AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 vs NVIDIA Quadro P5000 Comparison

The NVIDIA Quadro P5000 and AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 represent two vastly different tiers of professional workstation graphics, separated by process generation, memory capacity, and raw compute output. The data shows a clear performance hierarchy, but the Radeon Pro WX 3100 holds a notable advantage in one specific API workload. This analysis compares the two based strictly on the provided benchmark results and specifications.

The Verdict

The NVIDIA Quadro P5000 is the overwhelming choice for compute-heavy and high-resolution workloads. Its average benchmark score of 8039 places it in the 41st percentile of all GPUs, while the AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100’s average score of 7580 lands in the same 41st percentile — a statistical tie in overall placement, but the underlying scores reveal a different story. The P5000 delivers a Geekbench OpenCL score of 52509, which is 616.1% higher than the WX 3100’s 7333. That delta is enormous and indicates the P5000 is in a different performance class entirely for general-purpose compute.

However, the Radeon Pro WX 3100 wins the Geekbench Vulkan test, scoring 7827 against the P5000’s 6342, a 19% advantage. This suggests that for Vulkan-based applications, the AMD card is surprisingly competitive despite its lower overall compute throughput. The P5000’s nearest rivals in average score are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M (8040, 0% delta) and GTX 650 Ti (8053, -0.2%), while the WX 3100’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon R7 250 (7557, 0.3% delta) and the Intel Arc A310 (7550, 0.4%). The P5000’s nearest rivals are all within 0.5% of its score, indicating tight clustering, whereas the WX 3100’s closest competitor, the Radeon 540, sits 1.2% higher.

For buyers, the choice is straightforward: if the priority is raw FP32 throughput, massive memory capacity, or legacy DirectX performance, the Quadro P5000 is the only viable option. If the workload is Vulkan-centric and power efficiency or physical footprint matters, the Radeon Pro WX 3100 offers a credible alternative. The P5000’s launch MSRP of 2,499 USD and the WX 3100’s launch MSRP of 199 USD reflect their positioning, but the performance gap in OpenCL is far larger than the price gap would suggest.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher Geekbench OpenCL score?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro P5000 scores 52509, which is 616.1% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100’s 7333.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 win any benchmark?

A: Yes. The WX 3100 wins the Geekbench Vulkan test with a score of 7827, beating the P5000’s 6342 by 19%.

Q: How do their average benchmark scores compare?

A: The P5000 has an average benchmark score of 8039, while the WX 3100 scores 7580. Both sit in the 41st percentile of all GPUs.

Q: What are the memory specifications for each card?

A: The P5000 has 16 GB of GDDR5X memory on a 256-bit bus with 288.5 GB/s bandwidth. The WX 3100 has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus with 96.00 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card has a higher pixel rate?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro P5000 has a pixel rate of 110.9 GPixel/s, compared to the Radeon Pro WX 3100’s 19.50 GPixel/s.

Q: What is the transistor density of each chip?

A: The P5000’s GP104 chip has a transistor density of 22.9M per mm², while the WX 3100’s Lexa chip has 21.4M per mm².

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA Quadro P5000 is built on the Pascal architecture with the GP104 chip, fabricated on TSMC’s 16 nm process. It contains 7,200 million transistors on a 314 mm² die. The AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 uses the GCN 4.0 architecture with the Lexa chip, manufactured by GlobalFoundries on a 14 nm process. It packs 2,200 million transistors into a 103 mm² die.

The P5000’s Pascal architecture supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, while the WX 3100’s GCN 4.0 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The P5000 has a higher transistor density at 22.9M / mm² versus 21.4M / mm² for the WX 3100, despite the latter using a slightly larger process node. The P5000’s FP16 performance is severely reduced at 138.6 GFLOPS (1:64 ratio), whereas the WX 3100 delivers 1,248.3 GFLOPS with a 1:1 FP16 to FP32 ratio. This makes the WX 3100 far more capable for FP16 workloads, though the P5000’s FP32 output of 8.873 TFLOPS dwarfs the WX 3100’s 1,248.3 GFLOPS.

