AMD Radeon Pro W5700X vs AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE and the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X represent two vastly different generations of AMD graphics technology, separated by over five years of architectural evolution. The RX 9070 GRE, built on the modern RDNA 4.0 architecture, is an active mainstream gaming product, while the Pro W5700X is an end-of-life professional workstation card based on the original RDNA 1.0 design. The benchmark data reveals a decisive performance gap, with the RX 9070 GRE delivering a 149.5% higher score in the shared Geekbench OpenCL test, but the comparison extends far beyond raw compute into memory configuration, form factor, and intended use case.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only directly comparable benchmark between the two cards is Geekbench OpenCL, and the results are overwhelmingly one-sided. The RX 9070 GRE scores 109,309 points, while the Pro W5700X manages just 43,810 points. This represents a 149.5% advantage for the newer card, meaning the RX 9070 GRE delivers more than double the OpenCL compute performance of the Pro W5700X. This is not a marginal generational improvement; it is a complete overhaul of compute capability. The RX 9070 GRE's FP32 throughput of 34.28 TFLOPS versus the Pro W5700X's 10.44 TFLOPS explains much of this gap, as does the former's higher boost clock of 2790 MHz against the latter's 2040 MHz.

The RX 9070 GRE also dominates in ancillary benchmark results. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 5,424 points, a figure that places it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs. The Pro W5700X has no equivalent DirectX 12 benchmark score in the data, but its Geekbench Metal score of 75,427 and Vulkan score of 45,246 highlight a different performance profile. The Metal score is respectable for its era, but the Vulkan result is 58.6% lower than the RX 9070 GRE's OpenCL score, underscoring how far the older architecture has fallen behind. Even the Pro W5700X's average benchmark score of 54,828 is lower than the RX 9070 GRE's 57,367 average, a difference of roughly 4.4%.

The nearest rival data provides additional context for where each card sits in the broader market. The RX 9070 GRE's average score of 57,367 places it barely ahead of the Intel Arc A580 (57,756, -0.7%) and just 1.8% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT (58,392). This suggests the RX 9070 GRE is a solid mid-to-high-range performer, competitive with last-generation flagship cards. The Pro W5700X, with an average score of 54,828, sits in a similar percentile (87th) but is actually 1.1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 (54,247) in average score, a surprising result for a workstation card from 2019. However, these averages mask the massive OpenCL deficit, which is the most relevant metric for general compute workloads.

Architecture Differences

The architectural chasm between these two GPUs is immense. The RX 9070 GRE uses the Navi 48 chip built on TSMC's 4 nm process node, featuring 53,900 million transistors on a 357 mm² die. This yields a transistor density of 151.0 million per square millimeter. The Pro W5700X, by contrast, uses the older Navi 10 chip on a 7 nm process, with only 10,300 million transistors spread across a 251 mm² die, giving a density of just 41.0 million per square millimeter. The RX 9070 GRE packs over five times the transistor count into a die that is only 42% larger, evidence of the density improvements of newer manufacturing processes.

In terms of compute resources, the RX 9070 GRE is decisively ahead. It features 3,072 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output pipelines, compared to the Pro W5700X's 2,560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The RX 9070 GRE also introduces 48 dedicated ray tracing cores, a feature entirely absent from the RDNA 1.0-based Pro W5700X, which has no RT cores listed. This makes the newer card far better suited to modern games and applications that leverage hardware-accelerated ray tracing.

The RDNA architectures themselves differ significantly. RDNA 4.0, used in the RX 9070 GRE, is a third-generation refinement of AMD's gaming architecture, while RDNA 1.0 in the Pro W5700X was the foundational first step. The FP16 compute ratio highlights this divergence: the RX 9070 GRE achieves 34.28 TFLOPS FP16 with a 1:1 ratio to FP32, whereas the Pro W5700X delivers 20.89 TFLOPS FP16 at a 2:1 ratio. This means the newer card handles FP16 workloads as efficiently as FP32, while the older card sacrifices half its FP32 throughput to achieve its FP16 numbers. The API support also reflects the generational gap, with the RX 9070 GRE supporting DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the Pro W5700X is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.4.

FAQ

Q: Which card has higher raw compute performance in OpenCL?

A: The RX 9070 GRE is dramatically faster, scoring 109,309 in Geekbench OpenCL compared to the Pro W5700X's 43,810, a 149.5% advantage.

Q: Does the Pro W5700X support ray tracing?

