AMD FirePro S7150

The AMD FirePro S7150 is a server-oriented graphics accelerator based on the GCN 3.0 architecture, built on a 28 nm process at TSMC with 5,000 million transistors on a 366 mm² die. It was released on January 31, 2016, and is now end-of-life, positioned between the FirePro Terascale and Radeon Pro GCN generations. The card is a single-slot, 241 mm long and 111 mm tall PCIe 3.0 x16 device with no display outputs, indicating its compute-focused role. Its benchmark data reveals a card that sits in a competitive mid-range performance tier, with an average benchmark score of 28,409 across its two recorded tests.

Benchmark Performance

The FirePro S7150 delivers an average benchmark score of 28,409, placing it in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs, which indicates it outperforms the majority of graphics cards in the database. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the card scores 27,128, while in the Vulkan test it scores 29,690, showing a slightly stronger performance in the Vulkan API environment. This variance suggests the architecture handles modern compute workloads efficiently, though the OpenCL score remains respectable.

Comparing to its nearest rivals, the data shows a tight cluster of performance. The AMD Radeon R9 M295X averages 28,541, which is 0.5% higher than the FirePro S7150, meaning the two are effectively neck-and-neck in raw compute. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 scores 28,238, placing the FirePro S7150 just 0.6% ahead, a margin so slim it falls within typical run-to-run variance. Against the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, the FirePro S7150 holds a 1.5% advantage, and versus the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti, it leads by 1.6%. These deltas indicate that the FirePro S7150, despite its age and server-oriented design, performs on par with a range of consumer desktop cards from different eras.

The pattern is clear: the FirePro S7150 is not a performance outlier in either direction. Its scores sit within 1.6% of all four nearest rivals, which means it delivers compute throughput comparable to the R9 M295X, RTX 3070, RX 6600 XT, and GTX 980 Ti. This is notable because the RTX 3070 is a much more recent architecture, yet the FirePro S7150 matches its average score, suggesting that raw compute performance in these benchmarks does not heavily favor newer designs. For a card from 2016, this level of parity with later hardware underscores its solid computational foundation.

Power and Cooling

The FirePro S7150 has a thermal design power (TDP) of 150 W, which is modest for the performance it delivers. This power envelope is supported by a single 6-pin power connector, a straightforward requirement that aligns with its server-class positioning. The suggested power supply unit is 450 W, which provides ample headroom for the card’s draw in a typical system configuration. Given the 150 W TDP, cooling is handled within a single-slot form factor, and the card’s dimensions of 241 mm in length and 111 mm in height confirm a compact physical footprint.

The power data indicates that the FirePro S7150 is efficient relative to its compute output. A 150 W TDP for a card that achieves parity with an RTX 3070 in average benchmark scores means the FirePro S7150 delivers competitive performance without requiring the more substantial power infrastructure of newer, higher-wattage cards. The single-slot design further reinforces its suitability for dense server environments where space and power are at a premium. The 450 W PSU recommendation is conservative, suggesting that even modest power supplies can support this card, though the lack of display outputs means it is intended for systems where headless operation is standard.

Who Should Consider It

The FirePro S7150’s benchmark scores position it as a viable option for compute-heavy tasks at high resolutions, but its lack of display outputs means it is not a card for direct gaming or workstation visualization. Instead, the data suggests it is suited for server-side rendering, virtual desktop infrastructure, or compute offload where the host system handles display output. At 1080p or 1440p, the card’s performance, as indicated by its 28,409 average score and 72nd percentile ranking, would be sufficient for many parallel processing workloads, but its strength lies in consistent, repeatable compute rather than interactive frame rates.

Given its parity with the R9 M295X and GTX 980 Ti, the FirePro S7150 can handle tasks that those cards manage, such as video encoding, scientific simulations, or machine learning inference. The 1.5% lead over the RX 6600 XT and 1.6% lead over the GTX 980 Ti in average scores means it is slightly faster in pure compute, but the difference is marginal. For users building a server with multiple GPUs, the single-slot design and 150 W TDP allow for dense configurations that would be impractical with larger, more power-hungry cards. The Vulkan score of 29,690, which is higher than the OpenCL score, indicates strong performance in Vulkan-based compute applications, making it a reasonable choice for workloads that leverage that API.

FAQ

Q: How does the FirePro S7150 compare to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070?

A: The FirePro S7150 has an average benchmark score of 28,409, which is 0.6% higher than the RTX 3070’s 28,238, indicating near-identical compute performance.

Q: What is the card’s memory bandwidth and how does it affect performance?

A: The FirePro S7150 has a memory bandwidth of 160.0 GB/s, derived from 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus. This bandwidth is adequate for its compute class, though it is not exceptional for high-end workloads.

Q: Does the FirePro S7150 support modern graphics APIs?

A: Yes, it supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170, which covers contemporary API requirements for both compute and graphics workloads.

Q: What power supply is recommended for this card?

A: The suggested PSU is 450 W, with the card itself having a 150 W TDP and requiring a single 6-pin power connector.

Q: Is this card suitable for gaming?

A: No, the FirePro S7150 has no display outputs, so it cannot directly drive a monitor. Its benchmark scores suggest it could handle compute tasks that games require, but it is not designed for interactive use.

Q: What is the card’s production status?

A: The FirePro S7150 is end-of-life, having been released on January 31, 2016, with a launch MSRP of 2,399 USD.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The FirePro S7150 does not include any dedicated ray tracing cores or tensor cores, as these fields are null in the specification data. Instead, it relies on its 2,048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 raster operations pipelines to handle compute and graphics tasks. The architecture is GCN 3.0, which predates the dedicated hardware for ray tracing that appears in later NVIDIA and AMD generations. This means that any ray tracing workload would have to be processed through the general-purpose shaders, which is less efficient than dedicated hardware.

In terms of API support, the card covers DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The Vulkan support is notably current, and the card’s Vulkan benchmark score of 29,690 is higher than its OpenCL score of 27,128, suggesting that the drivers and hardware handle Vulkan compute efficiently. The feature set is therefore oriented toward traditional rasterization and general compute, not advanced real-time ray tracing. The pixel rate is 29.44 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 117.8 GTexel/s, which are solid figures for the era but do not reflect any specialized traversal or intersection hardware.

Memory Subsystem

The FirePro S7150 is equipped with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory, operating at a memory clock of 1250 MHz with 5 Gbps effective data rate. The memory interface is a 256-bit bus, which yields a total bandwidth of 160.0 GB/s. This configuration is typical for a mid-to-high-end card of its generation, and the 8 GB capacity is substantial for server workloads that may involve large datasets or multiple virtual machines.

The 160.0 GB/s bandwidth is a limiting factor when compared to the compute throughput of 3.768 TFLOPS FP32 and 7.537 TFLOPS FP16. The FP16 rate is exactly double the FP32 rate, indicating a 2:1 ratio that is common in GCN architectures. For high-resolution workloads, the memory bandwidth will often be the bottleneck, especially when processing large textures or buffers. However, the 8 GB capacity ensures that most datasets fit entirely in VRAM, reducing the need for PCIe transfers. The 256-bit bus provides a balance between capacity and bandwidth, and the 5 Gbps effective memory speed is consistent with the 2016 release period. This memory subsystem is adequate for the card’s compute parity with newer rivals, but it does not offer the higher bandwidth seen in more recent memory technologies like GDDR6 or HBM.