AMD FirePro D300 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile and the AMD FirePro D300 occupy very different corners of the graphics hardware world. The RTX 3080 Mobile is a modern, high-end laptop part built on a state-of-the-art process, while the FirePro D300 is a workstation card from a previous hardware generation. The recorded benchmark data shows a stark performance chasm, with the NVIDIA part leading by margins that exceed 400 percent in the two shared tests. This analysis draws exclusively on the database records for both products, covering their benchmark results, architectural foundations, and specification differences.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains two direct comparison points between these cards: Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan. In both instances, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile dominates the AMD FirePro D300 by a wide margin.

Starting with Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 3080 Mobile records a score of 104831, while the FirePro D300 manages 19515. This represents a delta of 437.2 percent in favor of the NVIDIA part. In practical terms, the RTX 3080 Mobile delivers over five times the compute throughput in this workload, a gap that reflects not just generational improvements but also the fundamental positioning of each card.

The Geekbench Vulkan test tells a similar story. The RTX 3080 Mobile scores 104066, against 19759 for the FirePro D300, a delta of 426.7 percent. Vulkan is a low-level graphics API, and the modern architecture of the RTX 3080 Mobile is clearly better suited to extracting performance from it. The FirePro D300, built on GCN 1.0, supports Vulkan 1.2.170, but its older design cannot match the raw throughput of the newer NVIDIA chip.

Beyond the shared tests, the full benchmark suite for each card reinforces the NVIDIA advantage. The RTX 3080 Mobile has a broad set of recorded results, including a Passmark G3D score of 16321, a Passmark GPU Compute score of 7276, and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2644. The FirePro D300 has no recorded results in these specific tests, so no direct comparison is possible. However, the average benchmark score for the RTX 3080 Mobile is 23628, while the FirePro D300 averages 19637. That is a difference of roughly 20 percent in aggregate performance, though the head-to-head Geekbench results suggest the gap is far larger in certain workloads.

The percentile rankings also illustrate positioning. The RTX 3080 Mobile sits at the 69th percentile among all GPUs in the database, while the FirePro D300 is at the 64th percentile. This may seem like a modest difference, but the percentile metric is compressed at the top end of the performance distribution. The raw scores tell the real story: the RTX 3080 Mobile is in a different performance class entirely.

Looking at the nearest rivals recorded in the database provides context for each card. The RTX 3080 Mobile's closest competitor by average score is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z, which scores 23736, a delta of -0.5 percent relative to the RTX 3080 Mobile. It is also within a small margin of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Mobile (23518, delta 0.5 percent) and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 (23877, delta -1 percent). This clustering indicates that the RTX 3080 Mobile is competitive with high-end desktop and mobile parts from its own generation.

The FirePro D300, on the other hand, sits near the NVIDIA Quadro K5200 (19602, delta 0.2 percent) and the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT (19765, delta -0.6 percent). Its position is also close to the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (19410, delta 1.2 percent) and the NVIDIA Tesla K40m (19885, delta -1.2 percent). These rivals span very different eras and market segments, but the FirePro D300's average score places it firmly in the middle of that group, a much lower tier than the RTX 3080 Mobile.

The head-to-head record is unambiguous: the RTX 3080 Mobile wins both shared tests, with a total of 2 wins and 0 losses. No benchmark in the database shows the FirePro D300 ahead.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is enormous, and it explains much of the performance delta.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile is built on the Ampere architecture, using the GA104 chip. This is a modern design manufactured on an 8 nm process at Samsung. The chip contains 17,400 million transistors on a die size of 392 mm², yielding a transistor density of 44.4 million per mm². The FirePro D300, by contrast, uses the Pitcairn chip based on GCN 1.0, manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs only 2,800 million transistors onto a 212 mm² die, with a density of 13.2 million per mm². The difference in process technology alone accounts for a massive leap in efficiency and density.

The RTX 3080 Mobile features 6144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 96 render output units. It also includes dedicated hardware for ray tracing and AI acceleration: 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores. The FirePro D300 has 1280 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with no RT cores or tensor cores at all. This means the NVIDIA card has nearly five times the shading units and a full suite of specialized hardware for modern workloads.

Clock speeds also differ significantly. The RTX 3080 Mobile runs at a base clock of 1110 MHz and boosts up to 1545 MHz. The FirePro D300 has no recorded base or boost clocks in the database, so a direct clock comparison is not possible. However, the memory clocks tell a clear story. The RTX 3080 Mobile uses GDDR6 memory at 1750 MHz, running at 14 Gbps effective. The FirePro D300 uses GDDR5 at 1270 MHz, or 5.1 Gbps effective.

The pixel and texture rates reflect the architectural advantages. The RTX 3080 Mobile delivers 148.3 GPixel/s and 296.6 GTexel/s, while the FirePro D300 manages 27.20 GPixel/s and 68.00 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is similarly lopsided: 18.98 TFLOPS for the NVIDIA card versus 2.176 TFLOPS for the AMD card. The RTX 3080 Mobile also supports FP16 at 18.98 TFLOPS (1:1), while the FirePro D300 has no recorded FP16 capability.

