AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 vs NVIDIA Quadro P5000 Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark split between these two professional workstation cards is unusually lopsided, with NVIDIA taking 7 of the 9 head-to-head tests. However, the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 claims two decisive victories that point to specific workload niches.

The AMD card wins in Geekbench Vulkan by a staggering 324.3% margin, scoring 26,909 versus the Quadro P5000's 6,342. This is not a small gap; it is a generational difference in Vulkan compute performance. Any application built around Vulkan's low-level GPU access, whether for rendering or compute, will strongly favor the AMD architecture.

The AMD card also wins in Passmark G2D (2D graphics) with a score of 777 versus 674, a 15.3% advantage. This is the only test where AMD's lead is modest, but it indicates that pure desktop 2D acceleration, window compositing, and basic display workloads are handled with slightly more efficiency by the Radeon Pro WX 5100.

Every other benchmark goes to NVIDIA. The Quadro P5000 wins in OpenCL (52,509 vs 24,217, a 53.9% lead), all DirectX variants (9, 10, 11, 12), Passmark G3D (12,634 vs 5,496, a 56.5% lead), and GPU compute (6,508 vs 2,053, a 68.5% lead). The DirectX wins range from 40.9% (DX12) to 64.7% (DX11), showing consistent dominance across every legacy and modern graphics API.

For real-world usage, this means the WX 5100 is a specialist card. It is the correct choice if your software stack is Vulkan-centric or if you need the fastest possible 2D desktop response. The P5000 is the generalist that wins everywhere else, especially in compute-heavy OpenCL workloads and any DirectX-based application.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear recommendation: pick the NVIDIA Quadro P5000 for nearly all professional workloads. Its 7-2 win record is backed by substantial margins, not narrow victories. The P5000 is more than twice as fast in OpenCL, more than twice as fast in Passmark G3D, and over three times faster in GPU compute. For anyone doing rendering, simulation, video processing, or any task that uses OpenCL or DirectX, the P5000 is the obvious choice.

The AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 is only the right pick for a narrow set of use cases. If your primary application uses Vulkan, the WX 5100's 324.3% lead in that API makes it the faster card despite losing elsewhere. The same applies if you run a multi-display 2D workstation where the 15.3% G2D advantage matters more than 3D or compute throughput.

There is one more angle to consider: the P5000 carries 16 GB of GDDR5X memory versus 8 GB of GDDR5 on the WX 5100. For large datasets, point clouds, or high-resolution textures, the P5000's extra capacity is a practical advantage that benchmarks alone do not fully capture. The WX 5100's 8 GB may be a hard limit for certain professional datasets.

In short, the P5000 is the default recommendation. The WX 5100 is a niche pick for Vulkan-specific workflows or 2D-focused setups.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The largest single win for NVIDIA is in Geekbench OpenCL, where the P5000 scores 52,509 against the WX 5100's 24,217. This 53.9% lead reflects the P5000's higher raw compute throughput: 8.873 TFLOPS FP32 versus 3.892 TFLOPS. The P5000 also has more shading units (2,560 versus 1,792), more texture units (160 versus 112), and double the ROPs (64 versus 32).

The Passmark GPU Compute test shows an even wider gap. The P5000 scores 6,508 versus 2,053, a 68.5% lead. This test stresses general compute workloads, and the P5000's advantage here is consistent with its higher FP32 rate and greater memory bandwidth (288.5 GB/s versus 160.0 GB/s).

The Passmark G3D result is another dominant win: 12,634 versus 5,496, a 56.5% margin. This is the overall 3D graphics performance score, and the P5000's lead is driven by its higher pixel rate (110.9 GPixel/s versus 34.75 GPixel/s) and texture rate (277.3 GTexel/s versus 121.6 GTexel/s).

DirectX tests all favor NVIDIA. The smallest gap is in DirectX 12 (44 versus 26, a 40.9% lead), while DirectX 11 shows the largest (102 versus 36, a 64.7% lead). DirectX 10 (77 versus 29, a 62.3% lead) and DirectX 9 (170 versus 88, a 48.2% lead) round out the API sweep.

The AMD wins are equally decisive in their own right. The Geekbench Vulkan score of 26,909 versus 6,342 is a 324.3% blowout. This is the single largest delta in the entire comparison, and it is not close to any other result. The WX 5100's GCN 4.0 architecture clearly handles Vulkan far more efficiently than NVIDIA's Pascal.

The Passmark G2D win (777 versus 674, 15.3%) is smaller but consistent with the WX 5100's lower power draw (75 W versus 180 W) and simpler single-slot design. The AMD card sips power and focuses on desktop acceleration, while the P5000 is a dual-slot card with a dedicated 8-pin power connector.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in Vulkan?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 is dramatically faster. It scores 26,909 in Geekbench Vulkan versus the Quadro P5000's 6,342, a 324.3% advantage. This is the single largest performance gap in the comparison.

