AMD FirePro S9300 X2 vs NVIDIA Quadro M5000 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data presents a clear split decision between these two professional-grade graphics cards, with each claiming a decisive victory in one of the two tested workloads. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the NVIDIA Quadro M5000 posts a score of 29,481, edging out the AMD FirePro S9300 X2’s 27,971 by a margin of 5.1%. This result is somewhat counterintuitive given the AMD card’s raw compute specifications, but the data is unambiguous: the M5000 leads in this specific OpenCL workload. However, the tables turn dramatically in the Geekbench Vulkan test, where the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 delivers a commanding 37,109 against the Quadro M5000’s 32,931, representing a 12.7% advantage for AMD. This is a substantial gap, nearly two-and-a-half times larger than NVIDIA’s winning margin in OpenCL.

When viewed through the lens of average benchmark scores, the overall picture shifts again. The AMD FirePro S9300 X2 achieves an average score of 32,540 across its benchmark suite, placing it in the 77th percentile of all GPUs. The NVIDIA Quadro M5000, by contrast, averages 31,206, which lands it in the 76th percentile. The 4.3% difference in average scores is modest, but it does give AMD a slight edge in aggregate performance. The nearest rival data for the AMD card shows it sitting within a very tight cluster: the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME scores 32,601 (0.2% higher), the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE scores 32,456 (0.3% lower), and the AMD FirePro S10000 scores 32,388 (0.5% lower). The NVIDIA T600 Mobile is the only NVIDIA product in this rival group, scoring 32,849, which is 0.9% higher than the FirePro S9300 X2. For the Quadro M5000, the rival cluster is equally dense: the NVIDIA GRID M60-1Q matches it exactly at 31,220, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is 0.4% lower at 31,087, while the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell and NVIDIA TITAN RTX score 31,532 and 31,676 respectively, placing them 1% and 1.5% higher.

The head-to-head results suggest that the two cards have distinctly different optimization profiles. The AMD GPU’s Vulkan advantage of 12.7% is particularly notable because Vulkan is a lower-level API that tends to expose raw hardware capabilities more directly. The NVIDIA card’s OpenCL win, while smaller in percentage terms, demonstrates that NVIDIA’s Maxwell architecture remains competitive in compute environments that favor its specific execution model. For professionals who rely heavily on OpenCL-accelerated applications, the Quadro M5000’s 5.1% lead is meaningful. For those working in Vulkan-based pipelines, the FirePro S9300 X2 offers a significantly better experience.

Architecture Differences

The architectural chasm between these two cards is wide, starting with their fundamental design philosophies. The AMD FirePro S9300 X2 is built on the Capsaicin chip using the GCN 3.0 architecture, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 8,900 million transistors onto a 596 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 14.9 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA Quadro M5000 uses the GM204 chip based on Maxwell 2.0 architecture, also on TSMC’s 28 nm node, but with a substantially smaller 398 mm² die containing 5,200 million transistors at a density of 13.1 million per square millimeter. This means AMD’s chip carries 71% more transistors on a die that is 50% larger, reflecting a fundamentally different approach to compute resource allocation.

Memory architecture presents an even starker contrast. The FirePro S9300 X2 comes with 4 GB of HBM memory on a massive 4096-bit bus, delivering 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Quadro M5000 offers 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, producing 211.6 GB/s. AMD’s memory bandwidth advantage is 2.4x, a figure that has profound implications for memory-bound workloads. However, NVIDIA counters with double the capacity, which matters for large datasets that must reside in VRAM. The memory clock settings reflect these different designs: the AMD card runs its memory at 500 MHz (1000 Mbps effective), while the NVIDIA card operates at 1653 MHz (6.6 Gbps effective). The HBM design’s wide bus compensates for its lower clock speed, while GDDR5 relies on higher clocks to overcome its narrower interface.

Compute resources are heavily skewed toward AMD. The FirePro S9300 X2 fields 4,096 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. The Quadro M5000 has exactly half the shaders (2,048) and half the TMUs (128), though it matches with 64 ROPs. This hardware disparity translates directly to theoretical throughput: AMD’s FP32 performance is 7.987 TFLOPS versus NVIDIA’s 4.252 TFLOPS, giving AMD an 88% advantage in raw floating-point capability. Pixel fill rates are nearly identical at 62.40 GPixel/s for AMD and 66.43 GPixel/s for NVIDIA, but texture fill rate diverges sharply: 249.6 GTexel/s for AMD versus 132.9 GTexel/s for NVIDIA. The NVIDIA card does have a clock advantage in its GPU frequency, with a base clock of 861 MHz and boost of 1038 MHz, while the AMD card’s base and boost clocks are not specified in the data.

