AMD FirePro S9300 X2 vs NVIDIA RTX A5000 Comparison

The NVIDIA RTX A5000 and AMD FirePro S9300 X2 represent two very different answers to the workstation acceleration question, separated by five years of architecture evolution. The A5000 is a modern Ampere-based general-purpose workhorse, while the S9300 X2 is a specialized server compute card from the GCN 3.0 era with a dual-GPU design. The benchmark data reveals a staggering performance gap in the two shared tests, but the S9300 X2's unique positioning—no display outputs, a 4 GB HBM frame buffer, and a launch MSRP of 5,999 USD—tells a story of a device built for a narrow, compute-focused niche rather than broad workstation duties.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins the head-to-head benchmarks?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A5000 wins both shared tests decisively. In Geekbench OpenCL it scores 157,905 against 27,971 for the FirePro S9300 X2, a delta of 464.5%. In Geekbench Vulkan, the A5000 scores 137,828 versus 37,109, a 271.4% advantage.

Q: How do their average benchmark scores compare?

A: The RTX A5000 has an average benchmark score of 33,622, while the FirePro S9300 X2 averages 32,540. The A5000 sits at the 78th percentile of all GPUs, and the S9300 X2 is just behind at the 77th percentile.

Q: What are their nearest rivals according to the data?

A: For the RTX A5000, the nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB (deltaPct -0.2), followed by the AMD Radeon RX 7700S (-0.7). The FirePro S9300 X2's closest competitor is the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME (deltaPct -0.2), with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE at +0.3.

Q: Is there a difference in memory configuration?

A: Yes, substantial. The RTX A5000 has 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, yielding 768.0 GB/s bandwidth. The FirePro S9300 X2 uses 4 GB of HBM on a 4096-bit bus, providing 512.0 GB/s.

Q: Do both cards have display outputs?

A: No. The RTX A5000 has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, while the FirePro S9300 X2 has no outputs at all, indicating its server-oriented design.

Q: Which card has higher power requirements?

A: The FirePro S9300 X2 has a 300 W TDP and requires a 700 W suggested PSU with 2x 8-pin connectors. The RTX A5000 has a 230 W TDP, a 550 W suggested PSU, and uses a single 8-pin connector.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two cards is generational. The RTX A5000 is built on NVIDIA's Ampere architecture, fabricated by Samsung on an 8 nm process. Its GA102 chip packs 28,300 million transistors into a 628 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 45.1M per mm². The FirePro S9300 X2 uses AMD's GCN 3.0 architecture on a 28 nm TSMC process, with the Capsaicin chip containing 8,900 million transistors on a 596 mm² die, for a density of just 14.9M per mm².

The compute resources differ dramatically. The RTX A5000 fields 8,192 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, augmented by 64 RT cores and 256 tensor cores. The FirePro S9300 X2 has half the shading units at 4,096, the same 256 TMUs, but only 64 ROPs. Critically, the S9300 X2 has no RT cores and no tensor cores—it lacks any dedicated ray tracing or AI acceleration hardware.

Clock speeds further widen the divide. The RTX A5000 runs at a 1170 MHz base and 1695 MHz boost, while the FirePro S9300 X2 has no listed base or boost clocks, suggesting a fixed or unspecified operating point. The memory clocks tell a similar story: the A5000's GDDR6 runs at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective), while the S9300 X2's HBM runs at just 500 MHz (1000 Mbps effective).

The API support reflects their eras. The RTX A5000 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The FirePro S9300 X2 manages DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The bus interface also differs: PCIe 4.0 x16 for the A5000 versus PCIe 3.0 x16 for the S9300 X2.

The Verdict

The data makes one thing clear: for any workload that appears in the shared benchmarks, the NVIDIA RTX A5000 is the overwhelmingly stronger performer. Its 464.5% lead in Geekbench OpenCL and 271.4% lead in Geekbench Vulkan are not incremental gains—they represent a total generational leap. The A5000 also offers 24 GB of memory versus 4 GB, modern API support including DirectX 12 Ultimate, and display outputs for interactive use.

The AMD FirePro S9300 X2's case rests entirely on its specialization. It is a server card with no display outputs, built for compute tasks that fit within its 4 GB HBM frame buffer. Its 300 W TDP and dual 8-pin connectors suggest it was designed for dense server deployments, not desktop workstations. The launch MSRP of 5,999 USD positions it as a premium compute accelerator from 2016, but the benchmark scores show it has been thoroughly outclassed by the 2021 A5000.

For a general workstation user, the RTX A5000 is the only rational choice based on this data—it wins every test, offers more memory, supports modern graphics APIs, and consumes less power. The S9300 X2 might have found a home in specific HPC or compute clusters where its HBM and dual-GPU design (implied by the Capsaicin chip) were advantageous, but those advantages do not manifest in the available benchmarks.

