AMD FirePro W4300 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A Comparison

The AMD FirePro W4300 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A are two end-of-life mobile and workstation graphics solutions built on a 28 nm process at TSMC. While both target different market segments, their benchmark data places them in a close performance tier, with the FirePro W4300 holding a measurable lead in the sole available compute test. This analysis breaks down their architectural differences, benchmark performance, and specification gaps.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher Geekbench OpenCL score?

A: The AMD FirePro W4300 scores 11225, which is 9.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A's score of 10273. This makes the FirePro W4300 the winner in the head-to-head comparison.

Q: How does the FirePro W4300's score compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The FirePro W4300 scores 11225, nearly identical to the AMD Radeon Pro WX 3200 (11228) and 0.3% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M (11261). It is 1.2% ahead of both the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q and RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q, which each score 11088.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference between the two cards?

A: The FirePro W4300 has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 96.00 GB/s of bandwidth. The GTX 950A has 2 GB of DDR3 memory on the same 128-bit bus, but its bandwidth drops to 32.03 GB/s.

Q: Which GPU has a higher pixel fill rate?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A has a higher pixel rate at 17.98 GPixel/s, compared to the AMD FirePro W4300's 14.88 GPixel/s. This indicates the GTX 950A can process more pixels per second.

Q: Do both GPUs support the same DirectX version?

A: No. The AMD FirePro W4300 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A supports DirectX 12 (11_0). The FirePro W4300's implementation is a higher feature level.

Q: Which GPU has a higher transistor count?

A: The AMD FirePro W4300 has 2,080 million transistors, which is higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A's 1,870 million. The FirePro W4300 also has a larger die size at 160 mm² versus 148 mm².

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on fundamentally different architectures from their respective manufacturers. The AMD FirePro W4300 uses the Bonaire chip, based on the GCN 2.0 architecture, which is part of the FirePro GCN (Wx300) generation. In contrast, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A uses the GM107 chip, based on the Maxwell architecture, from the GeForce 900A generation. Both are fabricated by TSMC on a 28 nm process, but their internal designs diverge significantly.

The FirePro W4300 integrates 2,080 million transistors on a 160 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 13.0M / mm². The GTX 950A integrates 1,870 million transistors on a smaller 148 mm² die, with a slightly lower density of 12.6M / mm². This gives the AMD part a modest advantage in transistor packing.

In terms of compute resources, the FirePro W4300 has 768 shading units, 48 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 16 raster operation units (ROPs). The GTX 950A has fewer shading units at 640, fewer TMUs at 40, but the same number of ROPs at 16. This means the AMD architecture has 20% more shading units and 20% more TMUs in terms of raw count.

Clock behavior differs notably. The GTX 950A has explicit base and boost clocks of 993 MHz and 1124 MHz, respectively. The FirePro W4300 has no listed base or boost clock, only a memory clock of 1500 MHz (6 Gbps effective). This makes direct clock comparison impossible, but the resulting fill rates tell a different story. The GTX 950A achieves a higher pixel rate of 17.98 GPixel/s versus 14.88 GPixel/s for the FirePro W4300, despite having the same ROP count. However, the texture rates are nearly identical: 44.96 GTexel/s for the GTX 950A and 44.64 GTexel/s for the FirePro W4300, despite the TMU count difference.

The memory subsystems are a major architectural divide. The FirePro W4300 uses 4 GB of GDDR5 memory with a 128-bit bus, achieving 96.00 GB/s of bandwidth. The GTX 950A uses 2 GB of DDR3 memory on the same 128-bit bus, achieving only 32.03 GB/s — exactly one-third of the AMD card's bandwidth. This is a critical difference for memory-bound workloads.

Feature support also differs on the API front. The FirePro W4300 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), while the GTX 950A supports DirectX 12 (11_0). Both support OpenGL 4.6, but the Vulkan versions differ: the FirePro W4300 supports Vulkan 1.2.170, while the GTX 950A supports Vulkan 1.4.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only benchmark available for both GPUs is Geekbench OpenCL, which measures general-purpose compute performance. In this test, the AMD FirePro W4300 scores 11225, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A scores 10273. The FirePro W4300 wins this head-to-head by a delta of 9.3%. This is a decisive margin that places the AMD card in a higher performance tier.

