AMD FirePro S10000 vs NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell Comparison

AMD FirePro S10000 versus NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell is a generational chasm disguised as a GPU comparison. The FirePro S10000, a dual-GPU server card from the GCN 1.0 era, launched in late 2012 as a compute-oriented behemoth. The RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell is a 2025 workstation card built on NVIDIA’s latest architecture. Benchmark data shows the newer card utterly dominates in raw performance, but the comparison is more nuanced than a simple scoreboard, revealing profound shifts in GPU design philosophy, memory technology, and feature sets.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only directly comparable benchmark between the two cards is Geekbench Vulkan, and the result is a landslide. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell scores 221,768 points, while the AMD FirePro S10000 manages 34,145 points. This translates to a delta of -84.6% for the AMD card, meaning the RTX PRO 4500 is roughly 6.5 times faster in this specific test. This single data point encapsulates the entire performance gap: the NVIDIA card’s score is not just higher, it is in a different performance tier altogether.

The FirePro S10000’s aggregate benchmark score, however, tells a slightly different story. Its average benchmark score is 32,388, placing it in the 77th percentile of all GPUs. Its closest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE, with an average score of 32,456 (a -0.2% delta), and the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 at 32,540 (-0.5%). This suggests that despite its age, the FirePro S10000 retains a competitive edge against some modern mid-range cards in legacy compute workloads. It sits just 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 570X (32,176) and 0.7% behind the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME (32,601).

The RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell, by contrast, has an average benchmark score of 31,532, placing it in the 76th percentile. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA TITAN RTX with an average score of 31,676 (a -0.5% delta). It also edges out the NVIDIA GRID M60-1Q (31,220, +1%) and the NVIDIA Quadro M5000 (31,206, +1%), while trailing the Intel Arc Pro A30M (31,894, -1.1%). The data shows that while the RTX PRO 4500 wins the head-to-head by a huge margin, its overall average is pulled down by a diverse benchmark suite that includes older DirectX tests where it scores surprisingly low, such as 204 in Passmark DirectX 10 and 119 in Passmark DirectX 12.

The disparity in scores across different tests reveals a key insight. The FirePro S10000’s Vulkan score of 34,145 is respectable for its era, but the RTX PRO 4500’s 221,768 is a modern flagship-level result. The NVIDIA card’s Passmark G3D score of 33,360 and GPU Compute score of 19,255 further cement its dominance in contemporary workloads. The FirePro’s sole benchmark, Geekbench OpenCL, yields 30,631, which is notably lower than its Vulkan score, indicating architectural efficiencies in the newer card’s driver stack and compute pipelines.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD FirePro S10000 has a slightly higher average benchmark score of 32,388 compared to the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell’s 31,532. However, this average is based on different benchmark suites, and the NVIDIA card wins the only shared test (Geekbench Vulkan) by 84.6%.

Q: How do the two cards compare in the Geekbench Vulkan test?

A: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell scores 221,768, while the AMD FirePro S10000 scores 34,145. This gives NVIDIA a decisive victory with a delta of -84.6% for the AMD card.

Q: What are the closest rivals to the FirePro S10000 based on average score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (32,456, -0.2%) is the closest, followed by the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 (32,540, -0.5%). The AMD Radeon Pro 570X (32,176, +0.7%) and AMD Radeon RX 590 GME (32,601, -0.7%) are also nearby.

Q: What is the percentile ranking of each GPU among all GPUs?

A: The AMD FirePro S10000 is in the 77th percentile, while the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell is in the 76th percentile. Despite the NVIDIA card’s massive lead in the head-to-head test, its percentile is slightly lower.

Q: What are the closest rivals to the RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell?

A: The NVIDIA TITAN RTX (31,676, -0.5%) is the closest. The NVIDIA GRID M60-1Q (31,220, +1%) and NVIDIA Quadro M5000 (31,206, +1%) are also within 1%, while the Intel Arc Pro A30M (31,894, -1.1%) trails.

Q: Which card has a better Passmark G3D score?

A: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell has a Passmark G3D score of 33,360. The AMD FirePro S10000 does not have a Passmark G3D score listed in the data.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two cards is vast. The AMD FirePro S10000 uses the Tahiti chip, built on the GCN 1.0 architecture, and is fabricated on a 28 nm TSMC process. It contains 4,313 million transistors on a die size of 352 mm², yielding a transistor density of 12.3 million per mm². The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell uses the GB203 chip, based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, and is fabricated on a 5 nm TSMC process. It packs 45,600 million transistors onto a 378 mm² die, achieving a density of 120.6 million transistors per mm² — nearly ten times higher than the AMD card.

