AMD Instinct MI100 vs NVIDIA RTX 6000D Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA RTX 6000D has an average benchmark score of 195,964, while the AMD Instinct MI100 has an average score of 139,035. The RTX 6000D outperforms the MI100 by a substantial margin.

Q: How does the NVIDIA RTX 6000D compare to its closest rivals?

A: The RTX 6000D's nearest rival is the NVIDIA Tesla V100S PCIe 32 GB, which scores 194,415 — just 0.8% behind. It is 4.7% ahead of the NVIDIA A100 SXM4 40 GB (score 187,147) and 6.1% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation (score 184,664). However, the A100 PCIe 80 GB scores 207,124, which is 5.4% higher than the RTX 6000D.

Q: Where does the AMD Instinct MI100 rank among its peers?

A: The MI100's nearest rival is the NVIDIA Tesla V100 PCIe 16 GB with a score of 138,063 — just 0.7% behind the MI100. The MI100 is 0.9% ahead of the Tesla V100 SXM2 32 GB (137,731) and 2.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo (135,774). It also leads the AMD Radeon PRO V620 by 1.9%.

Q: What is the Geekbench OpenCL score difference between the two GPUs?

A: In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the NVIDIA RTX 6000D scores 388,405 while the AMD Instinct MI100 scores 139,035. This gives the RTX 6000D a 179.4% advantage — meaning it is nearly three times faster in this particular workload.

Q: Which GPU has a higher percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA RTX 6000D ranks in the 98th percentile among all GPUs, while the AMD Instinct MI100 ranks in the 96th percentile. Both are high-end performers, but the RTX 6000D sits closer to the very top of the performance distribution.

Q: What are the production statuses of these two cards?

A: The NVIDIA RTX 6000D is listed as "Active" in production, while the AMD Instinct MI100 is marked as "End-of-life." This reflects the RTX 6000D being a current-generation product and the MI100 being a legacy part.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA RTX 6000D and AMD Instinct MI100 represent fundamentally different architectural approaches. The RTX 6000D is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using the GB202 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It packs 92,200 million transistors into a 750 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 122.9 million transistors per square millimeter. In contrast, the MI100 uses the CDNA 1.0 architecture with the Arcturus chip, manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process. It houses 25,600 million transistors on the same 750 mm² die size, resulting in a much lower density of 34.1 million transistors per square millimeter.

The compute feature sets diverge sharply. The RTX 6000D includes 156 ray tracing cores and 624 tensor cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI tensor operations. The MI100 has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores at all — it relies purely on raw shader throughput. The RTX 6000D supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, while the MI100 lists N/A for all three APIs, reflecting its compute-only orientation with no display outputs.

The memory architectures are also distinct. The RTX 6000D uses 84 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 448-bit bus, while the MI100 uses 32 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus. The RTX 6000D's FP16 performance is 97.04 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio with FP32, whereas the MI100's FP16 is 46.14 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio. This means the RTX 6000D delivers full-rate FP16, while the MI100 halves its FP16 throughput relative to FP32.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA RTX 6000D wins decisively in compute-heavy workloads. Its FP32 throughput of 97.04 TFLOPS is more than four times the MI100's 23.07 TFLOPS. The RTX 6000D also leads in texture rate at 1,516.3 GTexel/s versus 721.0 GTexel/s, and in pixel rate at 466.6 GPixel/s versus 96.13 GPixel/s. For AI inference and training, the RTX 6000D's tensor cores provide dedicated acceleration that the MI100 completely lacks. Graphics workloads benefit from the RTX 6000D's ray tracing cores, API support, and display outputs — four DisplayPort 2.1b connections — while the MI100 has no display outputs whatsoever.

