AMD FirePro D300 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile Comparison

The AMD FirePro D300 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile represent two very different eras of GPU design. The data shows the RTX 4050 Mobile is decisively faster in every measured benchmark, but the FirePro D300 still holds relevance in specific legacy workstation contexts. This analysis breaks down the benchmark results, architectural shifts, and specification differences to help you decide which card fits a given build.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head results are unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile wins both recorded tests by a massive margin. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4050 Mobile scores 74,748 against the FirePro D300’s 19,515. That is a delta of -73.9% from the NVIDIA card’s perspective, meaning the FirePro D300 delivers only about 26% of the RTX 4050 Mobile’s compute performance in this workload. The Vulkan test tells the same story: the RTX 4050 Mobile hits 75,235 while the FirePro D300 manages 19,759, a -73.7% delta.

These aren’t close calls. The RTX 4050 Mobile is roughly 3.8x faster in both OpenCL and Vulkan. The FirePro D300’s best result, its 19,759 Vulkan score, is still lower than the RTX 4050 Mobile’s worst result, the 74,748 OpenCL score. There is no benchmark in the data where the AMD card wins. The wins tally is 0 for the FirePro D300 and 2 for the RTX 4050 Mobile.

Looking at the broader benchmark context, the FirePro D300’s average benchmark score is 19,637, while the RTX 4050 Mobile’s average is 19,049. This is surprising at first glance—the RTX 4050 Mobile has a lower average despite crushing the head-to-head tests. The explanation lies in the benchmark sets. The RTX 4050 Mobile includes several Passmark tests (DirectX 9, 10, 11, 12, G2D, G3D, and GPU compute) that drag down its average. Its Passmark G3D score of 14,423 and DirectX 9 score of 184 are far below its Geekbench results. The FirePro D300 only has two Geekbench entries, both near 19,500, so its average stays high.

When comparing to nearest rivals, the FirePro D300 sits at the 64th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Quadro K5200, scores 19,602, which is just 0.2% away. The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT scores 19,765, putting it 0.6% ahead of the FirePro D300. The RTX 4050 Mobile, at the 63rd percentile, has a nearest rival in the AMD Radeon RX 6600 with an average of 19,036 (0.1% difference) and the NVIDIA Quadro K6000 at 19,030 (0.1% difference). The percentile rankings are nearly identical, but the actual workload behavior is wildly different.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 4050 Mobile wins every compute-heavy synthetic benchmark in the data. Its Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan scores are over 70,000, indicating strong raw throughput for modern applications, AI inference, and graphics workloads that leverage current APIs. The Passmark results show a more nuanced picture: the DirectX 12 score of 61 is low, but the DirectX 9 score of 184 and G2D score of 633 suggest the card handles legacy 2D and older DirectX titles reasonably well. The G3D score of 14,423 and GPU compute score of 5,947 round out a capable all-rounder for gaming and general compute.

The FirePro D300 has no wins in the provided benchmarks. Its value lies in its specific design goals: professional workstation use from the GCN 1.0 era. The 1280 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs are configured for compute and display tasks common in 2014-era CAD and DCC applications. Its 4x DisplayPort 1.2 outputs and single-slot form factor make it suitable for multi-monitor setups in a server or workstation chassis. The 2 GB GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 162.6 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for its intended workloads.

Where the FirePro D300 might still be relevant is in legacy software that was optimized for GCN architecture or in systems that require a specific driver stack. The RTX 4050 Mobile, being a mobile IGP, has no dedicated display outputs—it’s “Portable Device Dependent.” That means it cannot drive external monitors directly in a desktop workstation sense. The FirePro D300’s four DisplayPort connections are a clear advantage for multi-display workstations, even if the underlying GPU is slower.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs spans a decade of design philosophy. The FirePro D300 uses the Pitcairn chip built on GCN 1.0 architecture, manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 2,800 million transistors into a 212 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 13.2 million per mm². GCN 1.0 was AMD’s compute-first design, emphasizing parallel throughput over raw clock speed. The FirePro D300 has no dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores—those concepts were years away.

The RTX 4050 Mobile uses the AD107 chip on Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm process, also at TSMC. This chip contains 18,900 million transistors in just 159 mm², achieving a density of 118.9 million per mm²—roughly 9x denser than the FirePro D300. Ada Lovelace introduces dedicated hardware: 20 RT cores for ray tracing and 80 tensor cores for AI workloads. The RTX 4050 Mobile also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the FirePro D300 maxes out at DirectX 12 (11_1). Vulkan support is also newer on the NVIDIA card: version 1.4 versus 1.2.170 on the AMD card. OpenGL support is identical at 4.6.

The memory architecture differs fundamentally. The FirePro D300 uses 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, achieving 162.6 GB/s. The RTX 4050 Mobile uses 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 96-bit bus, achieving 192.0 GB/s. Despite the narrower bus, the RTX 4050 Mobile has higher bandwidth thanks to faster memory clocks (16 Gbps effective versus 5.1 Gbps effective). The RTX 4050 Mobile also has more shading units (2560 versus 1280) and more ROPs (48 versus 32), while TMU count is identical at 80.

