AMD FirePro D500 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile and the AMD FirePro D500 are separated by more than just their release dates, they represent two very different design philosophies and performance tiers. The recorded data shows a single common benchmark, Geekbench Vulkan, where the NVIDIA part scores 86,768 points against the AMD part’s 18,533 points, a difference of 368.2% in favor of the RTX 3070 Mobile. While the FirePro D500 was once a capable workstation card, the benchmark results indicate that the RTX 3070 Mobile is in a completely different performance class, and the following analysis walks through the architectural, benchmark, and specification data to explain why.

The Verdict

The data clearly favors the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile for almost any task you can measure. In the only head-to-head benchmark available, Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 3070 Mobile scores 86,768 compared to the FirePro D500’s 18,533, making the NVIDIA part 368.2% faster in that specific workload. This is not a marginal lead, it is a decisive gap that places the two products in different leagues. The RTX 3070 Mobile also has a higher average benchmark score across all its recorded tests, 20,534, compared to the FirePro D500’s 18,533, though the FirePro’s average is based on a single test. The RTX 3070 Mobile sits at the 65th percentile among all GPUs, while the FirePro D500 sits at the 62nd percentile, a modest difference in overall ranking but one that understates the massive Vulkan gap. The FirePro D500, with its GCN 1.0 architecture, 3 GB of memory, and 274 W power draw, is an end-of-life product from 2014. The RTX 3070 Mobile, by contrast, is a 2021 Ampere part with 8 GB of memory and a 115 W power envelope. For anyone choosing between these two based on the recorded data, the RTX 3070 Mobile is the only sensible pick for performance, modern API support, and efficiency. The FirePro D500 might still serve legacy workstation roles with its six mini-DisplayPort outputs and 1x SDI output, but the benchmark evidence shows it cannot compete with the RTX 3070 Mobile in raw compute or graphics workloads.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from entirely different eras and design families. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile uses the GA104 chip built on Ampere architecture, manufactured on an 8 nm process at Samsung. The FirePro D500 uses the Tahiti chip with GCN 1.0 architecture, built on a 28 nm process at TSMC. The process node difference alone, 8 nm versus 28 nm, explains a great deal of the performance and efficiency gap. The RTX 3070 Mobile packs 17,400 million transistors into a 392 mm² die, giving it a transistor density of 44.4 million per square millimeter. The FirePro D500 has 4,313 million transistors on a 352 mm² die, for a density of 12.3 million per square millimeter. That means the NVIDIA chip fits over four times as many transistors in only slightly more silicon area. The RTX 3070 Mobile features 5,120 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, 80 render output units, 40 ray tracing cores, and 160 tensor cores. The FirePro D500 has 1,536 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with no ray tracing or tensor cores at all. The FP32 compute figures reflect this: the RTX 3070 Mobile delivers 15.97 TFLOPS, while the FirePro D500 delivers 2.227 TFLOPS. The NVIDIA part also supports FP16 at 15.97 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio, while the AMD part has no listed FP16 capability. The RTX 3070 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The FirePro D500 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. That DirectX 12_2 designation means the RTX 3070 Mobile has hardware support for features like ray tracing and mesh shaders, while the older GCN part is limited to a more basic DirectX 12 feature set. The memory subsystems also diverge sharply. The RTX 3070 Mobile has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The FirePro D500 has 3 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 243.8 GB/s. The NVIDIA part has more memory and nearly double the bandwidth, despite a narrower bus, because GDDR6 operates at much higher effective speeds, 14 Gbps versus 5.1 Gbps.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

Only one benchmark appears in both GPUs’ recorded results: Geekbench Vulkan. In that test, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile scores 86,768, and the AMD FirePro D500 scores 18,533. The RTX 3070 Mobile is 368.2% faster, which is the only direct head-to-head comparison available in the database. This single result is telling. Vulkan is a low-level graphics API that scales well with raw hardware throughput, so the 4.7x score difference aligns with the architectural gap: the RTX 3070 Mobile has 5,120 shading units versus 1,536, 15.97 TFLOPS versus 2.227 TFLOPS, and 448.0 GB/s versus 243.8 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The RTX 3070 Mobile also wins on every other metric in its own benchmark suite. Its PassMark G3D score is 15,309, its PassMark GPU Compute score is 6,827, and its Geekbench OpenCL score is 92,939. The FirePro D500 has no recorded scores in these tests, so no further direct comparisons are possible. The average benchmark score for the RTX 3070 Mobile is 20,534, based on ten tests, while the FirePro D500’s average is 18,533, based on a single test. The RTX 3070 Mobile’s closest rivals in the database are the Intel Arc B570 with an average score of 20,556 and a 0.1% difference, the Intel Arc A750 at 20,582 and 0.2% difference, the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M at 20,480 and 0.3% difference, and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X at 20,662 and 0.6% difference. The FirePro D500’s closest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 560X at 18,626 and 0.5% difference, the Intel Arc A770M at 18,383 and 0.8% difference, the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT at 18,685 and 0.8% difference, and the AMD Radeon RX 460 at 18,373 and 0.9% difference. These rival comparisons show that the RTX 3070 Mobile competes with modern midrange cards, while the FirePro D500 sits near older or lower-tier parts.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in Vulkan workloads?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile is 368.2% faster in Geekbench Vulkan, scoring 86,768 against the AMD FirePro D500’s 18,533.

