AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M Comparison

The AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M are two end-of-life mobile graphics solutions that, despite similar average benchmark scores, cater to fundamentally different workloads. The data reveals a split decision: the NVIDIA card dominates in OpenCL compute, while the AMD card takes a commanding lead in Vulkan performance, making the choice highly dependent on the target application.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark results present a stark contrast between the two test workloads. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M emerges victorious with a score of 9,821, while the AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 trails at 8,536. This represents a 13.1% deficit for the AMD card, a substantial margin that indicates the GTX 850M's Maxwell architecture handles general-purpose compute tasks more efficiently. The GTX 850M's 640 shading units, compared to the WX 2100's 512, likely contribute to this advantage, despite the AMD card's higher boost clock of 1219 MHz versus the NVIDIA card's unspecified clock speeds.

However, the Geekbench Vulkan test tells an entirely different story. The AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 scores 10,770, a full 22.6% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M's 8,782. This is a decisive victory for AMD, suggesting that its GCN 4.0 architecture with explicit Vulkan support (API version 1.3) is far better optimized for modern graphics APIs. The WX 2100's 14 nm process node and newer release date (2017 versus 2014) likely play a role here, as newer hardware tends to have more mature driver support for contemporary rendering pipelines.

The overall win count is tied at one apiece, but the magnitude of the victories is not symmetrical. The GTX 850M's 13.1% OpenCL win is meaningful but not overwhelming, while the WX 2100's 22.6% Vulkan win is a more decisive margin. This asymmetry suggests that the AMD card has a stronger relative advantage in modern graphics workloads than the NVIDIA card has in traditional compute workloads. When considering the average benchmark scores, the WX 2100 posts a 9,653 average against the GTX 850M's 9,302, giving the AMD card a narrow overall edge despite losing the OpenCL test.

The Verdict

The data points toward a nuanced conclusion: neither card is universally superior, and the right choice depends entirely on the software environment. For applications that rely on OpenCL compute—common in scientific computing, financial modeling, and certain video encoding tasks—the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M is the clear pick. Its 13.1% advantage in this specific benchmark translates to tangible performance gains in real-world OpenCL workloads, and its higher shading unit count (640 versus 512) provides a theoretical compute advantage.

For Vulkan-based applications, which includes many modern game engines and emerging compute frameworks, the AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 is unequivocally the better option. The 22.6% performance lead is substantial, and the WX 2100's full Vulkan 1.3 API support (versus the GTX 850M's 1.4, though the NVIDIA card only supports DirectX 12 at the 11_0 feature level) indicates better forward compatibility with modern graphics standards.

Professional users should note that the WX 2100 is positioned as a Radeon Pro product, suggesting workstation-grade drivers and certifications, while the GTX 850M is a consumer GeForce part. The WX 2100's 46th percentile ranking among all GPUs matches the GTX 850M's identical 46th percentile, confirming they occupy the same performance tier despite their architectural differences. The average benchmark score of 9,653 for the AMD card versus 9,302 for the NVIDIA card gives a slight overall edge to the WX 2100, but this is within the noise of rival comparisons—the WX 2100 sits within 0.6% of its nearest rivals, and the GTX 850M within 0.9% of its own.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two GPUs is significant, starting with the manufacturing process. The AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 uses a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M relies on a 28 nm process at TSMC. This two-generation process gap explains why the WX 2100 achieves a much higher transistor density of 21.4 million transistors per square millimeter, compared to the GTX 850M's 12.6 million. The WX 2100 packs 2,200 million transistors into a 103 mm² die, while the GTX 850M uses 1,870 million transistors across a larger 148 mm² die.

Clock speeds favor the AMD card, which runs at a base of 925 MHz and boosts to 1219 MHz. The GTX 850M's base and boost clocks are not specified in the data, making direct clock speed comparison impossible. However, the memory configuration differs substantially: the WX 2100 uses GDDR5 memory with a 64-bit bus and 48.00 GB/s bandwidth, while the GTX 850M uses DDR3 with a 128-bit bus but only achieves 32.03 GB/s bandwidth. The wider bus on the NVIDIA card cannot compensate for the slower memory technology, giving AMD a 50% bandwidth advantage.

