AMD FirePro W5000 vs AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded database contains a single direct head-to-head benchmark between these two professional workstation cards: Geekbench OpenCL. The AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 takes the win decisively, posting a score of 24,217 against the AMD FirePro W5000's 9,803. That represents a 59.5% advantage for the newer card, a massive gap that underscores the generational shift between the two.

Looking at the broader benchmark landscape, the FirePro W5000 has only that one OpenCL result in the database, which also serves as its average benchmark score. The Radeon Pro WX 5100, by contrast, has a much richer benchmark profile. Beyond OpenCL, it records a Geekbench Metal score of 29,003 and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 26,909. In the Passmark suite, it posts scores of 88 in DirectX 9, 36 in DirectX 11, 29 in DirectX 10, and 26 in DirectX 12, alongside a G2D score of 777, a G3D score of 5,496, and a GPU compute score of 2,053.

The average benchmark score tells a slightly different story than the single head-to-head. The FirePro W5000's average is 9,803, while the Radeon Pro WX 5100's average is 8,863. This appears counterintuitive given the OpenCL result, but it reflects the fact that the WX 5100's average includes all of its benchmark results, many of which use different testing methodologies. The OpenCL test is the only apples-to-apples comparison available, and there the WX 5100 is clearly superior.

The percentile rankings place both cards in similar territory. The FirePro W5000 sits at the 47th percentile against all GPUs in the database, while the Radeon Pro WX 5100 sits at the 44th percentile. The FirePro W5000's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (average score 9,780, a 0.2% delta), the NVIDIA Quadro M2000M (9,832, -0.3%), the NVIDIA Quadro 6000 (9,846, -0.4%), and the NVIDIA Tesla M10 (9,724, 0.8%). These deltas are all within one percentage point, indicating that the FirePro W5000 sits in a tightly clustered performance band.

The Radeon Pro WX 5100's nearest rivals are quite different. The AMD Radeon R9 M265X (8,851, 0.1% delta), the AMD Radeon 550X (8,918, -0.6%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile (8,746, 1.3%), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 v2 (8,743, 1.4%). Again, the deltas are small, but the WX 5100's average sits below its OpenCL score, pulled down by the diverse test set.

Where Each One Wins

The Radeon Pro WX 5100 wins the only direct comparison available, and it wins by a wide margin. In OpenCL compute workloads, the 59.5% delta is substantial enough that any workload leveraging that API will show a clear preference for the newer card. The WX 5100 also demonstrates strong performance across multiple modern APIs in its own benchmark set, with Metal, Vulkan, and OpenCL scores all exceeding 24,000 points.

The FirePro W5000, with its single OpenCL result, does not show wins in any recorded head-to-head comparison. However, its average benchmark score of 9,803 is higher than the WX 5100's average of 8,863, which suggests that in the specific mix of tests that produce the WX 5100's average, the older card's single data point might align with a different workload profile. That said, the database records zero wins for the FirePro W5000 and one win for the Radeon Pro WX 5100 in head-to-head tests.

For legacy DirectX workloads, the WX 5100 shows varying results: DirectX 9 scores highest at 88, while DirectX 10 and 11 drop to 29 and 36 respectively, and DirectX 12 lands at 26. These Passmark numbers indicate that older DirectX 9 applications may run relatively well, but the card does not excel in the newer DirectX 12 path within that specific test. The FirePro W5000 has no comparable data in the database, so no direct comparison is possible for those APIs.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different generations of AMD's Graphics Core Next architecture. The FirePro W5000 uses the Pitcairn chip built on GCN 1.0, fabricated by TSMC on a 28 nm process. The Radeon Pro WX 5100 uses the Ellesmere chip built on GCN 4.0, fabricated by GlobalFoundries on a 14 nm process. This process shrink from 28 nm to 14 nm is a fundamental driver of the performance difference.

Transistor counts reflect the architectural progression. The FirePro W5000 packs 2,800 million transistors on a 212 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 13.2M per mm². The Radeon Pro WX 5100 carries 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die, with a density of 24.6M per mm². The newer card nearly doubles the transistor count while only slightly increasing the die area.

The compute resources differ dramatically. The FirePro W5000 has 768 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 32 raster operation units. The Radeon Pro WX 5100 has 1,792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The shading unit count more than doubles, and the texture units jump by a factor of 2.33, while ROPs remain equal at 32.

Clock behavior also differs. The FirePro W5000 has no recorded base or boost clock in the database, only a memory clock of 800 MHz (3.2 Gbps effective). The Radeon Pro WX 5100 has a base clock of 713 MHz and a boost clock of 1,086 MHz, with memory at 1,250 MHz (5 Gbps effective). The boost clock on the WX 5100 represents a 52.3% increase over its base clock, which contributes to its throughput advantages.

