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AMD FirePro S9050

AMD FirePro S9050: A Professional Tool in the World of Computing

Review for Enthusiasts and Professionals (April 2025)

1. Architecture and Key Features

Foundation: Graphics Core Next (GCN 1.0)

The AMD FirePro S9050, released in 2014, is based on the Graphics Core Next (GCN 1.0) architecture. This is the first generation of GCN, which laid the groundwork for parallel computing and support for modern APIs (DirectX 12, OpenCL 1.2). The card is manufactured using a 28nm process technology, which at the time provided a balance between performance and energy efficiency.

Unique Features

Unlike gaming GPUs, the FirePro S9050 is aimed at professional tasks. It supports:

- OpenCL 1.2 for parallel computations;

- Mantle API (the predecessor of Vulkan), improving rendering optimization;

- AMD Eyefinity for multi-display setups (up to 6 monitors).

Technologies like RTX (ray tracing) or DLSS (NVIDIA) are not available, nor is AMD's more modern FidelityFX. This is due to the card's age and its professional focus.

2. Memory: High Bandwidth for Heavy Tasks

Specifications

- Memory Type: GDDR5;

- Capacity: 12 GB;

- Bus Width: 384 bits;

- Bandwidth: 240 GB/s (memory clock speed — 5 GHz).

Impact on Performance

The memory capacity and wide bus allow for handling large 3D models, scientific data, and videos at resolutions up to 8K. However, GDDR5 lags behind modern standards like HBM2 or GDDR6X in terms of energy efficiency and speed.

3. Gaming Performance: A Conditional Trade-off

Average FPS in Popular Titles (tested at medium settings):

- 1080p: The Witcher 3 — 35-40 FPS; CS2 — 60-70 FPS;

- 1440p: GTA V — 25-30 FPS;

- 4K: Modern AAA games (2024-2025) are virtually unplayable.

Ray Tracing

The card does not support hardware ray tracing, making it unsuitable for games with RTX effects.

Recommendation: FirePro S9050 is a choice for professionals, not gamers. For gaming, it's better to consider modern Radeon RX or GeForce RTX models.

4. Professional Tasks: Strength in Specialization

Video Editing and Rendering

With 12 GB of memory and optimization for Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve, the card handles 4K video editing, but rendering in 8K or using AI filters (e.g., Topaz Video AI) requires more modern hardware.

3D Modeling and CAD

In AutoCAD, SolidWorks, and Blender, the S9050 demonstrates stability, but it lags behind newer AMD Radeon Pro W7800 (2-3 times faster in rendering).

Scientific Calculations

Support for OpenCL enables the card to be used in machine learning (on basic models) and physics simulations; however, for complex tasks, GPUs with ROCm 5.0 support and a greater number of cores are more relevant.

5. Power Consumption and Heat Generation

- TDP: 225 W;

- Cooling Recommendations:

- A case with at least 3 fans;

- Air cooling with a cooler designed for 3 slots (the original S9050 design is already outdated);

- For workstations — active cooling with adjustable speeds.

6. Comparison with Competitors

AMD Radeon Pro W5700 (2020)

- Pros of W5700: 7nm process, support for PCIe 4.0, 8 GB GDDR6;

- Cons: Less memory (8 GB vs. 12 GB).

NVIDIA Quadro K6000 (2013)

- Similarities: 12 GB GDDR5;

- Advantage of K6000: More CUDA cores (2880 vs. 2816 in S9050), but lower energy efficiency.

Conclusion: In 2025, the S9050 is outperformed by modern counterparts but retains a niche in systems where compatibility with legacy software is important.

7. Practical Tips

Power Supply

A minimum of 600 W with an 80+ Bronze certification. For multi-processor systems — from 850 W.

Compatibility

- Platforms: Requires PCIe 3.0 x16. Compatible with Windows 10/Linux, but drivers for Windows 11 may have limitations.

- Drivers: Use AMD FirePro Software 15.12 — the latest stable version supporting professional applications.

8. Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Reliability and long lifespan;

- Support for multi-display configurations;

- Large memory capacity for 2010-era tasks.

Cons:

- High power consumption;

- No support for modern APIs (DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.3);

- Limited performance in new applications.

9. Final Conclusion: Who Should Consider the FirePro S9050?

This graphics card is a solution for specialists who need to:

- Work with outdated software optimized for GCN;

- Use multiple displays for office or engineering tasks;

- Build a budget workstation for basic 3D modeling.

Price: The S9050 is no longer available in the market for new devices. Its modern counterparts (e.g., Radeon Pro W6600) start at $600.

Conclusion: The FirePro S9050 is a veteran in the professional market that should only be considered in specific scenarios. For most tasks in 2025, it's better to choose more recent solutions.

Basic

Label Name

AMD

Platform

Desktop

Launch Date

August 2014

Model Name

FirePro S9050

Generation

FirePro

Bus Interface

PCIe 3.0 x16

Transistors

4,313 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.

112

Foundry

TSMC

Process Size

28 nm

Architecture

GCN 1.0

Memory Specifications

Memory Size

12GB

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.

384bit

Memory Clock

1375MHz

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.

264.0 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.

28.80 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.

100.8 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.

806.4 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.

3.161 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.

1792

L1 Cache

16 KB (per CU)

L2 Cache

768KB

TDP

225W

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)

Power Connectors

1x 8-pin

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.

Suggested PSU

550W

Benchmarks

FP32 (float)

Score

3.161 TFLOPS

Compared to Other GPU

FP32 (float) / TFLOPS

Radeon Pro Vega 20

3.35 +6%

Radeon Sky 700

3.291 +4.1%

FirePro S9050

3.161

GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile

3.041 -3.8%

GeForce GTX 1650 GDDR6

2.906 -8.1%