AMD FirePro W7000 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER and AMD FirePro W7000 represent two vastly different eras of GPU design, and the benchmark data reflects a generational chasm. The RTX 2070 SUPER is decisively ahead in every measurable compute task, with the FirePro W7000’s only statistical edge being its age, not its performance. The data shows a 368.1% lead for NVIDIA in Geekbench OpenCL and a 312% lead in Geekbench Vulkan, making this comparison less a contest and more a demonstration of architectural evolution.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two shared benchmarks paint an unambiguous picture. In Geekbench OpenCL, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER scores 83,358 points against the AMD FirePro W7000’s 17,808 points. That is a delta of 368.1%, meaning the RTX 2070 SUPER delivers nearly 4.7 times the raw compute throughput. This is not a marginal improvement; it is a complete overhaul of processing capability. The FirePro W7000’s 2.432 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is dwarfed by the RTX 2070 SUPER’s 9.062 TFLOPS, a difference that explains the massive score gap.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the gap narrows slightly in percentage terms but remains overwhelming. The RTX 2070 SUPER posts 90,637 points versus 22,001 points for the FirePro W7000, a 312% delta. This indicates that even in a modern, low-level API, the older GCN architecture cannot keep pace. The Vulkan result is particularly telling because it suggests the NVIDIA card’s advantage is not merely driver optimization but fundamental hardware capability. The RTX 2070 SUPER supports Vulkan 1.4, while the FirePro W7000 is limited to Vulkan 1.2.170, and that API feature gap translates directly into performance.

Looking at broader benchmarks where only the NVIDIA card has data, the pattern holds. The RTX 2070 SUPER achieves an average benchmark score of 20,282 across all tests, placing it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs. The FirePro W7000’s average score is 19,905, also in the 65th percentile, which is surprising given the head-to-head results. This parity in percentile is a statistical artifact of the different benchmark suites each card was tested with, not an indication of equal performance. The RTX 2070 SUPER’s PassMark G3D score of 18,169 and GPU Compute score of 7,557 demonstrate strong rasterization and compute abilities, while the FirePro W7000 simply lacks comparable data points.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER wins every single head-to-head benchmark, so the use-case split is stark. For any task involving OpenCL compute — which includes physics simulations, video encoding, and scientific workloads — the RTX 2070 SUPER is the clear choice. Its 368.1% lead in Geekbench OpenCL means applications that offload work to the GPU will see dramatic speedups. Similarly, for Vulkan-based gaming or rendering, the RTX 2070 SUPER’s 312% advantage in Geekbench Vulkan makes it the only viable option for modern workloads.

The AMD FirePro W7000 has no benchmark wins to claim. However, its single-slot design and 150 W TDP are notable physical characteristics that might appeal to specific server or workstation builds where space and power are constrained. The data shows the FirePro W7000 consumes 30% less power than the RTX 2070 SUPER’s 215 W, and it requires only a 450 W recommended PSU versus 550 W. These are qualitative advantages in deployment flexibility, but they do not translate into any performance win. The FirePro W7000’s 4 GB GDDR5 memory with 153.6 GB/s bandwidth is a fraction of the RTX 2070 SUPER’s 8 GB GDDR6 at 448.0 GB/s, making it unsuitable for large datasets or high-resolution textures.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide is the root cause of the performance gap. The RTX 2070 SUPER uses the TU104 chip on TSMC’s 12 nm process, housing 13,600 million transistors on a 545 mm² die. This yields a transistor density of 25.0M per mm². The FirePro W7000 uses the Pitcairn chip on TSMC’s 28 nm process, with just 2,800 million transistors on a 212 mm² die, for a density of 13.2M per mm². The RTX 2070 SUPER has nearly 5 times the transistor count, and that raw resource advantage manifests in every metric.

The RTX 2070 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture, which introduces dedicated hardware features absent from the FirePro W7000’s GCN 1.0 design. Turing includes 40 RT cores for ray tracing and 320 tensor cores for AI acceleration, neither of which exist on the FirePro W7000. The shading unit count tells the same story: 2,560 on the NVIDIA card versus 1,280 on the AMD card. Texture mapping units (160 vs 80) and ROPs (64 vs 32) are also exactly doubled. The FirePro W7000’s GCN 1.0 architecture lacks support for hardware ray tracing and tensor operations, making it a purely rasterization-focused design from 2012.

API support further separates the two. The RTX 2070 SUPER supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the FirePro W7000 only reaches DirectX 12 (11_1). OpenGL support is identical at 4.6, but Vulkan support differs: 1.4 on the NVIDIA card versus 1.2.170 on the AMD card. The RTX 2070 SUPER also supports FP16 compute at 18.12 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio), while the FirePro W7000 has no listed FP16 capability. This means the NVIDIA card can accelerate AI and machine learning workloads that the AMD card cannot process efficiently.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every specification field. Memory size is 8 GB GDDR6 on the RTX 2070 SUPER versus 4 GB GDDR5 on the FirePro W7000, with bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s versus 153.6 GB/s. Clock speeds show the NVIDIA card at 1605 MHz base and 1770 MHz boost, while the FirePro W7000 has no listed base or boost clocks, only a memory clock of 1200 MHz (4.8 Gbps effective). The RTX 2070 SUPER’s memory runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective), a 46% higher effective speed.

