Tesla K20X vs GeForce GTX 280

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Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking734not rated
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.13no data
Power efficiency1.00no data
ArchitectureTesla 2.0 (2007−2013)Kepler (2012−2018)
GPU code nameGT200GK110
Market segmentDesktopWorkstation
Release date16 June 2008 (16 years ago)12 November 2012 (12 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$649 $7,699

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores2402688
Core clock speed602 MHz732 MHz
Number of transistors1,400 million7,080 million
Manufacturing process technology65 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)236 Watt235 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature105 °Cno data
Texture fill rate48.16164.0
Floating-point processing power0.6221 TFLOPS3.935 TFLOPS
ROPs3248
TMUs80224

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length267 mm267 mm
Height4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
SLI options+-

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR3GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount1 GB6 GB
Memory bus width512 Bit384 Bit
Memory clock speed1107 MHz1300 MHz
Memory bandwidth141.7 GB/s249.6 GB/s

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display ConnectorsHDTVDual Link DVINo outputs
Multi monitor support+no data
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
Audio input for HDMIS/PDIFno data

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX11.1 (10_0)12 (11_0)
Shader Model4.05.1
OpenGL2.14.6
OpenCL1.11.2
VulkanN/A1.1.126
CUDA+3.5

Pros & cons summary


Recency 16 June 2008 12 November 2012
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 6 GB
Chip lithography 65 nm 28 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 236 Watt 235 Watt

Tesla K20X has an age advantage of 4 years, a 500% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 132.1% more advanced lithography process, and 0.4% lower power consumption.

We couldn't decide between GeForce GTX 280 and Tesla K20X. We've got no test results to judge.

Be aware that GeForce GTX 280 is a desktop card while Tesla K20X is a workstation one.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280
GeForce GTX 280
NVIDIA Tesla K20X
Tesla K20X

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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Community ratings

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3.6 105 votes

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3.2 51 vote

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Questions & comments

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