AMD Instinct MI100 vs AMD Radeon PRO W7800 Comparison

The AMD Radeon PRO W7800 and AMD Instinct MI100 occupy distinct corners of AMD’s professional lineup, yet both target compute-heavy workloads. The data shows a single head-to-head benchmark result, but the underlying specifications reveal two fundamentally different design philosophies. The W7800, built on RDNA 3.0, is a current-generation workstation card with display outputs, while the MI100, based on CDNA 1.0, is an end-of-life compute accelerator without any video outputs. Benchmark results indicate a clear performance edge for the newer W7800 in OpenCL, but the MI100’s memory subsystem and raw shader count tell a more nuanced story.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison available is the Geekbench OpenCL test, where the AMD Radeon PRO W7800 scores 154366 against the AMD Instinct MI100’s 139035. That represents an 11% advantage for the W7800, a decisive margin in a compute API that scales well with raw throughput. The W7800’s score places it in the 97th percentile of all GPUs, while the MI100 sits at the 96th percentile—a narrow gap in overall standing, but the delta in raw points is substantial. In practical terms, the W7800 completes OpenCL workloads roughly a tenth faster than the MI100, which is meaningful for tasks like rendering or simulation that run for hours.

Interestingly, the MI100’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla V100 PCIe 16 GB (avg score 138063) and Tesla V100 SXM2 32 GB (avg score 137731), with the MI100 leading both by 0.7% and 0.9%, respectively. The W7800, meanwhile, trails the NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation by just 0.7% (166094 vs 164894 average) and the NVIDIA RTX A5500 by a mere 0.2% (165217 vs 164894). This places the W7800 in a tight battle with NVIDIA’s mid-to-high-end workstation offerings, while the MI100 competes more directly with older Volta-generation accelerators. The 11% delta between the two AMD cards is larger than any gap between either card and its closest rivals, underscoring that the W7800 is the stronger OpenCL performer overall.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon PRO W7800 dominates the only benchmark recorded, winning the Geekbench OpenCL test outright. Its 45.25 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is nearly double the MI100’s 23.07 TFLOPS, which explains the 11% scoring advantage. For workloads that rely on single-precision floating-point math—such as real-time ray tracing, AI inference with FP32, or traditional graphics rendering—the W7800 is clearly superior. Additionally, the W7800 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, while the MI100 has no graphics APIs at all, making the W7800 the only viable choice for any task requiring a display output or rasterization.

The AMD Instinct MI100, despite losing the OpenCL test, holds advantages in specific areas that the benchmark does not capture. Its memory bandwidth of 1.23 TB/s is more than double the W7800’s 576.0 GB/s, a critical factor for data-intensive workloads like large language model training or scientific simulations that stream massive datasets. The MI100 also has 7680 shading units versus the W7800’s 4480, and 480 texture mapping units versus 280, meaning its raw parallel execution capacity is higher even if its clock speeds are lower (1000 MHz base vs 1895 MHz). For memory-bound compute tasks where the 4096-bit HBM2 bus provides a massive advantage, the MI100 could outperform the W7800 in real-world scenarios, even if Geekbench OpenCL does not reflect it.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W7800 has an average benchmark score of 164894, compared to the AMD Instinct MI100’s 139035. This puts the W7800 at the 97th percentile of all GPUs, while the MI100 sits at the 96th percentile.

Q: How does the W7800 compare to its nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A5500?

A: The W7800’s average score of 164894 is 0.2% lower than the RTX A5500’s 165217. This is an extremely tight margin, indicating near-identical performance in aggregate benchmarks.

Q: Does the MI100 support any graphics APIs?

A: No. The Instinct MI100 reports N/A for DirectX, OpenGL, and Vulkan, and has no display outputs. It is purely a compute accelerator, whereas the W7800 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference between the two cards?

A: The MI100 has a memory bandwidth of 1.23 TB/s, while the W7800 provides 576.0 GB/s. The MI100’s bandwidth is over twice that of the W7800, despite the W7800 having a higher FP32 throughput.

Q: Which card is newer, and what is its production status?

