AMD FirePro W5100 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile and the AMD FirePro W5100 are separated by seven years of GPU evolution, and the benchmark data reflects a generational chasm. In the only two head-to-head tests available, the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile delivers a landslide victory, posting a Geekbench OpenCL score of 57,915 against the FirePro W5100’s 11,888, a 387.2% advantage. The Vulkan results tell a similar story, with the NVIDIA part scoring 55,812 to the AMD card’s 13,805, a 304.3% lead. These are not incremental gains; they represent a complete overhaul in compute capability, shading throughput, and API support that leaves the older workstation GPU in a different performance tier.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most striking data point is the Geekbench OpenCL result, where the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile scores nearly five times higher than the FirePro W5100. With a delta of 387.2%, this is not a close contest but a rout. The NVIDIA GPU’s 5.299 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, enabled by 2,560 shading units, dwarfs the AMD card’s 1,428.5 GFLOPS from 768 shading units. In practical terms, this means the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile can process massively parallel workloads—like rendering, physics simulations, or compute shaders—at a rate that the FirePro W5100 cannot approach, regardless of driver optimizations or workload tuning.

The Vulkan benchmark reinforces this dominance, with the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile achieving 55,812 points versus 13,805 for the FirePro W5100, a 304.3% margin. Vulkan’s low-overhead nature tends to favor newer architectures with better draw-call handling and asynchronous compute. The RTX 3050 Ti Mobile’s Ampere architecture, with its dedicated RT and tensor cores, is designed for modern graphics APIs, while the GCN 2.0-based FirePro W5100 was built for an era where DirectX 11 and OpenGL dominated. The result is a disparity that shows up even in synthetic tests, where the newer card’s architectural advantages are fully exposed.

Looking at the broader benchmark landscape, the average scores place these two cards nearly level—12,940 for the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile versus 12,847 for the FirePro W5100. This is where the data becomes curious. The head-to-head tests show an overwhelming NVIDIA victory, yet the aggregate average suggests parity. The explanation lies in the benchmark mix: the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile’s PassMark scores (e.g., 10,093 in G3D) and the FirePro W5100’s strong standing in its nearest-rival comparisons (within 0.6% of the GeForce GTX 670) point to different strengths. The FirePro W5100’s 52nd percentile versus the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile’s 53rd percentile confirms that in legacy or mixed workloads, the older card holds its ground, but in modern, compute-heavy tests, it is left far behind.

Where Each One Wins

The data indicates that the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile wins decisively in every modern, compute-intensive scenario. Its 5.299 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and support for DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) mean it can handle ray tracing, variable rate shading, and mesh shaders—features the FirePro W5100’s DirectX 12 (12_0) simply cannot execute. The 20 RT cores and 80 tensor cores on the NVIDIA GPU are absent entirely from the AMD part, making the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile the only option for AI-accelerated workloads or real-time ray tracing. In OpenCL and Vulkan, the two tests where they are directly compared, the NVIDIA card wins by margins of 387% and 304%, respectively, which are not niche advantages but fundamental capabilities.

The FirePro W5100 has no head-to-head wins, but its data suggests it is not without merit in specific legacy contexts. Its 96.00 GB/s memory bandwidth, while half the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile’s 192.0 GB/s, is paired with GDDR5 memory and a 128-bit bus, which was adequate for its 2014-era workstation tasks. The 4 GB frame buffer matches the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile’s capacity, so memory size is not a differentiator. Where the FirePro W5100 might edge out in a qualitative sense is power efficiency—its 50 W TDP is 25 W lower than the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile—and in its 4x DisplayPort 1.2 outputs, which are fixed and ready for multi-monitor setups, whereas the NVIDIA card’s outputs are listed as portable-device dependent. For a static workstation with a 250 W suggested PSU, the FirePro W5100’s lower power draw and dedicated display outputs could be preferable, though the benchmark evidence shows its compute performance is far inferior.

The Verdict

Based strictly on the data, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile is the clear choice for anyone prioritizing raw performance, modern API support, or compute acceleration. Its 387.2% lead in OpenCL and 304.3% lead in Vulkan over the FirePro W5100 are not marginal—they are transformative. The 5.299 TFLOPS FP32 rate, 82.80 GTexel/s texture fill rate, and 33.12 GPixel/s pixel rate are all multiples of the AMD card’s corresponding figures (1,428.5 GFLOPS, 44.64 GTexel/s, 14.88 GPixel/s). For gaming, content creation, or any GPU-accelerated task that uses modern APIs, the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile is categorically superior.