The Verdict

The data paints a nuanced picture for professionals deciding between these two end-of-life workstation cards. The AMD FirePro S9300 X2 is the clear choice for workloads that leverage Vulkan, where it outperforms the Quadro M5000 by 12.7%. Its 2.4x memory bandwidth advantage and 88% higher FP32 throughput make it architecturally superior for compute-heavy tasks that can saturate memory and shader resources. The higher average benchmark score of 32,540 versus 31,206 reinforces this conclusion, as does the 77th percentile ranking versus NVIDIA’s 76th. However, the NVIDIA Quadro M5000 wins in OpenCL by 5.1%, and its 8 GB of memory provides twice the capacity of the AMD card. For professionals running OpenCL-specific applications or those whose datasets exceed 4 GB, the M5000 is the safer bet. The AMD card’s complete lack of display outputs is a critical differentiator — it is a pure compute accelerator, while the NVIDIA card offers 1x DVI and 4x DisplayPort 1.2 outputs. The power envelope also favors NVIDIA: the Quadro M5000 draws 150 W with a single 6-pin connector and a 450 W suggested PSU, while the FirePro S9300 X2 needs 300 W, dual 8-pin connectors, and a 700 W PSU. Neither card has ray tracing or tensor cores, so those features should not factor into the decision.

Specification Differences

The following fields differ between the two cards:

• Chip: AMD Capsaicin vs. NVIDIA GM204
• Architecture: GCN 3.0 vs. Maxwell 2.0
• Generation: FirePro Server (Sx300) vs. Quadro Maxwell (Mx000)
• Transistors: 8,900 million vs. 5,200 million
• Die Size: 596 mm² vs. 398 mm²
• Transistor Density: 14.9M / mm² vs. 13.1M / mm²
• Base Clock: Not specified vs. 861 MHz
• Boost Clock: Not specified vs. 1038 MHz
• Memory Clock: 500 MHz / 1000 Mbps effective vs. 1653 MHz / 6.6 Gbps effective
• Memory Size: 4 GB vs. 8 GB
• Memory Type: HBM vs. GDDR5
• Memory Bus Width: 4096 bit vs. 256 bit
• Memory Bandwidth: 512.0 GB/s vs. 211.6 GB/s
• Shading Units: 4096 vs. 2048
• TMUs: 256 vs. 128
• Pixel Rate: 62.40 GPixel/s vs. 66.43 GPixel/s
• Texture Rate: 249.6 GTexel/s vs. 132.9 GTexel/s
• FP32: 7.987 TFLOPS vs. 4.252 TFLOPS
• TDP: 300 W vs. 150 W
• Power Connectors: 2x 8-pin vs. 1x 6-pin
• Suggested PSU: 700 W vs. 450 W
• Display Outputs: No outputs vs. 1x DVI, 4x DisplayPort 1.2
• DirectX Support: 12 (12_0) vs. 12 (12_1)
• Vulkan Support: 1.2.170 vs. 1.4
• Release Date: 2016-03-30 vs. 2015-06-28
• Predecessor: FirePro Terascale vs. Quadro Kepler
• Successor: Radeon Pro GCN vs. Quadro Pascal
• Launch MSRP: 5,999 USD vs. not specified

FAQ

Q: Which card has better overall benchmark performance?

A: The AMD FirePro S9300 X2 has a higher average benchmark score of 32,540 compared to the NVIDIA Quadro M5000’s 31,206, a difference of approximately 4.3%.

Q: How do the cards compare in Vulkan performance?

A: The AMD FirePro S9300 X2 scores 37,109 in Geekbench Vulkan, which is 12.7% higher than the Quadro M5000’s 32,931.

Q: Which card wins in OpenCL performance?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro M5000 leads with a Geekbench OpenCL score of 29,481 versus the AMD card’s 27,971, giving NVIDIA a 5.1% advantage.

Q: What are the memory capacity and bandwidth differences?

A: The AMD card has 4 GB of HBM memory with 512.0 GB/s bandwidth on a 4096-bit bus. The NVIDIA card has 8 GB of GDDR5 with 211.6 GB/s bandwidth on a 256-bit bus. AMD offers 2.4x more bandwidth, while NVIDIA offers 2x more capacity.

Q: Do either of these cards support display outputs?

A: The AMD FirePro S9300 X2 has no display outputs, while the NVIDIA Quadro M5000 provides 1x DVI and 4x DisplayPort 1.2 outputs.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The AMD FirePro S9300 X2 has a 300 W TDP, requires dual 8-pin power connectors, and a 700 W suggested PSU. The NVIDIA Quadro M5000 has a 150 W TDP, needs a single 6-pin connector, and a 450 W suggested PSU.