AMD FirePro D700 vs NVIDIA RTX A4000 Comparison

# Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA RTX A4000 dominates every head-to-head benchmark in the database, winning both recorded tests outright. The AMD FirePro D700 registers zero wins across the shared test suite, which is striking given that both cards occupy nearly identical percentile rankings among all GPUs — the A4000 sits at the 72nd percentile, while the D700 sits just one point lower at the 71st percentile. This narrow percentile gap belies the enormous performance chasm in actual benchmark scores.

Looking at the compute-focused Geekbench OpenCL test, the RTX A4000 delivers a score of 105,739 against the D700's 23,716. That represents a 345.9% advantage for the NVIDIA card — meaning the A4000 performs roughly four and a half times better in this workload. The Vulkan API test tells a similar story, with the A4000 scoring 127,645 versus 27,968 for the D700, a 356.4% delta. These are not marginal improvements; they are generational leaps that suggest the D700's architecture simply cannot compete with modern compute workloads.

The RTX A4000's wins extend beyond the head-to-head suite when examining its full benchmark profile. It posts a Passmark G3D score of 19,459, a Passmark GPU Compute score of 9,760, and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2,604. The D700 has no comparable entries in these tests, leaving its capabilities in DirectX 12 gaming and general 3D rendering unmeasured in this dataset. The A4000 also shows strong DirectX legacy performance with Passmark scores of 240 in DX9, 158 in DX11, 126 in DX10, and 72 in DX12 — though the low DX12 score relative to DX9 is curious and may reflect driver overhead or workload characteristics rather than raw capability.

The use-case split is therefore clear: the RTX A4000 is the only card here that demonstrates measurable competence in modern API environments. The D700's data profile is sparse, with only two benchmark entries, both of which show it trailing by enormous margins. For any workload requiring Vulkan or OpenCL compute — the only areas where both cards have recorded results — the A4000 is the definitive choice.

# Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two cards spans multiple generations of GPU design philosophy. The RTX A4000 uses the GA104 chip built on Ampere architecture, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. The D700 uses the Tahiti chip based on GCN 1.0 architecture, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. This process difference alone — 8 nm versus 28 nm — explains much of the efficiency and density disparity, with the A4000 packing 17,400 million transistors into a 392 mm² die for a density of 44.4 million transistors per square millimeter. The D700 contains just 4,313 million transistors across a 352 mm² die, yielding a density of 12.3 million per square millimeter.

The A4000's transistor budget goes toward significantly more execution resources. It carries 6,144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, 96 render output units, 48 ray tracing cores, and 192 tensor cores. The D700 offers 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with no ray tracing or tensor core hardware at all. This means the A4000 not only has roughly three times the raw shader count, but also dedicated hardware for ray tracing and AI acceleration that the D700 lacks entirely.

Memory architecture reinforces the generational divide. The A4000 uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The D700 uses 6 GB of GDDR5 on a wider 384-bit bus, but achieves only 263.0 GB/s. The A4000's memory clock runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) versus 1370 MHz (5.5 Gbps effective) for the D700. The D700's wider bus partially compensates for its older memory type, but the A4000 still achieves 70% more bandwidth while using less than half the power.

The feature set divergence is stark. The A4000 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The D700 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The A4000 also uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the D700 is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs differ as well: the A4000 provides four DisplayPort 1.4a connectors, while the D700 offers six mini-DisplayPort connectors plus SDI — the latter clearly targeting broadcast or multi-display data center environments.

Power consumption tells a story of efficiency versus brute force. The A4000 is rated at 140 W TDP with a single-slot design and one 6-pin power connector, requiring a 300 W suggested PSU. The D700 draws 274 W, uses a dual-slot design, and requires a 600 W suggested PSU. The A4000 achieves its massive performance advantage while consuming exactly half the power of the D700.

# FAQ

Q: How much faster is the NVIDIA RTX A4000 in OpenCL compute?

A: The A4000 scores 105,739 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 345.9% higher than the D700's 23,716. This means the A4000 is roughly four and a half times faster in this compute workload.

Q: Does the AMD FirePro D700 support ray tracing?

A: No. The D700's Tahiti chip is based on GCN 1.0 architecture and has no ray tracing cores. The RTX A4000 includes 48 dedicated RT cores.

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX A4000 delivers 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth from 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus. The FirePro D700 provides 263.0 GB/s from 6 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus.

Q: What is the transistor density difference between the two cards?

A: The A4000 achieves 44.4 million transistors per square millimeter on its 8 nm Samsung process. The D700 achieves 12.3 million per square millimeter on its 28 nm TSMC process.

Q: Are these cards in the same performance percentile despite the benchmark gap?

A: Yes, they are close. The A4000 sits at the 72nd percentile of all GPUs, while the D700 sits at the 71st percentile. However, the average benchmark scores are 26,683 for the A4000 versus 25,842 for the D700, and the head-to-head results show enormous gaps.

Q: Which card supports the newer DirectX version?

A: The RTX A4000 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2). The FirePro D700 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), which is an earlier feature level within the DirectX 12 API family.

# Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every measurable specification. Process node: 8 nm Samsung versus 28 nm TSMC. Transistor count: 17,400 million versus 4,313 million. Die size: 392 mm² versus 352 mm². Transistor density: 44.4M per mm² versus 12.3M per mm².

