AMD FirePro D300 vs NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded benchmark data for these two cards does not include any direct head-to-head comparison tests. The database contains separate benchmark entries for each GPU, measured under different test suites, which makes a direct apples-to-apples comparison impossible. The AMD FirePro D300 was evaluated using Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan, while the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell was tested with 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12.

Looking at the individual results, the AMD FirePro D300 posts an average benchmark score of 19,637 across its two Geekbench tests. Its OpenCL score of 19,515 and Vulkan score of 19,759 are closely matched, with the Vulkan result slightly ahead. This places the card at the 64th percentile among all GPUs in the database, a solid mid-pack standing for a workstation part from its era. Its nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA Quadro K5200 at an average score of 19,602 (within 0.2% of the FirePro D300), the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT at 19,765 (0.6% ahead), the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX at 19,410 (1.2% behind), and the NVIDIA Tesla K40m at 19,885 (1.2% ahead). These are remarkably tight margins, with all four rivals landing within roughly one percent of the FirePro D300's average, indicating that the older card's compute performance in these specific OpenCL and Vulkan workloads is still competitive with much newer hardware.

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, by contrast, was measured only in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, where it scored 16,408. That result places it at the 59th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon PRO W7500 at 16,415 (a 0% delta), the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT at 16,361 (0.3% behind the RTX PRO), the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M at 16,351 (0.4% behind), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D V2 at 16,504 (0.6% ahead). The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell sits in a very tight cluster in this particular DX12 workload, with the GeForce RTX 5090 D V2 the only card in its immediate vicinity to edge it out.

Because the two cards were never benchmarked under the same test, the raw scores cannot be directly compared. A Geekbench OpenCL score of 19,515 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 16,408 measure different workloads, different API paths, and different generations of hardware. The data does show, however, that the FirePro D300 benefits from a percentile ranking five points higher than the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, though that reflects the different benchmark pools each card was entered into rather than a direct performance relationship.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD FirePro D300 has an average benchmark score of 19,637, while the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell has an average of 16,408. However, these averages come from different benchmark suites, so they are not directly comparable measurements of the same workloads.

Q: How does each card compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The FirePro D300 is within 1.2% of all four of its nearest rivals, ranging from 1.2% behind the NVIDIA Tesla K40m to 1.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell is within 0.6% of its nearest rivals, with the GeForce RTX 5090 D V2 leading it by 0.6%, and the Radeon PRO W7500 matching it exactly at a 0% delta.

Q: What is the percentile ranking for each GPU?

A: The AMD FirePro D300 sits at the 64th percentile among all GPUs in the database. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell sits at the 59th percentile.

Q: Which card has more memory?

A: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell has 96 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus. The AMD FirePro D300 has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus.

Q: What is the production status of each card?

A: The AMD FirePro D300 is marked as end-of-life, with a release date in January 2014. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell is listed as active, with a release date in March 2025.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The FirePro D300 has a TDP of 150 W and a suggested PSU of 450 W. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell has a TDP of 600 W and a suggested PSU of 1000 W, with a single 16-pin power connector.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs spans over a decade of design evolution. The AMD FirePro D300 uses the Pitcairn chip built on GCN 1.0 architecture, fabricated 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 transistors per square millimeter. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell uses the GB202 chip on Blackwell 2.0 architecture, built on a 5 nm process, also at TSMC. That chip contains 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die, for a density of 122.9 million transistors per square millimeter. The density difference is roughly a factor of nine, reflecting the massive process node advancement between 28 nm and 5 nm.

The FirePro D300 has 1,280 shading units, 80 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output units. It offers no dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores, as those did not exist in GCN 1.0. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, by contrast, fields 24,064 shading units, 752 TMUs, and 192 ROPs, plus 188 RT cores and 752 tensor cores. The compute capabilities scale accordingly: the FirePro D300 delivers 2.176 TFLOPS of FP32 and has no listed FP16 support, while the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell delivers 126.0 TFLOPS of FP32 and 126.0 TFLOPS of FP16 at a 1:1 ratio.

Memory architecture also differs fundamentally. The FirePro D300 uses 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, producing 162.6 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell uses 96 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus, producing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. That is an order-of-magnitude leap in both capacity and bandwidth.