Memory configurations differ in capacity but not in bus width. Both cards use GDDR5 with a 256-bit memory bus. The FirePro W5000 has 2 GB of memory and 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth, while the Radeon Pro WX 5100 has 8 GB and 160.0 GB/s. The bandwidth advantage for the WX 5100 is about 56% higher, and the capacity advantage is fourfold.

The Verdict

The recorded data points overwhelmingly toward the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 as the stronger performer. In the only direct head-to-head benchmark, it leads by 59.5% in OpenCL. Its architecture provides more than double the shading units, nearly 2.5 times the texture units, and four times the memory capacity, all within the same 75 W TDP envelope and single-slot form factor. Both cards share a 75 W TDP, a single-slot width, no power connectors, and a suggested PSU of 250 W, meaning the WX 5100 achieves its advantage without requiring additional power delivery.

The FirePro W5000 does hold a slight edge in average benchmark score and percentile ranking (47th versus 44th), but that is an artifact of the different benchmark sets recorded for each card. When both are subjected to the same OpenCL test, the WX 5100 wins decisively.

For users running compute-heavy professional workloads, the Radeon Pro WX 5100 is the clear choice based on the OpenCL result and its broader API support, including Vulkan 1.3 compared to the FirePro W5000's Vulkan 1.2.170. The WX 5100 also offers DirectX 12 (12_0) support, while the FirePro W5000 only reaches DirectX 12 (11_1). Both cards support OpenGL 4.6.

The FirePro W5000 might still appeal to scenarios where its specific benchmark profile aligns with legacy workloads, but the database does not contain evidence of such an advantage. The single recorded win for the WX 5100, combined with its architectural superiority, makes the verdict straightforward.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins the only direct benchmark comparison in the database?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 24,217 against the AMD FirePro W5000's 9,803, a 59.5% margin.

Q: How do the average benchmark scores compare?

A: The FirePro W5000 has an average benchmark score of 9,803, while the Radeon Pro WX 5100 has an average of 8,863. The WX 5100's average is pulled down by its diverse test set, but the direct OpenCL comparison favors it heavily.

Q: What are the memory specifications for each card?

A: The FirePro W5000 has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth. The Radeon Pro WX 5100 has 8 GB of GDDR5 on the same 256-bit bus with 160.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Do both cards require the same power setup?

A: Yes, both cards have a 75 W TDP, are single-slot, have no power connectors, and list a suggested PSU of 250 W.

Q: What API level does each card support for DirectX?

A: The FirePro W5000 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), while the Radeon Pro WX 5100 supports DirectX 12 (12_0). Both support OpenGL 4.6, but the WX 5100 supports Vulkan 1.3 compared to the FirePro's Vulkan 1.2.170.

Q: What are the shading unit counts?

A: The FirePro W5000 has 768 shading units, while the Radeon Pro WX 5100 has 1,792 shading units.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD FirePro W5000 | AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 |

|---|---|---|

| Chip | Pitcairn | Ellesmere |

| Architecture | GCN 1.0 | GCN 4.0 |

| Generation | FirePro GCN (Wx000) | Radeon Pro Polaris (WX x100) |

| Process Node | 28 nm | 14 nm |

| Foundry | TSMC | GlobalFoundries |

| Transistors | 2,800 million | 5,700 million |

| Die Size | 212 mm² | 232 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 13.2M / mm² | 24.6M / mm² |

| Base Clock | Not recorded | 713 MHz |

| Boost Clock | Not recorded | 1,086 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 800 MHz (3.2 Gbps effective) | 1,250 MHz (5 Gbps effective) |

| Memory Size | 2 GB | 8 GB |

| Memory Bandwidth | 102.4 GB/s | 160.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 768 | 1,792 |

| TMUs | 48 | 112 |

| Pixel Rate | 26.40 GPixel/s | 34.75 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 39.60 GTexel/s | 121.6 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 1,267.2 GFLOPS | 3.892 TFLOPS |

| Display Outputs | 1x DVI, 2x DisplayPort 1.2 | 4x DisplayPort 1.4a |

| DirectX Support | 12 (11_1) | 12 (12_0) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.2.170 | 1.3 |

| Length | 183 mm (7.2 inches) | 173 mm (6.8 inches) |

| Release Date | 2012-08-06 | 2016-11-17 |

| Predecessor | FirePro Terascale | Radeon Pro GCN |

| Successor | Radeon Pro Polaris | Radeon Pro Vega |

| Launch MSRP | 599 USD | 499 USD |

| Average Benchmark Score | 9,803 | 8,863 |

| Percentile vs All GPUs | 47 | 44 |

Both cards share identical values for ROPs (32), TDP (75 W), slot width (single-slot), power connectors (none), suggested PSU (250 W), bus interface (PCIe 3.0 x16), height (111 mm for the FirePro, 112 mm for the WX 5100), production status (end-of-life), and memory type (GDDR5).