AMD FirePro W4300 vs NVIDIA Tesla M10 Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher OpenCL benchmark score?

A: The AMD FirePro W4300 records a Geekbench OpenCL score of 11,225, while the NVIDIA Tesla M10 scores 10,318 in the same test. This gives the FirePro W4300 an 8.8% advantage in that specific workload.

Q: How does the AMD FirePro W4300 compare to its closest rival?

A: The FirePro W4300's average benchmark score of 11,225 places it at the 50th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro WX 3200, scores 11,228, a delta of 0%, meaning the two are effectively tied in average performance.

Q: What is the NVIDIA Tesla M10's standing relative to its nearest competitors?

A: The Tesla M10's average benchmark score is 9,724, placing it at the 47th percentile. Its closest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla C2070, scores 9,716 (0.1% delta), while the GeForce GTX 1070 scores 9,780 (-0.6% delta), showing the M10 sits in a tight cluster around that performance level.

Q: Which card has more memory capacity?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla M10 comes with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory, double the 4 GB found on the AMD FirePro W4300. However, the FirePro W4300 has a higher memory bandwidth at 96.00 GB/s compared to 83.20 GB/s for the Tesla M10.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The AMD FirePro W4300 has a TDP of 50 W and requires no external power connectors, with a suggested PSU of 250 W. The NVIDIA Tesla M10 has a TDP of 225 W, needs one 8-pin power connector, and a suggested PSU of 550 W.

Q: Do both cards support the same graphics APIs?

A: No. The FirePro W4300 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The Tesla M10 supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The Vulkan version differs, with the Tesla M10 supporting a newer specification.

Where Each One Wins

The head-to-head benchmark data shows a single recorded test, and the AMD FirePro W4300 takes the win. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the FirePro W4300 scores 11,225 against the Tesla M10's 10,318, an 8.8% margin. This makes the FirePro W4300 the clear choice for compute workloads that rely on OpenCL performance.

The NVIDIA Tesla M10 does not win any recorded benchmarks against the FirePro W4300. However, its advantage lies elsewhere in the specification sheet. The Tesla M10 offers double the memory capacity at 8 GB, which can be decisive for workloads that need to hold larger datasets on the card itself. Its higher pixel rate (20.90 GPixel/s vs 14.88 GPixel/s) and texture rate (52.24 GTexel/s vs 44.64 GTexel/s) suggest it handles rasterization throughput more efficiently, despite losing the OpenCL compute test.

For users prioritizing raw OpenCL compute, the FirePro W4300 is the winner. For those needing more onboard memory or higher fill rates, the Tesla M10 has structural advantages, though these do not translate into a benchmark victory in the recorded data. The FirePro W4300 also draws far less power at 50 W versus 225 W, making it the more efficient option in thermal-constrained environments.

Architecture Differences

The AMD FirePro W4300 is built on the Bonaire chip using GCN 2.0 architecture, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It contains 2,080 million transistors on a 160 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 13.0M per mm². Its compute layout includes 768 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 16 ROPs.

The NVIDIA Tesla M10 uses the GM107 chip with Maxwell architecture, also on a 28 nm TSMC process. It packs 1,870 million transistors into a smaller 148 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 12.6M per mm². The compute configuration is leaner: 640 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 16 ROPs.

Both cards lack dedicated ray tracing cores and tensor cores, so neither offers hardware acceleration for those features. The FirePro W4300's GCN 2.0 architecture supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.2.170, while the Tesla M10's Maxwell architecture supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and Vulkan 1.4. The Vulkan version difference is notable: the Tesla M10 supports a newer API version despite being an older architecture generation.

The FirePro W4300 belongs to the FirePro GCN (Wx300) generation, succeeding FirePro Terascale and preceding Radeon Pro GCN. The Tesla M10 belongs to the Tesla Maxwell (Mxx) generation, succeeding Tesla Kepler and preceding Tesla Pascal. Both are end-of-life products.

The FirePro W4300's memory runs at 1500 MHz (6 Gbps effective), while the Tesla M10's memory runs at 1300 MHz (5.2 Gbps effective). The FirePro W4300 achieves 96.00 GB/s bandwidth over a 128-bit bus; the Tesla M10 gets 83.20 GB/s over the same bus width.

Specification Differences

The two cards diverge significantly in several key specifications. The AMD FirePro W4300 has 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 16 ROPs, while the NVIDIA Tesla M10 has 640 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. The FirePro W4300 leads in shader count and texture units, while both share the same ROP count.

Clock behavior differs: the Tesla M10 has a base clock of 1033 MHz and a boost clock of 1306 MHz, whereas the FirePro W4300 has no recorded base or boost clock values. The memory clock also favors the FirePro W4300 at 1500 MHz versus 1300 MHz for the Tesla M10.