API support tells a similar story. The FirePro D300 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The newer card also runs on PCIe 5.0 x16, while the FirePro D300 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs on the FirePro D300 are four DisplayPort 1.2 connections, while the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell provides four DisplayPort 2.1b outputs.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every measurable specification. The FirePro D300 operates with a memory clock of 1270 MHz (5.1 Gbps effective), while the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell runs memory at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The RTX PRO card also has explicit base and boost clocks of 1590 MHz and 2617 MHz, whereas the FirePro D300 lists no base or boost clock in the database.

Pixel and texture throughput show the generational gap. The FirePro D300 produces 27.20 GPixel/s and 68.00 GTexel/s. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell produces 502.5 GPixel/s and 1,968.0 GTexel/s.

Physical dimensions differ as well. The FirePro D300 is a single-slot card measuring 242 mm (9.5 inches) in length. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell is a dual-slot card measuring 304 mm (12 inches) in length, 137 mm (5.4 inches) in height, and 40 mm (1.6 inches) in width. The FirePro D300 lists no power connectors in the database, while the RTX PRO uses a single 16-pin connector.

The FirePro D300 was released in January 2014 and is end-of-life, with its predecessor listed as FirePro Terascale and its successor as Radeon Instinct. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell was released in March 2025, is still active, and lists Workstation Ada as its predecessor with no successor recorded. The database also records a launch MSRP of 8,565 USD for the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell; the FirePro D300 has no launch MSRP listed.

The Verdict

The data paints a clear picture of two cards from different eras serving different purposes. The AMD FirePro D300, despite being end-of-life and built on 2014 technology, holds its own in the database's Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan measurements, sitting at the 64th percentile and landing within 1.2% of rivals like the Quadro K5200 and the Radeon RX 7900 XTX. Its average score of 19,637 is respectable for a card with 2 GB of memory and a 150 W TDP.

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell is the objectively more capable hardware by nearly every architectural metric: 96 GB of GDDR7, 126 TFLOPS of FP32, 188 RT cores, 752 tensor cores, PCIe 5.0, and DisplayPort 2.1b. Its 59th percentile ranking in the Steel Nomad DX12 test, however, shows that in that specific workload it lands in a tight pack with cards like the Radeon PRO W7500 and the Radeon RX 5700 XT. The 0% delta against the PRO W7500 and the 0.6% deficit to the GeForce RTX 5090 D V2 suggest that the Steel Nomad test may not be the workload where this card's massive compute resources translate into a dominant score.

For a builder choosing between these two today, the decision hinges on workload. The FirePro D300 is a legacy part with no path forward for modern large-memory or ray-traced workloads. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell is the card for current-generation professional work, with a launch MSRP of 8,565 USD and the memory capacity and API support to handle contemporary rendering and compute tasks. The FirePro D300's benchmark percentile is higher, but that reflects the different test pool, not superior hardware.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD FirePro D300 wins in the Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan tests recorded in the database, with scores of 19,515 and 19,759 respectively. These results place it ahead of the Radeon RX 7900 XTX by 1.2% and essentially tied with the Quadro K5200 at a 0.2% margin. For legacy compute workloads that rely on OpenCL or Vulkan 1.2, this card still performs at a level competitive with much newer GPUs, all while drawing only 150 W and fitting in a single slot.

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell wins in the architectural and capacity categories that matter for modern professional workloads. Its 96 GB of GDDR7 memory, 1.79 TB/s bandwidth, 188 RT cores, and 752 tensor cores are unmatched by the FirePro D300. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, it edges out the Radeon RX 5700 XT by 0.3% and the Radeon Pro 5600M by 0.4%, while matching the Radeon PRO W7500 exactly and trailing only the GeForce RTX 5090 D V2 by 0.6%.

For a workstation handling large datasets, ray-traced renders, or AI-adjacent workloads, the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell is the only viable choice between the two. For a legacy system where power draw, slot width, and compatibility with older API versions matter, the FirePro D300 remains a functional option, though its end-of-life status and 2 GB memory ceiling limit its future usefulness. The data supports the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell as the superior overall hardware, with the FirePro D300's higher percentile ranking a product of the different benchmark pool rather than a sign of genuine performance parity.