AMD FirePro S10000 vs NVIDIA CMP 70HX Comparison

The AMD FirePro S10000 and NVIDIA CMP 70HX are two very different GPUs that land surprisingly close in overall benchmark averages, yet they achieve their scores through opposite strengths. The FirePro S10000 wins the OpenCL test decisively, while the CMP 70HX takes the Vulkan test, resulting in a 1-1 split in direct head-to-head comparisons. The average benchmark score for the AMD card is 32,388, placing it in the 77th percentile of all GPUs, while the NVIDIA card averages 30,476, sitting in the 75th percentile. This makes the FirePro S10000 the stronger all-rounder by about 6.3% in average score, despite the CMP 70HX having a more modern architecture and far higher raw compute specifications.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The single biggest victory in this comparison belongs to the AMD FirePro S10000 in the Geekbench OpenCL test. It scores 30,631 against the NVIDIA CMP 70HX's 25,135, a delta of 21.9% in AMD's favor. This is a commanding lead, especially considering the CMP 70HX's newer Ampere architecture and higher clock speeds. The OpenCL result shows that the FirePro S10000's GCN 1.0 design, despite being from an older generation, is exceptionally well-optimized for this workload. In fact, the FirePro S10000's OpenCL score puts it in the company of the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE, which averages 32,456 overall, just 0.2% ahead of the FirePro's average. The FirePro's win here is not marginal; it is a 5,496-point gap that dwarfs the differences seen in typical generational leaps.

The NVIDIA CMP 70HX strikes back in the Geekbench Vulkan test, scoring 35,817 against the FirePro S10000's 34,145. This is a 4.7% advantage for NVIDIA, a solid but far less dramatic margin than AMD's OpenCL win. The Vulkan result demonstrates that the CMP 70HX's modern feature set, including DirectX 12 Ultimate support and dedicated ray tracing cores, translates into tangible performance gains in API-level workloads that leverage newer graphics pipelines. The CMP 70HX's Vulkan score is its strongest benchmark, and it pulls its average up from what would otherwise be a weaker showing. Interestingly, the CMP 70HX's average score of 30,476 places it right alongside the NVIDIA Tesla M60, which averages 30,490 with a 0% delta, and the AMD Radeon RX 6700, which averages 30,433 with a 0.1% delta. This indicates the CMP 70HX is competitive with mid-range gaming cards from a few generations ago, despite being designed for mining.

Looking at the deltas, the FirePro S10000's OpenCL advantage is more than four times larger than the CMP 70HX's Vulkan edge. This asymmetry reveals that the FirePro S10000 is the more consistent performer across the two tests, while the CMP 70HX relies heavily on Vulkan to stay competitive. The FirePro S10000's average score of 32,388 is also closer to its higher Vulkan result, showing less variance between workloads. The CMP 70HX, by contrast, has a 10,682-point swing between its low OpenCL score and high Vulkan score, indicating a workload-dependent performance profile that favors specific modern APIs.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD FirePro S10000 has an average benchmark score of 32,388, which is higher than the NVIDIA CMP 70HX's average of 30,476. This places the FirePro in the 77th percentile of all GPUs, versus the 75th percentile for the CMP 70HX.

Q: How does the FirePro S10000 compare to its closest rival in the data?

A: The FirePro S10000's nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE, which has an average score of 32,456. The FirePro trails this card by only 0.2%, making the two effectively tied in overall performance. It also sits 0.5% behind the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 and 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 570X.

Q: What is the biggest performance gap in the head-to-head benchmarks?

A: The largest gap is in the Geekbench OpenCL test, where the AMD FirePro S10000 scores 30,631 versus the NVIDIA CMP 70HX's 25,135, a 21.9% difference. This is the only test where either GPU wins by more than 5%.

Q: Does the NVIDIA CMP 70HX have a higher clock speed than the AMD card?

A: Yes, the NVIDIA CMP 70HX has a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1395 MHz, while the AMD FirePro S10000 has a base clock of 825 MHz and a boost clock of 950 MHz. The CMP 70HX also has a memory clock of 1188 MHz with 19 Gbps effective speed, compared to 1250 MHz and 5 Gbps effective for the FirePro.