A: The W7800 was released on 2023-04-12 and is currently listed as Active in production. The MI100 was released on 2020-11-15 and is marked End-of-life.

Q: How do the two cards compare in the Geekbench OpenCL test specifically?

A: The W7800 scores 154366, which is 11% higher than the MI100’s 139035. The W7800 wins this head-to-head benchmark outright.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon PRO W7800 | AMD Instinct MI100 |

|---|---|---|

| Architecture | RDNA 3.0 | CDNA 1.0 |

| Process Node | 5 nm | 7 nm |

| Transistors | 57,700 million | 25,600 million |

| Die Size | 529 mm² | 750 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 109.1M / mm² | 34.1M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1895 MHz | 1000 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 2525 MHz | 1502 MHz |

| Memory Type | GDDR6 | HBM2 |

| Memory Bus Width | 256 bit | 4096 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 576.0 GB/s | 1.23 TB/s |

| Shading Units | 4480 | 7680 |

| TMUs | 280 | 480 |

| ROPs | 128 | 64 |

| Pixel Rate | 323.2 GPixel/s | 96.13 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 707.0 GTexel/s | 721.0 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 45.25 TFLOPS | 23.07 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 90.50 TFLOPS (2:1) | 46.14 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 260 W | 300 W |

| Suggested PSU | 600 W | 700 W |

| Display Outputs | 3x DisplayPort 2.1, 1x mini-DisplayPort 2.1 | No outputs |

| DirectX Support | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | N/A |

| OpenGL Support | 4.6 | N/A |

| Vulkan Support | 1.4 | N/A |

| Length | 280 mm (11 inches) | 267 mm (10.5 inches) |

| Height | 110 mm (4.3 inches) | 111 mm (4.4 inches) |

| Width | 40 mm (1.6 inches) | Not specified |

| Production Status | Active | End-of-life |

| Release Date | 2023-04-12 | 2020-11-15 |

| Launch MSRP | 2,499 USD | Not specified |

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two GPUs is stark. The Radeon PRO W7800 uses the Navi 31 chip on TSMC’s 5 nm process, packing 57,700 million transistors into a 529 mm² die. This yields a transistor density of 109.1 million per square millimeter, a reflection of the modern RDNA 3.0 design with its chiplet-based approach. In contrast, the Instinct MI100 uses the Arcturus chip on a 7 nm process, with 25,600 million transistors spread across a much larger 750 mm² die, resulting in a density of just 34.1 million per square millimeter. The MI100’s monolithic design prioritizes memory bandwidth over transistor density, which is why it carries a 4096-bit HBM2 interface.

The W7800 is equipped with 70 ray tracing cores, a feature entirely absent from the MI100, which lists no RT cores at all. This makes the W7800 suitable for ray-traced rendering workloads, while the MI100 is purely a math processor. The MI100 compensates with 7680 shading units and 480 TMUs, versus the W7800’s 4480 and 280, respectively. However, the W7800’s higher clock speeds—boost up to 2525 MHz versus 1502 MHz—allow it to achieve nearly double the FP32 throughput (45.25 TFLOPS vs 23.07 TFLOPS). The MI100’s advantage lies in its memory system: 1.23 TB/s of bandwidth from HBM2 versus the W7800’s 576.0 GB/s from GDDR6. Both cards use PCIe 4.0 x16 and require dual-slot cooling with two 8-pin power connectors, but the MI100 draws 300 W versus the W7800’s 260 W.

The W7800’s RDNA 3.0 architecture supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, making it a full workstation GPU with display outputs. The MI100’s CDNA 1.0 architecture forgoes all graphics APIs and outputs, confirming its role as a dedicated compute accelerator for data center deployments. The production status reflects this divergence: the W7800 is Active, while the MI100 is End-of-life. The W7800 also traces its lineage to the Radeon Pro Vega, whereas the MI100 follows the Radeon Instinct, indicating separate product lines with different design goals. Ultimately, the W7800 wins on raw performance and feature set, but the MI100’s memory bandwidth and higher shading unit count make it a specialized tool for bandwidth-bound workloads.