AMD FirePro D300 vs NVIDIA Tesla K80 Comparison

The AMD FirePro D300 and NVIDIA Tesla K80 are both end-of-life data center cards from the 28 nm era, but they target very different workloads. The FirePro D300 is a compact, display-capable workstation card, while the Tesla K80 is a compute-oriented accelerator with no video outputs. Benchmark data from Geekbench shows the AMD card ahead in both OpenCL and Vulkan tests, but the specification sheet tells a more nuanced story about memory capacity, raw compute throughput, and board design.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD FirePro D300 has an average benchmark score of 19637, while the NVIDIA Tesla K80 scores 18866. The FirePro D300 also sits at the 64th percentile among all GPUs, one percentile point higher than the Tesla K80's 63rd percentile.

Q: How large is the performance gap in the head-to-head tests?

A: The FirePro D300 wins both recorded tests. In Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 19515 versus 18620 for the Tesla K80, a 4.8% advantage. In Geekbench Vulkan, the FirePro D300 scores 19759 versus 19111, a 3.4% lead.

Q: Does the Tesla K80 have any clear specification advantages?

A: Yes. The Tesla K80 offers 12 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus, compared to 2 GB on a 256-bit bus for the FirePro D300. The Tesla K80 also has significantly higher memory bandwidth at 240.6 GB/s versus 162.6 GB/s, plus a much larger die with 7,100 million transistors versus 2,800 million.

Q: What about raw compute throughput?

A: The Tesla K80 is the clear winner on paper. It delivers 4.113 TFLOPS FP32 performance, 42.85 GPixel/s pixel rate, and 171.4 GTexel/s texture rate. The FirePro D300 manages 2.176 TFLOPS FP32, 27.20 GPixel/s, and 68.00 GTexel/s.

Q: Which card is easier to physically install?

A: The AMD FirePro D300 is a single-slot card at 242 mm (9.5 inches) long, while the NVIDIA Tesla K80 is a dual-slot card at 267 mm (10.5 inches) long. The FirePro D300 also has a lower suggested PSU requirement of 450 W versus 700 W for the Tesla K80.

Q: Are there any display output differences?

A: Yes. The FirePro D300 has four DisplayPort 1.2 outputs, making it suitable for driving multiple monitors. The Tesla K80 has no display outputs at all, indicating it is designed purely for compute tasks.

The Verdict

The data presents a clear split: the AMD FirePro D300 wins on benchmark scores, while the NVIDIA Tesla K80 wins on raw specifications. If your priority is Geekbench OpenCL or Vulkan performance, the FirePro D300 is the better choice, leading by 4.8% and 3.4% respectively. However, the Tesla K80 offers six times the memory capacity and nearly double the FP32 throughput, making it the more capable card for memory-intensive or compute-heavy workloads that do not rely on the specific drivers or optimizations reflected in these benchmarks.

The FirePro D300 is the practical pick for systems requiring display outputs, lower power draw, and a smaller physical footprint. Its single-slot design, 150 W TDP, and 450 W suggested PSU make it far easier to integrate into a workstation. The Tesla K80, with its 300 W TDP, 700 W suggested PSU, and dual-slot cooler, demands a more robust power delivery system and chassis space, but rewards with 12 GB of VRAM and a 384-bit memory interface.

For users who need to run multiple monitors or work within a compact chassis, the FirePro D300 is the only sensible option given the Tesla K80's lack of display outputs. For headless compute nodes where memory capacity and theoretical throughput matter more than benchmark scores, the Tesla K80 is the stronger candidate despite losing both head-to-head tests.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

In Geekbench OpenCL, the AMD FirePro D300 scores 19515 against 18620 for the NVIDIA Tesla K80. This 4.8% delta is modest but consistent. The FirePro D300's nearest rival in this range is the NVIDIA Quadro K5200 at 19602 (0.2% higher), while the Tesla K80 sits close to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 at 18789 (0.4% difference). Both cards are within a narrow performance band, but the AMD card holds the edge in this specific workload.

