AMD FirePro W8000 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records only two directly comparable benchmark tests between the AMD FirePro W8000 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, and both favor the newer NVIDIA card by decisive margins. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 5060 scores 112,787 against the FirePro W8000's 24,440, a delta of 78.3% in NVIDIA's favor. The Vulkan test tells a similar story: the RTX 5060 posts 113,321, while the FirePro W8000 manages 33,981, putting the AMD card 70% behind.

These are not close races. The RTX 5060 is more than four times faster in OpenCL and over three times faster in Vulkan. The FirePro W8000's average benchmark score across all recorded tests is 29,211, while the RTX 5060 averages 26,331. Interestingly, the AMD card holds a higher percentile ranking among all GPUs in the database, sitting at the 75th percentile versus the RTX 5060's 72nd. That discrepancy highlights how the FirePro W8000, despite being an older architecture, was positioned unusually high in its era, whereas the RTX 5060 competes in a much more crowded modern field.

The FirePro W8000's nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH with an average score of 29,197 and a delta of 0%, the Intel Arc A370M at 29,175 with a 0.1% delta, the AMD Radeon RX 470 at 28,996 with a 0.7% delta, and the AMD Radeon RX 6800M at 28,874 with a 1.2% delta. The RTX 5060's nearest rivals cluster differently: the AMD Radeon 860M scores 26,401 with a 0.3% delta, the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 scores 26,421 with a 0.3% delta, the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary scores 26,553 with a 0.8% delta, and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT scores 26,011 with a 1.2% delta.

What stands out is how the FirePro W8000's average sits just 1.2% above its closest competitor, while the RTX 5060 sits roughly in the middle of a wider band of comparable cards. The data implies the FirePro W8000 was a top-tier workstation part in its generation, but it simply cannot keep pace with the raw compute throughput of a modern Blackwell 2.0 GPU.

Where Each One Wins

Based on the recorded head-to-head results, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 wins both available tests outright. It dominates in OpenCL and Vulkan, making it the clear choice for any workload that relies on general-purpose GPU compute. The FirePro W8000 has zero head-to-head wins in the database, so no workload category favors the older AMD card in direct comparison.

However, the percentile data tells a different story about positioning. The FirePro W8000 ranks at the 75th percentile of all GPUs, which is higher than the RTX 5060's 72nd percentile. This suggests that while the RTX 5060 is dramatically faster in absolute terms, the FirePro W8000 was more competitive relative to the GPUs of its time. The AMD card's nearest rivals are all within a 1.2% band, indicating a tight cluster of similar-performing parts, whereas the RTX 5060's rivals span a 2% range from 26,011 to 26,553.

For users looking at the data today, the RTX 5060 wins every measured workload. The FirePro W8000 is an end-of-life product, and its architecture lacks modern features like dedicated ray tracing cores or tensor cores. The RTX 5060 brings 30 ray tracing cores and 120 tensor cores to the table, giving it dedicated hardware for workloads that never existed when the FirePro W8000 launched.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is enormous, and the numbers make that clear. The AMD FirePro W8000 uses the Tahiti chip built on GCN 1.0 architecture, manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 4,313 million transistors into a 352 mm² die, giving it a transistor density of 12.3 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 uses the GB206 chip with Blackwell 2.0 architecture, also fabricated by TSMC but on a 5 nm process. It contains 21,900 million transistors in a much smaller 181 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 121.0 million per square millimeter. That is nearly ten times the density of the older chip.

The RTX 5060 also has a substantial advantage in raw compute resources. It features 3,840 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 raster operation units. The FirePro W8000 has 1,792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The pixel rate tells the story clearly: the RTX 5060 achieves 119.9 GPixel/s versus the FirePro W8000's 28.80 GPixel/s. Texture rate follows the same pattern: 299.6 GTexel/s versus 100.8 GTexel/s. Floating point performance is equally lopsided, with the RTX 5060 delivering 19.18 TFLOPS in FP32 against the FirePro W8000's 3.226 TFLOPS.

Memory architecture also diverges sharply. The FirePro W8000 uses 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256 bit bus, delivering 176.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 5060 uses 8 GB of GDDR7 on a 128 bit bus, but achieves 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth thanks to much faster memory clocks. The NVIDIA card's memory runs at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective data rate, while the AMD card's memory runs at 1375 MHz with 5.5 Gbps effective. The RTX 5060 also supports FP16 at a 1:1 ratio with FP32, both at 19.18 TFLOPS, while the FirePro W8000 has no recorded FP16 performance.

