AMD FirePro S9300 X2 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data covers two compute-oriented workloads, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti dominates both. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 2080 Ti scores 128,171 against 27,971 for the AMD FirePro S9300 X2, a delta of -78.2% from AMD's perspective. That is a massive gap, placing NVIDIA roughly 4.6 times ahead in raw compute throughput as measured by this test. The second benchmark, Geekbench Vulkan, shows a similar pattern: the RTX 2080 Ti reaches 132,930 while the FirePro S9300 X2 manages 37,109, a -72.1% difference. NVIDIA leads by a factor of about 3.6 here.

Neither benchmark favors the AMD side. The FirePro S9300 X2's best performance is its Vulkan score, which is 32.7% higher than its own OpenCL result, but that still leaves it far behind NVIDIA's lowest recorded score in these two tests. The RTX 2080 Ti's Vulkan result is 3.8% higher than its OpenCL result, indicating consistent scaling across both APIs. The delta percentages are stark: -78.2% and -72.1%, both representing NVIDIA victories by wide margins. There are no benchmark categories where the AMD card closes the gap to single-digit percentages.

When placed against each card's own average benchmark score, the results contextualize further. The FirePro S9300 X2's average across all database entries is 32,540, while the RTX 2080 Ti's average is 29,783. Despite the RTX 2080 Ti winning both head-to-head tests, its average is actually lower than the AMD card's average. This discrepancy arises because the RTX 2080 Ti has a much larger benchmark suite in the database, including Passmark tests where it scores lower (e.g., 153 in DirectX 10, 84 in DirectX 12, 927 in G2D), which drags down its mean. The FirePro S9300 X2 has only two recorded benchmarks, both compute-heavy, which keeps its average higher. This is an important nuance: head-to-head wins do not automatically translate to a higher aggregate score.

The percentile rankings reinforce the closeness of the two in overall standing. The FirePro S9300 X2 sits at the 77th percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX 2080 Ti is at the 75th. A two-percentile gap is minor, indicating that despite the RTX 2080 Ti's clear superiority in these specific tests, the broader database positions them similarly. This is partly because the RTX 2080 Ti's Passmark DirectX 9 score of 235 and DirectX 11 score of 190 are low relative to its compute results, pulling its average down toward the AMD card's level.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti wins decisively, scoring 128,171 versus 27,971 for the AMD FirePro S9300 X2, a -78.2% delta for AMD.

Q: Does the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 win any benchmark?

A: No. In the two head-to-head tests (Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan), the AMD card loses both. Its wins tally is 0, while NVIDIA records 2 wins.

Q: How do their average benchmark scores compare?

A: The AMD FirePro S9300 X2 has a higher average benchmark score of 32,540 compared to the RTX 2080 Ti's 29,783. This is despite NVIDIA winning both direct comparisons, because the RTX 2080 Ti has more low-scoring legacy tests in the database.

Q: What is the percentile difference between the two?

A: The AMD card is at the 77th percentile of all GPUs, while the NVIDIA card is at the 75th. The two-percentile gap is small, showing similar overall standing despite the large head-to-head margins.

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti has 4,352 shading units, while the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 has 4,096. NVIDIA also has more texture mapping units (272 vs 256) and more ROPs (88 vs 64).

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The NVIDIA card has 616.0 GB/s of bandwidth across an 11 GB GDDR6 memory bus, while the AMD card has 512.0 GB/s across a 4 GB HBM bus. The NVIDIA card's bandwidth is 20.3% higher.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 2080 Ti wins in every measurable compute benchmark recorded in the head-to-head data. Its OpenCL score of 128,171 and Vulkan score of 132,930 make it the clear choice for any workload that relies on these APIs, such as general-purpose GPU computing, machine learning inference, or rendering tasks that leverage Vulkan compute. The 4.6x lead in OpenCL and 3.6x lead in Vulkan are not marginal; they represent a different performance class entirely.

The AMD FirePro S9300 X2 does not win any head-to-head category, but its advantage lies elsewhere: it has a higher average benchmark score (32,540 vs 29,783) and a higher percentile ranking (77th vs 75th). This suggests that in the broader context of all recorded tests, the AMD card performs more consistently relative to its peers. However, this is a statistical artifact of the RTX 2080 Ti's larger test suite, which includes low-scoring legacy DirectX tests. For users who only care about modern compute workloads, the RTX 2080 Ti is unambiguously superior.

In terms of physical attributes, the RTX 2080 Ti offers more memory (11 GB vs 4 GB) and higher bandwidth (616.0 GB/s vs 512.0 GB/s), which matters for large datasets. The AMD card counters with a wider memory bus (4096-bit vs 352-bit), but its HBM memory runs at a lower effective speed (1000 Mbps vs 14 Gbps), negating that advantage. The RTX 2080 Ti also has dedicated ray tracing cores (68) and tensor cores (544), which the AMD card lacks entirely. These features enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI-based workloads, neither of which the FirePro S9300 X2 can claim.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ fundamentally in memory configuration. The AMD FirePro S9300 X2 uses 4 GB of HBM on a 4096-bit bus, delivering 512.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti uses 11 GB of GDDR6 on a 352-bit bus, delivering 616.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA card has 7 GB more memory and 104 GB/s more bandwidth, while the AMD card has a wider bus but lower effective memory speed (1000 Mbps vs 14 Gbps).

