NVIDIA Quadro K4100M

Launched in July 2013 on TSMC's 28 nm process, the NVIDIA Quadro K4100M is a Kepler-architecture mobile workstation GPU built around the GK104 chip, packing 3,540 million transistors into a 294 mm² die. It carries 1,152 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs, with a base and boost clock locked at 706 MHz. The card's FP32 compute throughput is 1.627 TFLOPS, while pixel and texture rates reach 16.94 GPixel/s and 67.78 GTexel/s, respectively. This end-of-life MXM Module draws a 100 W TDP, requires no auxiliary power connectors, and communicates over an MXM-B (3.0) bus interface.

Memory Subsystem

The Quadro K4100M is equipped with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a peak bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. The memory clock runs at 800 MHz, translating to 3.2 Gbps effective data rate. For a mobile workstation GPU of this era, the 4 GB capacity is a significant asset, particularly for professional workloads involving large datasets, complex CAD assemblies, or high-resolution texture sets. In practice, this capacity allows the GPU to hold larger working sets locally, reducing the need to spill to system memory over a relatively narrow bus.

The 256-bit memory interface provides a balanced throughput relative to the GPU's compute capabilities. With a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s, the card can feed its 1,152 shading units without severe bottlenecks in typical viewport or rendering scenarios. However, at high resolutions—such as 4K displays or multi-monitor setups—the bandwidth becomes a more critical constraint. The data indicates that while the memory subsystem is adequate for its intended generation, it trails modern equivalents by a wide margin; for example, the Intel Arc A310, a close rival in overall score, relies on a different memory architecture entirely. For users pushing 4K texture packs or heavy multisampling, the 102.4 GB/s figure will likely be the limiting factor, as the raw compute headroom cannot be fully utilized when memory throughput saturates.

How It Compares

AMD Radeon 540

The Quadro K4100M edges out the AMD Radeon 540 by a razor-thin 0.6% in average benchmark score, with 7,627 versus 7,579. This places the two cards in essentially the same performance tier, despite their vastly different architectures and release windows. The Radeon 540 is a low-end discrete GPU, while the K4100M is a professional mobile part; the near-tie suggests that the older Kepler architecture holds up surprisingly well against a much newer entry-level product.

AMD Radeon R7 250

Against the AMD Radeon R7 250, the K4100M posts a 0.9% advantage, scoring 7,627 versus 7,557. The R7 250 is a desktop part aimed at budget gaming, yet the workstation-oriented K4100M manages to outperform it in aggregate benchmarks. This narrow delta underscores that the Quadro's compute specialization does not come at the expense of raw throughput, at least when compared to a contemporary entry-level desktop GPU.

Intel Arc A310

The Intel Arc A310 trails the K4100M by exactly 1%, with a score of 7,550 versus 7,627. This is notable because the Arc A310 is a modern, discrete graphics solution featuring hardware ray tracing and AV1 encoding, whereas the K4100M predates those features by nearly a decade. The benchmark parity indicates that in pure compute terms, the old Kepler design remains competitive, though the Arc A310 brings a far richer feature set to the table.

AMD Radeon HD 8850M

The largest gap in this comparison is against the AMD Radeon HD 8850M, where the K4100M leads by 2.4%, scoring 7,627 versus 7,447. Both are mobile GPUs from the same era, but the Quadro's higher memory bandwidth and larger shading unit count give it a clear edge. This 2.4% delta, while modest, is consistent across the benchmark suite and indicates a genuine, if small, performance hierarchy.

Benchmark Performance

The Quadro K4100M's average benchmark score is 7,627, placing it at the 40th percentile of all GPUs tracked in the database. In the Geekbench Metal test, it scores 6,380, while in Geekbench OpenCL it reaches 8,873—a notable 39% uplift in the OpenCL workload, suggesting the architecture is better optimized for compute-oriented APIs than for Metal-specific tasks.

Relative to its nearest rivals, the K4100M is the top performer in its immediate cluster, but only by a slim margin. The deltaPct values show a tightly packed field: 0.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon 540, 0.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon R7 250, 1% ahead of the Intel Arc A310, and 2.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon HD 8850M. These are all sub-3% differences, meaning that in real-world usage, the K4100M is statistically indistinguishable from its nearest competitors in aggregate throughput. The practical takeaway is that for applications that rely on raw GPGPU compute, the K4100M sits at a performance plateau shared by several other budget and mid-range parts.

The disparity between Metal and OpenCL scores is worth highlighting. The 8,873 OpenCL result is 39% higher than the 6,380 Metal result, which may reflect driver maturity or architectural preferences for the OpenCL execution model. Since the K4100M is a professional card from the Kepler generation, its OpenCL performance is likely the more relevant metric for workstation software, many of which leverage OpenCL for acceleration. The Metal score, while lower, still positions the card well above its immediate rivals in that specific test, reinforcing its overall 40th percentile standing.

FAQ

Q: What is the memory configuration of the NVIDIA Quadro K4100M?

A: The card features 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s and an effective memory clock of 3.2 Gbps.

Q: How does the Quadro K4100M perform in Geekbench benchmarks?

A: It scores 6,380 in Geekbench Metal and 8,873 in Geekbench OpenCL, resulting in an average benchmark score of 7,627 across all tests.

Q: What is the closest competitor to the Quadro K4100M?

A: The AMD Radeon 540 is the nearest rival, with an average score of 7,579, just 0.6% behind the K4100M's 7,627.

Q: What is the TDP and power connector requirement?

A: The TDP is 100 W, and the card requires no auxiliary power connectors, making it suitable for MXM-based mobile workstations.

Q: What API levels does the Quadro K4100M support?

A: It supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175.

Q: What is the transistor count and die size?

A: The GK104 chip contains 3,540 million transistors on a 294 mm² die, manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The Quadro K4100M does not include dedicated ray tracing cores or tensor cores, as its Kepler architecture predates such specialized hardware. The chip's 1,152 shading units handle all compute and graphics workloads, delivering 1.627 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. This means that any ray tracing workloads would be executed in software or via compute shaders, which is impractical for real-time use but acceptable for offline rendering in professional applications of its era.

On the API front, the card supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175. While the DirectX 12 support is nominal at feature level 11_0—meaning it cannot utilize the full DirectX 12 feature set—the OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.2.175 support are surprisingly modern for a 2013 GPU. This allows the K4100M to run contemporary Vulkan-based applications and OpenGL workloads, though performance will be limited by the aging hardware. The card's display outputs are portable device dependent, reflecting its MXM module form factor, and it occupies a single slot width.

The absence of tensor cores also means no hardware acceleration for AI inference or deep learning tasks, which have become standard in modern workstation GPUs. For users evaluating this card today, the feature set is strictly legacy: it offers solid OpenCL compute, modest DirectX 11-era graphics, and no ray tracing or tensor acceleration. Its 40th percentile ranking among all GPUs confirms its compute capability relative to the broader market, but the lack of modern features limits its relevance for contemporary software stacks.