AMD FirePro W5100 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 has a higher average benchmark score of 14747, compared to the AMD FirePro W5100's 12847. This places the GTX 770 in the 57th percentile of all GPUs, while the FirePro W5100 sits in the 52nd percentile.

Q: How do the two cards compare in the OpenCL benchmark?

A: The GTX 770 scores 15707 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 32.1% higher than the FirePro W5100's score of 11888. The GTX 770 clearly wins this test.

Q: What about the Vulkan benchmark?

A: The GTX 770 also wins the Geekbench Vulkan test, scoring 19166 versus 13805 for the FirePro W5100. The delta is even larger here, at 38.8% in favor of the NVIDIA card.

Q: Which card has more memory, and does that affect performance?

A: The AMD FirePro W5100 has 4 GB of VRAM, double the GTX 770's 2 GB. However, the GTX 770 still outperforms it in both recorded benchmark tests, suggesting its other architectural advantages outweigh the memory capacity difference.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The GTX 770 has a TDP of 230 W and requires a 550 W suggested PSU, with 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin power connectors. The FirePro W5100 has a TDP of only 50 W, requires a 250 W suggested PSU, and needs no external power connectors.

Q: Which card is more recent in terms of release date?

A: The AMD FirePro W5100 was released on March 30, 2014, which is after the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770's release date of May 29, 2013. The GTX 770 is actually the older product.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 and AMD FirePro W5100 are built on fundamentally different architectures. The GTX 770 uses NVIDIA's Kepler architecture with the GK104 chip, while the FirePro W5100 uses AMD's GCN 2.0 architecture with the Bonaire chip. Both are manufactured by TSMC on the same 28 nm process node, but the similarities end there.

The GTX 770 packs 3,540 million transistors into a die size of 294 mm², resulting in a transistor density of 12.0 million transistors per mm². The FirePro W5100, by contrast, has 2,080 million transistors on a much smaller 160 mm² die, giving it a higher density of 13.0 million transistors per mm². This means the AMD chip is more compact but has fewer total resources.

In terms of compute resources, the GTX 770 has 1536 shading units, 128 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 32 raster operation units (ROPs). The FirePro W5100 has only 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. These numbers are exactly half or less than half of the GTX 770's counts, which is a significant architectural disadvantage for the AMD card.

The memory subsystems also differ substantially. The GTX 770 uses a 256-bit memory bus with GDDR5 memory running at 7 Gbps effective, delivering a bandwidth of 224.4 GB/s. The FirePro W5100 uses a narrower 128-bit bus with GDDR5 memory at 6 Gbps effective, resulting in a bandwidth of only 96.00 GB/s. The GTX 770 has more than twice the memory bandwidth.

The API support also shows differences. The GTX 770 supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175. The FirePro W5100 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The AMD card has a higher DirectX feature level, but the NVIDIA card has a slightly newer Vulkan version.

The physical and power characteristics are starkly different. The GTX 770 is a dual-slot card measuring 267 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 38 mm in width. The FirePro W5100 is a single-slot card measuring only 173 mm in length and 111 mm in height. The GTX 770 has a TDP of 230 W and requires external power connectors, while the FirePro W5100 has a TDP of just 50 W and draws power entirely from the PCIe slot.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded head-to-head data shows a decisive victory for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 in both benchmark tests. The GTX 770 wins 2 out of 2 benchmarks, while the FirePro W5100 wins none.

In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the GTX 770 scores 15707 while the FirePro W5100 scores 11888. This represents a 32.1% advantage for the NVIDIA card. The margin is substantial and reflects the GTX 770's larger shading unit count, higher texture rate, and significantly wider memory bus. The OpenCL workload benefits from raw compute throughput, and the GTX 770's 3.333 TFLOPS FP32 performance far exceeds the FirePro W5100's 1,428.5 GFLOPS.

The Geekbench Vulkan test shows an even larger gap. The GTX 770 scores 19166 versus the FirePro W5100's 13805, a 38.8% difference. Vulkan workloads often stress memory bandwidth and geometry processing, where the GTX 770's 224.4 GB/s bandwidth and 128 TMUs give it a clear edge over the FirePro W5100's 96.00 GB/s and 48 TMUs.

It is notably the FirePro W5100 has no recorded Geekbench Metal score, while the GTX 770 has a Metal score of 9369. This limits direct comparison on that API, but the available data consistently favors the GTX 770.

