AMD Instinct MI100 vs NVIDIA B300 SXM6 AC Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The single available benchmark comparison places the NVIDIA B300 SXM6 AC and AMD Instinct MI100 at opposite ends of the compute spectrum. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the B300 SXM6 AC scores 369,831, while the MI100 scores 139,035. This gives the NVIDIA part a decisive 166% delta — meaning the B300 SXM6 AC delivers roughly 2.66 times the raw OpenCL performance of the MI100. The gap is so large that the two accelerators do not compete in the same performance tier; the MI100's result is closer to the B300 SXM6 AC's nearest rival in percentile terms than to the B300 itself.

Contextualizing the B300 SXM6 AC's score: it sits at the 100th percentile among all GPUs in the database, meaning no other accelerator in the dataset outperforms it in this benchmark. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA B200, averages 345,482 — a 7% deficit. The H200 NVL trails by 10.4% with 334,891 points, the AMD Instinct MI300X is 16.3% behind at 317,994, and the L40S is 25% lower at 295,763. These deltas illustrate that the B300 SXM6 AC leads its own product stack by a meaningful margin, not just against the older MI100.

For the MI100, its 139,035 score places it at the 96th percentile — still a strong result relative to the broader GPU field, but the competition around it is far tighter. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla V100 PCIe 16 GB, scores 138,063, a mere 0.7% gap. The V100 SXM2 32 GB is 0.9% behind at 137,731, the AMD Radeon PRO V620 trails by 1.9% at 136,472, and the Radeon Pro W6800X Duo is 2.4% lower at 135,774. The MI100's advantage over these competitors is razor-thin, suggesting that its performance class is crowded, whereas the B300 SXM6 AC operates in a league of its own.

Architecture Differences

The architectural chasm between these two accelerators is stark. The NVIDIA B300 SXM6 AC is built on the GB110 chip, using the Blackwell Ultra architecture, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It packs 208,000 million transistors into a 1628 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 127.8 million per square millimeter. In contrast, the AMD Instinct MI100 uses the Arcturus chip with the CDNA 1.0 architecture, also from TSMC but on a 7 nm node. Its transistor count is 25,600 million across a 750 mm² die, giving a density of 34.1 million per square millimeter. The B300 SXM6 AC therefore integrates over eight times as many transistors on a die more than twice the size, with a density nearly four times higher.

Memory subsystems diverge sharply as well. The B300 SXM6 AC carries 288 GB of HBM3e across an 8192-bit bus, delivering 8.19 TB/s of bandwidth. The MI100 has 32 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, with 1.23 TB/s bandwidth. That is a 9x capacity advantage and a 6.7x bandwidth advantage for the NVIDIA part. Clock behavior also differs: the B300 SXM6 AC runs at a base of 1665 MHz and boosts to 2032 MHz, while the MI100 operates at 1000 MHz base and 1502 MHz boost. Memory clocks tell a similar story — 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective) for the B300 SXM6 AC versus 1200 MHz (2.4 Gbps effective) for the MI100.

Compute resources are heavily skewed toward the NVIDIA part. The B300 SXM6 AC includes 18,944 shading units, 592 TMUs, and 24 ROPs, along with 592 tensor cores. The MI100 has 7,680 shading units, 480 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with no tensor core count listed. The B300 SXM6 AC's FP32 throughput is 76.99 TFLOPS, while its FP16 is also 76.99 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio. The MI100 achieves 23.07 TFLOPS FP32 and 46.14 TFLOPS FP16 at a 2:1 ratio. Pixel and texture rates also favor the NVIDIA part in texture work (1,202.9 GTexel/s vs 721.0 GTexel/s) but the MI100 wins on pixel fill (96.13 GPixel/s vs 48.77 GPixel/s) due to its higher ROP count.

Where Each One Wins

The B300 SXM6 AC wins outright in the only head-to-head benchmark, and its architecture is designed for maximum compute density. Its advantages in memory capacity and bandwidth make it suited for workloads that require massive datasets resident on the accelerator — large language model inference, scientific simulation, or data analytics where the 288 GB HBM3e pool can hold far more working set than the MI100's 32 GB HBM2. The 8.19 TB/s bandwidth allows feeding the 18,944 shading units and 592 tensor cores at high utilization. The FP16 1:1 throughput of 76.99 TFLOPS suggests balanced performance across precision formats, avoiding the 2:1 penalty seen on the MI100.

The MI100's wins are narrower but still real. Its pixel rate of 96.13 GPixel/s is nearly double the B300 SXM6 AC's 48.77 GPixel/s — a consequence of having 64 ROPs versus only 24. This makes the MI100 comparatively stronger in rasterization-heavy tasks, though both cards lack display outputs and are not marketed for graphics. The MI100 also consumes far less power at 300 W TDP versus 1100 W for the B300 SXM6 AC, and its dual-slot form factor with 2x 8-pin power connectors contrasts with the SXM module of the NVIDIA part. In terms of physical integration, the MI100's 267 mm length and 111 mm height (10.5 x 4.4 inches) make it a standard PCIe card, while the B300 SXM6 AC requires a proprietary server chassis.

The MI100's 96th percentile ranking indicates it remains competitive within its generation, but its nearest rivals are all within 2.4%, meaning any performance edge is marginal. The B300 SXM6 AC, by contrast, holds a 7% lead over the next-best GPU in the database — a far more comfortable moat. For workloads that do not need the B300's massive memory or tensor throughput, the MI100's lower power draw and smaller footprint could be advantageous in density-constrained or power-constrained deployments.