Memory capacity is a major differentiator: 4 GB on the FirePro W4300 versus 8 GB on the Tesla M10. Both use GDDR5 with a 128-bit bus, but the FirePro W4300's higher memory clock yields 96.00 GB/s versus 83.20 GB/s.

Pixel and texture rates favor the Tesla M10: 20.90 GPixel/s and 52.24 GTexel/s versus 14.88 GPixel/s and 44.64 GTexel/s for the FirePro W4300. However, the FirePro W4300's FP32 performance is 1,428.5 GFLOPS, while the Tesla M10 reaches 1.672 TFLOPS.

Power and physical dimensions show stark contrasts. The FirePro W4300 is a single-slot card with no power connectors, a 50 W TDP, and a suggested PSU of 250 W. It measures 171 mm (6.7 inches) long and 69 mm (2.7 inches) high. The Tesla M10 is a dual-slot card with one 8-pin connector, a 225 W TDP, a suggested PSU of 550 W, and a length of 267 mm (10.5 inches).

Display outputs also differ completely: the FirePro W4300 has 4x mini-DisplayPort 1.2 outputs, while the Tesla M10 has no display outputs at all, reflecting its server-oriented design.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only recorded head-to-head benchmark between these two cards is the Geekbench OpenCL test. The AMD FirePro W4300 scores 11,225, and the NVIDIA Tesla M10 scores 10,318. The FirePro W4300 wins with an 8.8% delta, a decisive margin that places it clearly ahead in OpenCL compute workloads.

Contextualizing this score, the FirePro W4300 sits at the 50th percentile among all GPUs, with its closest rival the Radeon Pro WX 3200 at 11,228 (0% delta) and the GeForce GTX 780M at 11,261 (-0.3% delta). The Tesla M10, by contrast, sits at the 47th percentile, with its average score of 9,724 placing it near the Tesla C2070 at 9,716 (0.1% delta) and below the GeForce GTX 1070 at 9,780 (-0.6% delta).

The 8.8% gap between the two cards in OpenCL translates to a meaningful performance advantage for the FirePro W4300. The Tesla M10's higher pixel and texture rates do not compensate for this in the recorded benchmark, indicating that the FirePro W4300's memory bandwidth advantage (96.00 GB/s vs 83.20 GB/s) and higher shading unit count (768 vs 640) contribute more to OpenCL compute performance than the Tesla M10's higher clock speeds.

The Tesla M10 also has a Geekbench Vulkan score of 9,130, but the FirePro W4300 has no recorded Vulkan benchmark, so no direct comparison is possible in that API. The Vulkan support version differs (1.2.170 on the FirePro W4300 versus 1.4 on the Tesla M10), but without benchmark data, the performance implications remain unmeasured.

The Verdict

The data points to the AMD FirePro W4300 as the superior choice for OpenCL compute workloads. Its 11,225 score versus the Tesla M10's 10,318 represents an 8.8% advantage, and its 50th percentile standing among all GPUs exceeds the Tesla M10's 47th percentile. For any application that relies on OpenCL, the FirePro W4300 delivers more performance per the recorded metrics.

The FirePro W4300 also wins on efficiency. Its 50 W TDP with no power connectors and a 250 W suggested PSU contrasts sharply with the Tesla M10's 225 W TDP, 8-pin connector, and 550 W suggested PSU. In systems where power delivery or cooling is limited, the FirePro W4300 is the far safer fit. Its single-slot form factor and 171 mm length also make it easier to install in compact chassis compared to the Tesla M10's dual-slot, 267 mm profile.

The NVIDIA Tesla M10 has its own strengths. Its 8 GB memory capacity doubles the FirePro W4300's 4 GB, which matters for workloads that need to cache large models or datasets on the GPU. Its pixel rate (20.90 GPixel/s) and texture rate (52.24 GTexel/s) exceed the FirePro W4300's corresponding figures, suggesting better rasterization throughput. It also supports Vulkan 1.4, a newer API version than the FirePro W4300's 1.2.170.

However, the Tesla M10 has no display outputs, making it unsuitable for any workstation role requiring direct monitor connection. The FirePro W4300's 4x mini-DisplayPort 1.2 outputs make it a functional workstation card. The Tesla M10's lack of a Vulkan benchmark score in the database also leaves its compute performance outside OpenCL unverified.

For a workstation user who needs OpenCL compute, display outputs, and low power draw, the AMD FirePro W4300 is the clear pick. For a server deployment where 8 GB memory capacity matters more than OpenCL speed and display output is irrelevant, the NVIDIA Tesla M10 warrants consideration, though it loses the recorded benchmark comparison. The FirePro W4300 wins the head-to-head, and the specification differences reinforce that verdict for most use cases.