AMD FirePro S9300 X2 vs AMD Radeon Pro 580X Comparison

AMD Radeon Pro 580X and AMD FirePro S9300 X2 are two very different AMD workstation cards, separated by architecture generation and intended use case. The Radeon Pro 580X is a GCN 4.0 part built for Apple Mac systems, while the FirePro S9300 X2 is a GCN 3.0 server accelerator with no display outputs. Benchmark results show the Radeon Pro 580X holding a clear lead in the two shared tests, but the FirePro S9300 X2 offers a different set of raw compute specs that matter for specific server workloads.

Where Each One Wins

The Radeon Pro 580X wins in every benchmark where both cards were tested. In Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 36,426 against the FirePro S9300 X2's 27,971, a 30.2% advantage. In Geekbench Vulkan, the Radeon Pro 580X scores 40,115 versus 37,109, an 8.1% lead. The data shows a consistent pattern: the newer GCN 4.0 architecture delivers better real-world performance in these cross-platform compute tests, despite having fewer shading units.

The FirePro S9300 X2's strengths are not visible in the shared benchmark suite. It is designed as a server compute card with no display outputs, dual-slot cooling, and a 300 W TDP with two 8-pin power connectors. Its 4 GB of HBM memory on a 4096-bit bus delivers 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth, more than double the Radeon Pro 580X's 218.9 GB/s. For workloads that are memory-bandwidth bound, such as certain scientific simulations or large data transfers, the FirePro S9300 X2 has a theoretical advantage, but the recorded benchmark scores do not reflect that in the tested applications.

The Radeon Pro 580X, with its Apple MPX bus interface and 2x HDMI 2.0b outputs, is clearly aimed at Mac Pro workstations where display output and driver support matter. The FirePro S9300 X2 is a headless compute accelerator for servers, where raw FP32 throughput and memory bandwidth are the primary concerns. The benchmark wins belong entirely to the Radeon Pro 580X, but the FirePro S9300 X2 occupies a niche that the Radeon Pro 580X cannot serve.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different GCN generations and are built on different process nodes. The Radeon Pro 580X uses the Ellesmere chip on GlobalFoundries' 14 nm process, packing 5,700 million transistors into a 232 mm² die. The FirePro S9300 X2 uses the Capsaicin chip on TSMC's 28 nm process, with 8,900 million transistors on a much larger 596 mm² die. This is a significant architectural gap: GCN 4.0 (Radeon Pro 580X) versus GCN 3.0 (FirePro S9300 X2).

The FirePro S9300 X2 has more raw hardware resources. It features 4,096 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units. The Radeon Pro 580X has 2,304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. Despite this 1.78x shading unit advantage, the FirePro S9300 X2 loses in compute benchmarks, indicating that GCN 4.0's per-shader efficiency is substantially higher than GCN 3.0's.

Memory architecture differs completely. The Radeon Pro 580X uses 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, with memory clocked at 1710 MHz (6.8 Gbps effective) for 218.9 GB/s bandwidth. The FirePro S9300 X2 uses 4 GB of HBM on a 4096-bit bus, with memory clocked at 500 MHz (1000 Mbps effective) for 512.0 GB/s bandwidth. The HBM configuration gives the FirePro S9300 X2 a 2.34x bandwidth advantage, but the Radeon Pro 580X has twice the capacity, which matters for larger datasets that fit within 8 GB.

FP32 throughput favors the FirePro S9300 X2 on paper: 7.987 TFLOPS versus 5.530 TFLOPS. The FirePro S9300 X2 also has higher pixel and texture rates: 62.40 GPixel/s and 249.6 GTexel/s versus 38.40 GPixel/s and 172.8 GTexel/s. The Radeon Pro 580X supports FP16 at 1:1 ratio (5.530 TFLOPS), while the FirePro S9300 X2 has no recorded FP16 data. API support is similar, with both supporting DirectX 12 (12_0) and OpenGL 4.6, but the Radeon Pro 580X has Vulkan 1.3 while the FirePro S9300 X2 is limited to Vulkan 1.2.170.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The shared benchmark results are unambiguous. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Radeon Pro 580X scores 36,426 versus 27,971 for the FirePro S9300 X2, a 30.2% advantage. This is a substantial gap that cannot be explained by clock speeds alone (the FirePro S9300 X2 has no listed base or boost clock, while the Radeon Pro 580X runs at 1100 MHz base and 1200 MHz boost). The GCN 4.0 architecture clearly executes OpenCL workloads more efficiently than GCN 3.0.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the Radeon Pro 580X scores 40,115 versus 37,109 for the FirePro S9300 X2, an 8.1% advantage. The Vulkan gap is smaller than the OpenCL gap, but still consistently favors the newer card. This suggests that Vulkan driver maturity on the FirePro S9300 X2 (version 1.2.170) helps close the architectural gap, but does not eliminate it.

