AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 vs NVIDIA Quadro 5000 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a decisive single head-to-head benchmark between these two professional graphics cards. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 scores 24,217 points, while the NVIDIA Quadro 5000 scores 7,289 points. The AMD card wins by a delta of 232.2%, which means it delivers more than three times the raw compute performance of the NVIDIA card in this specific workload. This is not a marginal gap; it is a generational leap in compute throughput.

Looking at the broader benchmark database, the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 has a much larger set of recorded results. Its average benchmark score across all tests is 8,863 points, placing it in the 44th percentile of all GPUs. The NVIDIA Quadro 5000, by contrast, has only a single recorded benchmark result, the Geekbench OpenCL score of 7,289 points, which puts it in the 40th percentile. The average score gap between the two cards in the database is 1,574 points in favor of the AMD card, a 21.6% difference when measured against the NVIDIA card's average.

The AMD card's nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon R9 M265X with an average score of 8,851 (0.1% behind the WX 5100), the AMD Radeon 550X at 8,918 (0.6% ahead), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile at 8,746 (1.3% behind), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 v2 at 8,743 (1.4% behind). These close margins show that the WX 5100 sits in a tightly contested performance band among mid-range GPUs from multiple generations.

The NVIDIA Quadro 5000's nearest rivals tell a similar story of tight competition, but at a lower performance tier. The GeForce GTX 750 averages 7,222 points (0.9% behind the Quadro 5000), the AMD Radeon Vega 8 Mobile averages 7,203 (1.2% behind), the GeForce GTX 560 SE averages 7,171 (1.6% behind), and the Intel Iris Pro Graphics P580 averages 7,170 (1.7% behind). The Quadro 5000 is essentially at parity with these older or integrated solutions, while the WX 5100 competes with dedicated discrete GPUs from a much later era.

In the only direct comparison available, the OpenCL result, the AMD card's 24,217 points tower over the NVIDIA card's 7,289 points. The delta of 232.2% is the single most important number in this comparison. It reflects not just a faster card, but a fundamentally different level of compute capability. The AMD card also shows strong results in other API tests within its own benchmark set, including 29,003 in Geekbench Metal and 26,909 in Geekbench Vulkan, though the NVIDIA card has no corresponding results for those tests in the database.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 wins the only direct head-to-head benchmark available, and it also wins on the breadth of its benchmark coverage. The database records results for the WX 5100 across ten different tests: Geekbench Metal, OpenCL, and Vulkan, plus Passmark tests for DirectX 9, 10, 11, 12, G2D, G3D, and GPU compute. The NVIDIA Quadro 5000 has just one recorded result. For any workload that relies on OpenCL compute, the WX 5100 is the clear choice based on the 232.2% lead.

For DirectX-based workloads, the WX 5100 has recorded Passmark scores of 88 in DirectX 9, 29 in DirectX 10, 36 in DirectX 11, and 26 in DirectX 12. The Quadro 5000 has no DirectX results in the database, so no direct comparison is possible. However, the API support table shows the WX 5100 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), while the Quadro 5000 only supports DirectX 12 (11_0), which indicates the AMD card can handle a more modern feature level. The WX 5100 also supports Vulkan 1.3, while the Quadro 5000 has no Vulkan support recorded at all.

For general 2D and 3D graphics work, the WX 5100 records a Passmark G2D score of 777 and a G3D score of 5,496. Its GPU compute score is 2,053. These results give the WX 5100 a much more complete performance profile for professional applications that use compute shaders or GPU acceleration. The Quadro 5000's single OpenCL score of 7,289 is its only data point, and it falls far short of the WX 5100's OpenCL result.

The NVIDIA card does hold one structural advantage: its 40 ROPS compared to 32 ROPS on the AMD card, and its 320-bit memory bus compared to 256-bit. These specifications suggest the Quadro 5000 was designed with certain rasterization and memory bandwidth patterns in mind. However, the actual benchmark data does not show any test where the Quadro 5000 outperforms the WX 5100. The AMD card wins the only recorded comparison, and its additional benchmark results all point to higher performance across compute and graphics workloads.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher Geekbench OpenCL score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 scores 24,217 points, which is 232.2% higher than the NVIDIA Quadro 5000's 7,289 points in the Geekbench OpenCL test.

Q: Does the NVIDIA Quadro 5000 beat the AMD card in any recorded benchmark?

A: No. The database contains only one head-to-head benchmark between the two cards, the Geekbench OpenCL test, and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 wins it. The NVIDIA card has no other recorded benchmark results in the database.

Q: How do these cards compare to their nearest rivals in the database?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 has an average benchmark score of 8,863 points, with its closest rival, the AMD Radeon R9 M265X, just 0.1% behind. The NVIDIA Quadro 5000 averages 7,289 points, with its closest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750, 0.9% behind.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference between the two cards?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus with 160.0 GB/s bandwidth. The NVIDIA Quadro 5000 has 2.5 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 320-bit bus with 120.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card supports more modern graphics APIs?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The NVIDIA Quadro 5000 supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, but has no Vulkan support recorded.

Q: What are the average benchmark scores and percentiles for each card?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 has an average benchmark score of 8,863 and sits in the 44th percentile of all GPUs. The NVIDIA Quadro 5000 has an average benchmark score of 7,289 and sits in the 40th percentile.

