AMD FirePro D500 vs NVIDIA TITAN Xp Comparison

The NVIDIA TITAN Xp and AMD FirePro D500 are both end-of-life workstation-class graphics cards, but they represent vastly different eras of GPU design. The data available for direct comparison is limited to a single shared benchmark, yet the specification sheets and individual performance figures paint a clear picture of two cards with entirely different purposes. The TITAN Xp is a high-end consumer-derived compute monster, while the FirePro D500 is an older, multi-display professional solution. The benchmark results indicate a decisive victory for the NVIDIA card in raw compute performance, but the AMD card holds its own in specific professional contexts.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only benchmark where both cards have recorded scores is the Geekbench Vulkan test. This is a compute-oriented test that measures raw GPU throughput, and the results are stark. The NVIDIA TITAN Xp scored 87,180 points, while the AMD FirePro D500 managed 18,533 points. This gives the TITAN Xp a massive 370.4% advantage, meaning it is nearly five times faster in this specific workload. This is not a marginal difference; it is a generational and architectural chasm. The TITAN Xp’s score is so high that it dwarfs the FirePro D500’s result, reflecting the fundamental differences in their shader counts, memory bandwidth, and clock speeds.

This single data point is the entire basis for the head-to-head benchmark comparison, and the TITAN Xp wins it outright. However, looking at the broader picture from their respective average scores, the TITAN Xp’s average benchmark score is 19,177, while the FirePro D500’s is 18,533. While the TITAN Xp still leads, the gap in the average is much smaller (about 3.5%) than the Vulkan test suggests. This indicates that the FirePro D500 may have strengths in other, unshared benchmark tests that are not captured here, but based on the data provided, the TITAN Xp is the clear performance leader in shared workloads. The TITAN Xp also holds a higher percentile ranking among all GPUs at 64, compared to the FirePro D500’s 62, reinforcing its superior standing in the overall performance hierarchy.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA TITAN Xp wins decisively in any compute-heavy, raw performance scenario. Its 12.15 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, compared to the FirePro D500’s 2.227 TFLOPS, makes it the obvious choice for tasks like real-time 3D rendering, GPU-based video encoding, and scientific simulations that leverage CUDA or OpenCL. The TITAN Xp’s superior memory subsystem, with 12 GB of GDDR5X and 547.6 GB/s of bandwidth, also gives it a huge advantage in handling large datasets and high-resolution textures. For any workload where sheer processing power is the bottleneck, the TITAN Xp is the only logical choice.

The AMD FirePro D500, on the other hand, wins in specific professional display and multi-monitor scenarios. It has six mini-DisplayPort 1.2 outputs and one SDI output, allowing it to drive a wall of displays directly without needing additional adapters. The TITAN Xp, with its 1x HDMI and 3x DisplayPort outputs, is limited to four displays. For a financial trading desk, a video wall, or a specialized medical imaging setup that requires many simultaneous high-resolution outputs, the FirePro D500’s display configuration is a distinct advantage. While its compute performance is far lower, its role as a display hub is a specialization the TITAN Xp cannot match. The FirePro D500’s lower transistor count and older architecture also mean it is less power-hungry in terms of peak performance per watt, though its TDP is higher at 274W compared to the TITAN Xp’s 250W.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in the Geekbench Vulkan benchmark?

A: The NVIDIA TITAN Xp is significantly faster, scoring 87,180 points compared to the AMD FirePro D500’s 18,533 points, a 370.4% difference.

Q: How much memory does each card have?

A: The NVIDIA TITAN Xp has 12 GB of GDDR5X memory, while the AMD FirePro D500 has 3 GB of GDDR5 memory.

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA TITAN Xp has a higher average benchmark score of 19,177, compared to the AMD FirePro D500’s 18,533.

Q: Can the AMD FirePro D500 drive more displays than the NVIDIA TITAN Xp?

A: Yes. The AMD FirePro D500 has six mini-DisplayPort 1.2 outputs and one SDI output, while the NVIDIA TITAN Xp has one HDMI and three DisplayPort outputs.

Q: What is the difference in their FP32 (single-precision) compute performance?

