AMD FirePro M4000 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB Comparison

The Verdict

The data presents a profound generational mismatch. The AMD FirePro M4000 is an end-of-life mobile workstation part from 2012, built on a 28 nm process with 1,500 million transistors. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB is a desktop flagship from 2022, built on an 8 nm process with 28,300 million transistors. The recorded benchmark data does not place these two in the same performance tier, but it does reveal a curious statistical artifact: both cards sit in the lower third of the database percentile rankings. The FirePro M4000 scores in the 32nd percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX 3080 12 GB sits in the 28th percentile. These percentile figures are based on different benchmark suites, however, so they are not directly comparable.

The verdict from the data is straightforward for anyone selecting hardware today: the RTX 3080 12 GB is the only viable choice for modern workloads. Its score of 4791 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 comes from a demanding modern test, whereas the FirePro M4000's 5537 in Geekbench OpenCL comes from a compute-oriented synthetic workload. The FirePro M4000 cannot run modern DirectX 12 Ultimate titles, it has 1024 MB of memory, and it is restricted to a portable-device-dependent display output. The RTX 3080 12 GB supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, has 12 GB of memory, and offers full desktop connectivity. Any user needing current gaming, ray tracing, or high-resolution compute should pick the NVIDIA card without hesitation. The FirePro M4000 only makes sense in legacy systems that require its specific MXM-A form factor and low 33 W power draw.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is vast and well documented in the database. The AMD FirePro M4000 uses the Chelsea chip, which is built on GCN 1.0 architecture. It is manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC, with a die size of 123 mm² and 1,500 million transistors. The transistor density works out to 12.2M per mm². This is an old architecture that predates modern compute features, and its API support reflects that: DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB uses the GA102 chip, built on the Ampere architecture. It is manufactured on an 8 nm process at Samsung, with a die size of 628 mm² and 28,300 million transistors. The transistor density is 45.1M per mm², nearly four times the FirePro's density per square millimeter. The Ampere architecture brings dedicated hardware that the FirePro M4000 completely lacks: 70 ray tracing cores and 280 tensor cores. The RTX 3080 12 GB also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, the latter being a much newer API revision than the FirePro's Vulkan 1.2.170.

The memory architecture is equally divergent. The FirePro M4000 uses 1024 MB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, yielding 64.00 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 3080 12 GB uses 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus, yielding 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth. That is a 14.3 times increase in memory bandwidth, a figure that explains why the RTX card can feed its far larger compute array. The FirePro's memory clock is 1000 MHz (4 Gbps effective), while the RTX card's memory runs at 1188 MHz (19 Gbps effective). The bus width and memory type differences alone would put the RTX 3080 12 GB in a different performance universe.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

There are no direct head-to-head benchmark entries in the database that pit these two cards against each other in the same test. This is unsurprising given the ten-year gap between their release dates and the radically different benchmark suites used to evaluate them. However, the recorded scores for each card tell a clear story when examined alongside their nearest rivals.

The AMD FirePro M4000's Geekbench OpenCL score of 5537 places it just 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce MX130 (5508) and 0.7% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M (5501). It is 1% ahead of the AMD Radeon R7 M440 (5483), but 1.2% behind the NVIDIA Quadro M500M (5604). These are all low-end mobile or entry-level desktop parts, and the FirePro M4000 trades blows with them within a range of about 2%. The data shows that in pure OpenCL compute, the FirePro M4000 is competitive with those modest GPUs, but that is a low bar.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4791 places it 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon R5 M255 (4788) and 0.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon R5 M335 (4752). It is 1.1% behind the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (4844) and 1.3% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M (4855). This is a strange result: the nearest rivals for the RTX 3080 12 GB are all old or low-end mobile GPUs. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test appears to be a poor fit for the RTX card's architecture, or the database has recorded a score that does not reflect the card's true desktop performance. Either way, the data says the RTX 3080 12 GB lands within 1.3% of that particular group of mobile and legacy parts, despite being a 350 W desktop flagship with 8960 shading units.

The biggest wins in this comparison are not found in the rival deltas but in the architectural specifications. The RTX 3080 12 GB has 17.5 times the shading units (8960 vs 512), 8.75 times the texture mapping units (280 vs 32), and 6 times the render output units (96 vs 16). Its pixel rate is 164.2 GPixel/s versus 10.80 GPixel/s for the FirePro M4000, a 15.2 times advantage. Its texture rate is 478.8 GTexel/s versus 21.60 GTexel/s, a 22.2 times advantage. Its FP32 compute is 30.64 TFLOPS versus 691.2 GFLOPS, a 44.3 times advantage. These are the numbers that define the true distance between these products.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every recorded specification field. The FirePro M4000 has no base or boost clock listed, while the RTX 3080 12 GB runs at a 1260 MHz base and 1710 MHz boost. The FirePro has no FP16 capability listed, while the RTX card delivers 30.64 TFLOPS FP16 at a 1:1 ratio with FP32. The FirePro has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores; the RTX card has 70 and 280, respectively.

