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Tesla M40 vs Tesla T4

CPUCPUGPUGPU
NVIDIA

Tesla M40

2015Core: 948 MHzBoost: 1112 MHz
Buy on Amazon
VS
NVIDIA

Tesla T4

2018Core: 585 MHzBoost: 1590 MHz
Buy on Amazon

Tesla M40 vs Tesla T4 Performance Spectrum

Tesla M40
8 GB 250
10,220
+0.7%
brand logoGeForce GTX 970M
brand logoGeForce GTX 970XM FORCE
brand logoGeForce GTX 780
brand logoGeForce GTX TITAN Z
brand logoGeForce RTX 2060
brand logoGeForce RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU
brand logoGeForce RTX 2080 Ti
brand logoGeForce RTX 4080 Mobile
Tesla T4
8 GB 70
10,153
0.0%
brand logoGeForce GTX 680
brand logoGeForce GTX 970XM FORCE
brand logoGeForce GTX 1650
brand logoGeForce GTX TITAN Z
brand logoGeForce RTX 2060
brand logoGeForce RTX 5060 Laptop GPU
brand logoGeForce RTX 2080 Ti
brand logoGeForce RTX 4080 Mobile

About G3D Mark

G3D Mark is a standard benchmark that measures graphics performance in real-world gaming scenarios. It simplifies comparing cards from different brands, where higher scores directly correlate with better fps and smoother gaming experiences.

Tesla M40 vs Tesla T4: Pros, Cons & Final Verdict

See where each GPU makes more sense in practice: raw FPS, VRAM, features, power draw, pricing, and long-term headroom.

Tesla M40

2015

Why buy it

  • ✅Competitive enough if your priority is price, power, or specific feature preference.

Trade-offs

  • ❌2015 hardware with 8 GB of VRAM already sits in legacy territory for modern games.
  • ❌
    33% HIGHER MSRP
    $2,500 MSRPvs$1,880 MSRP
  • ❌Lower G3D Mark per dollar, at 4.1 vs 5.4 G3D/$ ($2,500 MSRP vs $1,880 MSRP).
  • ❌257.1% higher power demand at 250W vs 70W.
  • ❌58.9% longer card at 267mm vs 168mm.

Tesla T4

2018

Why buy it

  • ✅Costs $620 less on MSRP ($1,880 MSRP vs $2,500 MSRP).
  • ✅Delivers 32.1% more G3D Mark for each dollar spent, at 5.4 vs 4.1 G3D/$ ($1,880 MSRP vs $2,500 MSRP).
  • ✅Tesla M40 is already legacy-tier future-proofing, so Tesla T4 is the less risky modern option long term.
  • ✅Draws 70W instead of 250W, a 180W reduction.
  • ✅Measures 168mm instead of 267mm, a 99mm shorter card that is more SFF-friendly.

Trade-offs

  • ❌Older hardware, 8 GB of VRAM, and weaker feature support mean it will age faster in newer AAA releases.

Quick Answers

Which GPU is faster for gaming right now?
Tesla M40 is the faster gaming card right now based on the synthetic data we have. It leads by 0.7% in PassMark G3D (10,220 vs 10,153), which is the best performance signal available in this matchup.
Which GPU is the safer long-term pick for 2026 and beyond?
Tesla T4 is the safer long-term pick for 2026 and beyond. The case is simple: a 12nm process instead of 28nm, 40 vs 0 ray-tracing units, and a newer 2018 generation instead of 2015. That gives it the more rounded hardware package for newer games.
Which GPU is the better buy today?
Tesla T4 makes the most sense to buy today. It is $620 cheaper on MSRP at $1,880 vs $2,500, and it leads G3D-per-dollar by 32.1% (5.4 vs 4.1), which is enough to swing the recommendation its way. Tesla M40 still makes more sense if max raw gaming performance matters more than value.

Tesla M40 vs Tesla T4 Technical Specifications

Side-by-side specs, architecture details, clocks, memory, power, and platform differences.

NVIDIA

Tesla M40

The Tesla M40 is manufactured by NVIDIA. It was released in November 10 2015. It features the Maxwell 2.0 architecture. The core clock ranges from 948 MHz to 1112 MHz. It has 3072 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 250W. Manufactured using 28 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 10,220 points.

NVIDIA

Tesla T4

The Tesla T4 is manufactured by NVIDIA. It was released in September 13 2018. It features the Turing architecture. The core clock ranges from 585 MHz to 1590 MHz. It has 2560 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 70W. Manufactured using 12 nm process technology. It features 40 dedicated ray tracing cores for enhanced lighting effects. G3D Mark benchmark score: 10,153 points.

