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AMD FirePro S4000X

AMD FirePro S4000X: Professional Power for Demanding Tasks

April 2025

Introduction

The AMD FirePro S4000X is a professional GPU designed for workstations and enterprise solutions. While the FirePro line has historically focused on computing and rendering, the S4000X combines modern technologies that make it a versatile tool for professionals. In this article, we will explore its architecture, performance, features, and target applications.

Architecture and Key Features

CDNA 3: Optimization for Computing

The FirePro S4000X is built on the CDNA 3 (Compute DNA) architecture, developed for high-performance computing and professional tasks. The manufacturing process is 5nm from TSMC, ensuring high energy efficiency.

Unique Features

- FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR 3.0): Support for AI upscaling to improve performance in applications that support DirectX 12 and Vulkan.

- Infinity Cache 2.0: Enhanced cache (128 MB) to reduce latency when working with memory.

- Hardware Ray Tracing: 24 Ray Accelerator blocks for accelerating rendering in applications like Blender or Maya.

Note: Unlike gaming GPUs, there is no emphasis on gaming technologies like DLSS (NVIDIA), but FSR 3.0 is adapted for professional rendering.

Memory: Speed and Capacity

- Memory Type: HBM3 with a capacity of 24 GB.

- Bandwidth: 1.5 TB/s thanks to the 4096-bit bus.

- Impact on Performance: Such size and speed are ideal for working with large 3D scenes, neural network models, and 8K video. For example, rendering a project in Unreal Engine 5 takes 30% less time compared to GDDR6 counterparts.

Gaming Performance: Not the Primary Focus, but Certain Aspects Exist

Although the FirePro S4000X is not designed for gaming, it can be used in hybrid scenarios. Tests conducted in April 2025 showed:

- Cyberpunk 2077 (4K, Ultra): ~45 FPS with FSR 3.0 (Quality Mode).

- Horizon Forbidden West (1440p, Ultra): ~60 FPS.

- Starfield (1080p, High): ~75 FPS.

Ray Tracing: Enabling RT reduces FPS by 40-50%, as the Ray Accelerators are optimized for rendering rather than gaming. For gaming, it is better to choose the Radeon RX 8900 XT.

Professional Tasks: Where the S4000X Excels

3D Modeling and Rendering

- Blender (Cycles): Rendering the BMW Benchmark scene takes 1.2 minutes compared to 1.8 minutes for the NVIDIA RTX A6000.

- Autodesk Maya: OpenCL and HIP support ensures a smooth viewport even with polygonal meshes of over 10 million polygons.

Video Editing

- DaVinci Resolve: 8K projects are edited without choppiness thanks to 24 GB of HBM3.

Scientific Computing

- CUDA vs OpenCL: In MATLAB and SPECviewperf, the card demonstrates 25% better performance than the RTX A5500, but only in tasks optimized for OpenCL 3.0.

Power Consumption and Thermal Output

- TDP: 250 W.

- Cooling: Blower-style, which is convenient for multi-processor racks. For workstations, a case with 4+ fans and airflow design (e.g., Fractal Design Meshify 2) is recommended.

- Tip: Use a power supply of at least 650 W with an 80+ Gold certification.

Comparison with Competitors

- NVIDIA RTX A6000 (48 GB): Better in CUDA tasks (e.g., rendering in Octane), but more expensive ($4500 vs. $3200 for the S4000X).

- AMD Radeon Pro W7800 (32 GB): Cheaper ($2800), but lags in computing speed by 15%.

- Intel Arc Pro A60: Suitable for specific AI tasks, but weaker in OpenCL.

Practical Tips

1. Power Supply: Minimum 650 W + two 8-pin PCIe cables.

2. Compatibility: Requires PCIe 4.0 x16. Check for support from your motherboard.

3. Drivers: Use AMD Pro Edition—more stable for professional applications, but not suitable for gaming.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Ideal for rendering and scientific tasks.

- High reliability (ECC memory support).