The Geekbench Vulkan test shows a similar pattern. The FirePro D300 scores 19759, beating the Tesla K80's 19111 by 3.4%. Interestingly, the FirePro D300's Vulkan result is higher than its OpenCL score, while the Tesla K80 shows the opposite trend. The Tesla K80's Vulkan score of 19111 places it near the NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation at 18954 and the AMD Radeon RX 6600 at 19036, underscoring that its performance is competitive with much newer consumer cards in this test.

These results indicate that the FirePro D300's GCN 1.0 architecture responds better to the Geekbench workloads than the Tesla K80's Kepler 2.0 design. The delta percentages are not enormous — 4.8% and 3.4% — but they are consistent across both APIs. For a workload that relies on OpenCL or Vulkan compute, the FirePro D300 is the safer bet.

Specification Differences

The two cards diverge sharply on memory and compute resources. The Tesla K80 has 12 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, while the FirePro D300 has 2 GB on a 256-bit bus. Memory bandwidth follows suit: 240.6 GB/s versus 162.6 GB/s. The Tesla K80 also has more shading units (2496 versus 1280), more texture mapping units (208 versus 80), and more ROPs (48 versus 32).

Clock speeds tell a different story. The Tesla K80 runs at a base clock of 562 MHz with a boost of 824 MHz, while the FirePro D300's base and boost clocks are not listed. Memory clocks are similar: 1253 MHz (5 Gbps effective) for the Tesla K80 versus 1270 MHz (5.1 Gbps effective) for the FirePro D300.

Physical and power characteristics also differ. The FirePro D300 is a single-slot card pulling 150 W with a 450 W suggested PSU, while the Tesla K80 is dual-slot, draws 300 W, and requires a 700 W PSU. The Tesla K80 uses a single 8-pin power connector, while the FirePro D300's connectors are not specified. Board lengths differ by 25 mm: 242 mm versus 267 mm.

Architecture Differences

The AMD FirePro D300 is built on the Pitcairn chip using GCN 1.0 architecture, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. The die is 212 mm² with 2,800 million transistors, yielding a density of 13.2 million transistors per mm². It is part of the FirePro Data Center (Dx00) generation and succeeds FirePro Terascale, with Radeon Instinct as its successor.

The NVIDIA Tesla K80 uses the GK210 chip with Kepler 2.0 architecture, also on a 28 nm TSMC process. Its die is substantially larger at 561 mm² and packs 7,100 million transistors, though the density is slightly lower at 12.7 million per mm². It belongs to the Tesla Kepler (Kxx) generation, following Tesla Fermi and preceding Tesla Maxwell.

Both cards support DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan (1.2.170 for AMD, 1.2.175 for NVIDIA). Neither has ray tracing cores or tensor cores. The architectural differences are most evident in resource allocation: the Tesla K80 dedicates far more silicon to shading units and texture units, while the FirePro D300's smaller die focuses on efficiency and display output capability.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD FirePro D300 wins in every recorded benchmark category. It leads in Geekbench OpenCL by 4.8% and Geekbench Vulkan by 3.4%. This makes it the better choice for any application that relies on these specific compute APIs. It also wins on practical metrics: lower TDP (150 W versus 300 W), smaller footprint (single-slot versus dual-slot), shorter length (242 mm versus 267 mm), and the presence of four DisplayPort 1.2 outputs.

The NVIDIA Tesla K80 wins on raw hardware specifications. Its 12 GB memory capacity is six times larger than the FirePro D300's 2 GB, and its 384-bit bus provides 48% more bandwidth. The Tesla K80's FP32 throughput of 4.113 TFLOPS is nearly double the FirePro D300's 2.176 TFLOPS. It also has roughly double the pixel rate (42.85 versus 27.20 GPixel/s) and more than double the texture rate (171.4 versus 68.00 GTexel/s).

For workloads like large dataset processing, deep learning inference, or simulation tasks that exceed 2 GB of working set, the Tesla K80's memory advantage is decisive. For desktop workstation tasks that require display output, lower power consumption, or a more compact card, the FirePro D300 is the clear winner. The benchmark data favors AMD, but the specification sheet favors NVIDIA — the right choice depends entirely on whether your application is memory-bound or benchmark-bound.