AMD FirePro S7150 vs NVIDIA CMP 70HX Comparison

# NVIDIA CMP 70HX vs AMD FirePro S7150

The data splits this comparison cleanly down the middle: the AMD FirePro S7150 wins the OpenCL workload by 5.3%, while the NVIDIA CMP 70HX dominates Vulkan by 20.6%. Each card takes exactly one benchmark victory, so the choice hinges entirely on which API matters more for the intended workload. The NVIDIA CMP 70HX posts an average benchmark score of 30,476 (75th percentile overall), while the AMD FirePro S7150 averages 28,117 (73rd percentile) — a 7.7% gap in the aggregate, but the per-test story is far more nuanced.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD FirePro S7150 is the OpenCL specialist. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 26,543 beats the NVIDIA CMP 70HX's 25,135 by 5.3%. This is the only head-to-head test where AMD comes out ahead, and it places the S7150 among peers like the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (28,020 average, just 0.3% behind) and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X (27,973 average, 0.5% behind). For compute-heavy OpenCL pipelines — typical of older professional workflows and certain scientific applications — the S7150 holds a measurable edge.

The NVIDIA CMP 70HX is the Vulkan winner, and it wins decisively. Its Geekbench Vulkan score of 35,817 dwarfs the AMD's 29,690, a 20.6% advantage. This is not a marginal gap; it is a category-level difference. The CMP 70HX's Vulkan result pushes its aggregate average to 30,476, placing it alongside the NVIDIA Tesla M60 (30,490, effectively tied) and the AMD Radeon RX 6700 (30,433, 0.1% behind). The Vulkan advantage reflects the CMP 70HX's modern architecture and suggests it is the better choice for any workload leveraging Vulkan's lower-overhead API — including contemporary game engines and GPU compute frameworks that have adopted Vulkan compute.

The split is stark: if the workload is OpenCL-bound, the older AMD card wins; if Vulkan is in play, the NVIDIA card is in a different league. There is no overall winner in the data — just two cards with complementary strengths.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two is generational. The NVIDIA CMP 70HX uses the GA104 chip built on Ampere architecture, fabricated on Samsung's 8 nm process. It packs 17,400 million transistors into a 392 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 44.4 million per square millimeter. The AMD FirePro S7150 uses the Tonga chip on GCN 3.0 architecture, built on TSMC's 28 nm process. It contains only 5,000 million transistors across a 366 mm² die — a density of 13.7 million per square millimeter. The CMP 70HX crams over three times the transistors into a similar physical footprint.

The core configurations differ sharply. The CMP 70HX has 3,840 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units. The S7150 has 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and just 32 ROPs. The NVIDIA card also includes 30 ray tracing cores and 120 tensor cores — hardware that the AMD card lacks entirely, as it has no RT or tensor core equivalents. The CMP 70HX's pixel rate of 89.28 GPixel/s more than triples the S7150's 29.44 GPixel/s, and its texture rate of 167.4 GTexel/s beats the AMD's 117.8 GTexel/s by 42%.

Memory subsystems tell a similar story of generational leap. Both cards have 8 GB of VRAM on a 256-bit bus, but the CMP 70HX uses GDDR6X at 19 Gbps effective, delivering 608.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The S7150 uses GDDR5 at 5 Gbps effective, yielding just 160.0 GB/s — a 3.8x bandwidth advantage for NVIDIA. Compute throughput follows suit: the CMP 70HX delivers 10.71 TFLOPS FP32, while the S7150 manages 3.768 TFLOPS. Interestingly, the AMD card's FP16 rate of 7.537 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio) exceeds its FP32, whereas the NVIDIA card's FP16 is 1:1 at 10.71 TFLOPS.

The cards also differ in physical design. The CMP 70HX is dual-slot with a 1x 12-pin power connector and a suggested 200 W PSU; the S7150 is single-slot with a 1x 6-pin connector and a 450 W PSU suggestion. The CMP 70HX is longer at 267 mm versus 241 mm, though both are 4.4 inches high. Neither card has display outputs — both are compute-only accelerators. The S7150 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the CMP 70HX lists a PCIe 1.0 x4 interface, a peculiar specification that may limit host transfer rates despite the card's compute power.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The OpenCL test is the AMD FirePro S7150's moment. It scores 26,543 against the NVIDIA CMP 70HX's 25,135, a 5.3% victory. In the context of the S7150's nearest rivals, this result is consistent: the card sits within 1% of the GeForce GTX 980 Ti and Radeon Pro W5500X, and within 0.8% of the Radeon RX 7800M. The OpenCL win is real but narrow — it does not suggest the S7150 is categorically superior, merely that its GCN architecture handles this API efficiently.

