AMD FirePro W5170M vs NVIDIA GRID K2 Comparison

# AMD FirePro W5170M vs NVIDIA GRID K2

The Verdict

The benchmark data presents a clear split between these two end-of-life professional GPUs. The NVIDIA GRID K2 wins the only shared benchmark decisively, posting an OpenCL score of 10,602 against the AMD FirePro W5170M's 8,140 — a 23.2% advantage. However, the GRID K2's aggregate position is weaker: it sits at the 42nd percentile of all GPUs, while the FirePro W5170M ranks at the 44th percentile. Despite winning the head-to-head, the GRID K2's average benchmark score of 8,080 is actually 6.0% lower than the FirePro W5170M's 8,595 average. This happens because the GRID K2 also carries a Metal benchmark score of 5,557, which drags its average down, while the FirePro W5170M has no such low-scoring result in its profile.

Who should pick which? From the data alone, the GRID K2 is the choice for compute-heavy OpenCL workloads where raw throughput matters; its 2.289 TFLOPS FP32 performance, 160.0 GB/s memory bandwidth, and 4 GB frame buffer give it a structural edge. The FirePro W5170M, conversely, is the better all-rounder for mobile workstation use, with a higher percentile ranking, better average benchmark score, and support for DirectX 12 (11_1) versus the GRID K2's DirectX 12 (11_0). The GRID K2 offers no display outputs, making it unsuitable for any workstation that needs to drive a monitor directly. The FirePro W5170M is a mobile MXM module with portable-device-dependent outputs, designed to live inside a laptop. The GRID K2 is a 267 mm dual-slot card with a 225 W TDP and dual power connectors — it belongs in a server chassis, not a desktop. For a mobile professional needing OpenCL and Vulkan capability in a laptop, the FirePro W5170M is the only sensible choice. For a virtualized server environment prioritizing raw compute, the GRID K2's benchmark win and larger memory pool make it the data-backed pick.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD FirePro W5170M, with an average benchmark score of 8,595, compared to the NVIDIA GRID K2's 8,080. This places the FirePro at the 44th percentile of all GPUs, two points above the GRID K2's 42nd percentile.

Q: In the head-to-head OpenCL benchmark, what is the exact performance gap?

A: The NVIDIA GRID K2 scores 10,602 versus the AMD FirePro W5170M's 8,140 in Geekbench OpenCL. The GRID K2 wins by 23.2%, as indicated by the FirePro's deltaPct of -23.2.

Q: How do the nearest rivals compare for each card?

A: The FirePro W5170M's closest rival is the Intel Arc A380, which scores 8,558 and is only 0.4% behind. It is also 1.1% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro P2200 (8,686) and 1.6% ahead of both the AMD Radeon HD 8870M (8,462) and NVIDIA GeForce MX330 (8,458). The GRID K2's nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost at 8,067, just 0.2% behind; it is also 0.2% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce 945M (8,099), 0.3% ahead of the GTX 650 Ti (8,053), and 0.5% ahead of the GTX 880M (8,040).

Q: What are the memory specifications of each GPU?

A: The AMD FirePro W5170M has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 72.00 GB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA GRID K2 doubles this to 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 160.0 GB/s — more than double the bandwidth.

Q: Does either GPU support modern graphics APIs?

A: Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan. The FirePro W5170M supports DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.170, while the GRID K2 supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and Vulkan 1.2.175. The GRID K2 additionally has a Geekbench Metal score of 5,557, indicating Metal support for Apple ecosystems.

Q: What is the physical form factor of each card?

A: The AMD FirePro W5170M is an MXM-A (3.0) module with no power connectors, designed for portable devices. The NVIDIA GRID K2 is a dual-slot, 267 mm (10.5 inches) long card requiring both a 6-pin and an 8-pin power connector, with a suggested 550 W power supply.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural lineages. The AMD FirePro W5170M uses the Tropo chip built on GCN 1.0 architecture, manufactured by TSMC on a 28 nm process. It integrates 1,500 million transistors on a 123 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.2 million per mm². The NVIDIA GRID K2 is based on the GK104 chip with Kepler architecture, also on TSMC's 28 nm process, but packs 3,540 million transistors onto a 294 mm² die — a transistor density of 12.0 million per mm². The die size difference is substantial: the GRID K2's die is more than twice the area of the FirePro's, and it holds more than double the transistors.

The compute resources diverge sharply. The GRID K2 features 1,536 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output units. The FirePro W5170M offers 640 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. This means the GRID K2 has 2.4 times the shading units, 3.2 times the TMUs, and twice the ROPs of the FirePro. Pixel throughput favors the GRID K2 at 23.84 GPixel/s versus the FirePro's 14.80 GPixel/s. Texture rate is even more lopsided: 95.36 GTexel/s for the GRID K2 versus 37.00 GTexel/s for the FirePro. FP32 compute is 2.289 TFLOPS for the GRID K2 versus 1,184.0 GFLOPS for the FirePro — the GRID K2 is roughly 93% faster in raw floating-point throughput.