The Radeon Pro 580X's average benchmark score is 38,706, placing it in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs in the database. The FirePro S9300 X2 averages 32,540, in the 77th percentile. The nearest rival for the Radeon Pro 580X is the AMD Radeon Pro 575X at 39,116 (1% higher), followed by the NVIDIA GeForce MX570 A at 38,691 (0% difference), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile at 38,349 (0.9% lower). The FirePro S9300 X2 sits near the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME at 32,601 (0.2% lower), the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE at 32,456 (0.3% higher), and the AMD FirePro S10000 at 32,388 (0.5% higher).

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in OpenCL?

A: The Radeon Pro 580X scores 36,426 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 30.2% ahead of the FirePro S9300 X2's 27,971.

Q: Does the FirePro S9300 X2 have any advantage in memory bandwidth?

A: Yes. The FirePro S9300 X2 has 512.0 GB/s bandwidth from 4 GB of HBM on a 4096-bit bus, while the Radeon Pro 580X has 218.9 GB/s from 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus.

Q: Can the FirePro S9300 X2 be used for display output?

A: No. The FirePro S9300 X2 has no display outputs, while the Radeon Pro 580X has 2x HDMI 2.0b.

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The FirePro S9300 X2 has 4,096 shading units, while the Radeon Pro 580X has 2,304.

Q: What is the process node difference?

A: The Radeon Pro 580X is built on GlobalFoundries' 14 nm process, while the FirePro S9300 X2 uses TSMC's 28 nm process.

Q: Which card supports Vulkan 1.3?

A: Only the Radeon Pro 580X. The FirePro S9300 X2 supports Vulkan 1.2.170.

The Verdict

The benchmark data is decisive: the Radeon Pro 580X outperforms the FirePro S9300 X2 in both OpenCL and Vulkan, with a 30.2% lead in the former and an 8.1% lead in the latter. The Radeon Pro 580X also has a higher average benchmark score (38,706 versus 32,540) and a higher percentile ranking (82nd versus 77th). For any workload represented by these benchmarks, the Radeon Pro 580X is the better choice.

However, the FirePro S9300 X2 is not a failed product; it is a different tool. Its 512.0 GB/s memory bandwidth, 7.987 TFLOPS FP32, and 4 GB HBM configuration are designed for server-side compute tasks that do not appear in the shared benchmark suite. If a workload requires massive memory bandwidth and does not need display output, the FirePro S9300 X2's specifications may be more appropriate. But the recorded data shows that in the tests both cards can run, the Radeon Pro 580X wins every time.

For a Mac Pro user needing a drop-in card with HDMI outputs and strong OpenCL/Vulkan performance, the Radeon Pro 580X is the obvious pick. For a server administrator running headless compute jobs that are bandwidth-limited, the FirePro S9300 X2 has a specification sheet that justifies its existence. The launch MSRP for the FirePro S9300 X2 was 5,999 USD. The Radeon Pro 580X has no listed launch MSRP. Ultimately, the Radeon Pro 580X is the faster card in shared tests, but the FirePro S9300 X2 serves a niche that the Radeon Pro 580X cannot fill.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon Pro 580X | AMD FirePro S9300 X2 |

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

| Architecture | GCN 4.0 | GCN 3.0 |

| Process Node | 14 nm | 28 nm |

| Foundry | GlobalFoundries | TSMC |

| Transistors | 5,700 million | 8,900 million |

| Die Size | 232 mm² | 596 mm² |

| Shading Units | 2304 | 4096 |

| TMUs | 144 | 256 |

| ROPs | 32 | 64 |

| Memory Size | 8 GB | 4 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | HBM |

| Memory Bus Width | 256 bit | 4096 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 218.9 GB/s | 512.0 GB/s |

| FP32 Performance | 5.530 TFLOPS | 7.987 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 5.530 TFLOPS (1:1) | null |

| Pixel Rate | 38.40 GPixel/s | 62.40 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 172.8 GTexel/s | 249.6 GTexel/s |

| TDP | 185 W | 300 W |

| Slot Width | IGP | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | null | 2x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | null | 700 W |

| Bus Interface | Apple MPX | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | 2x HDMI 2.0b | No outputs |

| Vulkan Version | 1.3 | 1.2.170 |

| Release Date | 2019-03-17 | 2016-03-30 |

| Length | null | 267 mm (10.5 inches) |

| Height | null | 111 mm (4.4 inches) |