AMD FirePro S7150 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile Comparison

The AMD FirePro S7150 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile occupy very different corners of the GPU landscape, one a 2016 server-focused accelerator, the other a 2021 laptop-class part. The recorded benchmark data shows a decisive performance gap, but the FirePro S7150 still holds relevance in specific compute contexts. This analysis draws strictly on the database measurements to break down what each card does best, where the architecture diverges, and which buyer profile each suits.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile dominates in every recorded benchmark. In Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 104831 against the FirePro S7150’s 26543, a delta of -74.7% meaning the FirePro trails by nearly three-quarters. In Vulkan, the RTX 3080 Mobile posts 104066 versus 29690, a -71.5% gap. If you are choosing purely on raw compute throughput, the RTX 3080 Mobile is the only sensible pick from these two.

However, the FirePro S7150 is not without its own case. Its average benchmark score of 28117 places it in the 73rd percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX 3080 Mobile’s average of 23628 sits in the 69th percentile. That apparent contradiction stems from the different benchmark suites: the FirePro has only two recorded tests (OpenCL and Vulkan), both of which it loses badly, yet its average is higher because it has no low-scoring DirectX or Passmark tests dragging it down. The RTX 3080 Mobile’s wider test coverage includes Passmark DirectX 9, 10, 11, and 12 scores ranging from 72 to 170, which pull its average lower.

For a buyer, the verdict splits by workload. If you need portable, high-performance graphics with modern API support (DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4), the RTX 3080 Mobile wins outright. If you are operating a server environment where the FirePro’s single-slot, no-display-output design fits a rack-mounted compute node, and you only care about OpenCL or Vulkan workloads, the FirePro S7150 remains a viable, if outdated, option. The data shows no scenario where the FirePro beats the RTX 3080 Mobile on raw score, so the choice is about form factor and deployment context, not performance.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different eras and design philosophies. The FirePro S7150 uses the Tonga chip built on GCN 3.0 architecture, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 5,000 million transistors into a 366 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 13.7M per mm². The RTX 3080 Mobile uses the GA104 chip with Ampere architecture, built on Samsung’s 8 nm process. It contains 17,400 million transistors across a 392 mm² die, achieving 44.4M per mm², over three times the density.

Compute resources differ massively. The FirePro has 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output pipelines. The RTX 3080 Mobile triples shading units to 6144, raises TMUs to 192, and jumps ROPs to 96. Beyond those, the Ampere part adds dedicated hardware the FirePro lacks entirely: 48 ray tracing cores and 192 tensor cores. The FirePro’s GCN 3.0 has no equivalents, meaning any ray-traced or AI-accelerated workload simply cannot run on it at hardware level.

Memory architecture shows both similarities and divergence. Both have 8 GB of VRAM and a 256-bit bus, but the FirePro uses GDDR5 at 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective) yielding 160.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 3080 Mobile uses GDDR6 at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) for 448.0 GB/s, nearly three times the bandwidth. The FirePro’s memory clock is listed without a base or boost clock, while the RTX 3080 Mobile has a base of 1110 MHz and boost of 1545 MHz.

API support tells a clear generational story. The FirePro supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The RTX 3080 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The newer DirectX 12_2 feature level includes ray tracing and mesh shaders, which the FirePro cannot access. Power and physical design also differ: the FirePro draws 150 W TDP, uses a single-slot cooler with a 1x 6-pin connector, and requires a 450 W PSU. The RTX 3080 Mobile has a 115 W TDP, no power connectors (relying on the laptop’s power delivery), and no fixed dimensions since it is portable-device dependent.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records exactly two head-to-head comparisons, both compute-oriented and both won by the RTX 3080 Mobile. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 3080 Mobile scores 104831 against the FirePro’s 26543. That is a 74.7% deficit for the FirePro, meaning the NVIDIA part delivers roughly four times the raw OpenCL throughput. The gap is so large that it is not a marginal victory but a categorical difference in compute capability.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the story repeats. The RTX 3080 Mobile hits 104066, while the FirePro manages 29690, a 71.5% shortfall. Vulkan is a lower-level API that tends to favor modern architectures, and the Ampere design with its massive shading unit count and faster memory clearly exploits that advantage. The FirePro’s GCN 3.0 was built for an era before Vulkan matured, and its 28 nm process limits what the architecture can achieve.

Neither benchmark is a close contest. The smallest delta is -71.5% in Vulkan, still a landslide. The FirePro wins zero head-to-head tests; the RTX 3080 Mobile wins both. For anyone comparing these two purely on the recorded metrics, the conclusion is straightforward: the mobile NVIDIA part outperforms the server AMD part by a wide margin in both OpenCL and Vulkan compute. There is no data suggesting the FirePro closes the gap in any other workload, since no other common tests were recorded for it.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD FirePro S7150 has an average benchmark score of 28117, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile averages 23628. However, this is misleading because the FirePro only has two recorded tests, both of which it loses, whereas the RTX 3080 Mobile has ten tests including several low-scoring Passmark entries.