Specification Differences

| Field | NVIDIA RTX A5000 | AMD FirePro S9300 X2 |

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

| chip | GA102 | Capsaicin |

| architecture | Ampere | GCN 3.0 |

| processNode | 8 nm | 28 nm |

| foundry | Samsung | TSMC |

| transistors | 28,300 million | 8,900 million |

| dieSize | 628 mm² | 596 mm² |

| transistorDensity | 45.1M / mm² | 14.9M / mm² |

| memory | 24 GB GDDR6 | 4 GB HBM |

| busWidth | 384 bit | 4096 bit |

| bandwidth | 768.0 GB/s | 512.0 GB/s |

| shadingUnits | 8192 | 4096 |

| rops | 96 | 64 |

| rtCores | 64 | null |

| tensorCores | 256 | null |

| pixelRate | 162.7 GPixel/s | 62.40 GPixel/s |

| textureRate | 433.9 GTexel/s | 249.6 GTexel/s |

| fp32 | 27.77 TFLOPS | 7.987 TFLOPS |

| tdp | 230 W | 300 W |

| powerConnectors | 1x 8-pin | 2x 8-pin |

| suggestedPsu | 550 W | 700 W |

| busInterface | PCIe 4.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| displayOutputs | 4x DisplayPort 1.4a | No outputs |

| directx | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | 12 (12_0) |

| vulkan | 1.4 | 1.2.170 |

| memory clock | 2000 MHz / 16 Gbps effective | 500 MHz / 1000 Mbps effective |

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

Only two tests appear in both cards' benchmark suites, and the NVIDIA RTX A5000 dominates both. In Geekbench OpenCL, the A5000 scores 157,905 against the FirePro S9300 X2's 27,971. That is a delta of 464.5%—the A5000 delivers nearly five times the OpenCL compute performance in this test. The magnitude of this win is almost unprecedented in hardware comparisons.

Geekbench Vulkan tells a similar but slightly less extreme story. The RTX A5000 scores 137,828, while the FirePro S9300 X2 manages 37,109. The delta is 271.4%, meaning the A5000 is roughly 3.7 times faster in Vulkan compute. This narrower gap might reflect the S9300 X2's older architecture having relatively better Vulkan support compared to its OpenCL implementation, but it remains a decisive victory for the A5000.

The average benchmark scores, which include a broader set of tests for the A5000, show the cards are much closer in aggregate. The RTX A5000's average is 33,622, and the FirePro S9300 X2's is 32,540—a difference of only 3.3%. This suggests that while the A5000 crushes the S9300 X2 in compute-heavy workloads like OpenCL and Vulkan, the S9300 X2 may hold its own in other benchmark categories that are not in the shared test set. The percentile rankings are also close: 78th for the A5000 versus 77th for the S9300 X2.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA RTX A5000 wins in every measurable category from the head-to-head data. It excels in compute-intensive APIs, with its OpenCL score of 157,905 dwarfing the S9300 X2's 27,971. It also wins in Vulkan, a modern cross-platform graphics and compute API, by a margin of 271.4%. Beyond raw scores, the A5000's 24 GB GDDR6 memory at 768.0 GB/s bandwidth gives it a massive capacity and throughput advantage over the S9300 X2's 4 GB HBM at 512.0 GB/s.

The A5000 is also the clear winner for any workstation task that requires visual output, as it has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a while the S9300 X2 offers no display outputs. Its support for DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4 means it can handle modern gaming and rendering workloads, including ray tracing via its 64 RT cores. The lower 230 W TDP and single 8-pin power connector make it easier to integrate into standard systems.

The AMD FirePro S9300 X2's wins are more circumstantial. It has no benchmark victories in the head-to-head data, but its architecture suggests strengths in specific server scenarios. The 4096-bit HBM bus width, despite the lower 500 MHz clock, provides respectable 512.0 GB/s bandwidth that could suit certain memory-latency-sensitive compute tasks. Its dual-GPU Capsaicin design, while not explicitly benchmarked here, implies parallel compute capabilities that might scale well in server workloads. The 300 W TDP and 700 W suggested PSU indicate it was built for rack-mounted systems where power density is less of a concern.

The S9300 X2's 77th percentile ranking and average score of 32,540, which is close to the A5000's 33,622, hint that in non-OpenCL/Vulkan benchmarks—such as the Passmark tests where the A5000 has scores ranging from 87 to 22,541—the AMD card might perform competitively. However, without shared test data for those workloads, that remains speculation. The data as presented gives the S9300 X2 no clear use case where it outperforms the A5000.