AMD FirePro D700 vs NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile Comparison

The AMD FirePro D700 and NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile represent two very different eras of professional graphics, and the benchmark data reflects a complete generational shift in performance. The FirePro D700, a 2014-era workstation card based on GCN 1.0, is decisively outpaced by the 2021 Ampere-based RTX A5000 Mobile in every available comparison. The data shows a clear winner in raw compute, but the comparison also highlights how architectural priorities and intended use cases differ between a desktop data-center card and a high-end mobile workstation solution.

Where Each One Wins

The head-to-head benchmark results are unambiguous: the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile wins both available tests, leaving the AMD FirePro D700 with zero wins out of two comparisons. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the RTX A5000 Mobile scores 110,877 against the FirePro D700’s 23,716, a delta of -78.6% for the AMD part. This is not a marginal victory; it is a near 4.7x difference in raw compute throughput that indicates a fundamental performance gulf between the two architectures.

The Vulkan test tells a similar story, though with a slightly narrower gap. The RTX A5000 Mobile posts 88,144 points, while the FirePro D700 manages 27,968, resulting in a -68.3% delta. The FirePro D700’s only relative strength is that its Vulkan score (27,968) is higher than its OpenCL score (23,716), suggesting the GCN architecture handles that API comparatively better than its own OpenCL path. However, this intra-card improvement does nothing to close the gap with the NVIDIA part, which also scores higher in Vulkan than in OpenCL.

The RTX A5000 Mobile’s wins extend beyond the head-to-head section. Its Passmark suite results show a high-end mobile GPU: a G3D score of 15,779, a GPU Compute score of 6,945, and strong DirectX 9 (169) and DirectX 11 (133) results. The FirePro D700 has no Passmark data in the pack, so the comparison rests entirely on the two Geekbench tests. In those, the NVIDIA card’s advantage is consistent and overwhelming, making it the clear choice for any workload that leverages OpenCL or Vulkan compute.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two GPUs is vast, starting with the manufacturing process. The FirePro D700 is built on TSMC’s 28 nm node, while the RTX A5000 Mobile uses Samsung’s 8 nm process. This process shrink contributes to a dramatic difference in transistor density: the AMD card packs 4,313 million transistors into a 352 mm² die (12.3M / mm²), whereas the NVIDIA chip crams 17,400 million transistors into a slightly larger 392 mm² die, achieving 44.4M / mm². The RTX A5000 Mobile is not just a bigger chip; it is a far more densely integrated one.

The core configurations are equally divergent. The FirePro D700 relies on the Tahiti chip with GCN 1.0 architecture, featuring 2,048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The RTX A5000 Mobile, using the GA104 chip with Ampere architecture, has 6,144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. More importantly, the NVIDIA card introduces dedicated hardware that the AMD card lacks entirely: 48 RT cores for ray tracing and 192 tensor cores for AI acceleration. These are not present on the FirePro D700, which means any workload relying on those features is simply not supported on the older AMD part.

Memory subsystems also differ fundamentally. The FirePro D700 has 6 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, delivering 263.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX A5000 Mobile offers 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, achieving 448.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA card has more than double the capacity and 70% more bandwidth, despite a narrower bus, thanks to faster memory clocks (1750 MHz / 14 Gbps effective versus 1370 MHz / 5.5 Gbps effective). Clock speeds are also a differentiator: the RTX A5000 Mobile has a base clock of 900 MHz and a boost clock of 1575 MHz, while the FirePro D700’s base and boost clocks are listed as null in the data, leaving no direct comparison there.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The Geekbench OpenCL result is the single largest performance gap in the comparison. The RTX A5000 Mobile’s 110,877 score is 87,161 points higher than the FirePro D700’s 23,716. This represents a 78.6% deficit for the AMD card, translating to roughly a 4.67x performance advantage for NVIDIA. In practical terms, this means the RTX A5000 Mobile can complete OpenCL compute tasks in a fraction of the time, making it suitable for GPU-accelerated rendering, simulation, and data processing that would be impractically slow on the FirePro D700.

The Vulkan benchmark narrows the relative gap but still shows a decisive NVIDIA win. The RTX A5000 Mobile scores 88,144 versus 27,968 for the FirePro D700, a delta of -68.3%. The absolute difference is 60,176 points. Notably, the FirePro D700’s Vulkan score is its stronger result, suggesting that GCN 1.0 handles Vulkan’s low-level API better than OpenCL. However, the RTX A5000 Mobile’s Vulkan score is lower than its OpenCL score, which is unusual but still leaves it far ahead of the AMD card. The NVIDIA card’s Vulkan support is listed as version 1.4, while the FirePro D700 only supports Vulkan 1.2.170, which may partially explain the performance disparity.