The compute configurations favor NVIDIA in raw unit counts. The GTX 850M has 640 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 16 render output units, while the WX 2100 has 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. Despite having fewer units, the WX 2100 achieves higher pixel and texture rates: 19.50 GPixel/s and 39.01 GTexel/s, respectively, versus the GTX 850M's 14.43 GPixel/s and 36.08 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance also favors AMD at 1,248.3 GFLOPS versus 1,154.6 GFLOPS for NVIDIA. The WX 2100 also supports FP16 at a 1:1 ratio, while the GTX 850M has no FP16 support listed.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has better Vulkan performance?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 is significantly ahead, scoring 10,770 in the Geekbench Vulkan test versus the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M's 8,782, a 22.6% advantage.

Q: Is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M better for OpenCL workloads?

A: Yes, the GTX 850M wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with 9,821 points against the WX 2100's 8,536, a 13.1% margin in NVIDIA's favor.

Q: What are the memory specifications of each card?

A: The AMD card uses 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 64-bit bus with 48.00 GB/s bandwidth, while the NVIDIA card uses 2 GB of DDR3 on a 128-bit bus with 32.03 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: How do their average benchmark scores compare?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 has an average benchmark score of 9,653, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M averages 9,302, giving AMD a 3.8% overall lead.

Q: Which GPU has a smaller manufacturing process?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 is built on a 14 nm process, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M uses a 28 nm process, giving AMD a significant density advantage.

Q: What are the power consumption differences?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 has a 35 W TDP, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M has a 45 W TDP, making the AMD card more power-efficient.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 wins decisively in Vulkan-based workloads, which covers modern game engines like those used in recent titles and emerging compute frameworks that leverage explicit graphics APIs. The 22.6% performance advantage makes it the superior choice for any application that has adopted Vulkan as its primary rendering or compute interface. The WX 2100 also wins on memory bandwidth, offering 48.00 GB/s versus the GTX 850M's 32.03 GB/s, which benefits texture-heavy workloads and high-resolution rendering. Its higher pixel rate of 19.50 GPixel/s and texture rate of 39.01 GTexel/s further advantage it in fill-rate-bound scenarios. Additionally, the WX 2100's FP16 support at a 1:1 ratio with FP32 makes it suitable for workloads that leverage reduced precision arithmetic, a feature entirely absent from the GTX 850M.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M wins in OpenCL compute workloads, which includes many professional applications in scientific simulation, data analysis, and video processing that still rely on OpenCL as their compute backend. The 13.1% advantage in this benchmark is the most significant factor for users whose software stack is OpenCL-centric. The GTX 850M also has a wider 128-bit memory bus, which, despite the lower effective bandwidth, may improve memory access patterns in certain workloads. Its higher shading unit count of 640 versus 512 provides more raw compute lanes for parallel workloads that scale well with unit count. The GTX 850M's larger die size of 148 mm² and higher transistor count, despite older manufacturing, suggest a more complex memory subsystem that could benefit certain access patterns.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every major specification category. The process node favors AMD at 14 nm versus NVIDIA's 28 nm, with GlobalFoundries producing the AMD chip and TSMC producing the NVIDIA chip. The AMD card has 2,200 million transistors on a 103 mm² die, while the NVIDIA card has 1,870 million transistors on a 148 mm² die, resulting in transistor densities of 21.4 million per mm² for AMD and 12.6 million per mm² for NVIDIA. Clock speeds show AMD's base at 925 MHz and boost at 1219 MHz, while NVIDIA's clocks are not specified. Memory differs fundamentally: AMD uses 2 GB of GDDR5 with a 64-bit bus and 48.00 GB/s bandwidth, while NVIDIA uses 2 GB of DDR3 with a 128-bit bus and 32.03 GB/s bandwidth. Shading units favor NVIDIA at 640 versus AMD's 512, as do TMUs at 40 versus 32, while ROPs are equal at 16. Pixel rate favors AMD at 19.50 GPixel/s versus 14.43 GPixel/s, and texture rate favors AMD at 39.01 GTexel/s versus 36.08 GTexel/s. FP32 performance favors AMD at 1,248.3 GFLOPS versus 1,154.6 GFLOPS, and AMD supports FP16 at 1:1 while NVIDIA has none. The TDP is lower for AMD at 35 W versus 45 W, and the AMD card is single-slot while the NVIDIA card is IGP. Bus interface differs with AMD using PCIe 3.0 x8 and NVIDIA using PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs are workstation-focused on AMD with 1x DisplayPort 1.4a and 2x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a, while NVIDIA's are portable-device dependent. API support shows AMD with DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3, while NVIDIA has DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The AMD card launched on 2017-06-03 with a launch MSRP of 149 USD, while the NVIDIA card launched on 2014-03-11 with no MSRP provided.