Q: Which GPU supports newer graphics APIs?

A: The NVIDIA CMP 70HX supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the AMD FirePro S10000 supports DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.170. Both support OpenGL 4.6.

Q: How does the CMP 70HX's average score compare to a known gaming GPU?

A: The CMP 70HX's average score of 30,476 is 1.8% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti's average of 29,945, and 1.3% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6800's average of 30,095. It is essentially tied with the AMD Radeon RX 6700, which averages 30,433.

Architecture Differences

The AMD FirePro S10000 is built on the Tahiti chip using the GCN 1.0 architecture, manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC. This is a first-generation Graphics Core Next design that prioritizes compute throughput in a straightforward manner. The chip contains 4,313 million transistors on a die size of 352 mm², yielding a transistor density of 12.3 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA CMP 70HX, by contrast, uses the GA104 chip with the Ampere architecture, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. This is a much more advanced node, allowing for 17,400 million transistors on a slightly larger die of 392 mm², resulting in a transistor density of 44.4 million per square millimeter. The density difference is stark: the CMP 70HX packs over three times as many transistors per area, reflecting the generational leap in manufacturing and design.

The memory subsystems are also fundamentally different. The FirePro S10000 uses 3 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 240.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The CMP 70HX uses 8 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 608.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The CMP 70HX has more than double the memory capacity and 2.5 times the bandwidth, which is critical for its intended mining workloads. The FirePro's wider bus partially compensates for the older memory type, but it cannot match the sheer throughput of the newer GDDR6X standard.

Compute resources differ dramatically. The FirePro S10000 has 1,792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The CMP 70HX has 3,840 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The CMP 70HX more than doubles the shading units and doubles the ROPs, while adding 30 ray tracing cores and 120 tensor cores, which the FirePro lacks entirely. The FirePro's pixel rate is 30.40 GPixel/s and its texture rate is 106.4 GTexel/s, while the CMP 70HX achieves 89.28 GPixel/s and 167.4 GTexel/s. In raw FP32 throughput, the CMP 70HX reaches 10.71 TFLOPS versus the FirePro's 3.405 TFLOPS, a threefold advantage. The CMP 70HX also supports FP16 at 10.71 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio, while the FirePro has no listed FP16 capability.

The bus interface is another point of divergence. The FirePro S10000 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, a standard full-bandwidth connection. The CMP 70HX uses PCIe 1.0 x4, which is a severely restricted interface better suited for mining rigs where data transfer to the host is minimal. This explains the CMP 70HX's lack of display outputs, as it is designed for compute-only tasks. The FirePro, by contrast, has 1x DVI and 4x mini-DisplayPort 1.2 outputs, making it a functional workstation card for visualization.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every specification category. The process node is 28 nm for the AMD card versus 8 nm for the NVIDIA card. Transistor count is 4,313 million for the FirePro S10000 versus 17,400 million for the CMP 70HX. Die size is 352 mm² versus 392 mm². Transistor density is 12.3M per mm² versus 44.4M per mm². Base clock is 825 MHz versus 1365 MHz, and boost clock is 950 MHz versus 1395 MHz. Memory clock is 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective) versus 1188 MHz (19 Gbps effective). Memory size is 3 GB versus 8 GB, type is GDDR5 versus GDDR6X, bus width is 384-bit versus 256-bit, and bandwidth is 240.0 GB/s versus 608.3 GB/s.

Shading units are 1,792 versus 3,840, TMUs are 112 versus 120, and ROPs are 32 versus 64. The CMP 70HX adds 30 RT cores and 120 tensor cores, which the FirePro does not have. Pixel rate is 30.40 GPixel/s versus 89.28 GPixel/s, and texture rate is 106.4 GTexel/s versus 167.4 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput is 3.405 TFLOPS versus 10.71 TFLOPS, and FP16 is listed only for the CMP 70HX at 10.71 TFLOPS. TDP is 375 W for the FirePro, with no TDP listed for the CMP 70HX, though the suggested PSU is 750 W for the AMD card versus 200 W for the NVIDIA card. Power connectors are 2x 8-pin for the FirePro versus 1x 12-pin for the CMP 70HX. The bus interface is PCIe 3.0 x16 versus PCIe 1.0 x4. Display outputs are present on the FirePro (1x DVI, 4x mini-DisplayPort 1.2) but absent on the CMP 70HX. Dimensions are 305 mm length versus 267 mm length, with identical height of 111 mm and 112 mm respectively. The FirePro has a launch MSRP of 3,599 USD, while the CMP 70HX has no listed launch MSRP.

