AMD FirePro D300 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 dominates the AMD FirePro D300 in every recorded head-to-head comparison. Across the two shared tests, the RTX 4060 records a 100% win rate, while the FirePro D300 fails to secure a single victory. The scale of the margin, however, is what truly separates these two cards.

In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the RTX 4060 scores 95,057 points against the FirePro D300's 19,515 points. This represents a delta of -79.5% for the AMD card, meaning the NVIDIA card is roughly 387% faster in this workload. The FirePro D300's score places it in the 64th percentile of all GPUs in the database, while the RTX 4060 sits at the 61st percentile, an apparent contradiction that the raw scores clarify: the RTX 4060's average benchmark score of 17,639 is dragged down by its diverse test suite, which includes lower DirectX legacy scores, whereas the FirePro D300 only has two recorded benchmarks, both of which are relatively strong for its generation.

The Geekbench Vulkan result tells a similar story, though with a narrower gap. The RTX 4060 posts 48,643 points versus the FirePro D300's 19,759 points, a delta of -59.4%. While the OpenCL margin is crushing, the Vulkan result still shows the NVIDIA card at nearly 2.5 times the performance of the AMD card. For a GPU released in 2014, the FirePro D300's Vulkan support at version 1.2.170 is respectable, but it cannot overcome the architectural gulf between GCN 1.0 and Ada Lovelace.

Looking at the database averages, the FirePro D300's mean score of 19,637 actually exceeds the RTX 4060's average of 17,639. This is a statistical artifact of the limited test set for the AMD card, as it has only two benchmark entries, both of which are modern API tests. The RTX 4060, by contrast, carries ten benchmarks, including several DirectX 9, 10, 11, and 12 legacy tests where it scores far lower. The Passmark DirectX 9 score of 236, for instance, and the DirectX 10 score of 103, pull its average down dramatically, despite the GPU being vastly more capable in compute and modern rendering workloads.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 4060 wins outright in every category that matters for contemporary use. Its OpenCL score of 95,057 indicates exceptional compute throughput for general-purpose GPU workloads, a figure that dwarfs the FirePro D300's 19,515. The Vulkan result of 48,643 further cements its position for modern gaming and real-time graphics, where the FirePro D300's 19,759 is simply not competitive.

The FirePro D300's only statistical advantage lies in its database percentile standing. At the 64th percentile, it ranks slightly higher than the RTX 4060's 61st percentile, but this is a function of the limited benchmark pool rather than actual performance superiority. In the recorded head-to-head tests, the AMD card wins zero out of two comparisons. Its average benchmark score of 19,637 does exceed the RTX 4060's 17,639 average, but this is misleading given the RTX 4060's broader and more demanding test suite.

For legacy DirectX workloads, the RTX 4060 still leads, though the numbers reveal its relative weakness in older APIs. Its Passmark DirectX 12 score of 76 is its lowest, while DirectX 11 scores 175, DirectX 10 scores 103, and DirectX 9 scores 236. The FirePro D300 has no recorded legacy DirectX benchmarks, so no direct comparison is possible, but its DirectX 12 (11_1) API support indicates it would struggle in modern DirectX 12 Ultimate titles that the RTX 4060 handles natively.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from radically different eras and design philosophies. The AMD FirePro D300 uses the Pitcairn chip built on GCN 1.0 architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 28 nm process. It packs 2,800 million transistors on a 212 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 13.2M per mm². The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, by contrast, uses the AD107 chip based on Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm process. It contains 18,900 million transistors on a smaller 159 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 118.9M per mm², roughly nine times higher.

The core configurations reflect this generational leap. The FirePro D300 has 1,280 shading units, 80 texture mapping units, and 32 raster operation pipelines. The RTX 4060 nearly triples the shading unit count to 3,072, increases TMUs to 96, and raises ROPs to 48. Critically, the RTX 4060 also includes 24 ray tracing cores and 96 tensor cores, features entirely absent from the FirePro D300. The pixel rate tells the story: 27.20 GPixel/s for the AMD card versus 118.1 GPixel/s for the NVIDIA card, a 4.3x advantage. Texture rate follows suit at 68.00 GTexel/s versus 236.2 GTexel/s.

Compute throughput is where the gap becomes cavernous. The FirePro D300 delivers 2.176 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and has no FP16 capability recorded. The RTX 4060 delivers 15.11 TFLOPS of FP32 and an identical 15.11 TFLOPS of FP16 with a 1:1 ratio, making it roughly seven times faster in single-precision compute. Memory configurations also diverge sharply: the FirePro D300 uses 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, providing 162.6 GB/s of bandwidth, while the RTX 4060 uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 272.0 GB/s. Despite the narrower bus, the RTX 4060's higher memory clock of 2125 MHz (17 Gbps effective) versus 1270 MHz (5.1 Gbps effective) gives it a decisive bandwidth advantage.

