AMD FirePro D700 vs NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a decisive sweep in direct comparison. The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 wins both benchmark tests that were run against the AMD FirePro D700. There are no tests where the AMD card takes a win, making the head-to-head result a clean 2 to 0 in favor of the NVIDIA product.

In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the Quadro RTX 8000 scores 101,883 points against 23,716 for the FirePro D700. This is a delta of 329.6%, meaning the NVIDIA card is roughly four times faster in raw compute throughput. The gap is enormous and reflects the generational and architectural chasm between the two cards. The FirePro D700’s score is not close to competitive here; it trails by a margin that no driver optimization or workload tuning could realistically close.

The Geekbench Vulkan test tells a similar story. The Quadro RTX 8000 posts 122,637 points, while the FirePro D700 manages 27,968. The delta is 338.5%, an even larger percentage gap than in OpenCL. Vulkan is a modern low-level API, and the NVIDIA card’s advantage here suggests that its architecture is better suited to contemporary rendering paths. The FirePro D700, with its older GCN 1.0 design, simply cannot keep pace in this workload.

Looking at the broader database context, the Quadro RTX 8000 holds an average benchmark score of 28,421 across all recorded tests. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon R9 M295X at 28,580 (a 0.6% deficit for the NVIDIA card), the AMD FirePro S7150 at 28,117 (1.1% ahead), the AMD Radeon RX 570 at 28,766 (1.2% behind), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti at 28,020 (1.4% ahead). This places the Quadro RTX 8000 in a tight cluster where small percentage swings separate cards, but its top-end compute scores pull its average upward.

The FirePro D700, by contrast, has an average benchmark score of 25,842. Its nearest rivals are the AMD FirePro W7100 at 25,856 (0.1% behind), the AMD Radeon R9 M395X at 25,891 (0.2% behind), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile at 25,740 (0.4% ahead), and the AMD Radeon Pro W5700 at 25,726 (0.5% ahead). The FirePro D700 sits in a similar tight cluster but at a lower absolute level, roughly 9% below the Quadro RTX 8000’s average score.

The percentile rankings reinforce this gap. The Quadro RTX 8000 sits at the 74th percentile among all GPUs in the database. The FirePro D700 is at the 71st percentile. While both are above the median, the NVIDIA card’s higher percentile indicates it outperforms a larger share of the field. In direct head-to-head terms, the margin is not subtle: 329.6% and 338.5% deltas are outliers in the database, not typical competitive differences.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins in Geekbench OpenCL, and by how much?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 wins with a score of 101,883 against 23,716 for the AMD FirePro D700. This is a 329.6% advantage.

Q: Is the Vulkan result closer than the OpenCL result?

A: No. The Vulkan delta is 338.5% in favor of the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000, which is slightly larger than the OpenCL gap. The scores are 122,637 versus 27,968.

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

A: The Quadro RTX 8000’s average score of 28,421 is within 1.4% of its closest competitors, which include the AMD Radeon RX 570 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti. The FirePro D700’s average of 25,842 is within 0.5% of its closest rivals, such as the AMD Radeon Pro W5700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile.

Q: What are the percentile rankings for each card?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 is at the 74th percentile among all GPUs. The AMD FirePro D700 is at the 71st percentile.

Q: Does the AMD FirePro D700 win any benchmark in this comparison?

A: No. The head-to-head results show zero wins for the FirePro D700, with the Quadro RTX 8000 taking both recorded tests.

Q: How does the memory bandwidth compare?

A: The Quadro RTX 8000 has 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth, while the FirePro D700 has 263.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA card’s bandwidth is more than double that of the AMD card.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different generations and design philosophies. The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 is built on the Turing architecture, using the TU102 chip, and fabricated on a 12 nm process at TSMC. It packs 18,600 million transistors onto a 754 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 24.7 million per square millimeter. The AMD FirePro D700 uses the older GCN 1.0 architecture with the Tahiti chip, also made by TSMC but on a 28 nm process. It has 4,313 million transistors on a 352 mm² die, with a density of 12.3 million per square millimeter.

The transistor count difference is stark: the NVIDIA card has over four times as many transistors. This is reflected in the execution resources. The Quadro RTX 8000 has 4,608 shading units, 288 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs. It also includes 72 RT cores and 576 tensor cores, which are dedicated hardware for ray tracing and AI workloads respectively. The FirePro D700 has 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with no RT cores or tensor cores at all. The absence of these specialized units means the AMD card cannot accelerate ray tracing or tensor operations in hardware.

The compute capabilities diverge sharply. The Quadro RTX 8000 delivers 16.31 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 32.62 TFLOPS of FP16 performance with a 2:1 ratio. The FirePro D700 delivers 3.482 TFLOPS of FP32 and has no listed FP16 capability. The pixel rate for the NVIDIA card is 169.9 GPixel/s, while the AMD card is at 27.20 GPixel/s. Texture rates are 509.8 GTexel/s versus 108.8 GTexel/s.

