AMD FirePro W4100 vs NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data presents a stark contrast between these two workstation GPUs, though the comparison is complicated by the fact that the two cards were tested under different benchmark suites. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell was evaluated across the PassMark suite and 3DMark Steel Nomad, while the AMD FirePro W4100 has results only from Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan tests. This means direct score-to-score comparisons are impossible, but the average benchmark scores and percentile rankings provide a clear overall picture.

Looking at the aggregate data, the NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell posts an average benchmark score of 6407, while the AMD FirePro W4100 averages 5987. That is a 7% advantage for the NVIDIA card in overall average performance. The percentile rankings tell a similar story, with the NVIDIA card sitting at the 37th percentile of all GPUs and the AMD card at the 34th percentile. These are both modest placements, indicating that neither card is positioned near the top of the performance hierarchy, but the NVIDIA part holds a consistent edge.

The NVIDIA card's strongest individual result comes from the PassMark G3D test, where it scores 24310. This is a massive number compared to its other PassMark results, which range from 78 in DirectX 12 to 311 in DirectX 9. The PassMark GPU Compute score of 15667 is also substantial, more than half of the G3D score and indicating strong compute throughput. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result of 9579.5 rounds out the NVIDIA card's modern API performance picture.

The AMD FirePro W4100, by contrast, shows its best result in Geekbench Vulkan with a score of 6496, which is actually higher than the NVIDIA card's average benchmark score of 6407. The AMD card's Geekbench OpenCL score of 5478 is lower but still respectable. This suggests that in certain compute-oriented workloads, particularly those leveraging Vulkan, the older AMD architecture can punch above its weight.

When examining the nearest rival data, the competitive positioning becomes clearer. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell's closest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE and GTX 580M, both with average scores of 6389, representing a mere 0.3% delta. The AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile and NVIDIA Quadro M5000M trail by 1.1% with scores of 6476 and 6481 respectively. This tight clustering indicates the NVIDIA card is situated in a dense performance band where small differences separate competitors.

The AMD FirePro W4100's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro K4000M with a score of 5986 (0% delta) and the NVIDIA Quadro K4000 at 5982 (0.1% delta). Interestingly, the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server appears in the AMD card's rival list with a score of 5996, showing a -0.2% delta, meaning the FirePro W4100 actually edges out that high-end server card in average benchmark score. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770M rounds out the list at 6000, also -0.2% behind the AMD card.

The PassMark sub-scores for the NVIDIA card reveal interesting characteristics. The DirectX 9 score of 311 is the highest among the DirectX tests, followed by DirectX 11 at 219, DirectX 10 at 175, and DirectX 12 at just 78. This inverted pattern suggests the card's drivers or architecture may not be fully optimized for modern DirectX 12 workloads, or that the test itself is not representative of the card's capabilities. The PassMark G2D score of 914 indicates solid 2D performance, which is often overlooked in gaming-focused reviews but matters for workstation productivity.

The Verdict

The data presents a clear but nuanced verdict. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell is the superior performer in aggregate, with a 420-point advantage in average benchmark score (6407 vs 5987) and a higher percentile ranking (37th vs 34th). For users who need maximum raw throughput, particularly in compute-heavy workloads, the NVIDIA card is the obvious choice.

However, the AMD FirePro W4100 is not without its merits. Its Geekbench Vulkan score of 6496 exceeds the NVIDIA card's average score, suggesting that in Vulkan-specific workloads, the AMD card can be competitive. Additionally, the FirePro W4100's nearest rival list includes the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server, which it actually beats by 0.2% - a surprising result that hints at the AMD card's efficiency in certain test conditions.

The production status of the two cards tells a significant story. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell is listed as "Active" production, released on 2025-10-20, while the AMD FirePro W4100 is "End-of-life" with a release date of 2014-08-12. The NVIDIA card is a current-generation product, while the AMD card is over a decade old. For anyone building a new workstation, the NVIDIA card is the only sensible choice from a longevity and support perspective.

The performance density also favors NVIDIA dramatically. The RTX PRO 5000 delivers its 6407 average score with 92,200 million transistors on a 5 nm process, while the FirePro W4100 achieves 5987 with just 1,500 million transistors on 28 nm. The NVIDIA card uses 61 times more transistors to achieve only 7% more average performance, reflecting the massive architectural investment in features like ray tracing cores and tensor cores that the AMD card entirely lacks.

