AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a decisive advantage for the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 in the two shared benchmark tests. In Geekbench Metal, the AMD card scores 29,003 against the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M's 7,288, a delta of 74.9% in AMD's favor. This is not a marginal gap; it is a generational chasm. The GeForce GTX 870M trails by nearly four times in raw Metal compute output.

The Geekbench OpenCL results tell a similar story, though the margin narrows somewhat. The Radeon Pro WX 5100 posts 24,217, while the GTX 870M manages 12,630. That represents a 47.8% deficit for the NVIDIA part. In absolute terms, the AMD card delivers roughly 92% more OpenCL performance than its rival. The GTX 870M's best showing in the entire head-to-head dataset is still less than half of what the WX 5100 achieves in its weaker test.

The average benchmark scores reinforce the pattern. The GTX 870M holds an average score of 9,959 across all recorded tests, placing it at the 48th percentile of all GPUs in the database. The Radeon Pro WX 5100 averages 8,863, which sits at the 44th percentile. Interestingly, the NVIDIA part has a higher overall average despite losing both head-to-head tests. This is because the GTX 870M has only two benchmark entries, both compute-oriented, while the WX 5100 has ten entries including several Passmark tests where it scores modestly. The Passmark DirectX 9 result of 88 and DirectX 11 result of 36 drag down the AMD card's aggregate.

When placed against their nearest rivals in the database, both cards sit in a crowded mid-pack. The GTX 870M's closest competitor is the AMD Radeon Pro 5300M at 10,013, a mere 0.5% ahead. The NVIDIA Quadro K5100M is 0.8% ahead, and the AMD Radeon R9 M375 is 1.1% ahead. The NVIDIA Quadro 6000 trails the GTX 870M by 1.1%. The WX 5100's nearest rival is the AMD Radeon R9 M265X at 8,851, just 0.1% behind. The AMD Radeon 550X is 0.6% ahead, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile and GeForce GTX 460 v2 are 1.3% and 1.4% behind respectively. These tight deltas indicate that neither card is an outlier in its performance tier; they are both competitive within their immediate neighborhood.

The Verdict

The data points to one unambiguous conclusion: the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 is the superior compute performer in every directly comparable test. It wins both head-to-head benchmarks with margins of 74.9% and 47.8%. For any workload that relies on Metal or OpenCL acceleration, the choice is clear.

However, the GTX 870M is not without its own statistical justification. Its average benchmark score of 9,959 exceeds the WX 5100's 8,863, and its 48th percentile ranking beats the AMD card's 44th. This apparent contradiction stems from the different test suites recorded for each card. The GTX 870M's limited benchmark set consists entirely of compute tests where it performs respectably. The WX 5100's broader set includes older DirectX tests where it scores poorly, such as 29 in Passmark DirectX 10 and 26 in DirectX 12.

For a user prioritizing raw compute throughput in modern APIs, the Radeon Pro WX 5100 is the data-backed choice. For a user whose workload resembles the GTX 870M's specific benchmark profile, the NVIDIA card's higher average and percentile suggest it remains competitive in its niche. The database shows the WX 5100 winning the compute war, while the GTX 870M holds a statistical edge in overall average that reflects its narrower, more favorable test selection.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from fundamentally different design philosophies and manufacturing generations. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M uses the GK104 chip built on Kepler architecture, produced on a 28 nm process at TSMC. The die measures 294 mm² and contains 3,540 million transistors, yielding a transistor density of 12.0 million per square millimeter. The AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 uses the Ellesmere chip based on GCN 4.0 architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. Its die is smaller at 232 mm² but packs 5,700 million transistors, achieving a density of 24.6 million per square millimeter, more than double the NVIDIA part.

The memory subsystems differ substantially. The GTX 870M comes with 3 GB of GDDR5 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 120.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The WX 5100 offers 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, raising bandwidth to 160.0 GB/s. Both run their memory at 1250 MHz with 5 Gbps effective data rate, but the wider bus gives AMD the throughput advantage.

Compute unit counts favor AMD. The WX 5100 has 1,792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The GTX 870M has 1,344 shading units, 112 TMUs, and only 24 ROPs. Pixel fill rates reflect this: 34.75 GPixel/s for AMD versus 27.08 GPixel/s for NVIDIA. Texture fill rates are closer, with the AMD card at 121.6 GTexel/s against 108.3 GTexel/s. Floating point performance shows the largest gap in raw specifications: the WX 5100 delivers 3.892 TFLOPS in FP32, while the GTX 870M manages 2.599 TFLOPS. The AMD card also supports FP16 at a 1:1 ratio, a feature the NVIDIA part lacks entirely.

Clock behavior differs notably. The GTX 870M has a base clock of 941 MHz and a boost of 967 MHz, a narrow 26 MHz spread. The WX 5100 starts lower at 713 MHz but boosts aggressively to 1,086 MHz, a 373 MHz range that allows it to scale under load. Power consumption favors AMD despite its higher performance: the WX 5100 is rated at 75 W TDP, while the GTX 870M draws 100 W.

API support reveals a generational gap. The WX 5100 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The GTX 870M is limited to DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175. The AMD card's newer API baseline gives it access to features the Kepler architecture cannot expose.

