AMD FirePro D500 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile Comparison

The AMD FirePro D500 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile are separated by seven years of GPU architecture, and the benchmark data reflects that gulf. The RTX 3060 Mobile is the clear performance winner in the only shared test, but the D500 remains a specialized tool for legacy workstation environments. The data shows that the FirePro D500 sits at the 62nd percentile of all GPUs, matching the RTX 3060 Mobile’s identical 62nd percentile ranking. However, this parity in percentile masks a massive absolute performance gap. The RTX 3060 Mobile is for anyone needing modern feature support, high compute throughput, and efficiency. The D500 is for niche users running legacy professional software that requires its specific display outputs or GCN 1.0 driver behavior.

The Verdict

The data points to a straightforward conclusion: choose the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile if you want raw performance and modern API support. Its Geekbench Vulkan score of 80344 absolutely dwarfs the FirePro D500’s 18533, a delta of -76.9% for the AMD card. The RTX 3060 Mobile also offers 10.94 TFLOPS of FP32 compute versus the D500’s 2.227 TFLOPS, making it nearly five times faster in raw shader throughput. For any modern workload, the RTX 3060 Mobile is the only rational choice.

The FirePro D500 remains relevant only for a narrow set of circumstances. Its 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.2 and 1x SDI outputs are unique in this comparison, catering to broadcast or multi-display professional setups. Its 3 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus delivers 243.8 GB/s of bandwidth, which is still respectable for older workstation tasks. If your software stack is locked to legacy drivers or requires those specific display outputs, the D500 has no direct replacement in this matchup.

The RTX 3060 Mobile’s 62nd percentile ranking places it in the same tier as the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (deltaPct -0.2%) and just ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER (deltaPct 0.4%). It trails the Intel Arc A770M and AMD Radeon RX 460 by 1.2% in average score. The FirePro D500’s closest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 560X, which beats it by 0.5%, while it edges out the Intel Arc A770M by 0.8%. Neither card is a top-tier performer by modern standards, but the RTX 3060 Mobile’s feature set makes it far more future-proof.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3060 Mobile wins decisively in every compute and graphics benchmark category where data exists. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 79483 indicates strong general-purpose compute performance, which is essential for rendering, video encoding, and machine learning inference. The Passmark suite shows balanced performance across DirectX 9 (146), DirectX 10 (90), DirectX 11 (110), and DirectX 12 (58) tests. The Passmark G3D score of 13230 confirms solid rasterization performance, while the GPU compute score of 5718 demonstrates capable non-graphics workloads.

The FirePro D500’s only benchmark win is its Geekbench Vulkan score of 18533, which is still 76.9% lower than the RTX 3060 Mobile’s 80344 in the same test. This is not a competitive advantage; it is simply the only data point available for the D500. The AMD card’s strengths lie outside raw benchmark scores. Its 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.2 and 1x SDI outputs are unique among the two, making it suitable for video wall installations or broadcast monitoring. The D500’s dual-slot design and 279 mm length suggest a desktop workstation card, whereas the RTX 3060 Mobile is a portable device with no specified dimensions or slot width.

The RTX 3060 Mobile also wins on efficiency. Its 80 W TDP is dramatically lower than the D500’s 274 W, meaning it delivers over four times the FP32 performance while consuming less than a third of the power. The RTX 3060 Mobile requires no power connectors, while the D500’s suggested power supply is 600 W. For laptop users, the RTX 3060 Mobile is the only viable option; the D500 cannot function in mobile form factors.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide is stark. The FirePro D500 uses AMD’s GCN 1.0 architecture on a 28 nm TSMC process, with 4,313 million transistors on a 352 mm² die. The RTX 3060 Mobile uses NVIDIA’s Ampere architecture on Samsung’s 8 nm node, packing 12,000 million transistors into a smaller 276 mm² die. This results in a transistor density of 43.5M per mm² for the RTX 3060 Mobile versus 12.3M per mm² for the D500, explaining the massive performance difference.

The RTX 3060 Mobile features 3840 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. Critically, it includes 30 RT cores and 120 tensor cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI features. The FirePro D500 has 1536 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with no RT or tensor cores. The RTX 3060 Mobile’s pixel rate of 68.40 GPixel/s and texture rate of 171.0 GTexel/s are roughly three times higher than the D500’s 23.20 GPixel/s and 69.60 GTexel/s.

Memory configurations differ substantially. The RTX 3060 Mobile has 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The D500 has 3 GB of GDDR5 on a wider 384-bit bus, but its bandwidth is only 243.8 GB/s. The RTX 3060 Mobile’s memory clock is 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective), while the D500 runs at 1270 MHz (5.1 Gbps effective).