Q: How much memory does each GPU have?

A: The RTX 3070 Mobile has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth. The FirePro D500 has 3 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus with 243.8 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has better API support?

A: The RTX 3070 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The FirePro D500 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170.

Q: What is the power draw of each GPU?

A: The RTX 3070 Mobile has a TDP of 115 W. The FirePro D500 has a TDP of 274 W and a suggested PSU of 600 W.

Q: Does the FirePro D500 support ray tracing?

A: No, the FirePro D500 has no ray tracing cores. The RTX 3070 Mobile has 40 ray tracing cores and 160 tensor cores.

Q: What are the production statuses of these GPUs?

A: Both are listed as end-of-life. The RTX 3070 Mobile was released in January 2021, and the FirePro D500 was released in January 2014.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile wins in every measurable category. It has more shading units, 5,120 versus 1,536. It has more texture units, 160 versus 96. It has more render output units, 80 versus 32. It has higher clock speeds, with a base of 1110 MHz and a boost of 1560 MHz, while the FirePro D500 has no listed base or boost clocks. It has higher pixel and texture rates, 124.8 GPixel/s and 249.6 GTexel/s versus 23.20 GPixel/s and 69.60 GTexel/s. It has higher memory bandwidth, 448.0 GB/s versus 4.0 GB/s, and more memory capacity, 8 GB versus 3 GB. It has a newer bus interface, PCIe 4.0 x16 versus PCIe 3.0 x16. It has a much lower TDP, 115 W versus 274 W. The only areas where the FirePro D500 shows any advantage are physical or legacy features. It is a dual-slot card with a 279 mm length, it has six mini-DisplayPort outputs and one SDI output, and it has a 384-bit memory bus that is wider than the RTX 3070 Mobile’s 256-bit bus, though the NVIDIA part still delivers more bandwidth. The FirePro D500 was succeeded by the Radeon Instinct, and its predecessor was the FirePro Terascale, so it belongs to a lineage of older workstation hardware. The RTX 3070 Mobile’s predecessor is the GeForce 20 Mobile, placing it in a more recent product line. For gaming, modern compute, ray tracing, and general graphics performance, the RTX 3070 Mobile is the clear winner. For a legacy workstation setup that specifically requires multiple DisplayPort outputs and SDI connectivity, the FirePro D500 might still have a niche role, but the performance data does not support choosing it for any performance-sensitive task.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ on nearly every specification field. The RTX 3070 Mobile uses an 8 nm Samsung process, while the FirePro D500 uses a 28 nm TSMC process. The RTX 3070 Mobile has 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die, while the FirePro D500 has 4,313 million transistors on a 352 mm² die. Transistor density is 44.4 million per square millimeter versus 12.3 million. The RTX 3070 Mobile has a base clock of 1110 MHz and a boost clock of 1560 MHz; the FirePro D500 has no base or boost clock listed. Memory clocks are 1750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective for the RTX 3070 Mobile, versus 1270 MHz with 5.1 Gbps effective for the FirePro D500. Memory size is 8 GB GDDR6 versus 3 GB GDDR5. Bus width is 256 bit versus 384 bit, but bandwidth is 448.0 GB/s versus 243.8 GB/s. Shading units are 5,120 versus 1,536. TMUs are 160 versus 96. ROPs are 80 versus 32. The RTX 3070 Mobile has 40 ray tracing cores and 160 tensor cores; the FirePro D500 has neither. Pixel rate is 124.8 GPixel/s versus 23.20 GPixel/s. Texture rate is 249.6 GTexel/s versus 69.60 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 15.97 TFLOPS versus 2.227 TFLOPS. FP16 is 15.97 TFLOPS for the NVIDIA part, with no FP16 listing for the AMD part. TDP is 115 W versus 274 W. The FirePro D500 is dual-slot, 279 mm long, and has a suggested PSU of 600 W, while the RTX 3070 Mobile is a mobile part with no listed slot width, length, or PSU recommendation, and it uses no power connectors. Bus interface is PCIe 4.0 x16 versus PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs are listed as portable device dependent for the RTX 3070 Mobile, versus six mini-DisplayPort and one SDI output for the FirePro D500. DirectX support is 12 Ultimate (12_2) versus 12 (11_1). Vulkan support is 1.4 versus 1.2.170. Both support OpenGL 4.6. The RTX 3070 Mobile was released in January 2021, and the FirePro D500 in January 2014. Both are end-of-life. The RTX 3070 Mobile’s predecessor is the GeForce 20 Mobile, and the FirePro D500’s predecessor is the FirePro Terascale, with its successor being the Radeon Instinct.