AMD FirePro D500 vs AMD Radeon Pro 560 Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD FirePro D500 averages 18,533 points, while the AMD Radeon Pro 560 averages 17,551 points. The FirePro D500 sits at the 62nd percentile of all GPUs, one point above the Radeon Pro 560's 61st percentile.

Q: How do the two cards compare in the Vulkan benchmark?

A: In the only shared head-to-head test (Geekbench Vulkan), the FirePro D500 scores 18,533 versus 16,232 for the Radeon Pro 560. That gives the FirePro D500 a 14.2% advantage in that workload.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The FirePro D500 has 3 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, delivering 243.8 GB/s of bandwidth. The Radeon Pro 560 has 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 81.28 GB/s — roughly one-third the bandwidth despite having more capacity.

Q: Which GPU draws less power?

A: The Radeon Pro 560 has a 75 W TDP and requires no external power connectors, making it an integrated-class part. The FirePro D500 has a 274 W TDP and requires a 600 W suggested power supply.

Q: Are these GPUs still in production?

A: No. Both are listed as end-of-life products. The FirePro D500 was released in January 2014, and the Radeon Pro 560 was released in April 2017.

Q: How close are the nearest rivals in performance?

A: The FirePro D500's closest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 560X, which scores 18,626 (0.5% higher). The Radeon Pro 560's closest rival is the AMD Radeon 780M, which scores 17,588 (0.2% higher). Both cards sit within a tight performance cluster.

Architecture Differences

The FirePro D500 uses the Tahiti chip built on GCN 1.0 architecture, manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC. The Radeon Pro 560 uses the Polaris 21 chip built on GCN 4.0 architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. This generational leap — from GCN 1.0 to GCN 4.0 — brings significant architectural improvements in the newer part.

The transistor counts tell a divergent story. The FirePro D500 packs 4,313 million transistors into a 352 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.3 million per mm². The Radeon Pro 560 contains 3,000 million transistors on a much smaller 123 mm² die, achieving 24.4 million per mm² — double the density. This reflects the process node advantage of the newer 14 nm fabrication.

The FirePro D500's compute configuration is substantially larger: 1,536 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 32 raster operation units. The Radeon Pro 560 scales down to 1,024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. Despite having fewer units, the Radeon Pro 560 supports FP16 compute at a 1:1 ratio with FP32 (1.858 TFLOPS each), while the FirePro D500 lists no FP16 capability.

API support differs in key ways. The FirePro D500 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The Radeon Pro 560 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3 — a newer DirectX feature level and a newer Vulkan version.

The bus interfaces also differ: the FirePro D500 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the Radeon Pro 560 uses PCIe 3.0 x8. The FirePro D500 is a dual-slot card with six mini-DisplayPort 1.2 outputs plus one SDI output, whereas the Radeon Pro 560 is an integrated graphics processor with portable-device-dependent display output.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct benchmark comparison available is Geekbench Vulkan. In this test, the FirePro D500 scores 18,533, while the Radeon Pro 560 scores 16,232. The FirePro D500 wins by 14.2% — a decisive margin in GPU terms.

Context from the nearest rivals clarifies what this means. The FirePro D500's Vulkan score places it within 0.9% of the AMD Radeon RX 460 (18,373) and 0.8% of the Intel Arc A770M (18,383). It trails the AMD Radeon RX 560X (18,626) by 0.5% and the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT (18,685) by 0.8%. The FirePro D500 is comfortably mid-pack among its peers.

The Radeon Pro 560's Vulkan score of 16,232 is notably lower than its own Metal score of 20,918 and OpenCL score of 15,504. This suggests the Radeon Pro 560's Vulkan performance is not its strongest API — Metal and OpenCL show different characteristics. However, for the head-to-head comparison, only Vulkan data exists.

The average benchmark scores tell a similar story. The FirePro D500 averages 18,533 across its benchmark suite, while the Radeon Pro 560 averages 17,551. The difference of 982 points (5.6%) is smaller than the Vulkan delta, indicating that the Radeon Pro 560's Metal performance (20,918) partially compensates for its Vulkan deficit. In fact, the Radeon Pro 560's Metal score exceeds the FirePro D500's Vulkan score by 12.9%.

