AMD FirePro W8000 vs NVIDIA P104-100 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a decisive performance advantage for the NVIDIA P104-100 across every shared benchmark. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the P104-100 scores 52,368 points against the AMD FirePro W8000’s 24,440 points. That is a delta of 114.3%, meaning the NVIDIA card more than doubles the AMD card’s OpenCL output. This is the single largest gap in the comparison, and it sets the tone for the rest of the analysis.

The Vulkan results are closer but still favor NVIDIA clearly. The P104-100 posts 45,165 points, while the FirePro W8000 manages 33,981 points. The delta here is 32.9%, a substantial margin that confirms the NVIDIA part’s superiority in modern graphics API workloads. The FirePro W8000 is not uncompetitive in absolute terms, but it trails by roughly a third, which is a significant deficit in compute-heavy tasks.

Looking at the broader database context, the P104-100’s average benchmark score is 32,982, which places it at the 77th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA T600 Mobile at 32,849 (0.4% behind), the NVIDIA T550 Mobile at 33,161 (0.5% ahead), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile at 33,170 (0.6% ahead). The AMD Radeon Pro 570 sits at 33,207, just 0.7% ahead. These deltas are tiny, indicating the P104-100 is tightly clustered with modern mobile and entry-level desktop parts despite its mining-focused design.

The FirePro W8000, by contrast, has an average benchmark score of 29,211, placing it at the 75th percentile. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH at 29,197 (0% delta), the Intel Arc A370M at 29,175 (0.1% behind), and the AMD Radeon RX 470 at 28,996 (0.7% behind). The AMD Radeon RX 6800M sits at 28,874, which is 1.2% behind the FirePro. This grouping shows the W8000 is competitive with mid-range parts from several generations, but it cannot match the P104-100’s raw compute output.

The head-to-head record is 2 wins for the NVIDIA P104-100 and 0 for the AMD FirePro W8000. There is no benchmark in the database where the FirePro comes out ahead. The OpenCL margin is particularly lopsided, and even the Vulkan result, which is the FirePro’s better showing, still leaves it behind by a wide margin. For any workload that relies on OpenCL or Vulkan, the data points firmly to the NVIDIA card.

The Verdict

The NVIDIA P104-100 is the clear winner in this comparison. It wins both recorded head-to-head benchmarks, and its average score of 32,982 is 12.9% higher than the FirePro W8000’s 29,211. The percentile rankings reinforce this: 77th for the P104-100 versus 75th for the FirePro W8000. While both cards sit in a similar tier of the overall GPU landscape, the NVIDIA part delivers meaningfully more performance per benchmark.

Who should pick the NVIDIA P104-100? Anyone whose workload is dominated by OpenCL or Vulkan compute tasks. The 114.3% OpenCL advantage is not a marginal edge, it is a doubling of throughput. The 32.9% Vulkan lead is also substantial. The P104-100’s nearest rivals are all within 0.7% of its average score, which means it slots into a competitive performance band, but it does so with a much higher ceiling in the specific tests recorded.

Who should pick the AMD FirePro W8000? The data does not support choosing it on raw performance grounds. Its average score is lower, its head-to-head record is 0-2, and its OpenCL result is less than half of the NVIDIA card’s. The FirePro does have a higher percentile rank than some of its nearest rivals, but that does not translate into a win against the P104-100. For users who need display outputs, the FirePro has four DisplayPort connections and an SDI output, while the P104-100 has none. But strictly from benchmark data, the NVIDIA card is the better performer.

The verdict is straightforward: the NVIDIA P104-100 wins on every measured metric, and the margins are wide enough to matter in real workloads. The FirePro W8000 is not a bad card, it is simply outclassed by a newer, more compute-focused design.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different architectural generations and design philosophies. The NVIDIA P104-100 uses the GP104 chip built on the Pascal architecture, fabricated on a 16 nm process at TSMC. It packs 7,200 million transistors into a 314 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 22.9 million per square millimeter. The AMD FirePro W8000 uses the Tahiti chip with the GCN 1.0 architecture, also from TSMC but on a 28 nm process. It contains 4,313 million transistors on a larger 352 mm² die, resulting in a lower density of 12.3 million per square millimeter.

The process node difference is significant. The 16 nm node allows NVIDIA to pack nearly twice the transistor count onto a smaller die, which explains the P104-100’s higher compute throughput. The FirePro’s 28 nm process was state of the art in its era, but it cannot compete with the density advantage of the newer node.

The memory subsystems also differ. The P104-100 uses 4 GB of GDDR5X memory on a 256 bit bus, delivering 320.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The FirePro W8000 also has 4 GB, but it uses GDDR5 on the same 256 bit bus, yielding only 176.0 GB/s. That is a 144.3 GB/s gap in memory bandwidth, which directly impacts compute-heavy workloads that are memory bound.

The API support differs as well. The P104-100 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The FirePro W8000 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The higher Vulkan version on the NVIDIA card may explain part of its 32.9% Vulkan benchmark lead, though the compute hardware differences are likely the dominant factor.