For users who need modern API support, the NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, while the AMD card supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The NVIDIA card also offers substantially more memory (72 GB vs 2 GB) and much higher bandwidth (1.34 TB/s vs 64.00 GB/s), making it suitable for large datasets and high-resolution textures.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs spans more than a decade of development. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using the GB202 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The AMD FirePro W4100 uses the GCN 1.0 architecture with the Cape Verde chip, manufactured on a 28 nm process, also at TSMC. The process node difference alone - 5 nm vs 28 nm - explains much of the performance and efficiency gap.

The transistor counts are staggering in their disparity. The NVIDIA chip packs 92,200 million transistors into a 750 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 122.9 million per square millimeter. The AMD chip contains just 1,500 million transistors on a 123 mm² die, with a density of 12.2 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA chip is roughly 6 times larger in die area but contains 61 times more transistors, demonstrating the immense density advantage of modern manufacturing.

The NVIDIA card features 14,080 shading units, 440 texture mapping units, and 160 raster output units. It also includes 110 ray tracing cores and 440 tensor cores, reflecting the modern GPU's focus on ray-traced rendering and AI-accelerated workloads. The AMD FirePro W4100, by contrast, has 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs, with no ray tracing or tensor cores whatsoever. The AMD card's simpler architecture reflects its GCN 1.0 origins, which predate the ray tracing revolution.

Clock speeds tell a complex story. The NVIDIA card has a base clock of 1740 MHz and a boost clock of 2377 MHz, while the AMD card's core clocks are not specified in the data. The memory clocks differ significantly: the NVIDIA card runs at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective data rate, while the AMD card runs at 1000 MHz with 4 Gbps effective. The NVIDIA card's memory is GDDR7, while the AMD card uses GDDR5, representing two generations of memory technology.

The memory architecture is fundamentally different. NVIDIA provides 72 GB of GDDR7 on a 384-bit bus, achieving 1.34 TB/s of bandwidth. AMD provides 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, achieving 64.00 GB/s. The NVIDIA card offers 36 times more memory capacity and roughly 21 times more bandwidth, making it suitable for massive datasets, large language models, and high-resolution rendering that would be impossible on the AMD card.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every specification category. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell has a thermal design power of 300 W, while the AMD FirePro W4100 consumes just 50 W. This six-fold difference in power draw explains the NVIDIA card's dual-slot form factor and 1x 16-pin power connector requirement, while the AMD card is single-slot with no power connectors needed. The suggested power supply is 700 W for the NVIDIA card versus 250 W for the AMD card.

Physical dimensions vary considerably. The NVIDIA card measures 267 mm in length (10.5 inches), 111 mm in height (4.4 inches), and 40 mm in width (1.6 inches). The AMD card is significantly smaller at 171 mm in length (6.7 inches) and 69 mm in height (2.7 inches), with width not specified. The NVIDIA card's larger footprint accommodates its more powerful cooling solution and higher component count.

The bus interface differs by one generation: the NVIDIA card uses PCIe 5.0 x16, while the AMD card uses PCIe 3.0 x16. This provides the NVIDIA card with substantially higher host interface bandwidth, though the practical impact depends on workload characteristics. Display outputs also differ: the NVIDIA card offers 4x DisplayPort 2.1b, while the AMD card provides 4x mini-DisplayPort 1.2.

The NVIDIA card's pixel rate is 380.3 GPixel/s and texture rate is 1,045.9 GTexel/s, compared to the AMD card's 10.08 GPixel/s and 20.16 GTexel/s. The NVIDIA card delivers 66.94 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 66.94 TFLOPS of FP16 performance (at 1:1 ratio), while the AMD card delivers 645.1 GFLOPS of FP32 with no FP16 specification. The NVIDIA card's FP32 throughput is over 100 times higher than the AMD card's.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell has an average benchmark score of 6407, compared to the AMD FirePro W4100's 5987, a difference of 420 points or approximately 7%.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference between the two cards?

A: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell offers 72 GB of GDDR7 memory, while the AMD FirePro W4100 provides 2 GB of GDDR5 memory - a 36-fold difference in capacity.

Q: Does the AMD FirePro W4100 support ray tracing?

A: No, the AMD FirePro W4100 has no ray tracing cores listed in its specifications, while the NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell includes 110 ray tracing cores.

Q: Which card has a higher percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell ranks at the 37th percentile, while the AMD FirePro W4100 ranks at the 34th percentile of all GPUs.

Q: What are the production statuses of these two cards?

A: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell has an "Active" production status and was released on 2025-10-20, while the AMD FirePro W4100 is listed as "End-of-life" and was released on 2014-08-12.

Q: How do the power requirements differ?

A: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell has a 300 W TDP with a suggested 700 W power supply and requires a 1x 16-pin power connector. The AMD FirePro W4100 has a 50 W TDP, requires no power connectors, and suggests a 250 W power supply.