Compute resources also differ. The AMD card has 4,096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The NVIDIA card has 4,352 shading units, 272 TMUs, and 88 ROPs. NVIDIA's advantage in ROPs is particularly notable, at 37.5% more than AMD. Pixel rate reflects this: the RTX 2080 Ti reaches 136.0 GPixel/s versus 62.40 GPixel/s for the FirePro S9300 X2. Texture rate shows a similar gap, with NVIDIA at 420.2 GTexel/s versus 249.6 GTexel/s.

The RTX 2080 Ti has additional hardware that the AMD card does not: 68 ray tracing cores and 544 tensor cores. These enable DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) support, while the AMD card is limited to DirectX 12 (12_0). Both support OpenGL 4.6, but their Vulkan versions differ: NVIDIA supports 1.4, while AMD supports 1.2.170.

Power and physical specifications vary as well. The AMD card has a 300 W TDP, while the NVIDIA card is rated at 250 W. Both use dual-slot cooling and 2x 8-pin power connectors, but the suggested PSU differs: 700 W for AMD, 600 W for NVIDIA. The cards have identical lengths (267 mm), but the NVIDIA card is slightly taller (116 mm vs 111 mm). The NVIDIA card also has display outputs (1x HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, 1x USB Type-C), while the AMD card has no outputs at all, reflecting its server-oriented design.

Architecture Differences

The AMD FirePro S9300 X2 uses the GCN 3.0 architecture on a 28 nm process, fabricated by TSMC. Its chip, codenamed Capsaicin, contains 8,900 million transistors on a 596 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 14.9M per mm². The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti uses the Turing architecture on a 12 nm process, also from TSMC. Its TU102 chip contains 18,600 million transistors on a 754 mm² die, with a transistor density of 24.7M per mm². NVIDIA's die is 26.5% larger, but its transistor count is more than double, and its density is 65.8% higher.

The architecture generations reflect different design priorities. The FirePro S9300 X2 belongs to the FirePro Server (Sx300) generation, released on March 30, 2016. It is a dual-GPU server card with no display outputs, optimized for compute workloads in server environments. Its predecessor is FirePro Terascale, and its successor is Radeon Pro GCN. The RTX 2080 Ti belongs to the GeForce 20-series, released on September 19, 2018, and targets consumer and prosumer desktops. Its predecessor is GeForce 10, and its successor is GeForce 30.

The Turing architecture adds hardware ray tracing and tensor cores, which are absent from GCN 3.0. This allows the RTX 2080 Ti to support DirectX 12 Ultimate and features like hardware-accelerated ray tracing, while the FirePro S9300 X2 relies on compute shaders for similar effects. The AMD card's FP32 throughput is 7.987 TFLOPS, while the NVIDIA card reaches 13.45 TFLOPS, a 68.4% advantage. The RTX 2080 Ti also has FP16 capability at 26.90 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio), while the AMD card lists no FP16 figure. Both cards are end-of-life in production status, but the RTX 2080 Ti's later release and more advanced process node (12 nm vs 28 nm) give it a generational edge.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear winner for compute-intensive tasks. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti wins both head-to-head benchmarks by margins of -78.2% and -72.1%, offering 4.6x and 3.6x performance respectively. It also provides more memory (11 GB vs 4 GB), higher bandwidth (616.0 GB/s vs 512.0 GB/s), more shading units, more ROPs, and dedicated ray tracing and tensor cores. Its 13.45 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is 68.4% higher than the AMD card's 7.987 TFLOPS. For any workload that leverages OpenCL, Vulkan, DirectX 12 Ultimate, or AI acceleration, the RTX 2080 Ti is the superior choice.

The AMD FirePro S9300 X2 has niche appeal. Its higher average benchmark score (32,540 vs 29,783) and higher percentile (77th vs 75th) suggest it holds its own in the broader database, but this is due to the RTX 2080 Ti's inclusion of legacy tests with low scores. In direct comparisons, the AMD card loses every time. Its 4 GB HBM memory is insufficient for modern large-scale compute tasks, and its lack of display outputs limits it to server environments. Its 300 W TDP is also higher than the RTX 2080 Ti's 250 W, requiring a 700 W PSU versus 600 W.

Who should pick which? The RTX 2080 Ti is the obvious choice for developers, researchers, or enthusiasts who need maximum compute performance in a desktop form factor with display connectivity. The FirePro S9300 X2 might appeal to a legacy server deployment where its dual-GPU design and HBM memory are already integrated into an existing infrastructure, but for any new purchase, the RTX 2080 Ti's 2.5 years of architectural advancements and superior specifications make it the only rational selection based on the recorded data. The launch MSRP of the RTX 2080 Ti is 999 USD, while the FirePro S9300 X2 launched at 5,999 USD, though pricing is not a factor in performance decisions. The verdict is unambiguous: the RTX 2080 Ti wins on every directly comparable metric, and the AMD card's only advantages are statistical artifacts of the database's test suite composition.