The P104-100 has no display outputs, reflecting its mining GPU heritage. The FirePro W8000 has 4x DisplayPort 1.2 and 1x SDI output, making it a viable option for workstation display tasks. The P104-100 also uses a PCIe 1.0 x4 bus interface, which is a severe bottleneck for data transfer, while the FirePro uses PCIe 3.0 x16. This is an unusual combination: the NVIDIA card has far more compute power but a much slower host interface.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every major specification. The P104-100 has a base clock of 1607 MHz and a boost clock of 1733 MHz, while the FirePro W8000 has no recorded base or boost clock in the database. The NVIDIA card’s memory runs at 1251 MHz with 10 Gbps effective, while the AMD card’s memory runs at 1375 MHz with 5.5 Gbps effective. The P104-100’s memory bandwidth is 320.3 GB/s versus 176.0 GB/s for the FirePro.

The shading unit counts are close: 1920 for the P104-100 versus 1792 for the FirePro. The texture mapping units are 120 against 112. The render output units differ more sharply: 64 for the NVIDIA card versus 32 for the AMD card. This explains the pixel rate gap: 110.9 GPixel/s for the P104-100 versus 28.80 GPixel/s for the FirePro. The texture rate is similarly lopsided: 208.0 GTexel/s versus 100.8 GTexel/s.

The FP32 compute figures are 6.655 TFLOPS for the P104-100 versus 3.226 TFLOPS for the FirePro. The NVIDIA card also has an FP16 rating of 104.0 GFLOPS with a 1:64 ratio, while the AMD card has no recorded FP16 capability. The power consumption is reversed: the FirePro W8000 has a TDP of 225 W and a suggested PSU of 550 W, while the P104-100 has no TDP recorded but a suggested PSU of 200 W. The FirePro requires 2x 6-pin power connectors, while the P104-100 uses a single 8-pin.

The physical dimensions are similar: the P104-100 is 267 mm long and dual-slot, while the FirePro is 279 mm long, 111 mm tall, and also dual-slot. The bus interfaces differ as noted: PCIe 1.0 x4 for the NVIDIA card versus PCIe 3.0 x16 for the AMD card. The release dates are far apart: the P104-100 came out in December 2017, while the FirePro launched in June 2012. The FirePro had a launch MSRP of 1,599 USD; the P104-100 has no recorded launch MSRP.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins in OpenCL performance?

A: The NVIDIA P104-100 wins decisively with 52,368 points against the AMD FirePro W8000’s 24,440 points, a delta of 114.3%.

Q: How do the two cards compare in Vulkan benchmarks?

A: The P104-100 scores 45,165 points compared to the FirePro W8000’s 33,981 points, giving the NVIDIA card a 32.9% advantage.

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each card?

A: The P104-100 has an average score of 32,982, while the FirePro W8000 averages 29,211. The NVIDIA card ranks at the 77th percentile, and the AMD card ranks at the 75th percentile.

Q: Do both cards have the same memory size?

A: Yes, both have 4 GB of memory, but the P104-100 uses GDDR5X with 320.3 GB/s bandwidth, while the FirePro uses GDDR5 with 176.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Can either card output video?

A: The AMD FirePro W8000 has 4x DisplayPort 1.2 and 1x SDI outputs. The NVIDIA P104-100 has no display outputs.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The FirePro W8000 has a TDP of 225 W and requires a 550 W suggested PSU with 2x 6-pin connectors. The P104-100 has no recorded TDP but suggests a 200 W PSU and uses a single 8-pin connector.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA P104-100 wins in every compute benchmark recorded in the database. Its OpenCL score is more than double the FirePro’s, and its Vulkan score is a third higher. It also has superior hardware specifications: more shading units, more ROPs, higher clocks, and more than double the memory bandwidth. In raw compute throughput, measured at 6.655 TFLOPS FP32 versus 3.226 TFLOPS, the NVIDIA card is the clear choice.

The AMD FirePro W8000 has no benchmark wins, but it does have advantages in other areas. It offers display outputs, which the P104-100 lacks entirely. It uses a PCIe 3.0 x16 interface, which is far more practical for a system that needs to move data to and from the card. The FirePro also has a higher TDP budget at 225 W, which may indicate more stable sustained performance in some workstation scenarios, though the benchmark data does not reflect this.

For compute-heavy tasks like OpenCL-based rendering, machine learning inference, or Vulkan compute, the P104-100 is the obvious pick. Its 114.3% OpenCL lead is the kind of margin that cuts render times in half. For tasks that require video output, multi-monitor setups, or SDI connectivity, the FirePro W8000 is the only option, since the P104-100 cannot drive a display at all. The FirePro’s 4x DisplayPort 1.2 and 1x SDI outputs make it a viable workstation card for visualization, but its compute performance is a generation behind.

The P104-100’s nearest rivals in the database are all within 0.7% of its average score, so it is not the absolute fastest in its tier. But against the FirePro W8000, the comparison is not close. The NVIDIA card wins 2-0 in head-to-head tests, and the margins are large enough to recommend it for any workload that does not require display outputs. The FirePro W8000, meanwhile, is best suited for users who need its connectivity options and can accept lower compute performance.