The P5000 is a dual-slot card requiring a 1x 8-pin power connector and a 450 W suggested PSU. The WX 3100 is a single-slot card with no power connectors and a 250 W suggested PSU. The P5000 uses a PCIe 3.0 x16 interface, while the WX 3100 uses PCIe 3.0 x8. Display outputs also differ: the P5000 has 1x DVI and 4x DisplayPort 1.4a, whereas the WX 3100 provides 1x DisplayPort 1.4a and 2x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA Quadro P5000 | AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 |

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

| Process Node | 16 nm | 14 nm |

| Foundry | TSMC | GlobalFoundries |

| Transistors | 7,200 million | 2,200 million |

| Die Size | 314 mm² | 103 mm² |

| Base Clock | 1607 MHz | 925 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1733 MHz | 1219 MHz |

| Memory Size | 16 GB | 4 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5X | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus Width | 256 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 288.5 GB/s | 96.00 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 2560 | 512 |

| TMUs | 160 | 32 |

| ROPs | 64 | 16 |

| Pixel Rate | 110.9 GPixel/s | 19.50 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 277.3 GTexel/s | 39.01 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 8.873 TFLOPS | 1,248.3 GFLOPS |

| FP16 | 138.6 GFLOPS (1:64) | 1,248.3 GFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 180 W | 65 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | Single-slot |

| Power Connectors | 1x 8-pin | None |

| Suggested PSU | 450 W | 250 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x8 |

| Dimensions (L×H) | 267 mm × 111 mm | 168 mm × 69 mm |

The P5000 is larger, consumes more power, and requires external power, while the WX 3100 is compact and draws power entirely from the slot. The P5000’s release date was 2016-09-30, and the WX 3100 followed on 2017-06-11. Both are end-of-life products.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head comparison consists of two Geekbench tests, and each card wins one. The NVIDIA Quadro P5000 dominates Geekbench OpenCL with a score of 52509 versus 7333 for the AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100. The delta of 616.1% is the largest margin in any benchmark between these two cards. This result aligns with the P5000’s vastly higher FP32 throughput (8.873 TFLOPS vs 1,248.3 GFLOPS), more shading units (2560 vs 512), and broader memory interface. OpenCL workloads that scale with compute units and memory bandwidth will overwhelmingly favor the P5000.

The AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 takes Geekbench Vulkan with a score of 7827 against the P5000’s 6342. The 19% advantage is notable given the P5000’s overall hardware superiority. This suggests that Vulkan performance is not solely dependent on raw compute or memory bandwidth; the WX 3100’s 1:1 FP16 ratio may play a role, as Vulkan can utilize FP16 for certain operations. The P5000’s severely reduced FP16 throughput (138.6 GFLOPS) likely hurts it in Vulkan scenarios that use half-precision math. The WX 3100’s newer driver optimization for Vulkan 1.3 versus the P5000’s Vulkan 1.4 support could also influence this outcome.

Looking at the broader benchmark suite, the P5000 has extensive PassMark scores: 12634 in G3D, 6508 in GPU Compute, 674 in G2D, 170 in DirectX 9, 102 in DirectX 11, 77 in DirectX 10, and 44 in DirectX 12. The WX 3100 has no PassMark results in the data, so direct comparisons in those tests are impossible. The P5000 also scores 1330 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, a test the WX 3100 did not run. The P5000’s average benchmark score of 8039 is 6.1% higher than the WX 3100’s 7580, though both cards sit in the 41st percentile of all GPUs. The P5000’s nearest rivals include the GTX 880M (8040, 0% delta) and GTX 650 Ti (8053, -0.2%), indicating its average score is slightly below those cards. The WX 3100’s nearest rivals are the Radeon R7 250 (7557, 0.3% delta) and Intel Arc A310 (7550, 0.4%), showing it performs slightly above those entries. In terms of wins, each card has one head-to-head victory, but the magnitude of the P5000’s OpenCL win far exceeds the WX 3100’s Vulkan win.