AMD FirePro S9300 X2 vs NVIDIA TITAN V Comparison

# NVIDIA TITAN V vs AMD FirePro S9300 X2

The NVIDIA TITAN V and AMD FirePro S9300 X2 represent two distinctly different approaches to high-performance computing, separated by nearly two years of GPU architecture evolution. The TITAN V, built on TSMC's 12 nm process with the Volta architecture, delivers overwhelmingly superior benchmark results across every shared test, while the FirePro S9300 X2, a GCN 3.0 dual-GPU server card on 28 nm, offers a different feature set entirely. The data shows a 462.2% advantage for the TITAN V in Geekbench OpenCL and a 309.9% advantage in Geekbench Vulkan, making the performance gap essentially categorical. However, the FirePro S9300 X2 occupies a niche as a compute-only server accelerator with no display outputs, which may suit specific deployment scenarios despite its lower scores.

The Verdict

The benchmark data leaves no ambiguity: the NVIDIA TITAN V is the superior performer in every measurable shared workload. Its average benchmark score of 34,355 places it at the 79th percentile of all GPUs, while the FirePro S9300 X2 averages 32,540 at the 77th percentile. This 1,815-point gap in average score translates into a meaningful real-world difference, but the head-to-head results are far more dramatic. In Geekbench OpenCL, the TITAN V scores 157,265 against the FirePro's 27,971 — a 462.2% difference that indicates the FirePro is not merely slower but operates in a completely different performance class.

For compute workloads, the TITAN V's 14.90 TFLOPS FP32 throughput compared to the FirePro's 7.987 TFLOPS means the NVIDIA card processes nearly twice the floating-point operations per second. The TITAN V also brings 640 tensor cores, a feature entirely absent from the FirePro, making it the obvious choice for any machine learning or AI inference task. The FirePro S9300 X2, with its dual-GPU design on a single board, offers 4 GB of HBM memory per GPU (8 GB total across the board), but the TITAN V's 12 GB of HBM2 provides more unified memory capacity accessible to a single programming model.

The verdict: choose the TITAN V for virtually any workload requiring maximum compute performance, CUDA ecosystem access, or tensor core acceleration. The FirePro S9300 X2 might be considered only for legacy GCN-optimized compute stacks or specialized server deployments where its no-display-output design and 300 W TDP fit a specific power and thermal envelope — but from a pure performance standpoint, the data shows no scenario where it wins.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is substantial and explains the benchmark disparity. The TITAN V uses the GV100 chip on TSMC's 12 nm process, packing 21,100 million transistors into an 815 mm² die for a transistor density of 25.9 million transistors per mm². The FirePro S9300 X2 uses the Capsaicin chip on TSMC's 28 nm process, with 8,900 million transistors across a 596 mm² die — a density of 14.9 million transistors per mm². The TITAN V's newer process node allows nearly double the transistor density, enabling more complex compute units in the same physical space.

The TITAN V features 5,120 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs, while the FirePro S9300 X2 (per GPU) has 4,096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The TITAN V's pixel rate of 139.7 GPixel/s more than doubles the FirePro's 62.40 GPixel/s, and its texture rate of 465.6 GTexel/s nearly doubles the 249.6 GTexel/s of the AMD card. Memory configurations diverge sharply: the TITAN V uses 12 GB of HBM2 across a 3072-bit bus for 651.3 GB/s bandwidth, while the FirePro uses 4 GB of HBM per GPU (8 GB total) across a 4096-bit bus for 512.0 GB/s per GPU.

The TITAN V's Volta architecture introduces 640 tensor cores, purpose-built for matrix math in AI workloads, and supports FP16 at 29.80 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio). The FirePro's GCN 3.0 architecture has no tensor cores and no listed FP16 capability. API support differs as well: the TITAN V supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, while the FirePro supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The TITAN V's higher DirectX feature level and newer Vulkan version reflect its later release.

Where Each One Wins

The TITAN V wins every shared benchmark, so the analysis of "where each one wins" must focus on the nature of the workloads and the feature sets that differentiate them. The TITAN V's dominance in Geekbench OpenCL (157,265 vs 27,971) suggests it is particularly well-suited to general-purpose GPU compute tasks that leverage OpenCL's cross-platform interface. Its Vulkan score of 152,117 versus 37,109 indicates strong performance in graphics and compute workloads that use this modern API.

