AMD FirePro W5170M vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Comparison

# AMD FirePro W5170M vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti

The AMD FirePro W5170M and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti represent two different approaches to mobile and desktop graphics from the same era, built on 28 nm processes at TSMC. The FirePro W5170M is a mobile workstation part from 2014, while the GTX 650 Ti is a desktop gaming card from 2012. Despite their different target markets, benchmark results show the AMD part holds a consistent edge in both tested workloads. The FirePro W5170M achieves an average benchmark score of 8595, placing it in the 44th percentile of all GPUs, while the GTX 650 Ti scores 8053 on average, landing in the 42nd percentile. This puts the AMD card roughly 6.7% ahead in aggregate performance, with the gap widening significantly in Vulkan workloads.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher overall benchmark score?

A: The AMD FirePro W5170M leads with an average benchmark score of 8595, compared to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti's 8053. The AMD card also sits higher in the overall GPU percentile ranking at 44th versus 42nd for the NVIDIA card.

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

A: The FirePro W5170M scores 8140 in Geekbench OpenCL, beating the GTX 650 Ti's 7877 by 3.3%. This is a modest but clear win for the AMD workstation card.

Q: Is there a bigger difference in Vulkan performance?

A: Yes, the gap widens substantially in Vulkan. The FirePro W5170M scores 9050, while the GTX 650 Ti manages 8229 — a 10% advantage for the AMD part. This suggests the FirePro has stronger Vulkan driver support or hardware features.

Q: What are the closest rivals to each card?

A: The FirePro W5170M's nearest rival is the NVIDIA Quadro P2200, which scores 8686 (1.1% higher). The GTX 650 Ti's closest competitor is the NVIDIA GRID K2 at 8080 (0.3% higher). Both cards sit in a competitive mid-range bracket.

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The GTX 650 Ti has higher memory bandwidth at 86.40 GB/s, compared to the FirePro W5170M's 72.00 GB/s. However, the AMD card has double the memory capacity at 2 GB versus 1024 MB.

Q: Do both cards support DirectX 12?

A: Both support DirectX 12, but with different feature levels. The FirePro W5170M supports DirectX 12 (11_1), while the GTX 650 Ti supports DirectX 12 (11_0). The AMD card's higher feature level may enable additional rendering features in some titles.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide here is fundamental. AMD's FirePro W5170M uses the Tropo chip built on GCN 1.0 architecture, while NVIDIA's GTX 650 Ti uses the GK106S chip based on Kepler. Both are fabricated on 28 nm at TSMC, but the transistor counts differ notably. The GTX 650 Ti packs 2,540 million transistors on a 221 mm² die, while the FirePro W5170M has 1,500 million transistors on a much smaller 123 mm² die. Interestingly, the AMD chip achieves a higher transistor density at 12.2M per mm² versus 11.5M for NVIDIA.

The compute configurations diverge significantly. The GTX 650 Ti has more shading units (768 vs 640) and more texture mapping units (64 vs 40), but both have 16 ROPs. This gives the NVIDIA card a theoretical texture rate of 59.39 GTexel/s versus 37.00 GTexel/s for AMD. However, the FirePro W5170M has a higher pixel rate of 14.80 GPixel/s, slightly edging out the GTX 650 Ti's 14.85 GPixel/s. In raw FP32 compute, the GTX 650 Ti leads with 1,425.4 GFLOPS versus 1,184.0 GFLOPS for the FirePro.

Clock behavior differs as well. The FirePro W5170M has explicit base and boost clocks of 900 MHz and 925 MHz, while the GTX 650 Ti's clock speeds are not specified in the data. Memory clocks also favor the NVIDIA card: 1350 MHz (5.4 Gbps effective) versus 1125 MHz (4.5 Gbps effective). The GTX 650 Ti's memory bandwidth advantage of 86.40 GB/s over 72.00 GB/s stems from this higher clock speed, as both use 128-bit GDDR5 interfaces.

The FirePro W5170M supports Vulkan 1.2.170 and OpenGL 4.6, while the GTX 650 Ti supports Vulkan 1.2.175 and OpenGL 4.6. Both support DirectX 12, but AMD's implementation reaches feature level 11_1, one step above NVIDIA's 11_0. The physical form factors are entirely different: the FirePro is an MXM-A (3.0) module with no power connectors, while the GTX 650 Ti is a single-slot, 145 mm (5.7 inches) desktop card requiring a 1x 6-pin power connector and a 300 W suggested PSU.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

In the two head-to-head benchmark tests available, the AMD FirePro W5170M wins both. The first test, Geekbench OpenCL, shows the FirePro scoring 8140 against the GTX 650 Ti's 7877, a 3.3% margin. This is a respectable lead for a mobile workstation card against a desktop gaming GPU, especially considering the GTX 650 Ti's higher theoretical compute throughput. The result suggests that AMD's GCN architecture extracts better real-world compute performance per FLOP in this workload.

The second test, Geekbench Vulkan, reveals a much larger performance gap. The FirePro W5170M scores 9050, while the GTX 650 Ti manages only 8229. That is a 10% advantage for the AMD card. This is a substantial margin that cannot be explained by clock speeds or memory bandwidth alone — the GTX 650 Ti actually has advantages in both areas. The Vulkan result strongly indicates that the FirePro W5170M has superior low-level API optimization or hardware scheduling capabilities. This is particularly notable given that the GTX 650 Ti supports a slightly newer Vulkan version (1.2.175 vs 1.2.170).