Feature support diverges as well. The RTX 5060 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), Vulkan 1.4, and includes dedicated ray tracing and tensor cores. The FirePro W8000 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), Vulkan 1.2.170, and has no ray tracing or tensor cores at all. Both cards support OpenGL 4.6. Interface differences matter too: the RTX 5060 uses PCIe 5.0 x8, while the FirePro W8000 uses PCIe 3.0 x16.

Power efficiency is another major differentiator. The RTX 5060 has a TDP of 145 W and requires a single 8 pin power connector with a suggested 300 W PSU. The FirePro W8000 has a TDP of 225 W, needs two 6 pin connectors, and requires a 550 W PSU. The newer card delivers over five times the FP32 throughput while consuming 80 W less power. The RTX 5060 is also physically smaller at 241 mm long versus the FirePro W8000's 279 mm, though both are dual-slot cards with 111 mm height.

The Verdict

The recorded data leaves little room for ambiguity. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 wins every head-to-head benchmark by margins of 70% or more. It delivers roughly six times the FP32 performance, more than four times the pixel throughput, and nearly three times the texture rate. It does all of this while consuming 80 W less power and occupying a smaller physical footprint.

The FirePro W8000's higher percentile ranking, 75th versus 72nd, is a historical curiosity rather than a practical advantage. It reflects the competitive landscape of 2012-era GPUs, not relative capability against modern hardware. The AMD card's nearest rivals, all within 1.2% of its average score, show that it was a strong performer in its generation. But the RTX 5060's nearest rivals span a wider range, and the NVIDIA card still beats all of them in the head-to-head tests.

For users deciding between these two cards today, the data supports the RTX 5060 for every workload represented in the database. The FirePro W8000 is an end-of-life product with no recorded wins against the RTX 5060. The only scenario where the older card might make sense is one where its specific workstation heritage matters, but the benchmark data does not show any test where the FirePro W8000 outperforms the RTX 5060.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD FirePro W8000 has a higher average benchmark score of 29,211, compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060's 26,331.

Q: How large is the performance gap in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 scores 112,787 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 78.3% higher than the AMD FirePro W8000's 24,440.

Q: Does the FirePro W8000 win any head-to-head benchmarks?

A: No, the database records zero wins for the AMD FirePro W8000 in head-to-head tests against the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060.

Q: What is the transistor density difference between the two GPUs?

A: The RTX 5060 has a transistor density of 121.0 million per square millimeter, while the FirePro W8000 has 12.3 million per square millimeter.

Q: Which GPU has more shading units?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 has 3,840 shading units, while the AMD FirePro W8000 has 1,792.

Q: How do the power requirements compare?

A: The RTX 5060 has a TDP of 145 W and requires a 300 W PSU, while the FirePro W8000 has a TDP of 225 W and requires a 550 W PSU.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD FirePro W8000 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 |

|---|---|---|

| Architecture | GCN 1.0 | Blackwell 2.0 |

| Process node | 28 nm | 5 nm |

| Transistors | 4,313 million | 21,900 million |

| Die size | 352 mm² | 181 mm² |

| Transistor density | 12.3M / mm² | 121.0M / mm² |

| Base clock | Not recorded | 2280 MHz |

| Boost clock | Not recorded | 2497 MHz |

| Memory clock | 1375 MHz, 5.5 Gbps effective | 1750 MHz, 28 Gbps effective |

| Memory size | 4 GB | 8 GB |

| Memory type | GDDR5 | GDDR7 |

| Memory bus width | 256 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory bandwidth | 176.0 GB/s | 448.0 GB/s |

| Shading units | 1792 | 3840 |

| TMUs | 112 | 120 |

| ROPs | 32 | 48 |

| Ray tracing cores | None | 30 |

| Tensor cores | None | 120 |

| Pixel rate | 28.80 GPixel/s | 119.9 GPixel/s |

| Texture rate | 100.8 GTexel/s | 299.6 GTexel/s |

| FP32 performance | 3.226 TFLOPS | 19.18 TFLOPS |

| FP16 performance | Not recorded | 19.18 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 225 W | 145 W |

| Power connectors | 2x 6-pin | 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 550 W | 300 W |

| Bus interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 5.0 x8 |

| Display outputs | 4x DisplayPort 1.2, 1x SDI | 1x HDMI 2.1b, 3x DisplayPort 2.1b |

| DirectX support | 12 (11_1) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| Vulkan support | 1.2.170 | 1.4 |

| Length | 279 mm | 241 mm |

| Width | Not recorded | 40 mm |

| Production status | End-of-life | Active |

| Release date | 2012-06-13 | 2025-05-18 |

| Launch MSRP | 1,599 USD | 299 USD |

| Percentile rank | 75 | 72 |