For the FirePro S9300 X2, the wins are not in performance but in specific deployment characteristics. It has no display outputs, which makes it suitable for headless server configurations where video output is unnecessary. Its 300 W TDP with 2x 8-pin power connectors and 700 W suggested PSU reflects a power-hungry but potentially manageable server integration. The FirePro's 4 GB HBM per GPU across a 4096-bit bus provides high bandwidth per memory byte, which can be advantageous in memory-bandwidth-bound workloads that fit within the 4 GB per-GPU constraint.

The TITAN V's 12 GB unified memory pool is a clear advantage for large datasets that exceed 4 GB, since the FirePro's dual-GPU design requires explicit cross-GPU memory management. The TITAN V also offers display outputs (1x HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a), making it usable for both compute and visualization, whereas the FirePro is strictly a compute accelerator. For any workload that benefits from tensor cores — neural network training, inference, or mixed-precision matrix operations — the TITAN V is the only option between these two.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher raw FP32 compute performance?

A: The NVIDIA TITAN V delivers 14.90 TFLOPS FP32, while the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 provides 7.987 TFLOPS — a 1.87x advantage for the TITAN V.

Q: How much memory does each card have, and what type?

A: The TITAN V has 12 GB of HBM2 with 651.3 GB/s bandwidth, while the FirePro S9300 X2 has 4 GB of HBM per GPU (8 GB total across two GPUs) with 512.0 GB/s per GPU.

Q: Which card supports tensor cores?

A: Only the NVIDIA TITAN V includes 640 tensor cores, which are absent from the AMD FirePro S9300 X2's GCN 3.0 architecture.

Q: What is the average benchmark score difference?

A: The TITAN V averages 34,355 points across all benchmarks, compared to the FirePro's 32,540, putting the TITAN V at the 79th percentile and the FirePro at the 77th percentile of all GPUs.

Q: Do both cards support DirectX 12?

A: Yes, but with different feature levels: the TITAN V supports DirectX 12 (12_1), while the FirePro supports DirectX 12 (12_0).

Q: Can either card be used for display output?

A: Only the TITAN V has display outputs (1x HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a); the FirePro S9300 X2 has no display outputs and is compute-only.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two shared benchmark tests tell a stark story of generational and architectural superiority. In Geekbench OpenCL, the TITAN V scores 157,265 versus the FirePro's 27,971. This 462.2% delta is not an incremental improvement but a complete overhaul of compute capability. The OpenCL test exercises general-purpose compute across memory hierarchies, and the TITAN V's combination of 5,120 shading units, 640 tensor cores, and 651.3 GB/s HBM2 bandwidth proves overwhelmingly faster than the FirePro's 4,096 shading units (per GPU) and 512.0 GB/s HBM bandwidth. The TITAN V's 12 nm process and 21.1 billion transistors simply provide more parallel execution resources that OpenCL can harness.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the TITAN V achieves 152,117 points against the FirePro's 37,109 — a 309.9% advantage. Vulkan is a lower-level API that exposes GPU hardware more directly than OpenCL, and the results indicate that the TITAN V's architecture is substantially more efficient at translating Vulkan commands into executed work. The FirePro's older GCN 3.0 architecture, with its Vulkan 1.2.170 support compared to the TITAN V's Vulkan 1.4, may also face driver optimization gaps that widen the performance chasm. The 4,096-shader count per GPU on the FirePro, while substantial, cannot compensate for the TITAN V's higher clock speeds (1,455 MHz boost vs no listed boost clock for the FirePro) and superior memory bandwidth.

The wins tally reflects this dominance: the TITAN V wins 2 head-to-head benchmarks, while the FirePro wins none. The TITAN V's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB (0.6% higher average score) and AMD Radeon HD 7970 (0.5% lower), placing it in a competitive mid-range tier. The FirePro's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME (0.2% lower) and NVIDIA T600 Mobile (0.9% higher), showing it sits in a similar performance neighborhood despite its much lower absolute scores. The data suggests that while both cards are end-of-life products, the TITAN V's performance legacy remains relevant, whereas the FirePro's dual-GPU design does not translate into competitive compute results in modern benchmark suites.