AMD FirePro S9300 X2 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data contains two direct benchmark comparisons between the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 and the AMD FirePro S9300 X2, and in both cases, the RTX 4070 delivers a decisive victory. The most dramatic gap appears in Geekbench OpenCL, where the RTX 4070 scores 154,858 against the FirePro S9300 X2's 27,971. That is a 453.6% advantage, meaning the NVIDIA card outperforms the AMD part by a factor of more than five in this compute-oriented workload. Such a lopsided result underscores how much GPU compute performance has advanced between the two products' respective eras.

The second head-to-head test, Geekbench Vulkan, shows a similar pattern, though the margin narrows slightly in relative terms. The RTX 4070 posts 174,152, while the FirePro S9300 X2 manages 37,109. The delta here is 369.3%, still a massive lead for the NVIDIA card. Vulkan is a lower-level API that can sometimes favor older architectures with simpler driver overhead, but the raw throughput difference between these two GPUs is simply too large for the FirePro to overcome. Across the two shared benchmarks, the RTX 4070 wins both, giving it a clean 2-0 record in the head-to-head comparison.

Looking at the broader database averages, the RTX 4070's mean benchmark score sits at 37,648, while the FirePro S9300 X2 averages 32,540. That translates to a 15.7% overall lead for the RTX 4070, which is notable but far less extreme than the individual Geekbench results. The reason for the smaller aggregate gap is that the RTX 4070 has been tested across ten different workloads, including older DirectX 9, 10, 11, and 12 tests plus Passmark G2D and G3D, while the FirePro S9300 X2 only has two recorded results. The FirePro's 77th percentile ranking among all GPUs is respectable, but the RTX 4070 sits at the 81st percentile, indicating that even with its wider test coverage, the newer card holds a higher overall standing.

Context from the nearest rivals further clarifies the RTX 4070's position. Its closest competitor in the database is the NVIDIA Tesla P4, which averages 37,628, a mere 0.1% behind. The AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 follows at 37,507, just 0.4% behind. On the other side, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile leads the RTX 4070 by 1.3% with an average of 38,135, while the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 trails by 1.3% at 37,157. These tight deltas suggest the RTX 4070 sits squarely in a competitive mid-range tier, despite its absolute dominance over the much older FirePro. For the FirePro S9300 X2, its nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME at 32,601, which is 0.2% ahead, and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE at 32,456, which is 0.3% behind. The FirePro S10000 and NVIDIA T600 Mobile round out its immediate competition, with deltas of 0.5% and -0.9% respectively. None of these rivals approach the RTX 4070's average score, confirming that the FirePro belongs to a distinctly lower performance bracket.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is the superior GPU in every measurable benchmark shared between the two cards. The RTX 4070 wins both Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan tests, and its average benchmark score of 37,648 is 15.7% higher than the FirePro S9300 X2's 32,540. The RTX 4070 also holds a higher percentile ranking (81st versus 77th), meaning it outperforms a larger fraction of the GPU population in the database. For anyone choosing between these two cards strictly on performance metrics, the RTX 4070 is the clear pick. It delivers over four times the OpenCL performance and nearly five times the Vulkan performance in direct comparison, which is not a marginal improvement but a generational leap.

The FirePro S9300 X2, however, was designed for a different purpose and era. Its 77th percentile ranking is not embarrassing for a card from its generation, and its nearest rivals include the Radeon RX 7900 GRE, which is a much newer product. The FirePro's 512.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is actually higher than the RTX 4070's 504.2 GB/s, and its 4096-bit memory bus is vastly wider, though that width comes with only 4 GB of HBM memory. These specifications suggest the FirePro was built for specific server-side workloads that favor memory bandwidth over general compute throughput, but the benchmark data does not show any test where that advantage translates into a win. The RTX 4070's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth, combined with far higher shading unit efficiency, simply overwhelms the older architecture.

From a practical standpoint, the RTX 4070 is the card for modern gaming, content creation, and general-purpose compute. The FirePro S9300 X2 has no display outputs, making it unsuitable as a primary graphics card, while the RTX 4070 offers a full suite of outputs including HDMI 2.1 and three DisplayPort 1.4a connections. The FirePro's 300 W TDP and 700 W suggested PSU also demand more system power than the RTX 4070's 200 W TDP and 550 W suggested PSU, despite the RTX 4070 delivering far higher performance. The only scenario where the FirePro might be considered is a legacy server deployment where its dual-GPU design and HBM memory were specifically required, but even then, the RTX 4070's superior compute scores and lower power draw make it the more rational choice in any new build.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins in Geekbench OpenCL performance?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 wins decisively with a score of 154,858 versus the AMD FirePro S9300 X2's 27,971, a 453.6% advantage.

Q: How do the two cards compare in Vulkan benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4070 scores 174,152 in Geekbench Vulkan, while the FirePro S9300 X2 scores 37,109, giving the RTX 4070 a 369.3% lead.

Q: What is the average benchmark score difference between the two?