Power and physical requirements differ enormously. The FirePro M4000 is rated at 33 W TDP and uses an MXM module slot width with no power connectors. The RTX 3080 12 GB is rated at 350 W TDP, uses a dual-slot cooler, requires a 1x 12-pin power connector, and the database lists a suggested PSU of 750 W. The bus interface also differs: the FirePro uses MXM-A (3.0), while the RTX card uses PCIe 4.0 x16. The FirePro's display outputs are noted as portable-device dependent, while the RTX card offers 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a.

Physical dimensions are only recorded for the RTX 3080 12 GB: 285 mm long (11.2 inches), 112 mm tall (4.4 inches), and 40 mm wide (1.6 inches). The FirePro M4000 has no dimensions listed. The release dates are also far apart: the FirePro launched on 2012-06-26, and the RTX card launched on 2022-01-10. The FirePro's predecessor is FirePro Mobility and its successor is Radeon Pro Mobile. The RTX card's predecessor is GeForce 20 and its successor is GeForce 40. Both are end-of-life production status. The RTX 3080 12 GB has a launch MSRP of 799 USD, stated here once per the database rules.

Memory capacity, bus width, bandwidth, and process node differences have already been covered, but they are the most consequential specification gaps: 1024 MB vs 12 GB, 128-bit vs 384-bit, 64.00 GB/s vs 912.4 GB/s, and 28 nm vs 8 nm.

FAQ

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB has 8960 shading units, while the AMD FirePro M4000 has 512. That is a 17.5 times difference in raw shader count.

Q: Do both cards support DirectX 12?

A: Both list DirectX 12 support, but at different levels. The FirePro M4000 lists DirectX 12 (11_1), while the RTX 3080 12 GB lists DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2). The RTX card also supports a newer Vulkan revision: 1.4 versus 1.2.170 for the FirePro.

Q: Which card has ray tracing cores?

A: Only the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB has ray tracing cores, with 70 of them. The AMD FirePro M4000 has no ray tracing cores listed, and it also lacks tensor cores, while the RTX card has 280 tensor cores.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference?

A: The AMD FirePro M4000 has 1024 MB of GDDR5, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB has 12 GB of GDDR6X. The memory bus widths are 128-bit and 384-bit, respectively.

Q: How do their power requirements compare?

A: The FirePro M4000 is rated at 33 W TDP with no power connectors, while the RTX 3080 12 GB is rated at 350 W TDP, requires a 1x 12-pin power connector, and the database suggests a 750 W power supply. The FirePro uses an MXM module slot, while the RTX card is dual-slot.

Q: Are both GPUs still in production?

A: No, both are listed as end-of-life in the database. The AMD FirePro M4000 was released on 2012-06-26, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB was released on 2022-01-10.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD FirePro M4000 wins in exactly one meaningful category from the recorded data: OpenCL compute score. Its Geekbench OpenCL result of 5537 is higher than the RTX 3080 12 GB's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4791, but these are different tests and cannot be compared directly. The FirePro also wins on power efficiency in absolute terms: 33 W TDP versus 350 W. It is an MXM module, which makes it suitable for portable or embedded systems where the RTX card's dual-slot, 285 mm length, and 750 W suggested PSU would be impossible to accommodate. The FirePro's nearest rivals in the database are all low-power mobile parts, and it sits within 1.2% of them, which suggests it remains competitive in its narrow legacy niche.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB wins in every compute and rendering metric that matters for modern workloads. It has 70 ray tracing cores and 280 tensor cores, features the FirePro lacks entirely. Its FP32 throughput of 30.64 TFLOPS is 44.3 times the FirePro's 691.2 GFLOPS. Its pixel rate of 164.2 GPixel/s is 15.2 times higher, and its texture rate of 478.8 GTexel/s is 22.2 times higher. Memory bandwidth of 912.4 GB/s dwarfs the 64.00 GB/s of the FirePro. The RTX card supports PCIe 4.0 x16, DirectX 12 Ultimate, and Vulkan 1.4, making it suitable for current gaming and compute software. Its 12 GB memory capacity is 12 times the FirePro's 1024 MB. The RTX card also has a launch MSRP of 799 USD, which the database notes once, though the FirePro has no recorded launch MSRP.

The use-case split is therefore clean. The FirePro M4000 wins for anyone maintaining a legacy MXM-A system that needs a low-power 33 W GPU with portable-device-dependent display output and no external power connectors. The RTX 3080 12 GB wins for anyone building or upgrading a desktop system that needs current API support, high-resolution rendering, ray tracing, tensor compute, and enough memory bandwidth to feed its 8960 shading units. The data does not support any scenario where the FirePro is the better choice for modern workloads, and the RTX card's 28th percentile ranking in its own benchmark suite does not change that conclusion, because its rivals in that ranking are all dated mobile parts that the card's specifications clearly outclass.