Contextualizing the FirePro W4300's score, it sits at the 50th percentile among all GPUs. Its closest rival is the AMD Radeon Pro WX 3200, which scores 11228 — a negligible 0.03% difference. The FirePro W4300 is also 0.3% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M (11261) and 1.2% ahead of both the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q and RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q (both at 11088). This shows that the FirePro W4300's compute performance is competitive with a range of modern and older parts, despite its age.

For the GTX 950A, its score of 10273 places it at the 48th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 6500M, which scores 10362 — the GTX 950A is 0.9% behind. It is also 1.2% behind the NVIDIA Tesla C2075 (10400) and 2% behind the AMD Radeon RX 550X (10481). However, the GTX 950A is 2% ahead of the AMD Radeon R9 M375 (10070). These deltas indicate that the GTX 950A sits in a slightly lower performance band than the FirePro W4300.

The 9.3% delta between the two cards is consistent with the architectural differences. The FirePro W4300's 3x memory bandwidth advantage (96.00 GB/s vs 32.03 GB/s) likely plays a significant role in OpenCL workloads, which often stress memory throughput. The GTX 950A's higher pixel rate does not translate into a compute win here. The data shows a clear, if not overwhelming, victory for the AMD part in this specific compute test.

The Verdict

Based strictly on the benchmark data, the AMD FirePro W4300 is the superior GPU for compute performance. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 11225 is 9.3% higher than the GTX 950A's 10273, and it holds a higher percentile ranking (50th vs 48th). For any workload that relies on OpenCL compute, the FirePro W4300 is the clear choice.

The FirePro W4300 also offers significant advantages in memory capacity and bandwidth. With 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and 96.00 GB/s of bandwidth, it has double the memory capacity and triple the bandwidth of the GTX 950A's 2 GB of DDR3 at 32.03 GB/s. This makes the FirePro W4300 more suitable for larger datasets and memory-intensive tasks.

The GTX 950A does have a few advantages. Its pixel rate of 17.98 GPixel/s is higher than the FirePro W4300's 14.88 GPixel/s, suggesting better raw pixel throughput for rasterization. It also has explicit base and boost clocks, which may be easier to manage in certain mobile environments. The GTX 950A also supports a newer Vulkan version (1.4 vs 1.2.170), which could matter for future compatibility in Vulkan-based applications.

For a workstation user prioritizing compute and memory bandwidth, the AMD FirePro W4300 is the better option. Its 9.3% lead in OpenCL and 3x memory bandwidth are decisive factors. For a user prioritizing pixel fill rate or requiring the newer Vulkan API, the GTX 950A has specific strengths, but the overall compute data favors AMD.

Specification Differences

The following table highlights the fields where the two GPUs differ:

| Specification | AMD FirePro W4300 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A |

| :--- | :--- | :--- |

| Architecture | GCN 2.0 | Maxwell |

| Chip | Bonaire | GM107 |

| Generation | FirePro GCN (Wx300) | GeForce 900A |

| Transistors | 2,080 million | 1,870 million |

| Die Size | 160 mm² | 148 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 13.0M / mm² | 12.6M / mm² |

| Base Clock | None listed | 993 MHz |

| Boost Clock | None listed | 1124 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1500 MHz (6 Gbps effective) | 1001 MHz (2 Gbps effective) |

| Memory Size | 4 GB | 2 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | DDR3 |

| Memory Bandwidth | 96.00 GB/s | 32.03 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 768 | 640 |

| TMUs | 48 | 40 |

| Pixel Rate | 14.88 GPixel/s | 17.98 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 44.64 GTexel/s | 44.96 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 1,428.5 GFLOPS | 1,438.7 GFLOPS |

| TDP | 50 W | 75 W |

| Slot Width | Single-slot | MXM Module |

| Suggested PSU | 250 W | None listed |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | MXM-B (3.0) |

| Display Outputs | 4x mini-DisplayPort 1.2 | Portable Device Dependent |

| DirectX Support | 12 (12_0) | 12 (11_0) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.2.170 | 1.4 |

| Release Date | 2015-11-30 | 2015-03-12 |

| Predecessor | FirePro Terascale | GeForce 800A |

| Successor | Radeon Pro GCN | None listed |

| Geekbench OpenCL Score | 11225 | 10273 |

| Percentile vs All GPUs | 50 | 48 |