AMD FirePro S7150 vs AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The data is unambiguous: the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary dominates the AMD FirePro S7150 in every benchmark where both were tested. The two available head-to-head comparisons show a staggering performance gap, with the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary winning both tests by a wide margin. The FirePro S7150, a server-oriented part from 2016, simply cannot keep pace with the RDNA 1.0 architecture that arrived three years later.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary scores 77,161 points, while the FirePro S7150 manages just 26,543 points. That represents a delta of -65.6% for the FirePro, meaning the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary delivers roughly 2.9 times the raw compute performance in this workload. This is not a marginal improvement; it is a generational leap that reshapes what users should expect from each card.

The Vulkan results tell a similar story, though the gap is slightly narrower. The RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary posts 74,281 points in Geekbench Vulkan, against the FirePro S7150's 29,690 points. The delta is -60%, indicating the newer card is approximately 2.5 times faster in this API. Even the FirePro's stronger relative showing in Vulkan — compared to its OpenCL result — does little to close the chasm between the two.

It is worth contextualizing these scores against the broader GPU landscape. The FirePro S7150's average benchmark score of 28,117 places it just ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (28,020, delta 0.3%) and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X (27,973, delta 0.5%), but only marginally behind the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 (27,839, delta 1%). The RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary, with an average score of 26,553, sits in a different neighborhood entirely: it trails the NVIDIA RTX A4000 (26,683, delta -0.5%) by a hair, while edging out the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 (26,421, delta 0.5%) and the AMD Radeon 860M (26,401, delta 0.6%). The 50th Anniversary card's percentile rank of 72 versus the FirePro's 73 is a curiosity: despite being vastly faster in raw scores, the newer card's percentile is essentially tied because the modern benchmark pool is far more competitive.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD FirePro S7150 has a slightly higher average benchmark score of 28,117 compared to 26,553 for the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary. However, this aggregate metric is skewed by the fact that the FirePro was only tested in two benchmarks, while the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary was tested across ten different workloads.

Q: How does the FirePro S7150 compare to the GTX 980 Ti?

A: The FirePro S7150's average score of 28,117 puts it 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti, which averages 28,020. This places the two cards in the same performance tier, with the FirePro holding a marginal edge.

Q: What is the most significant performance difference in the head-to-head tests?

A: The largest gap appears in Geekbench OpenCL, where the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary scores 77,161 versus the FirePro S7150's 26,543, a delta of -65.6% from the FirePro's perspective. This is the single biggest victory for the newer card in the available data.

Q: Does the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary outperform the RTX A4000?

A: No. The RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary averages 26,553, which is 0.5% behind the NVIDIA RTX A4000's 26,683. The difference is small, but the data shows the A4000 holding a slight lead.

Q: Are there any benchmarks where the FirePro S7150 wins?

A: No. Across the two head-to-head tests available (Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan), the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary wins both. The FirePro S7150 records zero wins in the head-to-head comparison.

Q: How does the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary fare in DirectX benchmarks?

A: The RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary shows mixed results across Passmark DirectX tests: it scores 98 in DirectX 10, 116 in DirectX 11, 66 in DirectX 12, and 219 in DirectX 9. These are relative scores within the Passmark suite, and no comparable FirePro data is available.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two GPUs is vast, reflecting their different eras and design goals. The FirePro S7150 is built on GCN 3.0 architecture using the Tonga chip, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 5,000 million transistors into a 366 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 13.7 million per square millimeter. The RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary, by contrast, uses the RDNA 1.0 architecture with the Navi 10 chip, manufactured on a 7 nm process, also at TSMC. It crams 10,300 million transistors into a much smaller 251 mm² die, achieving a density of 41.0 million per square millimeter — three times the density of the older chip.

This density advantage translates directly into compute resources. The RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary carries 2,560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. The FirePro S7150, meanwhile, has 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and just 32 ROPs. The newer card's ROP count is double that of the FirePro, which heavily influences its pixel throughput. Neither card features ray tracing cores or tensor cores, as both predate or omit those specialized units.

The memory subsystems also diverge significantly. The FirePro S7150 uses 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 160.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary also has 8 GB, but it is GDDR6 on the same 256-bit bus, achieving 448.0 GB/s — a 2.8x increase in memory bandwidth. This is critical for compute workloads that are memory-bound, and it helps explain the massive OpenCL and Vulkan score differences.