⚡

Graphics Performance

The Tesla M40 scores 10,220 and the Tesla T4 reaches 10,153 in the G3D Mark benchmark — just a 0.7% difference, making them near-identical in rasterization performance. The Tesla M40 is built on Maxwell 2.0 while the Tesla T4 uses Turing, both on 28 nm vs 12 nm. Shader units: 3,072 (Tesla M40) vs 2,560 (Tesla T4). Raw compute: 6.832 TFLOPS (Tesla M40) vs 8.141 TFLOPS (Tesla T4). Boost clocks: 1112 MHz vs 1590 MHz.

FeatureTesla M40Tesla T4
G3D Mark Score
10,220
10,153
Architecture
Maxwell 2.0
Turing
Process Node
28 nm
12 nm
Shading Units
3072+20%
2560
Compute (TFLOPS)
6.832 TFLOPS
8.141 TFLOPS+19%
Boost Clock
1112 MHz
1590 MHz+43%
ROPs
96+50%
64
TMUs
192+20%
160
L1 Cache
1.1 MB
2.5 MB+127%
L2 Cache
3 MB
4 MB+33%
✨

Advanced Features (DLSS/FSR)

FeatureTesla M40Tesla T4
Upscaling Tech
Upscaling support
Upscaling support
Frame Generation
Not Supported
Not Supported
Ray Reconstruction
No
No
Low Latency
Standard
Standard
💾

Video Memory (VRAM)

Both cards ship with 8 GB of GDDR6. Memory bus width is 256-bit on the Tesla M40 and 256-bit on the Tesla T4. L2 Cache: 3 MB (Tesla M40) vs 4 MB (Tesla T4) — the Tesla T4 has significantly larger on-die cache to reduce VRAM reliance.

FeatureTesla M40Tesla T4
VRAM Capacity
8 GB
8 GB
Memory Type
GDDR6
GDDR6
Bus Width
256-bit
256-bit
L2 Cache
3 MB
4 MB+33%
🖥️

Display & API Support

DirectX support: 12.0 (Tesla M40) vs 12 Ultimate (Tesla T4). Vulkan: 1.1 vs 1.4. OpenGL: 4.5 vs 4.6. Maximum simultaneous displays: 0 vs 0.

FeatureTesla M40Tesla T4
DirectX
12.0
12 Ultimate
Vulkan
1.1
1.4+27%
OpenGL
4.5
4.6+2%
Max Displays
0
0
🎬

Media & Encoding

Hardware encoder: NVENC 2.0 (2x) (Tesla M40) vs NVENC (Turing) (Tesla T4). Decoder: PureVideo HD VP6 vs NVDEC (Turing). Supported codecs: MPEG-2,H.264,VC-1 (Tesla M40) vs H.264,H.265/HEVC,MPEG-2,VC-1,VP8,VP9 (Tesla T4).

FeatureTesla M40Tesla T4
Encoder
NVENC 2.0 (2x)
NVENC (Turing)
Decoder
PureVideo HD VP6
NVDEC (Turing)
Codecs
MPEG-2,H.264,VC-1
H.264,H.265/HEVC,MPEG-2,VC-1,VP8,VP9
🔌

Power & Dimensions

The Tesla M40 draws 250W versus the Tesla T4's 70W — a 112.5% difference. The Tesla T4 is more power-efficient. Recommended PSU: 500W (Tesla M40) vs 500W (Tesla T4). Power connectors: PCIe-powered vs PCIe-powered. Card length: 267mm vs 168mm, occupying 2 vs 1 slots. Typical load temperature: 85°C vs 76°C.

FeatureTesla M40Tesla T4
TDP
250W
70W-72%
Recommended PSU
500W
500W
Power Connector
PCIe-powered
PCIe-powered
Length
267mm
168mm
Height
111mm
69mm
Slots
2
1-50%
Temp (Load)
85°C
76°C-11%
Perf/Watt
40.9
145.0+255%
💰

Value Analysis

At launch, the Tesla M40 came in at $2500, while the Tesla T4 launched at $1880. On MSRP, Tesla T4 was 24.8% cheaper ($620 less). Performance per dollar on MSRP (G3D Mark / MSRP): 4.1 (Tesla M40) vs 5.4 (Tesla T4) — the Tesla T4 offers 31.7% better value. The newer card here is Tesla T4 (2018 vs 2015).

FeatureTesla M40Tesla T4
MSRP
$2500
$1880-25%
Performance per Dollar
4.1
5.4+32%
Codename
GM200
TU104
Release
November 10 2015
September 13 2018
Ranking
#256
#260
Search Tesla M40 on AmazonSearch Tesla T4 on Amazon

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