NVIDIA T550 Mobile vs NVIDIA Tesla P4 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a clear split between these two NVIDIA accelerators. The NVIDIA Tesla P4 and the NVIDIA T550 Mobile each claim one benchmark victory, but the margins are not symmetric. In Geekbench Vulkan, the Tesla P4 delivers a dominant 30.9% advantage over the T550 Mobile, scoring 40309 against 30801. That is a decisive gap for graphics workloads that leverage the Vulkan API. In Geekbench OpenCL, the T550 Mobile counters with a narrow 1.6% lead, posting 35521 versus the Tesla P4’s 34947. The OpenCL result is close enough to be considered a statistical tie in practical terms, while the Vulkan result is a landslide.

Looking at the broader database context, the Tesla P4’s average benchmark score sits at 37628, placing it in the 81st percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 at 37648 (a 0.1% deficit), the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 at 37507 (a 0.3% lead), and the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 at 37157 (a 1.3% lead). The T550 Mobile, by contrast, averages 33161 and ranks in the 77th percentile. Its closest competitors are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile at 33170 (essentially even), the AMD Radeon Pro 570 at 33207 (a 0.1% deficit), and the NVIDIA P104-100 at 32982 (a 0.5% lead). The average score difference between the two cards is 4467 points, which translates to roughly a 13.5% overall performance gap in favor of the Tesla P4, driven almost entirely by its Vulkan advantage.

The head-to-head data indicates that the Tesla P4 is the stronger compute device on aggregate, but the T550 Mobile is not without merit. Its OpenCL win, though slim, shows that it can hold its own in certain API environments. The Vulkan result, however, reveals a fundamental performance ceiling for the T550 Mobile that the Tesla P4 does not share. For users prioritizing raw throughput in modern graphics APIs, the Tesla P4 is the clear choice. For OpenCL-specific tasks, the T550 Mobile offers a marginal edge, but the difference is within the noise of typical benchmark variance.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural generations and manufacturing nodes. The NVIDIA Tesla P4 is built on the Pascal architecture using the GP104 chip, fabricated on TSMC’s 16 nm process. It packs 7,200 million transistors into a 314 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 22.9 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA T550 Mobile uses the Turing architecture with the TU117 chip, also from TSMC but on a 12 nm node. It contains 4,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die, resulting in a slightly higher density of 23.5 million per square millimeter. The node shrink from 16 nm to 12 nm allows the T550 Mobile to achieve better density despite having fewer transistors overall.

Compute resources differ substantially. The Tesla P4 features 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units. The T550 Mobile is much smaller in this regard, with 1024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. This means the Tesla P4 has 2.5 times the shader count, 2.5 times the TMUs, and double the ROPs. Pixel throughput reflects this: the Tesla P4 reaches 71.30 GPixel/s, while the T550 Mobile manages 53.28 GPixel/s. Texture throughput follows the same pattern, with the Tesla P4 at 178.2 GTexel/s versus 106.6 GTexel/s for the T550 Mobile.

Floating-point performance tells a more complex story. The Tesla P4 delivers 5.704 TFLOPS in FP32, but its FP16 throughput is severely limited at 89.12 GFLOPS, a 1:64 ratio. The T550 Mobile offers 3.410 TFLOPS in FP32, which is about 40% lower, but its FP16 capability jumps to 6.820 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio. This makes the T550 Mobile dramatically faster in half-precision workloads, over 76 times faster than the Tesla P4 in FP16. The architectural difference is stark: Pascal treats FP16 as a low-priority mode, while Turing implements it as a first-class citizen with double the throughput of FP32.

Memory subsystems also diverge. The Tesla P4 uses 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 192.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The T550 Mobile uses 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus, achieving only 96.00 GB/s. The Tesla P4 has double the memory capacity and double the bandwidth, a significant advantage for large datasets and texture-heavy workloads. Clock speeds favor the T550 Mobile, with a base of 1065 MHz and a boost of 1665 MHz, compared to the Tesla P4’s 886 MHz base and 1114 MHz boost. The T550 Mobile’s higher clocks partially compensate for its smaller execution resources, but not enough to close the gap in most metrics.

Neither card features ray tracing or tensor cores. Both support DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The Tesla P4 uses a PCIe 3.0 x16 interface, as does the T550 Mobile. Power consumption differs sharply: the Tesla P4 has a 75 W TDP, while the T550 Mobile draws only 23 W. The Tesla P4 is a single-slot card with no display outputs, while the T550 Mobile is an integrated GPU with portable device dependent outputs.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA Tesla P4 wins in scenarios that demand high memory bandwidth, large VRAM capacity, and raw pixel or texture throughput. Its 192.3 GB/s bandwidth and 8 GB frame buffer make it suitable for workloads that involve large textures, high-resolution render targets, or substantial in-memory datasets. The 30.9% Vulkan advantage over the T550 Mobile indicates that the Tesla P4 excels in modern graphics APIs that leverage its larger ROP and TMU counts. Its FP32 throughput of 5.704 TFLOPS is also significantly higher, which benefits general-purpose compute tasks in single precision. The 75 W TDP, while higher than the T550 Mobile, still allows for passive or low-profile cooling in a single-slot form factor, making it viable for dense server environments.

The NVIDIA T550 Mobile wins in efficiency-focused and half-precision scenarios. Its 23 W TDP is less than a third of the Tesla P4’s power draw, which makes it attractive for battery-powered laptops or low-power embedded systems. The FP16 throughput of 6.820 TFLOPS is a major advantage for machine learning inference and certain scientific workloads that use reduced precision. Its higher boost clock of 1665 MHz helps in lightly threaded or latency-sensitive tasks where clock speed matters more than parallel throughput. The narrow OpenCL win, 35521 versus 34947, suggests that the T550 Mobile handles OpenCL compute efficiently relative to its hardware size, likely due to its newer architecture and higher clocks.

