AMD Radeon Pro W5700X vs NVIDIA Quadro GP100 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only directly comparable benchmark in the database is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is decisive. The NVIDIA Quadro GP100 scores 87,445 points, while the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 43,810 points in the same test. That is a delta of 99.6% in favor of the Quadro GP100, meaning it delivers nearly double the OpenCL compute performance of the Radeon Pro W5700X.

To put that in context, the Quadro GP100 sits at the 93rd percentile among all GPUs in the database. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon PRO W7600 at 87,108 points (only 0.4% behind) and the NVIDIA CMP 40HX at 85,637 points (2.1% behind). Meanwhile, the Radeon Pro W5700X lands at the 87th percentile with an average benchmark score of 54,828 across all its recorded tests. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 at 54,247 points, which is actually 1.1% behind the W5700X, and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB at 55,698 points, which is 1.6% ahead.

The gap between these two cards in OpenCL is enormous. The Quadro GP100 is 99.6% faster than the Radeon Pro W5700X in this specific workload, which means the W5700X would need to nearly double its score to match. The Radeon does have other benchmark entries in the database, specifically Geekbench Metal at 75,427 points and Geekbench Vulkan at 45,246 points, but the Quadro GP100 has no recorded scores for those APIs, so no cross-comparison is possible.

One thing worth noting is that the Radeon Pro W5700X has a higher average benchmark score than its OpenCL score alone would suggest, because the Metal result lifts its overall average. Even so, the OpenCL comparison is the only head-to-head data available, and it clearly favors NVIDIA.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins in OpenCL performance?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro GP100 wins decisively. It scores 87,445 points in Geekbench OpenCL versus 43,810 points for the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X, a 99.6% advantage.

Q: How does each GPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Quadro GP100 is 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon PRO W7600 and 2.1% ahead of the NVIDIA CMP 40HX, but it trails the NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile by 4% and the NVIDIA RTX A4500 by 4.6%. The Radeon Pro W5700X is 1.1% ahead of both the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 and the RTX 4080 SUPER, but it is 1.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB and 1.7% behind the AMD Radeon 8060S.

Q: Is the Radeon Pro W5700X competitive with the Quadro GP100 in any benchmark?

A: The database has no overlapping benchmark where the Radeon Pro W5700X beats the Quadro GP100. The only shared test is Geekbench OpenCL, which the Quadro GP100 wins by a wide margin.

Q: What APIs does each card support?

A: The Quadro GP100 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The Radeon Pro W5700X supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

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

A: The Quadro GP100 has an average benchmark score of 87,445, while the Radeon Pro W5700X has an average of 54,828 across its three recorded tests.

Q: Are both cards still in production?

A: No. Both the NVIDIA Quadro GP100 and the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X are marked as end-of-life in the database.

The Verdict

The data points to a straightforward conclusion for raw compute workloads: the NVIDIA Quadro GP100 is the stronger card. Its OpenCL score of 87,445 is nearly double the Radeon Pro W5700X's 43,810, and it holds a higher percentile ranking at 93 versus 87. Anyone whose work depends on OpenCL compute should choose the Quadro GP100 without hesitation.

The Radeon Pro W5700X is not without merit, but its advantages are not visible in the shared benchmark data. Its Metal score of 75,427 is respectable, and its Vulkan score of 45,246 is slightly above its OpenCL result, but there is no head-to-head test where it outperforms the Quadro GP100. The W5700X does have a higher boost clock at 2040 MHz versus 1443 MHz, and it uses a more modern 7 nm process, but those specifications do not translate into a win in the only benchmark where both cards appear.

For users already in the Apple ecosystem, the Radeon Pro W5700X uses an Apple MPX bus interface, which means it is designed for specific Mac Pro configurations. The Quadro GP100 uses standard PCIe 3.0 x16, making it far more flexible for traditional PC workstations. The Radeon Pro W5700X also carries a launch MSRP of 999 USD, but the Quadro GP100 has no recorded launch MSRP in the database.

If the workload is OpenCL-heavy and the system can accept a PCIe card, the Quadro GP100 is the clear pick. If the system requires an Apple MPX card and the workload leverages Metal, the Radeon Pro W5700X is the only one of the two that can fit that role, based on the recorded interface and API data.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ substantially in nearly every major specification category.

The Quadro GP100 uses the GP100 chip on TSMC's 16 nm process, while the Radeon Pro W5700X uses the Navi 10 chip on TSMC's 7 nm process. The GP100 packs 15,300 million transistors on a 610 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 25.1 million per mm². The Navi 10 has 10,300 million transistors on a 251 mm² die, with a density of 41.0 million per mm². The Radeon is the denser chip despite having fewer transistors overall.

Clock speeds tell a similar story. The Quadro GP100 runs at a base clock of 1304 MHz and boosts to 1443 MHz. The Radeon Pro W5700X has a lower base clock at 1243 MHz but a much higher boost clock at 2040 MHz. Memory clocks also differ: the Quadro GP100 uses 715 MHz with 1430 Mbps effective, while the Radeon Pro W5700X uses 1750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective.

Memory configuration is where the cards diverge most sharply. The Quadro GP100 has 16 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, delivering 732.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The Radeon Pro W5700X also has 16 GB, but it is GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s. The Quadro GP100 offers 284.2 GB/s more bandwidth, a 63.4% advantage.

Compute resources also differ. The Quadro GP100 has 3584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 96 raster operation units. The Radeon Pro W5700X has 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. Despite having fewer shading units, the Radeon's higher boost clock allows it to match the Quadro in raw FP32 throughput: 10.44 TFLOPS versus 10.34 TFLOPS. FP16 figures are similarly close, with the Radeon at 20.89 TFLOPS (2:1) and the Quadro at 20.69 TFLOPS (2:1).