Specification Differences

The most striking specification difference is power consumption. The FirePro D300 has a TDP of 150 W and requires a 450 W suggested power supply, while the RTX 4050 Mobile has a TDP of just 50 W and no power connectors—it draws power directly from the laptop motherboard. This is a 3x efficiency improvement. The RTX 4050 Mobile is an IGP (integrated graphics processor), meaning it’s soldered to a mobile board, whereas the FirePro D300 is a single-slot card measuring 242 mm (9.5 inches) in length.

Clock speeds show the generational leap. The FirePro D300 has no listed base or boost clock, only a memory clock of 1270 MHz (5.1 Gbps effective). The RTX 4050 Mobile has a base clock of 1455 MHz and a boost clock of 1755 MHz, with a memory clock of 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective). Pixel and texture rates follow: the FirePro D300 delivers 27.20 GPixel/s and 68.00 GTexel/s, while the RTX 4050 Mobile hits 84.24 GPixel/s and 140.4 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 2.176 TFLOPS for the AMD card versus 8.986 TFLOPS for the NVIDIA card—a 4.1x difference. The RTX 4050 Mobile also has FP16 performance at 8.986 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio), while the FirePro D300 has no listed FP16 capability.

Bus interface differs: PCIe 3.0 x16 for the FirePro D300 versus PCIe 4.0 x8 for the RTX 4050 Mobile. Display outputs also diverge sharply—the FirePro D300 has 4x DisplayPort 1.2, while the RTX 4050 Mobile is “Portable Device Dependent,” meaning outputs vary by laptop design. The FirePro D300 is end-of-life, released in January 2014, with a predecessor of FirePro Terascale and a successor of Radeon Instinct. The RTX 4050 Mobile is active, released in January 2023, with a predecessor of GeForce 30 Mobile and a successor of GeForce 50 Mobile.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in raw compute performance?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile is significantly faster. It scores 74,748 in Geekbench OpenCL versus 19,515 for the AMD FirePro D300, a -73.9% delta. In Vulkan, the RTX 4050 Mobile scores 75,235 versus 19,759, a -73.7% delta.

Q: Can the FirePro D300 drive multiple monitors?

A: Yes, the FirePro D300 has 4x DisplayPort 1.2 outputs, making it suitable for multi-display workstation setups. The RTX 4050 Mobile has no fixed display outputs—they are “Portable Device Dependent,” meaning they vary by the laptop design.

Q: What is the power consumption difference?

A: The FirePro D300 has a TDP of 150 W and requires a 450 W suggested power supply. The RTX 4050 Mobile has a TDP of just 50 W and uses no power connectors, drawing power from the motherboard.

Q: Does the RTX 4050 Mobile support ray tracing?

A: Yes, the RTX 4050 Mobile includes 20 dedicated RT cores for ray tracing. The FirePro D300 has no RT cores, as it predates that technology.

Q: Which card has better memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX 4050 Mobile has higher bandwidth at 192.0 GB/s, despite using a narrower 96-bit bus. The FirePro D300 uses a 256-bit bus but achieves only 162.6 GB/s due to slower GDDR5 memory.

Q: Are these cards comparable in overall benchmark percentile?

A: The FirePro D300 sits at the 64th percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX 4050 Mobile sits at the 63rd percentile. Their average benchmark scores are close (19,637 versus 19,049), but the RTX 4050 Mobile’s average is pulled down by low Passmark scores, masking its dominance in Geekbench tests.

The Verdict

The data is clear: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile is the superior performer in every benchmark recorded. Its Geekbench scores are over 70,000, dwarfing the FirePro D300’s ~19,500 results. For any modern workload—gaming, compute, AI, or ray tracing—the RTX 4050 Mobile is the only logical choice. Its 8.986 TFLOPS FP32 performance, 20 RT cores, and 80 tensor cores put it in a completely different performance class. The 6 GB GDDR6 memory, while on a narrower bus, still offers more capacity and higher bandwidth than the FirePro D300’s 2 GB GDDR5.

The FirePro D300’s only advantages are its physical form factor and display outputs. As a single-slot, 242 mm card with 4x DisplayPort, it fits into rackmount workstations or servers that need multi-monitor output without a modern mobile IGP. Its 150 W TDP is high by today’s standards, but acceptable for a desktop workstation. However, its 2.176 TFLOPS FP32 and lack of modern API support (DirectX 12 11_1, Vulkan 1.2.170) make it unsuitable for anything beyond legacy software.

If you are building or upgrading a system today, the RTX 4050 Mobile wins without qualification. The only reason to choose the FirePro D300 is if you have a specific legacy workstation requirement that demands GCN 1.0 drivers, a single-slot card, or multiple DisplayPort outputs on a fixed desktop platform. Otherwise, the RTX 4050 Mobile’s 4x performance lead, lower power draw, and active production status make it the pragmatic pick. The benchmark data does not support any other conclusion.