A: The NVIDIA TITAN Xp is rated at 12.15 TFLOPS, while the AMD FirePro D500 is rated at 2.227 TFLOPS, making the TITAN Xp over five times more powerful in this metric.

Q: Which card was released more recently?

A: The NVIDIA TITAN Xp was released on April 5, 2017, while the AMD FirePro D500 was released on January 17, 2014.

Specification Differences

The most obvious difference is in memory configuration. The NVIDIA TITAN Xp features 12 GB of GDDR5X memory, while the AMD FirePro D500 is limited to 3 GB of GDDR5. Although both use a 384-bit bus, the TITAN Xp’s faster memory clock (11.4 Gbps effective vs. 5.1 Gbps) gives it a massive bandwidth advantage: 547.6 GB/s versus 243.8 GB/s.

The compute cores also differ dramatically. The TITAN Xp has 3840 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The FirePro D500 has 1536 shading units, 96 TMUs, and only 32 ROPs. This translates to major differences in pixel and texture rates, with the TITAN Xp achieving 151.9 GPixel/s and 379.7 GTexel/s, compared to the FirePro D500’s 23.20 GPixel/s and 69.60 GTexel/s. The TITAN Xp also has a higher FP32 throughput at 12.15 TFLOPS versus 2.227 TFLOPS.

Power requirements are similar, with both cards needing a 600 W power supply, and both are dual-slot designs. However, the TITAN Xp has a lower TDP at 250 W compared to the FirePro D500’s 274 W. The TITAN Xp requires one 6-pin and one 8-pin power connector, while the FirePro D500’s connector setup is not specified in the data. Physically, the FirePro D500 is slightly longer at 279 mm compared to the TITAN Xp’s 267 mm, but the TITAN Xp is taller and thicker. The TITAN Xp also has a higher launch MSRP of 1,199 USD, while the FirePro D500 has no listed launch MSRP.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on fundamentally different architectures. The NVIDIA TITAN Xp uses the GP102 chip, based on the Pascal architecture, manufactured on a 16 nm process at TSMC. The AMD FirePro D500 uses the Tahiti chip, based on the older GCN 1.0 architecture, also from TSMC but on a larger 28 nm process. This process difference is a key factor in their performance disparity.

The TITAN Xp packs 11,800 million transistors onto a 471 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 25.1M / mm². The FirePro D500 has only 4,313 million transistors on a 352 mm² die, giving it a density of 12.3M / mm². This means the TITAN Xp has nearly three times the transistor count, allowing for significantly more compute units and features. The TITAN Xp also supports newer API versions, including DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.4, while the FirePro D500 supports DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.170.

Neither card has dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores, as they predate those technologies. The TITAN Xp is part of the GeForce 10 generation, succeeding GeForce 900 and preceding GeForce 20. The FirePro D500 is from the FirePro Data Center (Dx00) generation, succeeding FirePro Terascale and preceding Radeon Instinct. The TITAN Xp’s architecture is clearly designed for maximum compute throughput, while the FirePro D500’s GCN architecture is tailored for professional compute and display tasks, albeit with far fewer resources dedicated to that compute.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous for general compute performance: the NVIDIA TITAN Xp is in a different league. Its 370.4% lead in the shared Vulkan benchmark, combined with its vastly superior specifications in memory bandwidth, shader count, and FP32 throughput, makes it the clear choice for any user whose primary concern is raw processing power. If the task involves 3D rendering, heavy simulation, or GPU-accelerated computing where the TITAN Xp’s 12.15 TFLOPS can be fully utilized, the choice is obvious. Its 12 GB of memory also provides a significant buffer for larger datasets than the FirePro D500’s 3 GB could ever handle.

The AMD FirePro D500 is only the right choice in a very specific scenario: when the primary need is driving a large number of displays. Its six mini-DisplayPort outputs and SDI output are unique capabilities that the TITAN Xp cannot replicate without additional hardware. For a user with a multi-monitor setup requiring more than four simultaneous outputs, the FirePro D500’s display flexibility is its sole saving grace. However, its compute performance is so far behind that it is not a viable option for any modern, demanding GPU workload. The data suggests that the TITAN Xp is the superior product for almost all use cases, and the FirePro D500 is a legacy solution with a single, narrow advantage.