API support is another differentiator. The RTX 3080 Mobile 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 newer API versions on the NVIDIA card enable features that simply do not exist on the older AMD part, such as hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shaders.

The bus interface also differs. The RTX 3080 Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the FirePro D300 is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16. This doubles the available bandwidth between the GPU and the host system, which matters for data-intensive workloads.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile is the faster GPU by a massive margin. In the two shared benchmarks, it leads by 437.2 percent in OpenCL and 426.7 percent in Vulkan. Its average benchmark score of 23628 is well above the FirePro D300's 19637, and its percentile ranking (69th versus 64th) reflects a higher position in the overall distribution.

The RTX 3080 Mobile is the clear choice for anyone prioritizing raw performance, modern API support, or the ability to handle compute-heavy workloads. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, and 18.98 TFLOPS of FP32 compute place it in a completely different class. The inclusion of RT cores and tensor cores means it can handle ray-traced graphics and AI-accelerated tasks, neither of which the FirePro D300 can attempt.

The FirePro D300, on the other hand, is a legacy workstation part. Its 2 GB of GDDR5 memory and 162.6 GB/s bandwidth are modest by modern standards. Its only advantages are its lower TDP in terms of absolute value (150 W versus 115 W is not an advantage; the NVIDIA card actually consumes less power) and its single-slot form factor with four DisplayPort 1.2 outputs. The FirePro D300 does have a recorded suggested PSU of 450 W, while the RTX 3080 Mobile has no such figure in the database.

For a user deciding between these two today, the choice depends on context. If the workload involves modern gaming, ray tracing, or general compute, the RTX 3080 Mobile is the only sensible option. If the requirement is a legacy workstation card with specific display outputs and a single-slot profile, the FirePro D300 fills that niche. But from a pure performance standpoint, the data shows no contest.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every recorded specification. Here are the key fields where they diverge:

• Manufacturer: NVIDIA versus AMD.
• Architecture: Ampere versus GCN 1.0.
• Process Node: 8 nm versus 28 nm.
• Foundry: Samsung versus TSMC.
• Transistors: 17,400 million versus 2,800 million.
• Die Size: 392 mm² versus 212 mm².
• Transistor Density: 44.4M / mm² versus 13.2M / mm².
• Memory Size: 8 GB versus 2 GB.
• Memory Type: GDDR6 versus GDDR5.
• Memory Clock: 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) versus 1270 MHz (5.1 Gbps effective).
• Memory Bandwidth: 448.0 GB/s versus 162.6 GB/s.
• Shading Units: 6144 versus 1280.
• TMUs: 192 versus 80.
• ROPs: 96 versus 32.
• RT Cores: 48 versus none.
• Tensor Cores: 192 versus none.
• Pixel Rate: 148.3 GPixel/s versus 27.20 GPixel/s.
• Texture Rate: 296.6 GTexel/s versus 68.00 GTexel/s.
• FP32: 18.98 TFLOPS versus 2.176 TFLOPS.
• FP16: 18.98 TFLOPS (1:1) versus none recorded.
• TDP: 115 W versus 150 W.
• Bus Interface: PCIe 4.0 x16 versus PCIe 3.0 x16.
• Display Outputs: Portable Device Dependent versus 4x DisplayPort 1.2.
• DirectX Support: 12 Ultimate (12_2) versus 12 (11_1).
• Vulkan Support: 1.4 versus 1.2.170.
• Release Date: 2021-01-11 versus 2014-01-17.
• Predecessor: GeForce 20 Mobile versus FirePro Terascale.
• Successor: none versus Radeon Instinct.

The RTX 3080 Mobile also has a base clock of 1110 MHz and a boost clock of 1545 MHz, while the FirePro D300 has no recorded base or boost clocks. The FirePro D300 is a single-slot card with a length of 242 mm (9.5 inches), while the RTX 3080 Mobile has no recorded dimensions, as it is a mobile part. The FirePro D300 has a suggested PSU of 450 W, while the RTX 3080 Mobile has none. The RTX 3080 Mobile has no power connectors listed, while the FirePro D300 has none recorded either.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile scores 104831, while the AMD FirePro D300 scores 19515. The NVIDIA card leads by 437.2 percent.

Q: Does the AMD FirePro D300 support hardware ray tracing?

A: No. The FirePro D300 has no RT cores recorded in the database. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile includes 48 RT cores.

Q: How much memory does each GPU have?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 448.0 GB/s bandwidth. The AMD FirePro D300 has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory with a 162.6 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: What are the power consumption figures?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile has a TDP of 115 W. The AMD FirePro D300 has a TDP of 150 W and a suggested PSU of 450 W.

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 23628. The AMD FirePro D300 averages 19637.

Q: What is the difference in process node technology?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile is built on an 8 nm process at Samsung. The AMD FirePro D300 uses a 28 nm process at TSMC.