Pixel and texture rates are nearly identical. The Quadro GP100 achieves 138.5 GPixel/s and 323.2 GTexel/s, while the Radeon Pro W5700X achieves 130.6 GPixel/s and 326.4 GTexel/s. The Radeon is slightly ahead in texture rate, the Quadro slightly ahead in pixel rate.

Power and physical specifications also differ. The Quadro GP100 has a 235 W TDP and uses a single 8-pin power connector, while the Radeon Pro W5700X has a 205 W TDP and no recorded power connector. Both suggest a 550 W power supply. The Quadro GP100 is dual-slot and 267 mm long, while the Radeon Pro W5700X is quad-slot and 305 mm long. The Radeon is significantly bulkier, taking up four slots versus two.

Display outputs differ as well. The Quadro GP100 offers 1x DVI and 4x DisplayPort 1.4a. The Radeon Pro W5700X offers 1x HDMI 2.0b and 4x Thunderbolt. The bus interface is another major difference: the Quadro GP100 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the Radeon Pro W5700X uses Apple MPX.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two cards is generational. The NVIDIA Quadro GP100 is built on Pascal, the architecture used in NVIDIA's Quadro Pascal (Px000) generation. It is the predecessor to Quadro Volta and the successor to Quadro Maxwell. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X is built on RDNA 1.0, part of AMD's Radeon Pro Mac (Navi Series) generation.

The manufacturing process difference is significant. The Quadro GP100 uses TSMC's 16 nm node, while the Radeon Pro W5700X uses TSMC's 7 nm node. This gives the Radeon a density advantage: 41.0 million transistors per mm² versus 25.1 million per mm². The Radeon achieves this with a much smaller die (251 mm² versus 610 mm²) and fewer transistors (10,300 million versus 15,300 million).

Memory architecture is a fundamental split. The Quadro GP100 uses HBM2 with a 4096-bit bus, which explains its massive 732.2 GB/s bandwidth. The Radeon Pro W5700X uses GDDR6 with a 256-bit bus, capping bandwidth at 448.0 GB/s. Both have 16 GB of memory, but the HBM2 implementation in the Quadro GP100 provides far more bandwidth for memory-intensive workloads.

Neither card has ray tracing cores or tensor cores. Both rely on traditional shader-based rendering. The Quadro GP100 has more shading units (3584 versus 2560), more TMUs (224 versus 160), and more ROPs (96 versus 64), but the Radeon's higher boost clock (2040 MHz versus 1443 MHz) closes the throughput gap. The result is nearly identical FP32 and FP16 performance.

API support is similar, with both cards supporting DirectX 12 (12_1) and OpenGL 4.6. The difference is in Vulkan: the Quadro GP100 supports Vulkan 1.3, while the Radeon Pro W5700X supports Vulkan 1.4. The Radeon also records both Metal and Vulkan benchmarks, while the Quadro only records OpenCL.

The bus interface difference is worth emphasizing. The Radeon Pro W5700X uses Apple MPX, which ties it to Apple's Mac Pro platform. The Quadro GP100 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, which works in standard workstation motherboards. This is not a performance difference, but it is a compatibility boundary that determines where each card can be installed.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA Quadro GP100 wins decisively in OpenCL compute. Its score of 87,445 is 99.6% higher than the Radeon Pro W5700X's 43,810, and it ranks at the 93rd percentile among all GPUs. For applications that rely on OpenCL, whether for rendering, simulation, or data processing, the Quadro GP100 is the stronger choice, provided the system can accommodate a PCIe 3.0 x16 card with a dual-slot footprint and a 235 W TDP.

The Quadro GP100 also wins on memory bandwidth. Its 732.2 GB/s of HBM2 bandwidth is 63.4% higher than the Radeon's 448.0 GB/s, which matters for large datasets that exceed what a 256-bit GDDR6 bus can feed. It also has more shading units, TMUs, and ROPs, giving it a structural advantage in geometry-heavy workloads even if the FP32 throughput is nearly identical.

The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X wins in specific contexts that the Quadro GP100 cannot address. Its Apple MPX bus interface makes it the only one of the two that fits Mac Pro systems. Its 1x HDMI 2.0b and 4x Thunderbolt outputs are tailored to Apple's display ecosystem, whereas the Quadro GP100's DVI and DisplayPort outputs target traditional PC monitors. The Radeon also supports Vulkan 1.4, a newer API version than the Quadro's Vulkan 1.3.

In raw compute throughput, the Radeon Pro W5700X is effectively a match for the Quadro GP100. Its FP32 figure of 10.44 TFLOPS edges out the Quadro's 10.34 TFLOPS by 1%, and its FP16 figure of 20.89 TFLOPS is similarly close to the Quadro's 20.69 TFLOPS. The Radeon also has a slightly higher texture rate at 326.4 GTexel/s versus 323.2 GTexel/s.

The Radeon Pro W5700X is also more power-efficient on paper. Its 205 W TDP is 30 W lower than the Quadro GP100's 235 W, achieved on a smaller 7 nm die. However, it occupies four slots versus the Quadro's two, so physical space is a tradeoff.

For users who need OpenCL performance in a standard PC workstation, the Quadro GP100 is the clear winner. For users who need a Radeon Pro Mac card with Metal support, Thunderbolt outputs, and Vulkan 1.4, the Radeon Pro W5700X is the only option between the two. The database shows no benchmark where the Radeon beats the Quadro, but the platform-specific features of the Radeon make it the right choice for Apple-based workflows.