API support further separates the two. The FirePro S7150 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The newer card's higher DirectX feature level and more recent Vulkan version give it access to more modern rendering techniques and compute optimizations. The RDNA 1.0 architecture also fundamentally reworks the compute unit design compared to GCN 3.0, improving instruction-level parallelism and reducing latency, which is reflected in the benchmark outcomes.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every measurable specification. Clock speeds are a clear separator: the FirePro S7150 has no listed base or boost clock, while the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary runs at 1680 MHz base, 1830 MHz game clock, and 1980 MHz boost. Memory clocks also differ: the FirePro runs at 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective), while the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective).

Compute throughput shows the generational leap. The FirePro S7150 delivers 3.768 TFLOPS FP32 and 7.537 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1). The RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary delivers 10.14 TFLOPS FP32 and 20.28 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1) — roughly 2.7x and 2.7x higher, respectively. Pixel rate jumps from 29.44 GPixel/s on the FirePro to 126.7 GPixel/s on the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary, while texture rate rises from 117.8 GTexel/s to 316.8 GTexel/s.

Power and physical characteristics differ substantially. The FirePro S7150 has a TDP of 150 W, is single-slot, and requires a single 6-pin power connector with a suggested 450 W PSU. The RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary has a TDP of 225 W, is dual-slot, requires a 6-pin plus 8-pin power configuration, and suggests a 550 W PSU. The FirePro measures 241 mm long and 111 mm high, while the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary is longer at 272 mm, same height at 111 mm, and has a width of 40 mm.

Display outputs are another major differentiator. The FirePro S7150 has no display outputs at all — it is a server compute card. The RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary offers 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The bus interface also advances: the FirePro uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary uses PCIe 4.0 x16. The newer card also supports more recent APIs, with DirectX 12 (12_1) versus 12 (12_0), and Vulkan 1.4 versus 1.2.170. Launch MSRP for the FirePro S7150 was 2,399 USD, while the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary launched at 449 USD.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary wins in every measurable performance category in the head-to-head data. It is dramatically faster in Geekbench OpenCL (77,161 vs 26,543) and Geekbench Vulkan (74,281 vs 29,690). It also wins on raw compute specifications: higher FP32 and FP16 throughput, higher pixel and texture rates, and nearly triple the memory bandwidth. For any workload that relies on compute, rendering, or memory bandwidth, the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary is the clear choice.

The AMD FirePro S7150, however, has its own advantages that are not captured in raw benchmark scores. It has a lower TDP of 150 W versus 225 W, making it more power-efficient in absolute terms. It is a single-slot card, which is valuable in dense server environments where space is at a premium. Its 450 W suggested PSU requirement is lower than the 550 W needed for the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary, potentially allowing it to fit into existing server power budgets. The FirePro also has a slightly higher average benchmark score (28,117 vs 26,553) and a marginally better percentile rank (73 vs 72), though this is due to the different benchmark sets each card was subjected to.

For server compute tasks that do not require display output and where power and slot constraints are paramount, the FirePro S7150's profile — no outputs, single-slot, lower TDP — could be preferable. Its 8 GB of VRAM matches the newer card, so memory capacity is not a differentiator. The FirePro's GCN 3.0 architecture, while older, is well-established in compute environments, and its end-of-life status means it may be available in existing systems or as a legacy replacement part.

The Verdict

The data is unequivocal: the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary is the superior performer by every benchmark metric available. It wins both head-to-head tests with deltas of -65.6% and -60% against the FirePro S7150, meaning it is roughly 2.5 to 2.9 times faster depending on the workload. Its 7 nm RDNA 1.0 architecture, doubled ROP count, and 448.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth make it a fundamentally more capable GPU for compute and graphics alike. Anyone choosing between these two for performance should select the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary without hesitation.

The FirePro S7150 is not without merit, but its advantages are operational rather than performance-based. It draws less power (150 W vs 225 W), occupies a single slot, and requires no display connections — traits that suit specific server deployments. Its higher average benchmark score of 28,117 versus 26,553 is a statistical artifact of being tested in only two benchmarks, both of which it lost decisively. The FirePro's percentile rank of 73 versus 72 for the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary similarly reflects the different competitive pools each card is measured against.

For general-purpose compute, gaming, or any workload where performance matters, the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary wins on every count. For a niche server install where power, slot space, and power connector requirements are the primary constraints — and where the workload does not demand high throughput — the FirePro S7150 remains a viable, if outdated, option. The verdict, based strictly on the data, is that the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary is the better card for virtually all use cases, with the FirePro S7150 reserved for legacy server contexts where its unique physical attributes are essential.