Specification Differences

The AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 uses a 14 nm process node from GlobalFoundries, while the NVIDIA Quadro 5000 uses a 40 nm process from TSMC. The AMD chip, Ellesmere, contains 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 24.6 million transistors per square millimeter. The NVIDIA chip, GF100, contains 3,100 million transistors on a 529 mm² die, with a density of 5.9 million transistors per square millimeter. The AMD card is built on a much newer and denser process.

The memory subsystems differ substantially. The WX 5100 has 8 GB of GDDR5 with a 256-bit bus and 160.0 GB/s of bandwidth, running at 5 Gbps effective. The Quadro 5000 has 2.5 GB of GDDR5 with a 320-bit bus and 120.0 GB/s of bandwidth, running at 3 Gbps effective. The AMD card has more capacity and more bandwidth despite a narrower bus, because its memory clock is much higher.

The compute units also differ. The WX 5100 has 1,792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The Quadro 5000 has 352 shading units, 44 TMUs, and 40 ROPs. The AMD card has far more shaders and TMUs, while the NVIDIA card has more ROPs. Pixel rate for the WX 5100 is 34.75 GPixel/s with a texture rate of 121.6 GTexel/s. The Quadro 5000 has a pixel rate of 11.29 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 22.57 GTexel/s. Floating point performance is 3.892 TFLOPS for the AMD card versus 722.3 GFLOPS for the NVIDIA card.

Power characteristics are also very different. The WX 5100 has a TDP of 75 W, requires no power connectors, and needs a 250 W suggested PSU. The Quadro 5000 has a TDP of 152 W, requires one 6-pin power connector, and needs a 450 W suggested PSU. The AMD card is single-slot and 173 mm long, while the NVIDIA card is dual-slot and 248 mm long. The WX 5100 offers four DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, while the Quadro 5000 offers one DVI and two DisplayPort outputs. The AMD card uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the NVIDIA card uses PCIe 2.0 x16.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 is built on the GCN 4.0 architecture, using the Ellesmere chip. It belongs to the Radeon Pro Polaris generation. The NVIDIA Quadro 5000 uses the Fermi architecture with the GF100 chip, belonging to the Quadro Fermi generation. These architectures are separated by roughly five years of GPU design evolution, and the benchmark data reflects that.

The AMD card supports half-precision FP16 compute at a 1:1 ratio with FP32, delivering 3.892 TFLOPS in both formats. The NVIDIA card has no FP16 support recorded in the database. This makes the WX 5100 more suitable for workloads that use mixed-precision computing. The AMD card also has a much higher transistor density, 24.6 million transistors per square millimeter versus 5.9 million for the NVIDIA card, which reflects the newer 14 nm process versus 40 nm.

The API support differences are significant for professional software compatibility. The WX 5100 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), the highest feature level, while the Quadro 5000 is limited to DirectX 12 (11_0). Both cards support OpenGL 4.6, but only the AMD card supports Vulkan 1.3. The NVIDIA card has no Vulkan support recorded. The AMD card also supports four DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, while the NVIDIA card has a single DVI and two DisplayPort outputs, which limits multi-monitor configurations on the older card.

The production status for both cards is end-of-life, but their release dates show the generational gap: the Quadro 5000 launched in February 2011, while the WX 5100 launched in November 2016. The NVIDIA card's predecessor is the Quadro FX Tesla and its successor is Quadro Kepler. The AMD card's predecessor is Radeon Pro GCN and its successor is Radeon Pro Vega. The AMD card has a launch MSRP of 499 USD, while the NVIDIA card has a launch MSRP of 2,499 USD.

The Verdict

The benchmark data makes the choice straightforward for compute-intensive professional workloads. The AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 outperforms the NVIDIA Quadro 5000 by 232.2% in the only direct head-to-head benchmark recorded, the Geekbench OpenCL test. The AMD card also has a higher average benchmark score of 8,863 versus 7,289, and a higher percentile ranking of 44 versus 40 among all GPUs.

The WX 5100 offers 8 GB of memory versus 2.5 GB, higher memory bandwidth at 160.0 GB/s versus 120.0 GB/s, and more shading units at 1,792 versus 352. It also supports modern APIs including Vulkan 1.3 and DirectX 12 (12_0), whereas the Quadro 5000 lacks Vulkan support and is limited to DirectX 12 (11_0). The AMD card consumes less power, with a 75 W TDP versus 152 W, and requires no auxiliary power connectors, making it easier to integrate into a wider range of systems.

The NVIDIA Quadro 5000 does have a wider memory bus at 320-bit versus 256-bit, and more ROPs at 40 versus 32, but no benchmark result in the database demonstrates any performance advantage from these specifications. The Quadro 5000's single recorded score of 7,289 in OpenCL places it near older integrated graphics solutions like the Intel Iris Pro Graphics P580, which scores 7,170, rather than near dedicated professional GPUs.

For users selecting a card for OpenCL compute, DirectX acceleration, or Vulkan-based workflows, the data points firmly to the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100. It wins the only direct comparison, has a broader and stronger benchmark profile, and offers more memory, more compute units, and better API support. The NVIDIA Quadro 5000, despite its higher launch MSRP of 2,499 USD, records no winning benchmark result against the AMD card. The verdict from the recorded data is clear: the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 is the superior choice for virtually every measurable workload in the database.