The physical form factors could hardly be more different. The GTX 870M is an MXM module using the MXM-B (3.0) interface with no power connectors, designed for portable devices. The WX 5100 is a single-slot PCIe 3.0 x16 card measuring 173 mm in length and 112 mm in height, with four DisplayPort 1.4a outputs and a suggested PSU of 250 W. The NVIDIA card's display outputs are listed as portable device dependent, meaning its connectivity is dictated by the laptop chassis rather than the card itself.

FAQ

Q: Which card has higher raw compute performance?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 wins both head-to-head benchmarks, with a 74.9% lead in Geekbench Metal and a 47.8% lead in Geekbench OpenCL over the GTX 870M.

Q: Does the GTX 870M have any statistical advantage?

A: Yes, the GTX 870M has a higher average benchmark score of 9,959 compared to the WX 5100's 8,863, and it ranks at the 48th percentile of all GPUs versus the AMD card's 44th.

Q: How do their memory configurations compare?

A: The WX 5100 has 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 160.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the GTX 870M has 3 GB on a 192-bit bus with 120.0 GB/s.

Q: Which card is more power efficient?

A: The WX 5100 has a 75 W TDP, while the GTX 870M is rated at 100 W, giving AMD the efficiency advantage despite higher performance.

Q: What are the nearest rivals for each card in the database?

A: The GTX 870M's closest rival is the AMD Radeon Pro 5300M at 0.5% ahead, while the WX 5100's closest is the AMD Radeon R9 M265X at 0.1% behind.

Q: Do both cards support the same APIs?

A: No, the WX 5100 supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3, while the GTX 870M is limited to DirectX 12 (11_0) and Vulkan 1.2.175.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 wins decisively in compute-heavy workloads. Its Geekbench Metal score of 29,003 and OpenCL score of 24,217 make it the clear choice for applications that leverage these APIs, including rendering, simulation, and GPU-accelerated content creation. Its 3.892 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 1:1 FP16 support give it a theoretical throughput advantage that the benchmark results confirm. The 8 GB memory capacity and 160.0 GB/s bandwidth also position it for larger datasets and higher-resolution textures.

The WX 5100 also wins on API modernity, with Vulkan 1.3 and DirectX 12 (12_0) support that the Kepler-based GTX 870M cannot match. Its four DisplayPort 1.4a outputs make it a practical workstation card for multi-monitor setups, and its single-slot PCIe form factor with no power connectors simplifies installation in standard desktop systems.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M's wins are narrower but real. Its average benchmark score of 9,959 and 48th percentile ranking exceed the WX 5100's figures, suggesting that in the specific compute tests recorded for it, the card performs above its rival's overall profile. Its higher base clock of 941 MHz versus 713 MHz means it starts from a stronger position before boost behavior kicks in. The 100 W TDP, while higher than AMD's, is modest for a mobile GPU and reflects its MXM design for laptops.

For users constrained to the GTX 870M's benchmark profile, which centers on OpenCL and Metal compute without the older DirectX tests that drag down the AMD card's average, the NVIDIA part remains competitive. Its 12.0M/mm² transistor density and 294 mm² die are large for a 28 nm part, indicating a mature design that extracts solid performance from older hardware.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every major specification category. The GTX 870M uses the GK104 chip on Kepler architecture with a 28 nm TSMC process, while the WX 5100 uses Ellesmere on GCN 4.0 with a 14 nm GlobalFoundries process. Transistor counts are 3,540 million versus 5,700 million, with die sizes of 294 mm² and 232 mm² respectively. Transistor density is 12.0M/mm² for NVIDIA and 24.6M/mm² for AMD.

Memory configurations diverge sharply: 3 GB versus 8 GB of GDDR5, 192-bit versus 256-bit bus widths, and 120.0 GB/s versus 160.0 GB/s bandwidth. Both run memory at 1250 MHz with 5 Gbps effective speed. Shading units number 1,344 for NVIDIA and 1,792 for AMD. TMUs are equal at 112, but ROPs differ at 24 versus 32. Pixel rates are 27.08 GPixel/s and 34.75 GPixel/s, texture rates 108.3 GTexel/s and 121.6 GTexel/s, and FP32 throughput 2.599 TFLOPS versus 3.892 TFLOPS. Only AMD lists FP16 performance at 3.892 TFLOPS (1:1).

Clocks show contrasting strategies: NVIDIA's base and boost (941 MHz and 967 MHz) are close together, while AMD's (713 MHz and 1,086 MHz) span a wide range. TDP favors AMD at 75 W versus 100 W. Form factors are entirely different: MXM Module with MXM-B (3.0) interface for NVIDIA, single-slot PCIe 3.0 x16 for AMD. Display outputs are portable device dependent for the GTX 870M, while the WX 5100 provides 4x DisplayPort 1.4a. API support differs in DirectX version (12 (11_0) versus 12 (12_0)) and Vulkan (1.2.175 versus 1.3). The WX 5100 has a suggested PSU of 250 W and launch MSRP of 499 USD. Release dates are March 2014 for NVIDIA and November 2016 for AMD. Both are end-of-life products, with the GTX 870M succeeding the GeForce 700M and preceding the GeForce 900M, while the WX 5100 follows Radeon Pro GCN and precedes Radeon Pro Vega.