Specification Differences

The two accelerators differ across nearly every measurable specification:

| Specification | NVIDIA B300 SXM6 AC | AMD Instinct MI100 |

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

| Chip | GB110 | Arcturus |

| Architecture | Blackwell Ultra | CDNA 1.0 |

| Process node | 5 nm | 7 nm |

| Transistors | 208,000 million | 25,600 million |

| Die size | 1628 mm² | 750 mm² |

| Transistor density | 127.8M / mm² | 34.1M / mm² |

| Base clock | 1665 MHz | 1000 MHz |

| Boost clock | 2032 MHz | 1502 MHz |

| Memory size | 288 GB | 32 GB |

| Memory type | HBM3e | HBM2 |

| Memory bus | 8192 bit | 4096 bit |

| Memory bandwidth | 8.19 TB/s | 1.23 TB/s |

| Memory clock | 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective) | 1200 MHz (2.4 Gbps effective) |

| Shading units | 18,944 | 7,680 |

| TMUs | 592 | 480 |

| ROPs | 24 | 64 |

| Tensor cores | 592 | None listed |

| FP32 | 76.99 TFLOPS | 23.07 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 76.99 TFLOPS (1:1) | 46.14 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| Pixel rate | 48.77 GPixel/s | 96.13 GPixel/s |

| Texture rate | 1,202.9 GTexel/s | 721.0 GTexel/s |

| TDP | 1100 W | 300 W |

| Slot width | SXM Module | Dual-slot |

| Power connectors | Not listed | 2x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 1500 W | 700 W |

| Bus interface | PCIe 6.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |

| Dimensions | Not listed | 267 mm x 111 mm |

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

| Release date | 2025-09-10 | 2020-11-15 |

| Predecessor | Server Hopper | Radeon Instinct |

| Successor | Server Rubin | None listed |

Notably, the B300 SXM6 AC has a 100th percentile ranking versus the MI100's 96th, and the NVIDIA part's average benchmark score of 369,831 is 2.66 times the MI100's 139,035. The B300 SXM6 AC also specifies a 1500 W suggested PSU versus 700 W for the MI100, reflecting the power envelope difference. The NVIDIA part uses PCIe 6.0 x16, while the MI100 is on PCIe 4.0 x16 — a two-generation gap in bus interface. Both cards have no display outputs and no supported APIs (DirectX, OpenGL, Vulkan all N/A), confirming their compute-only purpose.

FAQ

Q: Which accelerator has the higher benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA B300 SXM6 AC scores 369,831 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the AMD Instinct MI100 scores 139,035. The B300 SXM6 AC leads by 166%.

Q: How does the B300 SXM6 AC compare to its nearest rival?

A: The B300 SXM6 AC's nearest rival is the NVIDIA B200, which averages 345,482 — a 7% lower score. The H200 NVL is 10.4% behind, the MI300X is 16.3% behind, and the L40S is 25% behind.

Q: What memory configuration does each card use?

A: The B300 SXM6 AC has 288 GB of HBM3e on an 8192-bit bus with 8.19 TB/s bandwidth. The MI100 has 32 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus with 1.23 TB/s bandwidth.

Q: Is the MI100 competitive with other GPUs of its era?

A: Yes, the MI100 sits at the 96th percentile. Its nearest rival, the Tesla V100 PCIe 16 GB, is only 0.7% behind at 138,063, and the V100 SXM2 32 GB is 0.9% behind at 137,731.

Q: What are the FP32 and FP16 throughput figures for each card?

A: The B300 SXM6 AC delivers 76.99 TFLOPS FP32 and 76.99 TFLOPS FP16 at a 1:1 ratio. The MI100 delivers 23.07 TFLOPS FP32 and 46.14 TFLOPS FP16 at a 2:1 ratio.

Q: Which card has a higher pixel fill rate?

A: The MI100 has a pixel rate of 96.13 GPixel/s, which is higher than the B300 SXM6 AC's 48.77 GPixel/s, despite the NVIDIA card's overall compute advantage.

The Verdict

The data presents a clear generational and performance hierarchy. The NVIDIA B300 SXM6 AC is the top-ranked GPU in the entire database, with a 100th percentile score and a 7% margin over its closest competitor. Its 288 GB HBM3e memory, 8.19 TB/s bandwidth, and 76.99 TFLOPS FP32 throughput position it as the definitive choice for workloads where raw compute and memory capacity are paramount. The 166% benchmark delta over the MI100 is not incremental — it is transformative, meaning any application that is performance-bound on the MI100 would see more than 2.5x the OpenCL throughput on the B300 SXM6 AC.

The AMD Instinct MI100, while end-of-life, still holds a respectable 96th percentile rank. Its 96.13 GPixel/s pixel rate and 300 W TDP are genuine strengths, and its dual-slot PCIe form factor offers deployment flexibility that the SXM module cannot match. For legacy environments already built around the MI100's CDNA 1.0 architecture, or for applications that do not scale with the B300's massive memory pool, the MI100 remains a viable, lower-power option. Its nearest rivals are all within 2.4%, indicating that performance differences among that generation are small.

Choosing between them depends entirely on workload requirements. If the task demands the highest possible compute density, the largest memory footprint, and the fastest interconnect bandwidth — and the power and cooling infrastructure can support a 1100 W TDP — the B300 SXM6 AC is the only rational choice. If the workload fits within 32 GB of HBM2, can tolerate 1.23 TB/s bandwidth, and benefits from a 700 W system PSU budget, the MI100 offers a more modest but still competitive profile. The benchmark data does not support any scenario where the MI100 outperforms the B300 SXM6 AC in raw compute, but its lower power draw and smaller physical footprint could make it preferable in constrained environments. The verdict is straightforward: the B300 SXM6 AC dominates on performance, while the MI100 wins on efficiency and form factor flexibility.