AMD FirePro D300 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data contains two direct comparisons between the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 and the AMD FirePro D300, and in both, the RTX 3080 is decisively ahead. The largest margin appears in the Geekbench OpenCL test, where the RTX 3080 scores 152,423 against the FirePro D300's 19,515. That is a delta of 681.1%. This is not a marginal lead; the RTX 3080 is roughly eight times faster in this compute-oriented workload, a gap that reflects the fundamental difference in their positions within the database.

The second head-to-head result, Geekbench Vulkan, shows a narrower but still substantial advantage for the RTX 3080. It scores 33,620 versus 19,759 for the FirePro D300, a delta of 70.2%. While the OpenCL result suggests a generational chasm, the Vulkan result is more representative of a modern API workload where the older GCN architecture can at least participate. Still, the RTX 3080 leads by more than two-thirds, which is a commanding margin in any real-world context.

Looking at the broader benchmark averages, the RTX 3080 records an average score of 23,172 across all its tested workloads, while the FirePro D300 averages 19,637. The RTX 3080's nearest rivals in the database, the NVIDIA P106-100, AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16, AMD Radeon RX 6600M, and AMD Radeon R9 M290X, all sit within 0.3% to 0.4% of its average score. This indicates that the RTX 3080's average is tightly clustered with several other cards, meaning its overall standing is competitive but not isolated at the top. The FirePro D300, by contrast, sits near the NVIDIA Quadro K5200 (0.2% ahead), the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT (0.6% behind), the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (1.2% ahead), and the NVIDIA Tesla K40m (1.2% behind). Its average score is not far off these cards, suggesting it occupies a mid-pack position among its immediate peers.

The RTX 3080's percentile ranking among all GPUs is 68, while the FirePro D300 sits at 64. Although the percentile difference is modest, the raw score gap in the head-to-head tests is anything but modest. The data implies that the RTX 3080's average is pulled down by some of its older DirectX benchmarks, while its modern API results are far stronger. The FirePro D300, with only two benchmark results recorded, presents a less complete picture, but both of those results are clear losses to the RTX 3080.

The wins tally is straightforward: the RTX 3080 wins 2, the FirePro D300 wins 0. There is no benchmark in the database where the FirePro D300 outperforms the RTX 3080. The question is not whether the RTX 3080 is faster, but how the two cards behave across different workload types and whether the older card retains any niche where it makes sense.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3080 wins every recorded workload. In OpenCL, its 152,423 score versus 19,515 represents a 681.1% advantage, which is the kind of result that dominates compute-heavy tasks such as rendering, simulation, or any GPU-accelerated application that relies on raw floating-point throughput. The FirePro D300's OpenCL score of 19,515 is a fraction of the RTX 3080's, and this is the single clearest use-case split: if the workload is OpenCL-based, the RTX 3080 is the only rational choice.

In Vulkan, the RTX 3080 again leads, but the margin is smaller. Its 33,620 versus 19,759 is a 70.2% delta. Vulkan is a lower-level API that often favors newer architectures with better driver optimization, and the result here suggests that while the FirePro D300 can handle Vulkan workloads, it does so at a significant performance disadvantage. For gaming or any Vulkan-based application, the RTX 3080 is the stronger card, though the gap is not as extreme as in OpenCL.

The FirePro D300 does not win any benchmark in the database. However, its specification profile hints at where it might be less impractical. It is a single-slot card with a 150 W TDP and a 450 W suggested PSU, while the RTX 3080 is dual-slot with a 320 W TDP and a 700 W suggested PSU. For a system with strict power or space constraints, the FirePro D300 is the more manageable physical package. It also has four DisplayPort 1.2 outputs, which could suit multi-display setups that do not require the RTX 3080's HDMI 2.1 or DisplayPort 1.4a capabilities. But in terms of benchmark performance, the FirePro D300 has no recorded wins.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different eras and different design philosophies. The RTX 3080 is built on NVIDIA's Ampere architecture, using the GA102 chip fabricated on an 8 nm Samsung process. It packs 28,300 million transistors into a 628 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 45.1 million per square millimeter. The FirePro D300 uses AMD's GCN 1.0 architecture with the Pitcairn chip on a 28 nm TSMC process. It contains 2,800 million transistors on a 212 mm² die, a density of 13.2 million per square millimeter. The transistor count difference is exactly 10 times, and the die area difference is nearly 3 times, which explains a large portion of the performance gap.

The RTX 3080 has 8,704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units. It also includes 68 ray tracing cores and 272 tensor cores, features that the FirePro D300 lacks entirely. The FirePro D300 has 1,280 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. This is a massive difference in raw compute resources. The RTX 3080's FP32 throughput is 29.77 TFLOPS, while the FirePro D300 manages 2.176 TFLOPS. The RTX 3080 also supports FP16 at 29.77 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio, while the FirePro D300 has no recorded FP16 capability.

