AMD FirePro D500

The AMD FirePro D500 is a workstation-oriented GPU from the FirePro Data Center (Dx00) generation, built around the Tahiti chip with GCN 1.0 architecture. TSMC fabricates the die on a 28 nm process, integrating 4,313 million transistors into a 352 mm² package, for a density of 12.3M transistors per square millimeter. Released on 2014-01-17, the card is now end-of-life, and its product sequence places it after FirePro Terascale as predecessor and before Radeon Instinct as successor. Physically, it is a dual-slot PCIe 3.0 x16 card that is 279 mm / 11 inches long, with a 274 W TDP and a 600 W suggested PSU. The display output stage consists of 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.2 and 1x SDI.

Benchmark Performance

The benchmark section of the data is sparse. The benchmarks array has no entries, the recorded average benchmark score is 0, and the nearestRivals array is empty, so there are no rival names, scores, or deltaPct values available to anchor a direct performance comparison. The only relative signal is percentileVsAllGpus, which is 50. That puts the FirePro D500 exactly at the midpoint of the database's GPU population, but it comes without any populated sample scores, so the rank is an aggregate positional marker rather than a measured performance result.

In the absence of game or compute benchmark entries, the specification sheet defines the card's throughput envelope. The GPU contains 1,536 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. Those resources are listed alongside a pixel rate of 23.20 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 69.60 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is stated at 2.227 TFLOPS, while no FP16 value appears in the data. The clock table is likewise incomplete: base, boost, and game clocks are not recorded, leaving the memory clock of 1270 MHz and the 5.1 Gbps effective data rate as the only clock numbers in the profile.

The 50th-percentile standing is the only aggregate comparative figure, and it should be read with caution because the average score field is zero. What the data does provide is a quantitative account of raw throughput: the shading, texture, pixel, and memory rates all describe a card with a particular balance of compute and bandwidth. The texture rate and pixel rate are both substantial enough to support a professional display workload, but without benchmark samples there is no way to state how that translates into application-specific performance. The FP32 figure of 2.227 TFLOPS is the compute ceiling that would apply to shader-heavy tasks, and the absence of any FP16 number means half-precision throughput is not characterized.

Who Should Consider It

The 3 GB GDDR5 frame buffer is the central consideration for anyone evaluating the FirePro D500. With 3 GB of VRAM, a 384-bit bus, and 243.8 GB/s of bandwidth, the card is well suited to workloads that fit inside that memory capacity. The 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.2 outputs and the 1x SDI output allow a multi-display workstation configuration, which makes the D500 a plausible choice for setups that prioritize many simultaneous outputs over enormous texture sets.

At moderate resolution and with texture settings kept within the 3 GB limit, the memory subsystem has enough bandwidth to support the card's listed fill rates. The 23.20 GPixel/s pixel throughput and 69.60 GTexel/s texture throughput give the card enough raw rate for conservative rendering settings. At higher resolution, the capacity becomes the binding constraint: once the working set of textures and geometry exceeds 3 GB, the speed of the 243.8 GB/s bus cannot compensate for the lack of space. Users with compute-heavy tasks should weigh the 2.227 TFLOPS FP32 figure against their application's needs. Because no FP16 value is present, half-precision workloads are not covered by the data. The production status is end-of-life, so this is a legacy product rather than a newly developed platform.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The FirePro D500 is a GCN 1.0 part, and its feature set reflects that architecture. The specification fields for RT cores and tensor cores are both empty, meaning there is no dedicated hardware for ray tracing or tensor acceleration listed for this card. Without RT cores, any ray tracing work would need to run on the general-purpose 1,536 shading units, using the card's 2.227 TFLOPS FP32 throughput. Without tensor cores, there is likewise no dedicated tensor operation path in the data.

The API support is DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. Those API entries allow the card to be addressed by modern graphics interfaces, but they do not imply dedicated hardware blocks for ray tracing or tensor workloads. The output feature set is also part of the product's character: 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.2 and 1x SDI are the display connections available. The 28 nm TSMC process, 352 mm² die, and 4,313 million transistor count are the physical features underneath that API surface. The card's GCN 1.0 architecture is a first-generation GCN design, and the missing RT and tensor fields are consistent with the 2014-01-17 release date recorded in the data.

How It Compares

The nearestRivals array is empty, so this section cannot report any rival names, scores, or deltaPct values. There is no direct head-to-head comparison in the data, and no competitor product is listed for the FirePro D500. The only quantitative comparison available is the 50th-percentile standing in the database's all-GPU distribution, which places the card at the middle of the population. That figure is accompanied by an average benchmark score of 0, so it is not a comparison to any specific product.

In the AMD product sequence, the D500 sits between FirePro Terascale and Radeon Instinct, but the data does not provide performance scores for either of those adjacent entries. No predecessor or successor benchmarks are present, so the lineage is a naming relationship rather than a performance curve. The card's defining numerical features are its 1,536 shading units, 96 texture units, 32 ROPs, and 2.227 TFLOPS FP32 compute. The 384-bit memory bus and 243.8 GB/s bandwidth also serve as distinguishing characteristics, but no rival with a narrower memory path is named in the data. The comparison story is therefore positional: a median-ranked GPU in the database, with no recorded benchmark scores and no listed nearest rivals.

Memory Subsystem

The memory subsystem is one of the most fully specified parts of the FirePro D500. It uses 3 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, with a memory clock of 1270 MHz and an effective rate of 5.1 Gbps. The resulting bandwidth is 243.8 GB/s. That wide memory path is important for sustaining the pixel rate of 23.20 GPixel/s and the texture rate of 69.60 GTexel/s, since those fill rates depend on the ability to move data quickly. The 32 ROPs write into the 3 GB frame buffer, and the 384-bit bus moves those writes across a broad interface.

For high-resolution framebuffers, the bandwidth is the asset: 243.8 GB/s can support multiple display outputs and complex shading workloads. The capacity is the limiting factor. A 3 GB buffer is sufficient for many workstation scenes, but larger texture sets and higher-resolution assets will exceed it. Once that happens, the card's performance depends on how much data must be moved in and out of the smaller buffer, not on the peak bandwidth figure. The power context around this memory subsystem is a 274 W board TDP and a 600 W suggested PSU, with the memory system forming a substantial part of the overall power envelope. The card's dual-slot design and 279 mm length provide the physical space for that memory configuration. Overall, the memory data describes a card built around bandwidth and multi-display capability, with a capacity ceiling imposed by its 3 GB VRAM allocation.