The AMD FirePro W5100 should only be considered by users with specific legacy requirements. Its 50 W TDP and single-slot design make it easier to integrate into small form-factor or low-power systems, and its 4x DisplayPort 1.2 outputs are a fixed, predictable interface. Its 52nd percentile ranking versus the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile’s 53rd is surprisingly close, but this is misleading: the FirePro W5100’s average is buoyed by older benchmark suites where its GCN architecture was optimized. In any modern test, the data shows it is outclassed by a factor of three to four. The verdict is clear: pick the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile for performance, pick the FirePro W5100 only if you need a low-power, single-slot card with fixed DisplayPort outputs and are willing to accept a 300%+ performance deficit.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile has an average score of 12,940, which is 0.7% higher than the AMD FirePro W5100’s 12,847, placing it at the 53rd percentile versus the 52nd.

Q: How much faster is the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile in OpenCL compute?

A: In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile scores 57,915 against the FirePro W5100’s 11,888, a 387.2% advantage.

Q: Does the FirePro W5100 win any head-to-head benchmarks?

A: No. In the two head-to-head tests (Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan), the FirePro W5100 loses both, with 0 wins versus 2 for the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile.

Q: What is the difference in memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX 3050 Ti Mobile has 192.0 GB/s of bandwidth from GDDR6 memory, while the FirePro W5100 has 96.00 GB/s from GDDR5, both on a 128-bit bus.

Q: Are there any architectural features the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile has that the FirePro W5100 lacks?

A: Yes. The RTX 3050 Ti Mobile has 20 RT cores and 80 tensor cores, which are absent (null) on the FirePro W5100, enabling ray tracing and AI acceleration.

Q: Which card has a lower TDP?

A: The AMD FirePro W5100 has a 50 W TDP, which is 25 W lower than the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile’s 75 W TDP.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on fundamentally different foundations. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile uses the GA106 chip on an 8 nm Samsung process, packing 12,000 million transistors into a 276 mm² die. This yields a transistor density of 43.5 million per mm², a figure that reflects modern fabrication techniques. The AMD FirePro W5100, in contrast, uses the Bonaire chip on a 28 nm TSMC process, with 2,080 million transistors on a 160 mm² die, for a density of just 13.0 million per mm². The RTX 3050 Ti Mobile’s Ampere architecture supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the FirePro W5100’s GCN 2.0 architecture is limited to DirectX 12 (12_0). Both support OpenGL 4.6, but the NVIDIA card offers Vulkan 1.4 versus the AMD card’s Vulkan 1.2.170.

The shading resources are starkly different. The RTX 3050 Ti Mobile has 2,560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, alongside 20 RT cores and 80 tensor cores. The FirePro W5100 has 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 16 ROPs, with no RT or tensor cores. This translates to a 5.299 TFLOPS FP32 rate for the NVIDIA card versus 1,428.5 GFLOPS for the AMD card. The RTX 3050 Ti Mobile also supports FP16 at a 1:1 ratio (5.299 TFLOPS), while the FirePro W5100 has no listed FP16 capability. The pixel and texture rates tell the same story: 33.12 GPixel/s and 82.80 GTexel/s for NVIDIA, versus 14.88 GPixel/s and 44.64 GTexel/s for AMD. These are not just differences in clock speed but in core count and architecture design, with Ampere’s unified shader design and dedicated accelerator blocks giving it a massive throughput advantage.

Specification Differences

The most obvious specification difference is the process node: 8 nm for the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile versus 28 nm for the FirePro W5100. This drives the transistor count (12,000 million versus 2,080 million) and die size (276 mm² versus 160 mm²). Memory type also differs: GDDR6 versus GDDR5, with the NVIDIA card achieving 192.0 GB/s bandwidth versus 96.00 GB/s. The clocks are listed as base 735 MHz and boost 1035 MHz for the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile, while the FirePro W5100 has no base or boost clock listed. Both have 4 GB of memory on a 128-bit bus.

Power and physical specifications diverge significantly. The RTX 3050 Ti Mobile has a 75 W TDP, is an IGP (integrated graphics processor) with no power connectors, and has a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface. The FirePro W5100 has a 50 W TDP, is a single-slot card with no power connectors, a 250 W suggested PSU, and a PCIe 3.0 x16 interface. Its dimensions are 173 mm (6.8 inches) in length and 111 mm (4.4 inches) in height. Display outputs differ: the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile is portable-device dependent, while the FirePro W5100 has 4x DisplayPort 1.2. Release dates are also distinct: May 2021 for the NVIDIA card, March 2014 for the AMD card. Both are end-of-life, but the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile’s predecessor is the GeForce 20 Mobile, while the FirePro W5100’s predecessor is the FirePro Terascale and its successor is the Radeon Pro Polaris.