Memory is another major divider. The RTX 3080 has 10 GB of GDDR6X on a 320-bit bus, delivering 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The FirePro D300 has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, with 162.6 GB/s. That is a 4.7 times bandwidth advantage for the RTX 3080, and memory capacity is five times larger. The RTX 3080's memory clock is listed at 1188 MHz with 19 Gbps effective, while the FirePro D300's memory runs at 1270 MHz with 5.1 Gbps effective.

The process node difference is significant. The RTX 3080's 8 nm Samsung process is much newer than the FirePro D300's 28 nm TSMC node. This explains the transistor density difference and the power efficiency profile. The RTX 3080 has a 320 W TDP, more than double the FirePro D300's 150 W, but it also delivers far more performance per transistor. The FirePro D300 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the RTX 3080 uses PCIe 4.0 x16, doubling the available bus bandwidth in theory.

API support also differs. The RTX 3080 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The FirePro D300 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The DirectX version difference is notable: 12_2 includes features like ray tracing and mesh shaders that the FirePro D300's GCN 1.0 architecture cannot offer, since it has no RT or tensor cores.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080. It scores 152,423 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the AMD FirePro D300 scores 19,515, a delta of 681.1%.

Q: Does the AMD FirePro D300 win any benchmark?

A: No. The database records two head-to-head tests, Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan, and the RTX 3080 wins both. The RTX 3080 has 2 wins, the FirePro D300 has 0.

Q: How do the memory configurations compare?

A: The RTX 3080 has 10 GB of GDDR6X on a 320-bit bus with 760.3 GB/s bandwidth. The FirePro D300 has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 162.6 GB/s.

Q: What is the transistor count difference?

A: The RTX 3080 contains 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die. The FirePro D300 contains 2,800 million transistors on a 212 mm² die.

Q: Which card has better Vulkan performance?

A: The RTX 3080. It scores 33,620 in Geekbench Vulkan versus 19,759 for the FirePro D300, a 70.2% advantage.

Q: Do both cards support the same DirectX version?

A: No. The RTX 3080 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the FirePro D300 supports DirectX 12 (11_1).

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification. The RTX 3080 uses the GA102 chip on an 8 nm Samsung process, while the FirePro D300 uses the Pitcairn chip on a 28 nm TSMC process. Transistors are 28,300 million versus 2,800 million, and die size is 628 mm² versus 212 mm². Transistor density is 45.1M per mm² versus 13.2M per mm².

The RTX 3080 has 8,704 shading units, 272 TMUs, 96 ROPs, 68 RT cores, and 272 tensor cores. The FirePro D300 has 1,280 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with no RT or tensor cores. Pixel rate is 164.2 GPixel/s versus 27.20 GPixel/s, and texture rate is 465.1 GTexel/s versus 68.00 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 29.77 TFLOPS versus 2.176 TFLOPS. The RTX 3080 has FP16 at 29.77 TFLOPS, the FirePro D300 has none.

Memory: 10 GB GDDR6X on a 320-bit bus with 760.3 GB/s versus 2 GB GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 162.6 GB/s. Memory clocks are 1188 MHz (19 Gbps effective) versus 1270 MHz (5.1 Gbps effective). Power: 320 W TDP versus 150 W TDP. The RTX 3080 is dual-slot, the FirePro D300 is single-slot. The RTX 3080 uses a 1x 12-pin power connector, the FirePro D300 has no recorded connector. Suggested PSU is 700 W versus 450 W.

Bus interface: PCIe 4.0 x16 versus PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs: 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a versus 4x DisplayPort 1.2. The RTX 3080 is 285 mm long, the FirePro D300 is 242 mm. The RTX 3080 has a release date of 2020-08-31, the FirePro D300 was released on 2014-01-17. The RTX 3080 has a launch MSRP of 699 USD, the FirePro D300 has no recorded launch MSRP.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 outperforms the AMD FirePro D300 in every recorded benchmark, with margins ranging from 70.2% in Vulkan to 681.1% in OpenCL. The RTX 3080 has 10 times the transistors, more than 4 times the memory bandwidth, and over 13 times the FP32 throughput. Its architecture, Ampere on 8 nm, is generations ahead of GCN 1.0 on 28 nm. Anyone choosing between these two for compute, gaming, or modern API workloads should select the RTX 3080 without hesitation.

The FirePro D300 is not without its merits, but those merits are not visible in the benchmark data. It is a single-slot, 150 W card that can fit into power-constrained or space-constrained systems. It has four DisplayPort outputs, which could be useful for certain multi-display configurations. But the recorded benchmarks show no scenario where it beats the RTX 3080, and its average score of 19,637 is far below the RTX 3080's 23,172. The RTX 3080's percentile rank of 68 versus 64 also favors it, though the gap is smaller than the raw score difference might suggest.

The verdict is simple: pick the RTX 3080 for performance, modern API support, and future-proofing. Pick the FirePro D300 only if the system cannot physically accommodate a dual-slot, 320 W card, or if the workload is limited to the FirePro's specific display output arrangement. In every recorded benchmark, the RTX 3080 wins.