Q: Which card is better for OpenCL compute?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro P5000 is the clear winner. Its OpenCL score of 52,509 is 53.9% higher than the WX 5100's 24,217. The P5000's FP32 compute of 8.873 TFLOPS is more than double the WX 5100's 3.892 TFLOPS.

Q: How do the cards compare in DirectX performance?

A: NVIDIA wins all four DirectX tests. The margins are 40.9% in DX12, 64.7% in DX11, 62.3% in DX10, and 48.2% in DX9. The P5000 is consistently faster across every DirectX version.

Q: Which card has more memory and bandwidth?

A: The Quadro P5000 has 16 GB of GDDR5X with 288.5 GB/s bandwidth. The WX 5100 has 8 GB of GDDR5 with 160.0 GB/s bandwidth. The P5000 offers double the capacity and 80% more bandwidth.

Q: Is the AMD card better for 2D desktop work?

A: Yes, marginally. The WX 5100 scores 777 in Passmark G2D versus the P5000's 674, a 15.3% lead. This advantage is small but consistent with the WX 5100's lower power draw and single-slot form factor.

Q: What is the average benchmark score difference?

A: The WX 5100 actually has a higher average benchmark score at 8,863 versus the P5000's 8,039. This is because the WX 5100's massive Vulkan win inflates its average, despite losing most tests. The P5000 sits at the 41st percentile of all GPUs, while the WX 5100 is at the 44th percentile.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different foundries and process nodes. AMD uses GlobalFoundries at 14 nm for the Ellesmere chip, built on the GCN 4.0 architecture. NVIDIA uses TSMC at 16 nm for the GP104 chip, built on Pascal. The WX 5100 packs 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die, while the P5000 has 7,200 million transistors on a 314 mm² die. Transistor density is slightly higher on the AMD chip (24.6M per mm² versus 22.9M per mm²), but the NVIDIA chip is physically larger and has more total transistors.

The FP16 compute situation is a major architectural divergence. The WX 5100 runs FP16 at 3.892 TFLOPS, a 1:1 ratio with its FP32 rate. The P5000 runs FP16 at only 138.6 GFLOPS, a 1:64 ratio. This means the AMD card can process half-precision data at full speed, while the NVIDIA card is severely limited in FP16. For workloads that support FP16 arithmetic, the WX 5100 has a hidden advantage that is not visible in the standard benchmark suite.

The memory subsystems also differ. The WX 5100 uses 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus at 160.0 GB/s. The P5000 uses 16 GB of GDDR5X on the same 256-bit bus but at 288.5 GB/s. The P5000's memory type is faster per pin, giving it 80% more bandwidth despite the same bus width.

Both cards support PCIe 3.0 x16 and have no ray tracing or tensor cores. They both support OpenGL 4.6, but the P5000 supports DirectX 12_1 while the WX 5100 is limited to DirectX 12_0. The P5000 also supports Vulkan 1.4, while the WX 5100 is at Vulkan 1.3.

Specification Differences

The core count differences are substantial. The P5000 has 2,560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The WX 5100 has 1,792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The P5000 leads by 43% in shading units, 43% in TMUs, and 100% in ROPs.

Clock speeds favor NVIDIA as well. The P5000 runs at 1607 MHz base and 1733 MHz boost, while the WX 5100 runs at 713 MHz base and 1086 MHz boost. The P5000's boost clock is 59% higher, and its base clock is more than double.

Memory clocks differ: the P5000 runs at 1127 MHz with 9 Gbps effective, while the WX 5100 runs at 1250 MHz with 5 Gbps effective. The P5000's effective speed is 80% faster despite the lower physical clock.

Pixel and texture rates reflect these differences. The P5000 outputs 110.9 GPixel/s and 277.3 GTexel/s. The WX 5100 outputs 34.75 GPixel/s and 121.6 GTexel/s. The P5000 is 3.2 times faster in pixel fill and 2.3 times faster in texture fill.

Power requirements differ sharply. The WX 5100 draws 75 W with no power connectors and a suggested 250 W PSU. The P5000 draws 180 W with a single 8-pin connector and a suggested 450 W PSU. The WX 5100 is a single-slot card at 173 mm long; the P5000 is dual-slot at 267 mm long. Both are 112 mm tall.

Display outputs are similar: both have 4x DisplayPort 1.4a, but the P5000 adds 1x DVI. Both cards are end-of-life products. The WX 5100 launched in November 2016, and the P5000 launched in September 2016. Their successors are the Radeon Pro Vega and Quadro Volta, respectively.