The AMD Instinct MI100's advantages are narrower but real. It draws 300 W compared to the RTX 6000D's 600 W, making it far more power-efficient on paper. It uses two standard 8-pin power connectors instead of a single 16-pin connector, and it has a shorter physical length at 267 mm versus 304 mm. The MI100's HBM2 memory offers 1.23 TB/s bandwidth on a 4096-bit bus, which is close to the RTX 6000D's 1.40 TB/s despite the massive difference in memory size. For workloads that fit within 32 GB and prioritize lower power draw, the MI100 remains a viable option.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA RTX 6000D | AMD Instinct MI100 |

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

| Architecture | Blackwell 2.0 | CDNA 1.0 |

| Chip | GB202 | Arcturus |

| Process Node | 5 nm | 7 nm |

| Transistors | 92,200 million | 25,600 million |

| Transistor Density | 122.9M / mm² | 34.1M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1992 MHz | 1000 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 2430 MHz | 1502 MHz |

| Memory Size | 84 GB | 32 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR7 | HBM2 |

| Memory Bus Width | 448 bit | 4096 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 1.40 TB/s | 1.23 TB/s |

| Shading Units | 19968 | 7680 |

| TMUs | 624 | 480 |

| ROPs | 192 | 64 |

| RT Cores | 156 | None |

| Tensor Cores | 624 | None |

| FP32 Performance | 97.04 TFLOPS | 23.07 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 97.04 TFLOPS (1:1) | 46.14 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 600 W | 300 W |

| Power Connectors | 1x 16-pin | 2x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 1000 W | 700 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 5.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | 4x DisplayPort 2.1b | No outputs |

| DirectX Support | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | N/A |

| OpenGL Support | 4.6 | N/A |

| Vulkan Support | 1.4 | N/A |

| Length | 304 mm | 267 mm |

| Height | 137 mm | 111 mm |

| Width | 40 mm | Not specified |

| Production Status | Active | End-of-life |

| Release Date | 2025-07-13 | 2020-11-15 |

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only shared benchmark between the two GPUs is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is decisive. The NVIDIA RTX 6000D scores 388,405, while the AMD Instinct MI100 scores 139,035. That is a delta of 179.4% in favor of the RTX 6000D — the NVIDIA card delivers nearly three times the OpenCL performance of the AMD card.

This single head-to-head result aligns with the broader benchmark context. The RTX 6000D's average benchmark score of 195,964 places it in the 98th percentile of all GPUs, while the MI100's average of 139,035 puts it in the 96th percentile. Both are high performers, but the RTX 6000D operates in a different performance tier.

Looking at rival comparisons reinforces the gap. The RTX 6000D is 0.8% ahead of the Tesla V100S PCIe 32 GB, 4.7% ahead of the A100 SXM4 40 GB, and 6.1% ahead of the RTX 5000 Ada Generation. The MI100, in contrast, leads its closest rival — the Tesla V100 PCIe 16 GB — by only 0.7%. The MI100's performance ceiling is much closer to its competition, whereas the RTX 6000D maintains a comfortable margin over several high-end NVIDIA accelerators.

The RTX 6000D also has a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3,522, a test the MI100 does not appear in. This further demonstrates the RTX 6000D's capability in modern graphics workloads, though no direct comparison is possible for that test.

The Verdict

The data clearly favors the NVIDIA RTX 6000D for most use cases. It wins the only head-to-head benchmark by 179.4%, offers more than four times the FP32 performance, and provides dedicated tensor cores and ray tracing cores that the MI100 lacks entirely. The RTX 6000D also supports modern graphics APIs, includes four display outputs, and carries 84 GB of GDDR7 memory — more than double the MI100's 32 GB HBM2 allocation. Its 98th percentile ranking versus the MI100's 96th percentile further underscores the performance gap. For AI workloads, graphics rendering, or general compute, the RTX 6000D is the superior choice.

The AMD Instinct MI100 does retain relevance in specific scenarios. Its 300 W TDP is half the RTX 6000D's 600 W, and its 700 W suggested PSU is 300 W lower. The MI100 uses standard 8-pin power connectors, which may be more compatible with existing infrastructure. Its HBM2 memory bandwidth of 1.23 TB/s is close to the RTX 6000D's 1.40 TB/s despite the smaller bus width. For workloads that fit within 32 GB and prioritize power efficiency over raw compute, the MI100 remains a reasonable option — especially given its end-of-life status likely makes it available at lower system integration costs.

The RTX 6000D is the clear performance leader. The MI100 is a legacy part with a narrower set of strengths. Users needing maximum compute throughput, modern API support, or AI acceleration should choose the RTX 6000D. Users with strict power budgets or legacy power delivery constraints may find the MI100 sufficient for their specific workloads.