Power and interface differences are equally stark. The FirePro D300 draws 150 W and requires a 450 W power supply, while the RTX 4060 draws only 115 W and recommends a 300 W PSU. The RTX 4060 uses a single 12-pin power connector and occupies a dual-slot form factor, whereas the FirePro D300 is single-slot with no recorded power connector details. The bus interface also differs: PCIe 3.0 x16 for the AMD card versus PCIe 4.0 x8 for the NVIDIA card. Display outputs are limited to four DisplayPort 1.2 ports on the FirePro D300, while the RTX 4060 offers one HDMI 2.1 and three DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. API support shows the RTX 4060's modernity with DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, compared to the FirePro D300's DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.170.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score in the database?

A: The AMD FirePro D300 has an average benchmark score of 19,637, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 has an average of 17,639. However, the RTX 4060 has ten recorded benchmarks including legacy DirectX tests, while the FirePro D300 only has two modern API tests, making the averages not directly comparable.

Q: How much faster is the RTX 4060 in OpenCL compute?

A: The RTX 4060 scores 95,057 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 79.5% higher than the FirePro D300's 19,515. This represents roughly a 4.9x performance advantage for the NVIDIA card in this workload.

Q: Does the FirePro D300 support ray tracing?

A: No. The FirePro D300 has no ray tracing cores listed in its specifications. The RTX 4060 includes 24 ray tracing cores and 96 tensor cores, which the AMD card entirely lacks.

Q: What are the memory specifications of each card?

A: The FirePro D300 has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus with 162.6 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 4060 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 272.0 GB/s bandwidth, which is 67% higher despite the narrower bus.

Q: Which GPU has a higher pixel fill rate?

A: The RTX 4060 has a pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s, which is 4.3 times higher than the FirePro D300's 27.20 GPixel/s. The RTX 4060 also has a texture rate of 236.2 GTexel/s versus 68.00 GTexel/s for the AMD card.

Q: What is the transistor density difference between the two chips?

A: The RTX 4060's AD107 chip achieves 118.9M transistors per mm² on a 5 nm process, while the FirePro D300's Pitcairn chip achieves 13.2M per mm² on a 28 nm process. The RTX 4060 packs 18,900 million transistors into a 159 mm² die, versus 2,800 million in a 212 mm² die for the AMD card.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD FirePro D300 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 |

|---|---|---|

| Architecture | GCN 1.0 | Ada Lovelace |

| Process Node | 28 nm | 5 nm |

| Transistors | 2,800 million | 18,900 million |

| Die Size | 212 mm² | 159 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 13.2M / mm² | 118.9M / mm² |

| Base Clock | Not recorded | 1830 MHz |

| Boost Clock | Not recorded | 2460 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1270 MHz (5.1 Gbps effective) | 2125 MHz (17 Gbps effective) |

| Memory Size | 2 GB | 8 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus | 256 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 162.6 GB/s | 272.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 1280 | 3072 |

| TMUs | 80 | 96 |

| ROPs | 32 | 48 |

| RT Cores | Not present | 24 |

| Tensor Cores | Not present | 96 |

| Pixel Rate | 27.20 GPixel/s | 118.1 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 68.00 GTexel/s | 236.2 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 2.176 TFLOPS | 15.11 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | Not recorded | 15.11 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 150 W | 115 W |

| Slot Width | Single-slot | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | Not recorded | 1x 12-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 450 W | 300 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x8 |

| Display Outputs | 4x DisplayPort 1.2 | 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |

| DirectX | 12 (11_1) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| Vulkan | 1.2.170 | 1.4 |

| Release Date | 2014-01-17 | 2023-05-17 |

| Production Status | End-of-life | End-of-life |

| Launch MSRP | Not recorded | 299 USD |

The Verdict

The data leaves no room for ambiguity. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is the superior GPU by every measurable performance metric, with a 79.5% lead in OpenCL and a 59.4% lead in Vulkan over the AMD FirePro D300. It delivers roughly seven times the FP32 compute throughput, 4.3 times the pixel rate, and 3.5 times the texture rate, all while drawing 35 W less power and requiring a 150 W smaller power supply. The RTX 4060's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory with 272.0 GB/s bandwidth also provides 67% more bandwidth than the FirePro D300's 2 GB GDDR5 configuration, and its ray tracing and tensor core support opens up features the AMD card cannot access at all.

For anyone building a system for modern gaming, compute workloads, or any task that leverages Vulkan or OpenCL, the RTX 4060 is the clear choice. Its 15.11 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, 118.1 GPixel/s pixel rate, and 236.2 GTexel/s texture rate place it in a completely different performance class. The FirePro D300's 2.176 TFLOPS and 27.20 GPixel/s are figures from a prior hardware generation, and its 2014 release date shows in every benchmark result.

The only scenario where the FirePro D300 could be considered is one where legacy PCIe 3.0 compatibility and a single-slot form factor are absolute requirements, and even then, its 150 W TDP and 450 W suggested PSU requirement make it less efficient than the RTX 4060. The RTX 4060's 61st percentile ranking versus the FirePro D300's 64th percentile is the sole metric favoring the AMD card, but this is a statistical quirk of the limited benchmark pool, not a reflection of real-world capability. The verdict is decisive: choose the RTX 4060 for any workload where performance matters.