The Radeon Pro 560's nearest rivals bracket its average score tightly: the AMD Radeon 780M scores 17,588 (0.2% higher), the AMD Radeon Pro 460 scores 17,509 (0.2% lower), the NVIDIA Tesla K40c scores 17,468 (0.5% lower), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 scores 17,639 (0.5% higher). This clustering indicates the Radeon Pro 560 sits in a well-populated performance tier.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD FirePro D500 | AMD Radeon Pro 560 |

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

| Chip | Tahiti | Polaris 21 |

| Architecture | GCN 1.0 | GCN 4.0 |

| Generation | FirePro Data Center (Dx00) | Radeon Pro Mac (500 Series) |

| Process Node | 28 nm | 14 nm |

| Foundry | TSMC | GlobalFoundries |

| Transistors | 4,313 million | 3,000 million |

| Die Size | 352 mm² | 123 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 12.3M / mm² | 24.4M / mm² |

| Memory Size | 3 GB | 4 GB |

| Memory Bus Width | 384 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 243.8 GB/s | 81.28 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 1,536 | 1,024 |

| TMUs | 96 | 64 |

| ROPs | 32 | 16 |

| Pixel Rate | 23.20 GPixel/s | 14.51 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 69.60 GTexel/s | 58.05 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 2.227 TFLOPS | 1.858 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | — | 1.858 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 274 W | 75 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | IGP |

| Power Connectors | — | None |

| Suggested PSU | 600 W | — |

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

| Display Outputs | 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.2, 1x SDI | Portable Device Dependent |

| DirectX | 12 (11_1) | 12 (12_0) |

| Vulkan | 1.2.170 | 1.3 |

| Release Date | 2014-01-17 | 2017-04-17 |

| Dimensions | 279 mm (11 inches) | — |

The memory clock is identical at 1270 MHz (5.1 Gbps effective) for both cards. Neither card has a listed base or boost clock. Neither has a launch MSRP.

Where Each One Wins

AMD FirePro D500 wins in raw compute throughput. Its FP32 performance of 2.227 TFLOPS exceeds the Radeon Pro 560's 1.858 TFLOPS by 19.9%. The pixel rate of 23.20 GPixel/s versus 14.51 GPixel/s represents a 59.9% advantage, and the texture rate of 69.60 GTexel/s versus 58.05 GTexel/s is a 19.9% lead. For workloads that scale with shading units, TMUs, and ROPs — such as dense 3D rendering or compute shaders — the FirePro D500 is clearly the stronger part.

AMD FirePro D500 wins in memory bandwidth. The 384-bit bus provides 243.8 GB/s, exactly three times the 81.28 GB/s of the Radeon Pro 560's 128-bit bus. This is critical for bandwidth-bound workloads like high-resolution texture streaming, large framebuffers, or data-intensive compute kernels. The FirePro D500's dual-slot form factor and 274 W TDP reflect its workstation-oriented design with six display outputs and SDI support.

AMD Radeon Pro 560 wins in efficiency and integration. Its 75 W TDP is less than one-third of the FirePro D500's 274 W. It requires no external power connectors and is an integrated graphics processor, meaning it fits in portable or compact systems where the FirePro D500's dual-slot, 279 mm length cannot. The 4 GB memory capacity is 33% larger than the FirePro D500's 3 GB, which helps in workloads that need more working set despite lower bandwidth.

AMD Radeon Pro 560 wins in API currency. It supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3, both newer than the FirePro D500's DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.170. It also supports FP16 compute at full rate, which the FirePro D500 does not. For modern applications that leverage these newer API features, the Radeon Pro 560 has a compatibility edge.

Head-to-head, the FirePro D500 wins the only shared benchmark. Its 14.2% Vulkan lead and higher average score (18,533 vs 17,551) make it the faster GPU overall. However, the Radeon Pro 560's Metal score of 20,918 — which exceeds the FirePro D500's Vulkan score by 12.9% — shows that API-specific optimization can flip the performance relationship entirely.

The use-case split is clear. For maximum compute throughput, pixel fill, texture fill, and memory bandwidth in a desktop workstation, the FirePro D500 is the choice. For low-power integrated systems, portability, larger memory capacity, and support for the latest API features, the Radeon Pro 560 is the appropriate part. The data does not support a single "winner" across all scenarios; the correct selection depends on which constraints — performance or power/space — dominate the use case.