When compared to their respective nearest rivals, both cards hold their ground reasonably well. The FirePro W5170M's 8595 average score sits close to the Intel Arc A380 (8558, only 0.4% lower) and the AMD Radeon HD 8870M (8462, 1.6% lower), while trailing the NVIDIA Quadro P2200 by 1.1%. The GTX 650 Ti's 8053 average is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M (8040, 0.2% higher) and the NVIDIA Quadro P5000 (8039, 0.2% lower), with the GTX 650 Ti Boost just 0.2% ahead and the NVIDIA GRID K2 0.3% ahead. Both cards are clearly positioned in a tight mid-range performance cluster, but the FirePro W5170M sits at the upper edge of its group while the GTX 650 Ti sits near the middle.

The Verdict

The benchmark data is unambiguous: the AMD FirePro W5170M outperforms the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti in both tested workloads. With a 3.3% lead in OpenCL and a commanding 10% lead in Vulkan, the AMD card is the stronger performer overall. Its average benchmark score of 8595 versus 8053 represents a 6.7% aggregate advantage, and its 44th percentile ranking versus 42nd confirms this across the broader GPU landscape.

However, the choice between these two cards depends entirely on the use case. The FirePro W5170M is an MXM mobile workstation module, designed for laptops and portable workstations. It draws no specified TDP and requires no power connectors, making it suitable for power-constrained environments. The GTX 650 Ti is a desktop card with a 110 W TDP, requiring a 6-pin power connector and a 300 W PSU, and it measures 145 mm in length. If you need a drop-in replacement for a mobile workstation or a low-power embedded system, the FirePro W5170M is the obvious choice — it wins all benchmarks and fits the MXM form factor.

If you are building or upgrading a desktop system, the GTX 650 Ti offers higher memory bandwidth (86.40 GB/s vs 72.00 GB/s), more shading units (768 vs 640), and higher FP32 compute (1,425.4 GFLOPS vs 1,184.0 GFLOPS), yet it still loses in every benchmark test. The data suggests the FirePro W5170M's architecture is simply more efficient at executing these workloads. That said, the GTX 650 Ti launched at 149 USD MSRP, which may factor into purchasing decisions for budget-conscious desktop builders — though the card is long end-of-life, as is the FirePro.

For professional or compute-oriented users, the FirePro W5170M is the clear winner. Its Vulkan performance advantage of 10% is substantial and indicates better future-proofing for modern APIs. For gamers targeting older DirectX 11 titles, the GTX 650 Ti's higher texture fill rate (59.39 GTexel/s vs 37.00 GTexel/s) might prove more beneficial, even if the synthetic benchmarks favor AMD.

Specification Differences

• Chip: AMD Tropo (GCN 1.0) vs NVIDIA GK106S (Kepler)
• Transistors: 1,500 million vs 2,540 million
• Die Size: 123 mm² vs 221 mm²
• Transistor Density: 12.2M / mm² vs 11.5M / mm²
• Base Clock: 900 MHz vs not specified
• Boost Clock: 925 MHz vs not specified
• Memory Clock: 1125 MHz (4.5 Gbps effective) vs 1350 MHz (5.4 Gbps effective)
• Memory Size: 2 GB vs 1024 MB
• Memory Bandwidth: 72.00 GB/s vs 86.40 GB/s
• Shading Units: 640 vs 768
• TMUs: 40 vs 64
• ROPs: 16 vs 16
• Pixel Rate: 14.80 GPixel/s vs 14.85 GPixel/s
• Texture Rate: 37.00 GTexel/s vs 59.39 GTexel/s
• FP32: 1,184.0 GFLOPS vs 1,425.4 GFLOPS
• TDP: not specified vs 110 W
• Slot Width: MXM Module vs Single-slot
• Power Connectors: None vs 1x 6-pin
• Suggested PSU: not specified vs 300 W
• Bus Interface: MXM-A (3.0) vs PCIe 3.0 x16
• Display Outputs: Portable Device Dependent vs 2x DVI, 1x mini-HDMI 1.4a
• DirectX: 12 (11_1) vs 12 (11_0)
• Vulkan: 1.2.170 vs 1.2.175
• Length: not specified vs 145 mm (5.7 inches)
• Release Date: 2014-08-24 vs 2012-10-08
• Launch MSRP: not available vs 149 USD

Where Each One Wins

The AMD FirePro W5170M wins in every benchmark category tested. In OpenCL, it beats the GTX 650 Ti by 3.3%, and in Vulkan, it extends that lead to 10%. This makes it the superior choice for compute workloads, especially those leveraging modern low-level APIs. Its lower power requirements (no TDP specified, no power connectors needed) make it ideal for mobile workstations where thermal and power budgets are tight. The 2 GB memory capacity is double that of the GTX 650 Ti, which may benefit larger datasets in professional applications.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti wins on paper in several specification categories that do not translate to benchmark victories. It has higher memory bandwidth (86.40 GB/s), more shading units (768), more TMUs (64), and higher FP32 compute (1,425.4 GFLOPS). Its texture rate of 59.39 GTexel/s is 60% higher than the FirePro's 37.00 GTexel/s, which could favor texture-heavy workloads in older DirectX 11 games. The card also supports a slightly newer Vulkan version (1.2.175 vs 1.2.170) and has a defined 110 W TDP with a 300 W suggested PSU, making power planning more predictable for desktop builders.

For desktop users with existing PCIe 3.0 x16 slots, the GTX 650 Ti's standard interface and display outputs (2x DVI, 1x mini-HDMI 1.4a) provide immediate connectivity. The FirePro W5170M's MXM-A form factor requires a compatible laptop or specialized carrier board, making it impractical for standard desktop builds. Conversely, the FirePro's portable device-dependent display outputs mean it can adapt to whatever panel is built into the host system.

In summary, the FirePro W5170M is the performance winner across all measured benchmarks, with particular strength in Vulkan. The GTX 650 Ti offers higher raw specifications and desktop convenience, but the data shows the AMD card delivers better real-world compute results despite its lower theoretical maximums.