A: No. The Pro W5700X has no ray tracing cores listed, while the RX 9070 GRE includes 48 dedicated RT cores.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The RX 9070 GRE has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus with 432.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the Pro W5700X has 16 GB on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card is better for modern gaming APIs?

A: The RX 9070 GRE supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, whereas the Pro W5700X only supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.4.

Q: How do their average benchmark scores compare to rivals?

A: The RX 9070 GRE averages 57,367, sitting 0.7% below the Intel Arc A580 and 1.8% below the RX 6950 XT. The Pro W5700X averages 54,828, which is 1.1% above the RTX 4080.

Q: What is the form factor difference?

A: The RX 9070 GRE is a dual-slot card with PCIe 5.0 x16 interface, while the Pro W5700X is a quad-slot card designed for Apple MPX connectivity, measuring 305 mm in length.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every major specification category. The RX 9070 GRE uses the Navi 48 chip on a 4 nm process with 53,900 million transistors, while the Pro W5700X uses Navi 10 on 7 nm with 10,300 million transistors. The die sizes are 357 mm² versus 251 mm², respectively. Clock speeds show the RX 9070 GRE's advantage: its base clock runs at 1420 MHz and boosts to 2790 MHz, while the Pro W5700X operates at 1243 MHz base and 2040 MHz boost. The RX 9070 GRE also has a game clock of 2220 MHz, a feature the Pro W5700X lacks entirely.

Memory configurations diverge sharply. The RX 9070 GRE offers 12 GB of GDDR6 at 18 Gbps effective, while the Pro W5700X provides 16 GB at 14 Gbps effective. The bus widths are 192-bit versus 256-bit, resulting in bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s versus 448.0 GB/s. The compute units differ as well: 3,072 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs for the RX 9070 GRE, against 2,560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs for the Pro W5700X. The RX 9070 GRE has 48 RT cores, while the Pro W5700X has none.

Power and physical specifications also distinguish the cards. The RX 9070 GRE is rated at 220 W TDP with dual-slot cooling and dual 8-pin power connectors, whereas the Pro W5700X draws 205 W but requires a quad-slot design with an Apple MPX bus interface. Both recommend a 550 W power supply. Display outputs differ: the RX 9070 GRE has 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1a, while the Pro W5700X offers 1x HDMI 2.0b and 4x Thunderbolt. The RX 9070 GRE was released on 2025-05-07 and remains active, while the Pro W5700X launched on 2019-12-10 and is end-of-life. The RX 9070 GRE has a launch MSRP of 549 USD, while the Pro W5700X launched at 999 USD.

Where Each One Wins

The RX 9070 GRE wins decisively in every compute-heavy workload. Its OpenCL score is 149.5% higher, its FP32 throughput is 34.28 TFLOPS versus 10.44 TFLOPS, and it has over three times the texture fill rate (535.7 GTexel/s versus 326.4 GTexel/s). For gaming, the RX 9070 GRE is the clear choice, thanks to its DirectX 12 Ultimate support, ray tracing cores, and modern RDNA 4.0 architecture. The 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 5,424 confirms its capability in contemporary DX12 titles, and its 87th percentile ranking shows it competes with high-end GPUs like the RX 6950 XT.

The Pro W5700X, despite being older and slower, retains advantages in specific areas. Its 16 GB memory capacity is 33% larger than the RX 9070 GRE's 12 GB, and its 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is slightly higher, making it potentially better for certain large-memory professional workloads that do not require maximum compute throughput. Its Metal score of 75,427 suggests strong performance in Apple's ecosystem, given its Apple MPX interface and Thunderbolt outputs, making it suitable for Mac Pro environments. The Pro W5700X also has a lower TDP of 205 W, though this comes with the trade-off of a larger quad-slot footprint.

For general-purpose compute, the RX 9070 GRE is overwhelmingly superior. Its 149.5% OpenCL advantage means tasks like rendering, simulation, and machine learning inference will complete in less than half the time. The Pro W5700X's FP16 2:1 ratio offers 20.89 TFLOPS, but the RX 9070 GRE matches its 34.28 TFLOPS FP16 at full rate, negating any advantage. In the end, the RX 9070 GRE is the better card for almost any task requiring raw performance, while the Pro W5700X's only compelling use case is as a legacy component for specific Mac Pro builds where its 16 GB memory and unique interface provide value. The data shows a clear generational leap that leaves the older card far behind in every measurable performance metric.