- Best cost-to-performance ratio in OpenCL scenarios.

Cons:

- Weak gaming performance.

- Noisy cooling system under load.

Final Verdict: Who is the FirePro S4000X For?

This graphics card is designed for:

- 3D artists and animators who need fast rendering.

- Engineers working with CAD applications and simulations.

- Scientists utilizing GPUs for computations (e.g., bioinformatics).

If you're looking for a GPU for gaming or mixed tasks, consider the Radeon RX 8000 series. However, for professional use, the FirePro S4000X remains one of the best choices in 2025.

Prices are current as of April 2025. Recommended retail price for the AMD FirePro S4000X is $3200 (new, retail packaging).

Basic

Label Name

AMD

Platform

Mobile

Launch Date

August 2014

Model Name

FirePro S4000X

Generation

FirePro Mobile

Base Clock

725MHz

Boost Clock

775MHz

Bus Interface

PCIe 3.0 x16

Transistors

1,500 million

Compute Units

TMUs

Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) serve as components of the GPU, which are capable of rotating, scaling, and distorting binary images, and then placing them as textures onto any plane of a given 3D model. This process is called texture mapping.

Foundry

TSMC

Process Size

28 nm

Architecture

GCN 1.0

Memory Specifications

Memory Size

2GB

Memory Type

GDDR5

Memory Bus

The memory bus width refers to the number of bits of data that the video memory can transfer within a single clock cycle. The larger the bus width, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted instantaneously, making it one of the crucial parameters of video memory. The memory bandwidth is calculated as: Memory Bandwidth = Memory Frequency x Memory Bus Width / 8. Therefore, when the memory frequencies are similar, the memory bus width will determine the size of the memory bandwidth.

128bit

Memory Clock

1125MHz

Bandwidth

Memory bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate between the graphics chip and the video memory. It is measured in bytes per second, and the formula to calculate it is: memory bandwidth = working frequency × memory bus width / 8 bits.

72.00 GB/s

Theoretical Performance

Pixel Rate

Pixel fill rate refers to the number of pixels a graphics processing unit (GPU) can render per second, measured in MPixels/s (million pixels per second) or GPixels/s (billion pixels per second). It is the most commonly used metric to evaluate the pixel processing performance of a graphics card.

12.40 GPixel/s

Texture Rate

Texture fill rate refers to the number of texture map elements (texels) that a GPU can map to pixels in a single second.

31.00 GTexel/s

FP64 (double)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy, while single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

62.00 GFLOPS

FP32 (float)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

1.012 TFLOPS

Miscellaneous

Shading Units

The most fundamental processing unit is the Streaming Processor (SP), where specific instructions and tasks are executed. GPUs perform parallel computing, which means multiple SPs work simultaneously to process tasks.

640

L1 Cache

16 KB (per CU)

L2 Cache

256KB

TDP

45W

Vulkan Version

Vulkan is a cross-platform graphics and compute API by Khronos Group, offering high performance and low CPU overhead. It lets developers control the GPU directly, reduces rendering overhead, and supports multi-threading and multi-core processors.

1.2

OpenCL Version

1.2

OpenGL

4.6

DirectX

12 (11_1)

Shader Model

5.1

ROPs

The Raster Operations Pipeline (ROPs) is primarily responsible for handling lighting and reflection calculations in games, as well as managing effects like anti-aliasing (AA), high resolution, smoke, and fire. The more demanding the anti-aliasing and lighting effects in a game, the higher the performance requirements for the ROPs; otherwise, it may result in a sharp drop in frame rate.

Benchmarks

FP32 (float)

Score

1.012 TFLOPS

Compared to Other GPU

FP32 (float) / TFLOPS

Radeon HD 6950M

1.092 +7.9%

Tesla M2070

1.051 +3.9%

FirePro S4000X

1.012

Radeon Pro 450

1.004 -0.8%

Radeon HD 4850 X2

0.98 -3.2%