The Vulkan test is where the NVIDIA CMP 70HX separates itself. Its 35,817 score versus 29,690 for the AMD card represents a 20.6% margin — the single largest delta in this comparison. This result aligns with the CMP 70HX's placement among its rivals: it trails the Tesla M60 by 0.04%, leads the RX 6700 by 0.1%, and beats the RTX 3070 Ti by 1.8%. The CMP 70HX's Vulkan performance is elite-level, while the AMD card's 29,690 is merely respectable.

The average benchmark scores reflect these dynamics. The CMP 70HX's 30,476 average sits 0.05% below the Tesla M60, 0.1% above the RX 6700, and 1.3% above the RX 6800. The S7150's 28,117 average places it 0.3% above the GTX 980 Ti, 0.5% above the Pro W5500X, and 1% above the Pro Vega 20. The CMP 70HX's percentile rank of 75 versus the S7150's 73 confirms the NVIDIA card's overall edge, but the per-test split shows this is not a uniform advantage — it is entirely Vulkan-driven.

The Verdict

Pick the NVIDIA CMP 70HX if Vulkan matters. Its 20.6% Vulkan lead is the single most decisive number in this comparison, and its 75th percentile overall ranking reflects a card that competes with the Tesla M60 and RX 6700 class. The CMP 70HX also brings modern features — ray tracing cores, tensor cores, GDDR6X memory, and 10.71 TFLOPS FP32 — that the AMD card cannot match. If the workload uses Vulkan compute or any modern graphics API, the choice is unambiguous.

Pick the AMD FirePro S7150 only if OpenCL is the sole or dominant workload. Its 5.3% OpenCL advantage is real, and its 73rd percentile ranking shows it remains competitive with cards like the GTX 980 Ti and Pro W5500X. The S7150 also offers a lower 150 W TDP and single-slot design, which may suit dense server configurations. However, its 3.768 TFLOPS FP32, 160 GB/s bandwidth, and lack of RT/tensor hardware mean it cannot match the CMP 70HX's raw capabilities in most modern workloads. The Vulkan gap is simply too large to ignore.

For mixed workloads or future-proofing, the NVIDIA CMP 70HX is the safer choice. Its 8 GB GDDR6X memory provides 608.3 GB/s bandwidth, and its architectural advantages are not workload-specific — they are fundamental. The AMD card wins one test; the NVIDIA card wins the other by four times the margin.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins OpenCL benchmarks?

A: The AMD FirePro S7150 wins Geekbench OpenCL with a score of 26,543, beating the NVIDIA CMP 70HX's 25,135 by 5.3%.

Q: Which card wins Vulkan benchmarks?

A: The NVIDIA CMP 70HX wins Geekbench Vulkan with a score of 35,817, beating the AMD FirePro S7150's 29,690 by 20.6%.

Q: How do the memory bandwidths compare?

A: The NVIDIA CMP 70HX has 608.3 GB/s of bandwidth from 8 GB GDDR6X on a 256-bit bus, while the AMD FirePro S7150 has 160.0 GB/s from 8 GB GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus.

Q: Do either of these cards support display outputs?

A: No. Both the NVIDIA CMP 70HX and AMD FirePro S7150 list "No outputs" for display connectivity.

Q: What is the transistor count difference?

A: The NVIDIA CMP 70HX has 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die (44.4M/mm²), while the AMD FirePro S7150 has 5,000 million on a 366 mm² die (13.7M/mm²).

Q: Which card is better for modern graphics APIs?

A: The NVIDIA CMP 70HX supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, while the AMD FirePro S7150 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA CMP 70HX | AMD FirePro S7150 |

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

| Chip | GA104 | Tonga |

| Architecture | Ampere | GCN 3.0 |

| Process Node | 8 nm (Samsung) | 28 nm (TSMC) |

| Transistors | 17,400 million | 5,000 million |

| Die Size | 392 mm² | 366 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 44.4M / mm² | 13.7M / mm² |

| Memory Type | GDDR6X | GDDR5 |

| Memory Clock | 19 Gbps effective | 5 Gbps effective |

| Memory Bandwidth | 608.3 GB/s | 160.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 3,840 | 2,048 |

| TMUs | 120 | 128 |

| ROPs | 64 | 32 |

| RT Cores | 30 | None |

| Tensor Cores | 120 | None |

| Pixel Rate | 89.28 GPixel/s | 29.44 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 167.4 GTexel/s | 117.8 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 10.71 TFLOPS | 3.768 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 10.71 TFLOPS (1:1) | 7.537 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | Not specified | 150 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | Single-slot |

| Power Connectors | 1x 12-pin | 1x 6-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 200 W | 450 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 1.0 x4 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| DirectX Support | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | 12 (12_0) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.4 | 1.2.170 |

| Length | 267 mm | 241 mm |

| Height | 112 mm | 111 mm |

| Release Date | Not specified | 2016-01-31 |

| Launch MSRP | Not specified | 2,399 USD |