkan benchmarks?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB, with a Geekbench Vulkan score of 45,975 versus 30,801 for the T550 Mobile, a 49.3% advantage.

Q: How do the two cards compare in OpenCL performance?

A: The Tesla M40 24 GB scores 37,439 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 5.4% higher than the T550 Mobile's 35,521.

Q: Does the T550 Mobile have any architectural advantage over the Tesla M40?

A: The T550 Mobile uses a newer 12 nm Turing chip with a higher boost clock of 1665 MHz and supports FP16 at 6.820 TFLOPS. The Tesla M40 uses 28 nm Maxwell 2.0 and has no FP16 support.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference?

A: The Tesla M40 24 GB has 24 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, while the T550 Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus. The Tesla M40 also has 288.4 GB/s bandwidth versus 96.00 GB/s.

Q: Which card ranks higher among all GPUs in the database?

A: The Tesla M40 24 GB is in the 83rd percentile, while the T550 Mobile is in the 77th percentile.

Q: Are these cards comparable in power requirements?

A: No. The Tesla M40 24 GB has a 250 W TDP, requires a dual-slot cooler with an 8-pin EPS connector and a 600 W suggested power supply. The T550 Mobile has a 23 W TDP, is an IGP with no power connectors, and relies on portable device dependent display outputs.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear split based on use case. If the workload is desktop compute, rendering, or any Vulkan-heavy application, the NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB is the stronger card. It wins both head-to-head benchmarks, holds a 49.3% lead in Vulkan, has 24 GB of memory, and delivers 6.832 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. Its 83rd percentile ranking against all GPUs puts it ahead of the T550 Mobile's 77th percentile. The Tesla M40 24 GB also sits in a performance tier with the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE, cards that are far more recent and expensive.

The T550 Mobile is the right choice only when the physical constraints demand it. At 23 W with no power connectors, it fits into laptops and low-power systems where the Tesla M40 cannot operate at all. Its 1,024 shading units and 3.410 TFLOPS are modest, but it matches the GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile and the AMD Radeon Pro 570 in aggregate score, making it a reasonable mid-range mobile option within its class.

For a builder choosing between these two, the decision is not about which is better in absolute terms; the Tesla M40 24 GB wins every measured category. The question is whether the workload lives in a desktop with a 600 W power supply and room for a 267 mm dual-slot card, or in a mobile platform limited to 23 W. The Tesla M40 24 GB is the performance pick, and the T550 Mobile is the efficiency pick for constrained environments. Neither card is current production; both are marked end-of-life in the database.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification. The Tesla M40 24 GB uses the GM200 chip on Maxwell 2.0 architecture, built on a 28 nm process at TSMC with 8,000 million transistors on a 601 mm² die. The T550 Mobile uses the TU117 chip on Turing architecture, built on a 12 nm process at TSMC with 4,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die. Transistor density is 13.3 million per square millimeter for the Tesla M40 and 23.5 million for the T550 Mobile.

The Tesla M40 24 GB runs at 948 MHz base and 1112 MHz boost, with memory at 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective). The T550 Mobile runs at 1065 MHz base and 1665 MHz boost, with memory at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective). Memory capacity is 24 GB GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus with 288.4 GB/s bandwidth for the Tesla M40, while the T550 Mobile has 4 GB GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus with 96.00 GB/s bandwidth.

Shader resources are 3,024 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs for the Tesla M40, versus 1,024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs for the T550 Mobile. Pixel rate is 106.8 GPixel/s versus 53.28 GPixel/s, texture rate is 213.5 GTexel/s versus 106.6 GTexel/s, and FP32 is 6.832 TFLOPS versus 3.410 TFLOPS. The T550 Mobile adds FP16 at 6.820 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio; the Tesla M40 has no FP16 listing.

Power and form factor: the Tesla M40 24 GB has a 250 W TDP, dual-slot width, an 8-pin EPS power connector, a 600 W suggested PSU, and a 267 mm length. The T550 Mobile has a 23 W TDP, IGP slot width, no power connectors, no suggested PSU, and no listed dimensions. Both use PCIe 3.0 x16 and support DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The Tesla M40 has no display outputs; the T550 Mobile's outputs are portable device dependent. The Tesla M40 was released in November 2015, while the T550 Mobile has no recorded release date in the database. The Tesla M40 succeeded Tesla Kepler and was followed by Tesla Pascal; the T550 Mobile succeeded Quadro Pascal-M and was followed by Ampere-MW.