The average benchmark score tells the same story. The GTX 770's average of 14747 places it close to the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (14692, a 0.4% delta) and the NVIDIA Quadro M2000 (14532, a 1.5% delta). The FirePro W5100's average of 12847 is comparable to the AMD Radeon Pro 455 (12831, a 0.1% delta) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 (12830, a 0.1% delta). The GTX 770 sits in a higher performance tier.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every specification field in the database.

The GTX 770 uses the GK104 chip with Kepler architecture, while the FirePro W5100 uses the Bonaire chip with GCN 2.0 architecture. The GTX 770 belongs to the GeForce 700 generation, while the FirePro W5100 belongs to the FirePro GCN (Wx100) generation.

The GTX 770 has a base clock of 1046 MHz and a boost clock of 1085 MHz. The FirePro W5100 has no recorded base or boost clock in the database. The memory clocks also differ: the GTX 770 runs at 1753 MHz (7 Gbps effective), while the FirePro W5100 runs at 1500 MHz (6 Gbps effective).

Memory capacity favors the AMD card: 4 GB versus 2 GB. However, the GTX 770 has a wider 256-bit bus versus 128-bit, and much higher bandwidth: 224.4 GB/s versus 96.00 GB/s.

The compute unit counts are heavily in favor of the GTX 770: 1536 shading units versus 768, 128 TMUs versus 48, and 32 ROPs versus 16. The pixel rate is 34.72 GPixel/s for the GTX 770 versus 14.88 GPixel/s for the FirePro W5100. The texture rate is 138.9 GTexel/s versus 44.64 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 3.333 TFLOPS versus 1,428.5 GFLOPS.

Power consumption is dramatically different: the GTX 770 has a TDP of 230 W, while the FirePro W5100 has a TDP of 50 W. The GTX 770 is dual-slot with 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin power connectors, while the FirePro W5100 is single-slot with no power connectors. The suggested PSU is 550 W for the GTX 770 and 250 W for the FirePro W5100.

Physical dimensions favor the FirePro W5100 in length: 173 mm versus 267 mm for the GTX 770. Both share the same height of 111 mm, but the GTX 770 has a width of 38 mm while the FirePro W5100 has no recorded width.

Display outputs differ: the GTX 770 has 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.2. The FirePro W5100 has 4x DisplayPort 1.2.

The GTX 770 has a launch MSRP of 399 USD, while the FirePro W5100 has no recorded launch MSRP. Both cards are end-of-life in production status. The GTX 770's predecessor is the GeForce 600 series and its successor is the GeForce 900 series. The FirePro W5100's predecessor is FirePro Terascale and its successor is Radeon Pro Polaris.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 is the clear winner in raw compute performance. It wins both recorded benchmark tests by margins of 32.1% and 38.8% over the FirePro W5100. The GTX 770's advantages in shading units, TMUs, ROPs, memory bandwidth, and clock speeds make it the stronger choice for any workload that depends on parallel processing throughput.

The GTX 770 also holds an advantage in the average benchmark score comparison. Its average of 14747 places it in the 57th percentile of all GPUs, and it sits within 2.2% of cards like the AMD Radeon Pro 560X and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti. The FirePro W5100, with an average of 12847, sits in the 52nd percentile and is closely matched with the AMD Radeon 740M and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670.

Where the FirePro W5100 wins is in efficiency and physical design. The 50 W TDP is dramatically lower than the GTX 770's 230 W, which means the FirePro W5100 can be installed in systems with a 250 W PSU and requires no auxiliary power connectors. The single-slot design and shorter 173 mm length make it suitable for space-constrained chassis where the dual-slot, 267 mm GTX 770 would not fit.

The FirePro W5100 also offers double the memory capacity at 4 GB versus 2 GB. For workloads that are memory-capacity-bound rather than bandwidth-bound, the larger frame buffer could be beneficial. The card also has four DisplayPort 1.2 outputs, which is useful for multi-monitor professional setups.

The API support shows a mixed picture. The FirePro W5100 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), which is a higher feature level than the GTX 770's DirectX 12 (11_0). However, the GTX 770 has a slightly newer Vulkan version at 1.2.175 versus 1.2.170. OpenGL support is identical at 4.6 for both.

For use cases, the GTX 770 is best suited for compute-heavy tasks where maximum throughput is required and power consumption is not a primary concern. The FirePro W5100 excels in scenarios where low power draw, compact size, and multiple display outputs are priorities, such as professional workstation environments with limited space and cooling. The data does not show any benchmark where the FirePro W5100 outperforms the GTX 770, so the choice ultimately depends on system constraints rather than raw performance.