A: The RTX 4070 has an average benchmark score of 37,648, compared to 32,540 for the FirePro S9300 X2, which is a 15.7% higher average.

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

A: Yes, the FirePro S9300 X2 has 512.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth on a 4096-bit bus, slightly higher than the RTX 4070's 504.2 GB/s on a 192-bit bus, but this does not translate into benchmark wins.

Q: Can the FirePro S9300 X2 be used as a display output card?

A: No, the FirePro S9300 X2 has no display outputs, while the RTX 4070 includes 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a.

Q: How do their overall GPU percentile rankings compare?

A: The RTX 4070 ranks at the 81st percentile among all GPUs in the database, while the FirePro S9300 X2 ranks at the 77th percentile.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every core specification. The RTX 4070 uses 5 nm process technology, while the FirePro S9300 X2 uses 28 nm, both from TSMC. Transistor counts differ dramatically: the RTX 4070 has 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die, while the FirePro has 8,900 million on a 596 mm² die. This results in transistor densities of 121.8 million per mm² for the RTX 4070 versus 14.9 million per mm² for the FirePro. The RTX 4070 has a base clock of 1920 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz, whereas the FirePro has no recorded base or boost clocks, only a memory clock of 500 MHz (1000 Mbps effective). The RTX 4070's memory runs at 1313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective.

Memory configurations are starkly different. The RTX 4070 features 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 192-bit bus with 504.2 GB/s bandwidth. The FirePro S9300 X2 has 4 GB of HBM on a 4096-bit bus with 512.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 4070 has 5888 shading units, 184 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, while the FirePro has 4096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The RTX 4070 includes 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores; the FirePro has none. Pixel rates are 158.4 GPixel/s for the RTX 4070 versus 62.40 GPixel/s for the FirePro. Texture rates are 455.4 GTexel/s versus 249.6 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 29.15 TFLOPS for the RTX 4070 versus 7.987 TFLOPS for the FirePro, and the RTX 4070 also has FP16 at 29.15 TFLOPS (1:1), while the FirePro has no recorded FP16 figure.

Power and physical specifications diverge as well. The RTX 4070 has a 200 W TDP with a 550 W suggested PSU and a single 16-pin connector. The FirePro has a 300 W TDP with a 700 W suggested PSU and two 8-pin connectors. Both are dual-slot cards, but the RTX 4070 measures 240 mm in length and 40 mm in width, while the FirePro is 267 mm long with no recorded width. The RTX 4070 uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the FirePro uses PCIe 3.0 x16. The RTX 4070 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4; the FirePro supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The RTX 4070 was released on 2023-04-11, while the FirePro came out on 2016-03-30.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs reflects roughly seven years of semiconductor evolution. The RTX 4070 is built on NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace architecture using the AD104 chip, while the FirePro S9300 X2 uses AMD's GCN 3.0 architecture with the "Capsaicin" chip. Ada Lovelace is a modern graphics architecture designed for real-time ray tracing, AI acceleration, and high-efficiency rasterization. GCN 3.0, by contrast, is an older compute-oriented design that predates ray tracing hardware and dedicated tensor cores entirely. The RTX 4070's 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores are features that simply do not exist in the FirePro, which explains why the NVIDIA card can achieve 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 performance while the FirePro manages only 7.987 TFLOPS.

The manufacturing process difference is a major factor. The RTX 4070 is fabricated on a 5 nm node with 35,800 million transistors packed into a 294 mm² die, giving it a transistor density of 121.8 million per mm². The FirePro uses a 28 nm node with 8,900 million transistors spread across a much larger 596 mm² die, resulting in a density of just 14.9 million per mm². This means the RTX 4070 packs more than four times as many transistors into half the silicon area, which directly contributes to its higher clock speeds and compute throughput. The base clock of 1920 MHz and boost clock of 2475 MHz on the RTX 4070 are far above anything achievable on 28 nm, and the FirePro does not even have recorded clock speeds in the database, suggesting its operating frequencies were not competitive enough to list.

Memory architecture also highlights the generational shift. The FirePro's 4096-bit HBM bus and 512.0 GB/s bandwidth were high-end for 2016 server parts, but the RTX 4070 achieves nearly identical bandwidth (504.2 GB/s) with a 192-bit GDDR6X interface. The RTX 4070 also has three times the memory capacity at 12 GB versus 4 GB, which is critical for modern workloads that exceed the FirePro's limited frame buffer. In terms of API support, the RTX 4070 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate with feature level 12_2, enabling hardware ray tracing, mesh shaders, and variable rate shading, while the FirePro tops out at DirectX 12 (12_0) without those advanced features. Vulkan support is also newer on the RTX 4070 (1.4 versus 1.2.170). Finally, the RTX 4070 is a consumer-friendly card with display outputs and a single 16-pin power connector, whereas the FirePro is a server-oriented accelerator with no display outputs and dual 8-pin connectors, reflecting its intended role in compute clusters rather than desktop systems.