The FirePro S10000 has 1,792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 32 raster output units (ROPs). It has no dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores, reflecting its pre-RTX era design. Its pixel rate is 30.40 GPixel/s and its texture rate is 106.4 GTexel/s. Floating-point performance is capped at 3.405 TFLOPS for FP32, with no FP16 support listed. The NVIDIA card, in contrast, features 10,496 shading units, 328 TMUs, and 112 ROPs. It includes 82 ray tracing cores and 328 tensor cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI workloads. Its pixel rate is 269.6 GPixel/s and texture rate is 789.5 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 50.53 TFLOPS, with FP16 performance also at 50.53 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio).

Memory architecture diverges sharply. The FirePro S10000 uses 3 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, delivering 240.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell uses 32 GB of GDDR7 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 896.0 GB/s. The newer card’s memory bandwidth is over 3.7 times higher despite a narrower bus, thanks to faster GDDR7 memory running at 28 Gbps effective versus 5 Gbps effective on the GDDR5. The RTX PRO 4500 also supports PCIe 5.0 x16, while the FirePro S10000 is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification. The AMD FirePro S10000 has a base clock of 825 MHz and a boost clock of 950 MHz, while the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell runs at a base clock of 1635 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz. The NVIDIA card’s boost clock is more than 2.5 times higher than the AMD card’s base clock.

Memory capacity is a major differentiator: 3 GB versus 32 GB. The memory type also differs, with GDDR5 on the AMD card and GDDR7 on the NVIDIA card. Memory bandwidth is 240.0 GB/s versus 896.0 GB/s. The bus width is 384-bit for the AMD card and 256-bit for the NVIDIA card.

Power requirements are notably different. The FirePro S10000 has a TDP of 375 W and requires a 750 W power supply, using 2x 8-pin power connectors. The RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell has a TDP of 200 W and requires a 550 W power supply, using a single 16-pin connector. The NVIDIA card delivers vastly higher performance while consuming 175 W less power.

The cards also differ in their display outputs. The FirePro S10000 offers 1x DVI and 4x mini-DisplayPort 1.2. The RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell offers 4x DisplayPort 2.1b. API support differs as well: the AMD card supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170, while the NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Physical dimensions vary, with the AMD card being longer at 305 mm (12 inches) versus 267 mm (10.5 inches) for the NVIDIA card. Both are dual-slot, and both have a height of 111 mm (4.4 inches). The NVIDIA card has a specified width of 40 mm (1.6 inches), while the AMD card’s width is not listed.

The Verdict

The data points to a decisive conclusion: the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell is the superior GPU by a wide margin. Its Geekbench Vulkan score of 221,768 versus 34,145 for the AMD FirePro S10000 represents an 84.6% performance delta, making it the clear choice for any modern workload, especially those leveraging ray tracing, tensor cores, or high-bandwidth memory. The RTX PRO 4500 also offers 32 GB of GDDR7 memory versus 3 GB of GDDR5, a 10-fold increase in capacity and a 3.7-fold increase in bandwidth, which is critical for large datasets and AI models.

However, the FirePro S10000 is not without its merits. Its average benchmark score of 32,388 is slightly higher than the RTX PRO 4500’s 31,532, and it holds a 77th percentile ranking versus 76th for the NVIDIA card. This suggests that in legacy compute tasks—particularly OpenCL workloads—the older AMD card can still hold its own against more modern competitors like the Radeon RX 7900 GRE and the Radeon Pro 570X. The FirePro S10000 also has a lower power draw in terms of absolute TDP (375 W), though it is less efficient per unit of performance.

For buyers seeking maximum performance in a modern workstation, the RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell is the only rational choice. Its architectural advantages—5 nm process, ray tracing cores, tensor cores, and GDDR7 memory—make it a future-proof investment. The FirePro S10000, with its end-of-life production status and 2012 release date, is a relic better suited for archival or specialized compute tasks where its dual-GPU design and GCN 1.0 architecture are still relevant. The verdict from the data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA card wins on raw speed, features, and efficiency, while the AMD card’s only claim to relevance is its slightly higher average score in a benchmark suite that does not reflect modern workloads.