The data shows a use-case split: the Tesla P4 is the choice for graphics-heavy, memory-intensive, and FP32 compute workloads, while the T550 Mobile is the choice for power-constrained, FP16-heavy, and portable deployments. In absolute performance terms, the Tesla P4 holds the edge, but the T550 Mobile’s efficiency profile may outweigh that edge in mobile or thermal-limited environments.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every major specification field. The Tesla P4 uses the GP104 chip on a 16 nm process with 7,200 million transistors and a 314 mm² die. The T550 Mobile uses the TU117 chip on a 12 nm process with 4,700 million transistors and a 200 mm² die. Transistor density is comparable at 22.9M per mm² versus 23.5M per mm², but the overall transistor count is over 50% higher in the Tesla P4.

Clock speeds favor the T550 Mobile: base clocks are 886 MHz versus 1065 MHz, and boost clocks are 1114 MHz versus 1665 MHz. Memory configurations are reversed in capacity but not in bandwidth: the Tesla P4 has 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 192.3 GB/s, while the T550 Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus with 96.00 GB/s. The effective memory rate is 6 Gbps for the Tesla P4 and 12 Gbps for the T550 Mobile, but the narrower bus limits the latter’s total bandwidth.

Compute unit counts are heavily skewed toward the Tesla P4: 2560 shading units versus 1024, 160 TMUs versus 64, and 64 ROPs versus 32. Pixel rate is 71.30 GPixel/s versus 53.28 GPixel/s, and texture rate is 178.2 GTexel/s versus 106.6 GTexel/s. FP32 is 5.704 TFLOPS versus 3.410 TFLOPS, while FP16 is 89.12 GFLOPS versus 6.820 TFLOPS, a massive inversion. TDP is 75 W versus 23 W. The Tesla P4 is a single-slot card with no display outputs, while the T550 Mobile is an integrated GPU with portable device dependent outputs. The Tesla P4 has a 168 mm length (6.6 inches), while the T550 Mobile has no listed dimensions. The suggested PSU for the Tesla P4 is 250 W, while the T550 Mobile lists none. Both use PCIe 3.0 x16 and share the same API support for DirectX, OpenGL, and Vulkan.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher average benchmark scores?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla P4 averages 37628 across its recorded benchmarks, while the NVIDIA T550 Mobile averages 33161. The Tesla P4 ranks in the 81st percentile of all GPUs, compared to the 77th percentile for the T550 Mobile.

Q: How do the two GPUs compare in Vulkan performance?

A: The Tesla P4 scores 40309 in Geekbench Vulkan, which is 30.9% higher than the T550 Mobile’s 30801. This is the largest performance gap between the two cards in any recorded test.

Q: Is the T550 Mobile better in any benchmark?

A: Yes, the T550 Mobile wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 35521, beating the Tesla P4’s 34947 by 1.6%. The margin is small, but it is the only direct benchmark victory for the T550 Mobile.

Q: What are the memory specifications for each card?

A: The Tesla P4 has 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 192.3 GB/s bandwidth. The T550 Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus with 96.00 GB/s bandwidth. The Tesla P4 offers double the capacity and double the bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU supports FP16 better?

A: The T550 Mobile is far superior in FP16, delivering 6.820 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio, compared to the Tesla P4’s 89.12 GFLOPS at a 1:64 ratio. The T550 Mobile is over 76 times faster in half-precision compute.

Q: How do the power requirements compare?

A: The Tesla P4 has a 75 W TDP and a suggested PSU of 250 W, while the T550 Mobile has a 23 W TDP and no suggested PSU listed. The T550 Mobile is significantly more power-efficient.

The Verdict

The data points to a straightforward conclusion: the NVIDIA Tesla P4 is the higher-performing GPU overall, but the NVIDIA T550 Mobile is the more efficient and specialized option. The Tesla P4 wins on aggregate benchmark scores (37628 versus 33161), Vulkan performance (40309 versus 30801), memory capacity (8 GB versus 4 GB), memory bandwidth (192.3 GB/s versus 96.00 GB/s), FP32 throughput (5.704 TFLOPS versus 3.410 TFLOPS), and pixel/texture rates (71.30 GPixel/s and 178.2 GTexel/s versus 53.28 GPixel/s and 106.6 GTexel/s). Its 30.9% Vulkan advantage is the single largest margin in the head-to-head data, making it the definitive choice for graphics applications that utilize Vulkan.

The T550 Mobile, however, should be selected for scenarios where power draw is critical. Its 23 W TDP is less than one-third of the Tesla P4’s 75 W, and its FP16 throughput of 6.820 TFLOPS is dramatically higher, suited for half-precision compute. Its 1.6% OpenCL win shows it can match or slightly exceed the Tesla P4 in that API, despite having far fewer shading units (1024 versus 2560) and half the memory bandwidth. The T550 Mobile’s higher boost clock (1665 MHz versus 1114 MHz) partially explains its competitive OpenCL result.

For a desktop workstation or server with adequate cooling and power delivery, the Tesla P4 is the justified purchase, given its superior memory subsystem and FP32 compute. For a laptop, embedded system, or power-sensitive deployment, the T550 Mobile is the rational choice, offering a large FP16 advantage and a much lower thermal footprint. The database records no price information for either card, so the decision rests purely on performance and efficiency metrics. Users who need maximum graphics throughput should pick the Tesla P4. Users who need efficient half-precision compute or minimal power draw should pick the T550 Mobile.