AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 vs Intel Arc A310 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head data presents a split decision, with the Intel Arc A310 taking five wins and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 taking four. The most decisive margin belongs to AMD in the DirectX 9 test, where the WX 5100 scores 88 against Intel's 69, a 27.5% advantage. That is the largest delta in either direction across all nine benchmarks, signaling a strong legacy API performance edge for the older GCN architecture.

Intel's biggest victory comes in Geekbench OpenCL, where the Arc A310 posts 30607 versus AMD's 24217, a 20.9% lead. This is a substantial gap in a general-purpose compute workload, suggesting the Intel card handles raw parallel compute more efficiently despite its smaller shading unit count. The Vulkan test also favors Intel, with 28964 against 26909, a 7.1% difference. These two compute-oriented wins indicate that Intel's architecture translates well to modern, low-level API workloads.

The DirectX 12 result follows the same pattern: Intel wins 29 to 26, a 10.3% margin. DirectX 11 flips back to AMD, with the WX 5100 scoring 36 versus Intel's 33, a 9.1% lead. The DirectX 10 test is close, Intel taking it 31 to 29, a 6.5% difference. PassMark G3D, often viewed as a holistic gaming and graphics metric, is nearly a tie: AMD edges out Intel 5496 to 5433, just 1.2% apart. PassMark G2D favors AMD more clearly, 777 to 625, a 24.3% gap. Finally, PassMark GPU Compute goes to Intel, 2157 to 2053, a 4.8% lead.

The overall picture is one of generational tension. The Intel part wins modern API and compute tests, while the AMD part dominates legacy DirectX and 2D workloads. The average benchmark score tells a different story: the WX 5100 averages 8863 across all tests, while the Arc A310 averages 7550. That 17.4% gap in overall average is driven by AMD's strong legacy scores, but the head-to-head results show Intel holding its own where it matters for contemporary software.

Where Each One Wins

For users running older applications, the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 is the clear choice. Its 27.5% lead in DirectX 9 and 9.1% lead in DirectX 11 show that legacy API support is not just present but significantly stronger. The 24.3% advantage in PassMark G2D further reinforces that 2D rendering and older graphical interfaces will feel snappier on the AMD card. Even in the mixed DirectX 10 test, AMD trails by only 6.5%, so the legacy performance story is consistent.

The Intel Arc A310 stakes its claim on modern compute and API efficiency. The 20.9% OpenCL lead and 7.1% Vulkan lead are the headline numbers, but the 10.3% DirectX 12 win matters just as much for current-generation game engines and professional applications that have moved to DX12. The 4.8% GPU Compute win in PassMark adds another layer, indicating that raw compute throughput, not just graphics, favors Intel. The near-tie in G3D, with AMD ahead by just 1.2%, suggests that in balanced modern workloads, neither card runs away with the performance crown.

The data implies a workload split: legacy software and 2D-centric tasks belong to AMD, while compute-heavy, modern API workloads belong to Intel. For a professional environment running older CAD or OpenGL-based tools, the WX 5100's strengths are directly relevant. For a newer deployment using Vulkan or DX12 compute, the Arc A310's architecture pays off.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from fundamentally different design philosophies and manufacturing eras. The AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 uses the Ellesmere chip built on GCN 4.0 architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. The Intel Arc A310 uses the DG2-128 chip on Xe-HPG architecture, built on a 6 nm process at TSMC. The process node difference is stark: 14 nm versus 6 nm, which explains part of the performance-per-watt gap.

Transistor counts tell an interesting story. The AMD chip packs 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die, yielding a density of 24.6 million transistors per mm². The Intel chip has 7,200 million transistors on a much smaller 157 mm² die, achieving 45.9 million per mm². Intel fits 26% more transistors into 32% less silicon, a direct consequence of the denser manufacturing process.

The compute resources are reversed in scale. AMD fields 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 32 raster operation units. Intel counters with 768 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. AMD has more than double the shading units and more than triple the texture units, yet Intel still wins OpenCL and Vulkan. This suggests that Intel's Xe-HPG architecture extracts more work per shading unit, likely due to better scheduling and more efficient instruction execution. The Intel card also includes 6 ray tracing cores, a feature entirely absent from the AMD part, which lacks RT cores entirely.