The API support also differs: DirectX 12 (11_1) versus DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6 for both, and Vulkan 1.2.170 versus 1.4. The FirePro S10000 has a release date of November 2012, while the CMP 70HX has no listed release date.

The Verdict

The data clearly favors the AMD FirePro S10000 for general compute workloads. Its average benchmark score of 32,388 is 6.3% higher than the CMP 70HX's 30,476, and it wins the OpenCL test by a massive 21.9%. The FirePro also holds a 77th percentile ranking versus the CMP 70HX's 75th, indicating better overall standing in the database. The FirePro's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE, is only 0.2% ahead, showing that this older card remains competitive against modern hardware. For users running OpenCL-based applications, the FirePro S10000 is the unequivocal choice.

However, the NVIDIA CMP 70HX is the better option for Vulkan workloads. Its score of 35,817 in the Vulkan test is 4.7% higher than the FirePro's 34,145, and it supports Vulkan 1.4 compared to the FirePro's 1.2.170. The CMP 70HX also has far superior raw specifications, including 10.71 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 608.3 GB/s of memory bandwidth, which make it a more future-proof investment for compute tasks that leverage modern APIs or require high memory throughput. The lack of display outputs and the PCIe 1.0 x4 interface, however, restrict it to headless mining or dedicated compute servers.

The FirePro S10000's advantages are its higher average score, better OpenCL performance, and full display output support, making it a versatile workstation card. The CMP 70HX's advantages are its Vulkan performance, massive memory bandwidth, and support for ray tracing and tensor cores, making it a specialized compute accelerator. The choice between them depends entirely on the software environment: OpenCL users should pick the FirePro, while Vulkan users or those needing FP16 capabilities should pick the CMP 70HX.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD FirePro S10000 wins in OpenCL benchmarks, where it leads by 21.9% over the CMP 70HX. This makes it the preferred choice for applications that rely on OpenCL, such as certain scientific computing, image processing, and legacy compute stacks. The FirePro's 384-bit memory bus and 240.0 GB/s bandwidth, while lower than the CMP 70HX's, are sufficient for its 3 GB frame buffer, and its 32 ROPs handle pixel throughput adequately for display tasks. Its 1x DVI and 4x mini-DisplayPort 1.2 outputs allow it to drive multiple monitors, which is impossible for the CMP 70HX.

The NVIDIA CMP 70HX wins in Vulkan benchmarks, scoring 4.7% higher than the FirePro. This makes it the better option for Vulkan-based games, compute shaders, or rendering engines that leverage this modern API. The CMP 70HX's 8 GB of GDDR6X memory with 608.3 GB/s bandwidth is ideal for large datasets, and its 120 tensor cores enable AI-accelerated workloads that the FirePro cannot handle. The 30 RT cores also provide hardware ray tracing support, which is absent on the FirePro. The CMP 70HX's 10.71 TFLOPS FP16 performance with a 1:1 ratio is a major advantage for mixed-precision workloads, while the FirePro has no FP16 capability listed.

For overall average performance, the FirePro S10000 takes the win with a 32,388 average versus 30,476. This is reinforced by its 77th percentile ranking versus the CMP 70HX's 75th. The FirePro's closest competitor, the RX 7900 GRE, is only 0.2% ahead, meaning the FirePro punches well above its weight class. The CMP 70HX, meanwhile, sits just 1.8% above the RTX 3070 Ti, showing it is competitive with mainstream gaming cards in average score but not exceptional. In short, the FirePro S10000 is the better all-rounder, while the CMP 70HX is the specialist for Vulkan and high-throughput compute.