Memory architecture also differs fundamentally. The GRID K2 uses a 256-bit memory bus with 4 GB of GDDR5, while the FirePro uses a 128-bit bus with 2 GB. The GRID K2's effective memory clock is 5 Gbps, producing 160.0 GB/s bandwidth. The FirePro runs at 4.5 Gbps effective, yielding 72.00 GB/s. The GRID K2's bandwidth advantage is 122%, a critical factor for memory-bound workloads. Neither card has ray tracing cores or tensor cores, reflecting their pre-RTX, pre-RDNA heritage. Both are end-of-life products, but their release dates differ: the GRID K2 launched on May 10, 2013, while the FirePro W5170M arrived on August 24, 2014.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification. The AMD FirePro W5170M has a base clock of 900 MHz and a boost clock of 925 MHz; the NVIDIA GRID K2 lists no base or boost clock in the data. Memory clocks differ: the FirePro runs at 1125 MHz (4.5 Gbps effective), while the GRID K2 runs at 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective). Memory capacity is 2 GB versus 4 GB, bus width is 128-bit versus 256-bit, and bandwidth is 72.00 GB/s versus 160.0 GB/s. Shading units are 640 versus 1,536; TMUs are 40 versus 128; ROPs are 16 versus 32. Pixel rate is 14.80 GPixel/s versus 23.84 GPixel/s. Texture rate is 37.00 GTexel/s versus 95.36 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 1,184.0 GFLOPS versus 2.289 TFLOPS.

Power and physical specifications diverge completely. The FirePro has no listed TDP and uses an MXM module slot with no power connectors. The GRID K2 draws 225 W, requires a 6-pin and an 8-pin power connector, needs a 550 W suggested power supply, and occupies a dual-slot form factor at 267 mm length. The FirePro is an MXM-A (3.0) card with portable-device-dependent display outputs; the GRID K2 has no display outputs at all. The bus interface is MXM-A (3.0) for the FirePro versus PCIe 3.0 x16 for the GRID K2. Transistor counts are 1,500 million versus 3,540 million; die sizes are 123 mm² versus 294 mm². The FirePro's launch MSRP is not listed; the GRID K2's launch MSRP is 5,199 USD. The FirePro has a predecessor (FirePro Mobility) and successor (Radeon Pro Mobile); the GRID K2 has neither.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only shared benchmark between these two GPUs is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is unambiguous. The NVIDIA GRID K2 scores 10,602, while the AMD FirePro W5170M scores 8,140. The GRID K2's winning margin is 23.2% — a substantial gap that reflects its structural advantages in shading units, memory bandwidth, and FP32 throughput. In this test, the GRID K2 outperforms the FirePro by 2,462 points, which is roughly equivalent to the FirePro's entire lead over its nearest rival, the Intel Arc A380.

However, the aggregate benchmark picture is more nuanced. The FirePro W5170M also has a Geekbench Vulkan score of 9,050, which combines with its OpenCL score to produce an average benchmark score of 8,595. The GRID K2 has an OpenCL score of 10,602 and a Metal score of 5,557, yielding an average of 8,080. The GRID K2's Metal score is dramatically lower than its OpenCL score, dragging its average down by 23.8% from its OpenCL peak. The FirePro's Vulkan score of 9,050 is 11.2% higher than its OpenCL score, which helps lift its average. This explains why the GRID K2 wins the head-to-head but ranks lower in overall percentile (42nd versus 44th) and has a lower average score.

The nearest-rival data reinforces the GRID K2's compute-oriented profile. Its closest competitor, the GTX 650 Ti Boost, scores 8,067 — only 0.2% behind the GRID K2's average. The GRID K2's average is also 0.2% behind the GeForce 945M (8,099), 0.3% ahead of the GTX 650 Ti (8,053), and 0.5% ahead of the GTX 880M (8,040). The FirePro W5170M sits in a slightly higher performance band: it is 0.4% ahead of the Arc A380 (8,558), 1.1% behind the Quadro P2200 (8,686), and 1.6% ahead of both the HD 8870M (8,462) and MX330 (8,458).

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GRID K2 wins in raw compute performance. Its OpenCL score of 10,602 is 23.2% higher than the FirePro's, and its FP32 throughput of 2.289 TFLOPS nearly doubles the FirePro's 1,184.0 GFLOPS. The GRID K2 also dominates in memory bandwidth at 160.0 GB/s versus 72.00 GB/s, and its 4 GB frame buffer doubles the FirePro's 2 GB. These specifications make it the clear choice for GPU-accelerated compute tasks such as rendering, simulation, or virtual desktop infrastructure where large datasets and high throughput are essential. The GRID K2's dual-slot, 225 W server-oriented design with no display outputs reinforces this: it is built to sit in a rack and process workloads remotely, not to drive a local monitor.

The AMD FirePro W5170M wins in overall efficiency and versatility. It ranks at the 44th percentile of all GPUs versus the GRID K2's 42nd, and its average benchmark score of 8,595 exceeds the GRID K2's 8,080 by 6.4%. Its Vulkan score of 9,050 is close to its OpenCL score, showing balanced performance across APIs. The FirePro supports DirectX 12 (11_1), a slightly newer feature level than the GRID K2's DirectX 12 (11_0). As an MXM module with no power connectors and no listed TDP, it is designed for mobile workstations where power and space are constrained. Its display outputs are portable-device-dependent, meaning it can drive a laptop screen or external displays, something the GRID K2 cannot do at all.

The use-case split is therefore clean. For a mobile workstation user running OpenGL, Vulkan, or DirectX applications who needs a GPU that fits inside a laptop, the FirePro W5170M is the only viable option of the two — the GRID K2 physically cannot be installed in a portable chassis. For a server administrator building a GPU-accelerated virtualized environment, the GRID K2's 23.2% OpenCL advantage, doubled memory capacity, and 122% higher bandwidth make it the data-backed choice, provided the 225 W power draw and dual-slot footprint are acceptable. The GRID K2's Metal score of 5,557 also gives it a niche advantage in Apple-centric compute workflows, though this is offset by its significantly lower average benchmark score. Ultimately, the GRID K2 is the compute specialist, and the FirePro W5170M is the balanced mobile performer.