GPU Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 and AMD FirePro S7150 are both end-of-life AMD graphics cards, but they target different worlds. The RX 6800 is a desktop gaming GPU built on the modern RDNA 2.0 architecture, while the S7150 is a server-oriented compute card based on the older GCN 3.0 design. Benchmark data shows they are closer in average score than their generational gap suggests, with the RX 6800 averaging 30095 and the S7150 averaging 28117, a difference of about 6.7%. However, their performance profiles are wildly different depending on the workload, making the choice between them a matter of matching the card to the task rather than picking an outright winner.

The Verdict

The data presents a clear split: pick the AMD Radeon RX 6800 for any workload involving modern graphics APIs, gaming, or display output. Its Vulkan score of 115107 absolutely crushes the S7150’s 29690, a 287.7% advantage. It also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, and includes 60 ray tracing cores, making it the only viable option for contemporary gaming or DirectX 12 workloads.

Pick the AMD FirePro S7150 only if your primary concern is raw OpenCL compute performance in a server environment. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 26543 beats the RX 6800’s 24508 by 7.7%. The S7150 also has a lower TDP of 150 W versus the RX 6800’s 250 W, and its single-slot, no-output design is built for dense server racks. It is not a gaming card, and its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and lack of display outputs make it unsuitable for desktop use.

The average benchmark scores tell a similar story. The RX 6800’s 30095 average places it 75th percentile among all GPUs, while the S7150’s 28117 places it at the 73rd percentile. The RX 6800’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti (29945, 0.5% behind) and RTX 2080 Ti (29783, 1% behind), while the S7150 sits near the GTX 980 Ti (28020, 0.3% ahead) and Radeon Pro W5500X (27973, 0.5% ahead). This shows the S7150 is competitive with high-end cards from its era but lacks the modern feature set of the RX 6800.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two cards is massive. The RX 6800 uses the Navi 21 chip on the RDNA 2.0 architecture, built on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It packs 26,800 million transistors on a 520 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 51.5M per mm². The S7150 uses the much older Tonga chip on GCN 3.0, built on a 28 nm process. It has only 5,000 million transistors on a 366 mm² die, with a density of 13.7M per mm². The RX 6800 has nearly 5.4 times the transistor count.

The compute units tell the performance story. The RX 6800 has 3840 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, along with 60 dedicated ray tracing cores. The S7150 has 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and only 32 ROPs. The RX 6800’s pixel rate of 202.1 GPixel/s is nearly 7 times the S7150’s 29.44 GPixel/s, and its texture rate of 505.2 GTexel/s dwarfs the S7150’s 117.8 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 16.17 TFLOPS for the RX 6800 versus 3.768 TFLOPS for the S7150.

Memory architecture also differs significantly. The RX 6800 uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 512.0 GB/s bandwidth. The S7150 uses 8 GB of GDDR5 on the same 256-bit bus but with only 160.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 6800’s memory clock is 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) versus the S7150’s 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective). The RX 6800 supports PCIe 4.0 x16, while the S7150 is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head benchmark data shows only two tests, and each card wins one decisively. In Geekbench Vulkan, the RX 6800 scores 115107 against the S7150’s 29690. This is a 287.7% delta in favor of the RX 6800, reflecting its modern architecture and driver support for Vulkan 1.4 versus the S7150’s Vulkan 1.2.170. The RX 6800’s Vulkan score is also nearly 4 times its own OpenCL score, showing significant API optimization.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the S7150 wins with 26543 versus the RX 6800’s 24508, a 7.7% delta. This is notable because the S7150 has less than a quarter of the FP32 compute throughput (3.768 TFLOPS vs 16.17 TFLOPS) but still outperforms in this specific test. This suggests the S7150’s GCN architecture is better optimized for certain OpenCL compute workloads, or that the RX 6800’s OpenCL drivers are not fully utilizing its hardware. The S7150’s nearest rival, the GTX 980 Ti (28020), is only 0.3% behind it in average score, while the RX 6800’s nearest rival, the RTX 3070 Ti (29945), is 0.5% behind.

The average benchmark scores reinforce this split. The RX 6800 has a much broader benchmark suite, including 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 (3188), Geekbench Metal (153635), and PassMark G3D (22067). The S7150 only has two benchmarks listed, both being Geekbench tests. This limited data set means the S7150’s average of 28117 is based on fewer data points, potentially skewing its comparison.

FAQ

Q: Which card has better Vulkan performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6800 is dramatically faster in Vulkan, scoring 115107 versus the S7150’s 29690 in Geekbench Vulkan, a 287.7% advantage.

Q: Which card wins in OpenCL compute?

A: The AMD FirePro S7150 wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with 26543, beating the RX 6800’s 24508 by 7.7%.

Q: Which card has more memory and bandwidth?

A: The RX 6800 has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory with 512.0 GB/s bandwidth. The S7150 has 8 GB of GDDR5 with 160.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card supports ray tracing?

A: Only the RX 6800 has dedicated ray tracing cores (60 of them). The S7150 has no ray tracing hardware listed.

Q: What is the power consumption difference?

A: The RX 6800 has a TDP of 250 W and requires a 600 W power supply, while the S7150 has a TDP of 150 W and requires a 450 W power supply.

Q: Which card has display outputs?

A: The RX 6800 has 1x HDMI 2.1, 2x DisplayPort 1.4a, and 1x USB Type-C. The S7150 has no display outputs at all.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 wins in almost every modern workload category. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3188 demonstrates strong DirectX 12 performance, supported by its DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) API support. The PassMark G3D score of 22067 and PassMark GPU Compute score of 10864 show broad general-purpose graphics strength. Its Geekbench Metal score of 153635 is exceptionally high, indicating strong Apple ecosystem compute performance. The 60 ray tracing cores make it suitable for ray-traced gaming, a feature the S7150 completely lacks.

The AMD FirePro S7150 wins specifically in OpenCL compute, where its 26543 score beats the RX 6800. This makes it a viable option for server-side compute tasks that rely heavily on OpenCL. Its single-slot design and 150 W TDP make it easier to deploy in dense server environments compared to the RX 6800’s dual-slot, 250 W design. The S7150’s lack of display outputs is a feature for server use, as it frees up resources for compute. Its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory is sufficient for many compute workloads, though half the capacity of the RX 6800.

Specification Differences

The specifications reveal the generational chasm between these two cards. The RX 6800 uses a 7 nm process, while the S7150 uses 28 nm. Transistor count is 26,800 million versus 5,000 million. Die size is 520 mm² versus 366 mm². The RX 6800 has a base clock of 1700 MHz and boost clock of 2105 MHz, while the S7150 lists no base or boost clocks. Memory size is 16 GB GDDR6 versus 8 GB GDDR5. Bandwidth is 512.0 GB/s versus 160.0 GB/s. Shading units are 3840 versus 2048. TMUs are 240 versus 128. ROPs are 96 versus 32.

The RX 6800 has 60 ray tracing cores, while the S7150 has none. Pixel rate is 202.1 GPixel/s versus 29.44 GPixel/s. Texture rate is 505.2 GTexel/s versus 117.8 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 16.17 TFLOPS versus 3.768 TFLOPS. FP16 compute is 32.33 TFLOPS versus 7.537 TFLOPS. TDP is 250 W versus 150 W. The RX 6800 is dual-slot with 2x 8-pin power connectors, while the S7150 is single-slot with 1x 6-pin. The RX 6800 uses PCIe 4.0 x16, the S7150 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs differ completely: the RX 6800 has HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4a, and USB-C, while the S7150 has none. API support differs, with the RX 6800 at DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, versus the S7150 at DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.2.170.