Pixel and texture rates favor the RTX 2070 SUPER overwhelmingly: 113.3 GPixel/s versus 30.40 GPixel/s, and 283.2 GTexel/s versus 76.00 GTexel/s. Power and physical design also differ: the RTX 2070 SUPER has a 215 W TDP and is dual-slot, while the FirePro W7000 has a 150 W TDP and is single-slot. The RTX 2070 SUPER requires a 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin power connector, while the FirePro W7000 needs only a single 6-pin. Display outputs diverge as well: the RTX 2070 SUPER offers 1x HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, and 1x USB Type-C, whereas the FirePro W7000 provides 4x DisplayPort 1.2.

Dimensions show the RTX 2070 SUPER is larger: 267 mm in length versus 242 mm, and 116 mm in height versus 111 mm. The NVIDIA card is 35 mm wide, while the FirePro W7000’s width is not listed. Both cards use PCIe 3.0 x16 interfaces, but the RTX 2070 SUPER’s release date of 2019-07-08 is seven years after the FirePro W7000’s 2012-06-12. The RTX 2070 SUPER has a launch MSRP of 499 USD, while the FirePro W7000 launched at 899 USD.

FAQ

Q: Which card has better raw compute performance in OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER scores 83,358 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 368.1% higher than the AMD FirePro W7000’s 17,808. The RTX 2070 SUPER’s FP32 throughput of 9.062 TFLOPS is nearly 4 times the FirePro W7000’s 2.432 TFLOPS.

Q: Does the AMD FirePro W7000 support modern APIs like Vulkan 1.4?

A: No. The FirePro W7000 supports Vulkan 1.2.170 and DirectX 12 (11_1). The RTX 2070 SUPER supports Vulkan 1.4 and DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2). In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 2070 SUPER scores 90,637 versus 22,001, a 312% advantage.

Q: What architectural features does the RTX 2070 SUPER have that the FirePro W7000 lacks?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER includes 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, which are absent from the FirePro W7000’s GCN 1.0 design. It also has 2,560 shading units versus 1,280, and supports FP16 compute at 18.12 TFLOPS, which the FirePro W7000 does not list.

Q: How do the memory subsystems compare?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has 8 GB GDDR6 with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the FirePro W7000 has 4 GB GDDR5 with 153.6 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 2070 SUPER’s memory clock is 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) versus 1200 MHz (4.8 Gbps effective) on the FirePro W7000.

Q: Which card has a lower power requirement?

A: The FirePro W7000 has a 150 W TDP and requires a 450 W suggested PSU, while the RTX 2070 SUPER has a 215 W TDP and requires a 550 W suggested PSU. The FirePro W7000 is also single-slot with a single 6-pin connector, versus dual-slot with 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin on the RTX 2070 SUPER.

Q: What is the transistor count difference?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has 13,600 million transistors on a 545 mm² die using a 12 nm process. The FirePro W7000 has 2,800 million transistors on a 212 mm² die using a 28 nm process. The transistor density is 25.0M per mm² versus 13.2M per mm².

The Verdict

The data is unequivocal: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER outperforms the AMD FirePro W7000 in every benchmark category measured. With a 368.1% lead in Geekbench OpenCL and a 312% lead in Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 2070 SUPER is the only choice for any compute-intensive workload. Its 8 GB GDDR6 memory, 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, and 2560 shading units provide a hardware foundation that the FirePro W7000 cannot match. The RTX 2070 SUPER’s 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores open capabilities in ray tracing and AI that the FirePro W7000 simply does not possess.

The FirePro W7000’s advantages are purely physical: a single-slot design, lower 150 W TDP, and lower 450 W PSU requirement. These make it deployable in space-constrained systems, but the performance cost is prohibitive. The RTX 2070 SUPER’s 215 W TDP and dual-slot footprint are reasonable trade-offs for nearly 4 times the compute performance. The RTX 2070 SUPER also launched at 499 USD, significantly below the FirePro W7000’s 899 USD launch MSRP, though both are end-of-life products.

For gaming, rendering, or any modern GPU workload, the RTX 2070 SUPER is the definitive pick. For legacy workstation deployments where only 4 GB of memory is needed and power efficiency is paramount, the FirePro W7000 retains niche relevance. But the benchmark results show a 7-year generational leap that no amount of efficiency can overcome. The RTX 2070 SUPER wins this comparison without qualification.