Looking at the RTX A5000 Mobile’s broader Passmark results provides additional context for its compute strengths. Its DirectX 9 score of 169 and DirectX 11 score of 133 are impressive for legacy API performance, while its DirectX 12 score of 72 is lower, possibly reflecting driver overhead or architectural preferences. The GPU Compute score of 6,945 aligns with its high OpenCL performance, confirming that the card is compute-oriented. The FirePro D700 has no comparable data in the pack, so these numbers only serve to illustrate the NVIDIA card’s versatility across multiple APIs.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD FirePro D700 has an average benchmark score of 25,842, while the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile has a lower average of 24,763. Despite this, the RTX A5000 Mobile wins every head-to-head test, indicating that the AMD card’s average is buoyed by its two scores, whereas the NVIDIA card’s average is dragged down by its many lower-scoring Passmark tests.

Q: How do the two cards compare in memory capacity and bandwidth?

A: The RTX A5000 Mobile has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth on a 256-bit bus. The FirePro D700 has 6 GB of GDDR5 with 263.0 GB/s bandwidth on a wider 384-bit bus. The NVIDIA card offers over twice the capacity and significantly more bandwidth.

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

A: The FirePro D700 has a transistor density of 12.3M per mm², with 4,313 million transistors on a 352 mm² die. The RTX A5000 Mobile has a density of 44.4M per mm², with 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die. The NVIDIA card is over 3.6x denser.

Q: Does the FirePro D700 support ray tracing or tensor cores?

A: No. The FirePro D700’s specification list includes null values for RT cores and tensor cores. The RTX A5000 Mobile includes 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores, which are not available on the AMD card.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The FirePro D700 has a TDP of 274 W and a suggested power supply of 600 W. The RTX A5000 Mobile has a TDP of 150 W and no suggested PSU listed, with a note of "None" for power connectors, indicating it draws power from the portable device it is installed in.

Q: Which card has better Vulkan API support?

A: The RTX A5000 Mobile supports Vulkan 1.4, while the FirePro D700 supports Vulkan 1.2.170. The NVIDIA card’s higher API version corresponds to its higher Vulkan benchmark score of 88,144 versus 27,968.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile is the superior GPU for compute-heavy workloads. It wins both head-to-head benchmarks by margins of 68-79%, offers more than double the memory capacity, and provides dedicated RT and tensor cores that the FirePro D700 completely lacks. The RTX A5000 Mobile’s 19.35 TFLOPS FP32 performance versus the FirePro D700’s 3.482 TFLOPS is a 5.6x advantage, and its FP16 performance (19.35 TFLOPS) is a feature the AMD card does not even list. For any professional application that uses OpenCL, Vulkan, or modern DirectX 12 Ultimate features, the RTX A5000 Mobile is the only viable choice.

The FirePro D700’s only advantages are its form factor and output options. It is a dual-slot card with 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.2 and 1x SDI outputs, making it suited for fixed multi-display data-center setups. Its 274 W TDP and 600 W PSU requirement are higher than the RTX A5000 Mobile’s 150 W, but the NVIDIA card is designed for portable devices with no discrete power connectors. Users needing a desktop workstation card with specific display outputs might consider the FirePro D700, but they would be sacrificing massive compute performance. The RTX A5000 Mobile is the clear pick for anyone prioritizing performance, memory capacity, or modern API features.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD FirePro D700 | NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile |

|---|---|---|

| Chip | Tahiti | GA104 |

| Architecture | GCN 1.0 | Ampere |

| Generation | FirePro Data Center (Dx00) | Ampere-MW (Ax000) |

| Process Node | 28 nm | 8 nm |

| Foundry | TSMC | Samsung |

| Transistors | 4,313 million | 17,400 million |

| Die Size | 352 mm² | 392 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 12.3M / mm² | 44.4M / mm² |

| Base Clock | null | 900 MHz |

| Boost Clock | null | 1575 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1370 MHz / 5.5 Gbps effective | 1750 MHz / 14 Gbps effective |

| Memory Size | 6 GB | 16 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus Width | 384 bit | 256 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 263.0 GB/s | 448.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 2048 | 6144 |

| TMUs | 128 | 192 |

| ROPs | 32 | 96 |

| RT Cores | null | 48 |

| Tensor Cores | null | 192 |

| Pixel Rate | 27.20 GPixel/s | 151.2 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 108.8 GTexel/s | 302.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 3.482 TFLOPS | 19.35 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | null | 19.35 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 274 W | 150 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | null |

| Power Connectors | null | None |

| Suggested PSU | 600 W | null |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.2, 1x SDI | Portable Device Dependent |

| DirectX Support | 12 (11_1) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| OpenGL Support | 4.6 | 4.6 |

| Vulkan Support | 1.2.170 | 1.4 |

| Release Date | 2014-01-17 | 2021-04-11 |