Compute resources show the A4000 with 6,144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, versus the D700's 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The A4000 adds 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores, neither of which exist on the D700.

Memory capacity: 16 GB GDDR6 versus 6 GB GDDR5. Bus width: 256-bit versus 384-bit. Bandwidth: 448.0 GB/s versus 263.0 GB/s. Memory clock: 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) versus 1370 MHz (5.5 Gbps effective).

Performance rates: pixel rate of 149.8 GPixel/s versus 27.20 GPixel/s. Texture rate of 299.5 GTexel/s versus 108.8 GTexel/s. FP32 compute of 19.17 TFLOPS versus 3.482 TFLOPS. The A4000 also lists FP16 performance at 19.17 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio), while the D700 has no listed FP16 capability.

Power and physical specs: 140 W TDP versus 274 W TDP. Single-slot versus dual-slot. One 6-pin connector versus no listed connector. 300 W suggested PSU versus 600 W. Length: 241 mm versus 279 mm. Height: 112 mm versus no listed height.

Interface and outputs: PCIe 4.0 x16 versus PCIe 3.0 x16. Four DisplayPort 1.4a versus six mini-DisplayPort plus SDI. API support: DirectX 12 Ultimate versus DirectX 12 (11_1), both with OpenGL 4.6, but Vulkan 1.4 versus Vulkan 1.2.170.

The base and boost clocks for the A4000 are 735 MHz and 1560 MHz respectively. The D700 lists no base or boost clock data in the database. Release timing is also divergent: the A4000 launched on 2021-04-11, while the D700 launched on 2014-01-17.

# Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head suite contains only two tests, but both show extreme dominance by the RTX A4000. In Geekbench OpenCL, the A4000 scores 105,739 against the D700's 23,716. The delta of 345.9% means the A4000 achieves a score that is more than four times the D700's total. This is not a close race by any statistical measure — the A4000's single score exceeds the D700's score by 82,023 points.

The Geekbench Vulkan test shows an even larger relative gap. The A4000 scores 127,645, while the D700 manages 27,968. The 356.4% delta means the A4000 outperforms the D700 by a factor of roughly 4.5. Interestingly, the A4000's Vulkan score is higher than its OpenCL score, while the D700's Vulkan score is also higher than its OpenCL score — but the D700's improvement from 23,716 to 27,968 is proportionally similar to the A4000's improvement from 105,739 to 127,645.

The wins tally is 2 for the A4000 and 0 for the D700. There are no benchmarks in the head-to-head suite where the D700 comes close, let alone wins. The smallest delta between the two cards in any recorded test is the 345.9% OpenCL gap, which is still a massive margin.

Contextualizing these results through the average benchmark scores and rival data helps ground the comparison. The A4000's average benchmark score is 26,683, placing it 0.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary (26,553), 1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 (26,421), 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon 860M (26,401), and 1.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (26,331). The D700's average of 25,842 puts it 0.1% behind the AMD FirePro W7100 (25,856), 0.2% behind the AMD Radeon R9 M395X (25,891), 0.4% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile (25,740), and 0.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5700 (25,726). These rival comparisons show that while the two cards sit near each other in aggregate scoring, the specific tests where both have data reveal the A4000 as overwhelmingly superior.

# The Verdict

The data is unambiguous. The NVIDIA RTX A4000 wins every benchmark where both cards have recorded results, with deltas exceeding 345% in each case. For any workload that relies on OpenCL or Vulkan — the only common test domains — the A4000 is the only rational choice.

The AMD FirePro D700's advantages are limited to areas that do not appear in the benchmark data. It offers six display outputs versus four, includes SDI connectivity, and uses a wider 384-bit memory bus. It also has a longer physical footprint at 279 mm versus 241 mm, which may be relevant in specific chassis configurations. However, none of these characteristics translate into competitive performance in the tests recorded.

The architecture analysis reinforces the benchmark results. The A4000's 8 nm Ampere design with 17,400 million transistors, 19.17 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, and 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth is a fundamentally more capable processor than the D700's 28 nm GCN 1.0 design with 3.482 TFLOPS and 263.0 GB/s. The A4000 also brings ray tracing cores, tensor cores, DirectX 12 Ultimate support, and PCIe 4.0 — features entirely absent from the D700.

Who should pick which? The data suggests that the A4000 is appropriate for virtually any modern workstation workload, from compute-heavy OpenCL tasks to Vulkan rendering. Its 16 GB memory capacity and 140 W power envelope make it suitable for single-slot installations with modest power supply requirements. The D700, with its 274 W TDP, dual-slot footprint, and 600 W suggested PSU, demands more infrastructure while delivering less than a quarter of the performance in shared tests.

The D700's only conceivable niche, based on the available data, would be a legacy environment requiring SDI output or six simultaneous display connections without any performance expectations. Even then, the 71st percentile ranking against all GPUs suggests it performs adequately relative to the broader GPU landscape, but the head-to-head results show it cannot compete with the A4000 in any measurable way. The verdict is straightforward: the NVIDIA RTX A4000 is the superior card in every benchmark that exists for both products.