API support heavily favors the RTX 3060 Mobile. It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6. The D500 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), Vulkan 1.2.170, and OpenGL 4.6. The RTX 3060 Mobile’s FP16 performance matches its FP32 at 10.94 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio), while the D500 has no listed FP16 capability. The RTX 3060 Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x16, whereas the D500 is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in Vulkan performance?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile scores 80344 in Geekbench Vulkan, compared to the AMD FirePro D500’s 18533. The RTX 3060 Mobile is 76.9% faster in this test.

Q: Can the FirePro D500 handle modern DirectX 12 Ultimate games?

A: No. The D500 supports only DirectX 12 (11_1), while the RTX 3060 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2). The D500 also lacks RT cores and tensor cores, which are required for modern ray-traced and AI-enhanced titles.

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX 3060 Mobile has 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth from 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus. The FirePro D500 has 243.8 GB/s from 3 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus.

Q: What are the power requirements?

A: The RTX 3060 Mobile has an 80 W TDP and requires no power connectors. The FirePro D500 has a 274 W TDP and a suggested power supply of 600 W.

Q: Which card offers better display output options?

A: The FirePro D500 features 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.2 and 1x SDI outputs, which are unique to this card. The RTX 3060 Mobile’s display outputs are listed as "Portable Device Dependent."

Q: How do these cards compare to their nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 3060 Mobile is 0.4% faster than the RTX 2060 SUPER and 0.2% slower than the AMD Radeon Pro 5700. The FirePro D500 is 0.5% slower than the AMD Radeon RX 560X and 0.9% faster than the AMD Radeon RX 460.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only shared benchmark is Geekbench Vulkan, and it is not close. The RTX 3060 Mobile scores 80344, while the FirePro D500 scores 18533. This represents a 76.9% performance deficit for the AMD card. To put this in perspective, the D500’s score is closer to its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 560X (18626, -0.5% delta), than it is to the RTX 3060 Mobile. The RTX 3060 Mobile’s Vulkan score is in the same ballpark as the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (18189, -0.2% delta) and slightly above the RTX 2060 SUPER (18093, 0.4% delta).

The RTX 3060 Mobile’s OpenCL score of 79483 and Passmark G3D score of 13230 further demonstrate its compute and rasterization capabilities. The FirePro D500 has no corresponding scores in the data. The RTX 3060 Mobile’s Passmark DirectX 11 score of 110 is nearly double its DirectX 12 score of 58, suggesting that its architectural strengths are more pronounced in older APIs. Its DirectX 9 score of 146 is the highest of the Passmark suite, which is typical for modern GPUs that have well-optimized legacy paths.

The FirePro D500’s single benchmark result, while low in absolute terms, places it in the 62nd percentile of all GPUs, the same as the RTX 3060 Mobile. This indicates that the D500 is not a weak card by historical standards; it is simply outclassed by newer hardware. The RTX 3060 Mobile’s FP32 throughput of 10.94 TFLOPS is approximately 4.9 times higher than the D500’s 2.227 TFLOPS, which explains the Vulkan score disparity. The RTX 3060 Mobile also has significantly higher pixel and texture rates, making it better suited for high-resolution rendering and texture-heavy workloads.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every specification category. The process node is a major differentiator: the D500 uses TSMC’s 28 nm process, while the RTX 3060 Mobile uses Samsung’s 8 nm node. Transistor counts are 4,313 million versus 12,000 million, with die sizes of 352 mm² versus 276 mm². The RTX 3060 Mobile has a transistor density of 43.5M per mm², over three times the D500’s 12.3M per mm².

Clock speeds differ significantly. The RTX 3060 Mobile has a base clock of 900 MHz and a boost clock of 1425 MHz, while the D500 lists no base or boost clocks. Memory clocks are 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) for the RTX 3060 Mobile versus 1270 MHz (5.1 Gbps effective) for the D500. The RTX 3060 Mobile has double the memory capacity (6 GB vs 3 GB) and uses faster GDDR6 instead of GDDR5.

Compute resources are heavily skewed toward the RTX 3060 Mobile. It has 3840 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, compared to the D500’s 1536, 96, and 32, respectively. The RTX 3060 Mobile adds 30 RT cores and 120 tensor cores, which the D500 lacks entirely. FP32 performance is 10.94 TFLOPS versus 2.227 TFLOPS. The RTX 3060 Mobile also has FP16 performance at 10.94 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio), while the D500 has no FP16 specification.

Power and physical specifications favor the RTX 3060 Mobile. The D500 has a 274 W TDP, a dual-slot design, and a 279 mm (11 inches) length. The RTX 3060 Mobile has an 80 W TDP and no power connectors, but its dimensions and slot width are unspecified. The D500 requires a 600 W power supply, while the RTX 3060 Mobile has no suggested PSU listed. The RTX 3060 Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the D500 is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16. The D500 offers 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.2 and 1x SDI outputs, whereas the RTX 3060 Mobile’s outputs are portable device dependent. Both cards are end-of-life, with the D500 releasing in January 2014 and the RTX 3060 Mobile in January 2021.