Q: Does the FirePro S7150 support ray tracing?

A: No. The FirePro S7150 has no ray tracing cores listed in the database. The RTX 3080 Mobile has 48 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), which includes ray tracing features. The FirePro only reaches DirectX 12 (12_0).

Q: How do the memory bandwidths compare?

A: The RTX 3080 Mobile has a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s from GDDR6 memory, while the FirePro S7150 offers 160.0 GB/s from GDDR5. Both use an 8 GB capacity and a 256-bit bus, but the RTX 3080 Mobile’s faster memory clock (1750 MHz vs 1250 MHz) accounts for the bandwidth advantage.

Q: Which card has a higher transistor density?

A: The RTX 3080 Mobile has a transistor density of 44.4M per mm², versus the FirePro’s 13.7M per mm². This reflects the newer 8 nm Samsung process versus the older 28 nm TSMC node.

Q: Can the FirePro S7150 be used in a desktop with a monitor?

A: No. The database lists the FirePro S7150’s display outputs as “No outputs,” meaning it cannot drive a display. The RTX 3080 Mobile’s outputs are described as “Portable Device Dependent,” since it is integrated into laptops.

Q: What is the power draw difference?

A: The FirePro S7150 has a TDP of 150 W and requires a 1x 6-pin power connector with a suggested PSU of 450 W. The RTX 3080 Mobile has a TDP of 115 W and uses no power connectors, relying on the host laptop’s power delivery system.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3080 Mobile wins every recorded benchmark, so its victories are absolute in the data. It dominates OpenCL compute with a 104831 score, more than any other result in this comparison, and it wins Vulkan with 104066. Its additional benchmark coverage shows strengths in specific DirectX workloads: Passmark DirectX 9 scores 170, DirectX 11 scores 146, and DirectX 10 scores 120, while DirectX 12 scores 72. The G2D score of 637 and G3D score of 16321 indicate strong 2D and 3D performance, and the GPU compute score of 7276 adds another compute metric. For any gaming, AI, ray tracing, or general graphics task, the RTX 3080 Mobile is the clear winner.

The FirePro S7150 does not win any head-to-head test, so its “wins” are contextual rather than numerical. It offers a single-slot form factor at 241 mm length and 111 mm height, which suits dense server installations. Its 150 W TDP, while higher than the RTX 3080 Mobile’s 115 W, comes with a dedicated 1x 6-pin connector, making it self-contained in a server chassis. Its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory at 160.0 GB/s is ample for many compute tasks, and its support for OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.2.170 covers legacy workloads. The FirePro’s 73rd percentile ranking versus the RTX 3080 Mobile’s 69th suggests that in the broader database context, the FirePro is not a weak card; it just happens to face a much stronger opponent here. For a server with no display output requirement, where only OpenCL or Vulkan compute matters, the FirePro remains functional, but the data shows it will deliver far lower throughput than the RTX 3080 Mobile would in the same role.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every specification category. The FirePro S7150 uses a 28 nm TSMC process with 5,000 million transistors on a 366 mm² die, while the RTX 3080 Mobile uses Samsung’s 8 nm node with 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die. Transistor density goes from 13.7M per mm² to 44.4M per mm². Clock speeds: the FirePro has no base or boost clocks recorded, only a memory clock of 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective), while the RTX 3080 Mobile has a base of 1110 MHz, boost of 1545 MHz, and memory at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective).

Compute units differ sharply. The FirePro has 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, producing a pixel rate of 29.44 GPixel/s and texture rate of 117.8 GTexel/s. The RTX 3080 Mobile has 6144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, with pixel rate of 148.3 GPixel/s and texture rate of 296.6 GTexel/s. FP32 performance jumps from 3.768 TFLOPS on the FirePro to 18.98 TFLOPS on the RTX 3080 Mobile. FP16 also rises from 7.537 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio) to 18.98 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio). The RTX 3080 Mobile adds 48 ray tracing cores and 192 tensor cores, which the FirePro lacks entirely.

Memory: both have 8 GB and a 256-bit bus, but the FirePro uses GDDR5 at 160.0 GB/s, while the RTX 3080 Mobile uses GDDR6 at 448.0 GB/s. Power: the FirePro draws 150 W with a single-slot cooler, 1x 6-pin connector, and 450 W PSU suggestion; the RTX 3080 Mobile draws 115 W with no connectors. Bus interface: PCIe 3.0 x16 versus PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs: “No outputs” versus “Portable Device Dependent.” API support: DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, Vulkan 1.2.170 versus DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, Vulkan 1.4. Dimensions: the FirePro is 241 mm long and 111 mm tall; the RTX 3080 Mobile has no fixed dimensions. Release dates: January 31, 2016 versus January 11, 2021. The FirePro’s launch MSRP was 2,399 USD, while the RTX 3080 Mobile has no recorded launch MSRP. Production status for both is end-of-life.