Memory architecture also differs fundamentally. The Quadro RTX 8000 uses 48 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, with a memory clock of 1750 MHz and 14 Gbps effective speed. The FirePro D700 uses 6 GB of GDDR5 on the same 384-bit bus width, but with a memory clock of 1370 MHz and 5.5 Gbps effective speed. The bandwidth gap is 672.0 GB/s versus 263.0 GB/s. Both cards support PCIe 3.0 x16, but the NVIDIA card is a newer design with a longer feature list.

API support highlights the generational difference. The Quadro RTX 8000 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The FirePro D700 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The DirectX 12 Ultimate designation indicates support for features like ray tracing and mesh shaders, which the older GCN architecture cannot provide. The Vulkan version is also newer on the NVIDIA card.

Specification Differences

The recorded specifications show several key divergences beyond the compute cores. The process node differs: 12 nm for NVIDIA versus 28 nm for AMD. The transistor count is 18,600 million versus 4,313 million, and the die size is 754 mm² versus 352 mm². Transistor density is 24.7M per mm² versus 12.3M per mm².

Memory capacity is 48 GB of GDDR6 for the Quadro RTX 8000 versus 6 GB of GDDR5 for the FirePro D700. The bus width is identical at 384 bit, but memory clock speeds differ: 1750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective for NVIDIA, versus 1370 MHz with 5.5 Gbps effective for AMD. Bandwidth is 672.0 GB/s versus 263.0 GB/s.

The clock speeds show a notable difference. The Quadro RTX 8000 has a base clock of 1395 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz. The FirePro D700 has no base or boost clock listed in the data. The NVIDIA card’s pixel rate is 169.9 GPixel/s versus 27.20 GPixel/s, and texture rate is 509.8 GTexel/s versus 108.8 GTexel/s.

Power consumption is similar: 260 W for NVIDIA and 274 W for AMD. Both are dual-slot cards and both list a suggested PSU of 600 W. The NVIDIA card uses a 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin power connector setup, while the FirePro D700 has no power connector details recorded. The Quadro RTX 8000 has a launch MSRP of 9,999 USD.

Display outputs differ: the NVIDIA card has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a and 1x USB Type-C, while the AMD card has 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.2 and 1x SDI. Physical dimensions vary slightly: the Quadro RTX 8000 is 267 mm long and 111 mm high, while the FirePro D700 is 279 mm long with no height recorded.

Release dates show the generational spread: the Quadro RTX 8000 was released in August 2018, while the FirePro D700 came out in January 2014. The NVIDIA card’s predecessor is Quadro Volta and its successor is Workstation Ampere. The AMD card’s predecessor is FirePro Terascale and its successor is Radeon Instinct.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous. The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 outperforms the AMD FirePro D700 in every recorded benchmark, with deltas exceeding 300%. The NVIDIA card also carries more memory, newer architecture, and a wider feature set, including RT cores and tensor cores that the AMD card lacks entirely. The FirePro D700 is an older design from 2014, built on a 28 nm process with GCN 1.0, and it shows in every metric.

For users prioritizing raw compute performance, the Quadro RTX 8000 is the clear choice. Its FP32 throughput of 16.31 TFLOPS is nearly five times the FirePro D700’s 3.482 TFLOPS. The memory capacity of 48 GB versus 6 GB is a decisive advantage for large datasets or high-resolution textures. The bandwidth difference, 672.0 GB/s versus 263.0 GB/s, further widens the gap in memory-bound workloads.

The FirePro D700 does have some redeeming qualities. Its power draw is slightly lower at 274 W versus 260 W, though the difference is negligible. It offers 6x mini-DisplayPort outputs and 1x SDI, which may be useful for specific multi-display or broadcast setups. It also supports the same OpenGL 4.6 version as the NVIDIA card. But these are narrow advantages in niche areas.

The percentile rankings confirm that both cards are above average, but the Quadro RTX 8000’s 74th percentile versus the FirePro D700’s 71st percentile is a modest gap in the overall field. The head-to-head numbers, however, tell a much more dramatic story. A 329.6% OpenCL delta and a 338.5% Vulkan delta are not competitive differences; they are generational leaps.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 wins in every measured category. In compute-heavy workloads like OpenCL and Vulkan, it dominates by over three hundred percent. The 48 GB of GDDR6 memory makes it suitable for massive datasets, while the 672.0 GB/s bandwidth supports high-throughput tasks. The RT cores and tensor cores enable ray tracing and AI inferencing workloads that the FirePro D700 cannot accelerate at all. The DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 also future-proof it for modern software.

The AMD FirePro D700 has no benchmark wins in this comparison, but it has situational advantages in specific hardware attributes. Its 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.2 outputs and 1x SDI connector make it potentially useful for multi-monitor or video production environments where those outputs are required. Its lower transistor count and smaller die may also result in simpler cooling requirements, though the TDP is actually higher at 274 W versus 260 W. The card’s 28 nm process and older GCN architecture are less complex, which could be relevant for legacy software compatibility, though the API support is actually lower.

For users working with modern compute libraries, ray tracing, or large memory footprints, the Quadro RTX 8000 is the only rational choice. For users locked into a specific display output configuration that requires SDI or multiple mini-DisplayPorts, the FirePro D700 might have a place. But from a pure performance standpoint, the database shows no scenario where the AMD card is competitive. The wins are all on the NVIDIA side, and they are not close.