Clock speeds favor Intel dramatically. The Arc A310 runs at a flat 1750 MHz for both base and boost, while the WX 5100 boosts to 1086 MHz from a 713 MHz base. That is a 61% higher boost clock for Intel. Memory configurations also diverge: AMD uses 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus delivering 160.0 GB/s, while Intel uses 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus delivering 124.0 GB/s. AMD has double the capacity and a wider bus, but Intel's faster GDDR6 memory partially compensates for the narrower interface.

The FP32 and FP16 throughput figures illustrate architectural priorities. AMD delivers 3.892 TFLOPS in both FP32 and FP16, a 1:1 ratio. Intel delivers 2.688 TFLOPS FP32 but 5.376 TFLOPS FP16, a 2:1 ratio. Intel's FP16 advantage points to a design aimed at AI and compute workloads that leverage reduced precision, while AMD's equal rates reflect an older approach.

The Verdict

The data does not crown a single winner, but it does direct each card toward a specific audience. The AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 is the pick for anyone whose software stack still relies on DirectX 9 or DirectX 11. Its 27.5% lead in DX9 and 9.1% lead in DX11 are decisive margins, and the 24.3% advantage in G2D makes it the better choice for 2D-heavy interfaces. The 8 GB memory capacity also gives it a clear capacity advantage over Intel's 4 GB, which matters for large textures or multi-monitor professional setups. Its 44th percentile ranking against all GPUs, versus Intel's 40th, aligns with the higher average benchmark score.

The Intel Arc A310 is the modern pick. Its 20.9% OpenCL lead and 7.1% Vulkan lead make it the compute-oriented option, and the 10.3% DirectX 12 win positions it for current-generation games and applications. The presence of ray tracing cores, absent on AMD, adds a future-facing capability that the raw scores do not fully capture. The 30 W TDP versus AMD's 75 W also makes it far more efficient, though the power figures themselves are not the focus here. The 6 nm process and higher clock speeds suggest Intel designed this card for sustained modern workloads.

For a professional buying today, the choice hinges on software compatibility. If the applications are older and DX9/DX11-based, the WX 5100 wins outright. If the workloads are compute-heavy or DX12/Vulkan-native, the Arc A310 takes the lead. The 1.2% G3D difference is too close to call for general graphics, so the decision must rest on the specific API and compute requirements of the user's tasks.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 averages 8863 across all benchmark tests, while the Intel Arc A310 averages 7550.

Q: How much faster is the Intel Arc A310 in OpenCL compute?

A: The Arc A310 scores 30607 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 20.9% ahead of the WX 5100's 24217.

Q: Where does the AMD card have its largest advantage?

A: The WX 5100 leads by 27.5% in PassMark DirectX 9, scoring 88 against Intel's 69.

Q: Does the Intel card support ray tracing?

A: Yes, the Arc A310 includes 6 ray tracing cores, while the AMD WX 5100 has no RT cores listed.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference?

A: The AMD card has 8 GB of GDDR5, while the Intel card has 4 GB of GDDR6.

Q: Which card wins more head-to-head benchmarks?

A: The Intel Arc A310 wins 5 of the 9 head-to-head tests, while the AMD card wins 4.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 | Intel Arc A310 |

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

| Process Node | 14 nm | 6 nm |

| Foundry | GlobalFoundries | TSMC |

| Transistors | 5,700 million | 7,200 million |

| Die Size | 232 mm² | 157 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 24.6M / mm² | 45.9M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 713 MHz | 1750 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1086 MHz | 1750 MHz |

| Memory Size | 8 GB | 4 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus Width | 256 bit | 64 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 160.0 GB/s | 124.0 GB/s |

| Memory Clock | 5 Gbps effective | 15.5 Gbps effective |

| Shading Units | 1792 | 768 |

| TMUs | 112 | 32 |

| ROPs | 32 | 16 |

| RT Cores | None | 6 |

| Pixel Rate | 34.75 GPixel/s | 28.00 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 121.6 GTexel/s | 56.00 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 3.892 TFLOPS | 2.688 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 3.892 TFLOPS (1:1) | 5.376 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 75 W | 30 W |

| Suggested PSU | 250 W | 200 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x8 |

| Display Outputs | 4x DisplayPort 1.4a | 4x mini-DisplayPort 2.0 |

| DirectX Support | 12 (12_0) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.3 | 1.4 |

| Release Date | 2016-11-17 | 2022-10-11 |

| Launch MSRP | 499 USD | Not listed |