AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 vs AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT Comparison
AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100
Radeon RX 6800 XT
PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKS
Analysis: AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 vs AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
Head-to-Head Benchmarks
The recorded data shows a decisive overall victory for the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT across every shared benchmark test. The head-to-head comparison includes three Geekbench workloads: Metal, OpenCL, and Vulkan. In all three, the RX 6800 XT outperforms the Radeon Pro WX 9100 by a wide margin, with the Pro WX 9100 failing to secure a single win.
The smallest delta appears in the Geekbench Vulkan test, where the RX 6800 XT scores 136,875 against the Pro WX 9100's 54,711. This represents a 60% advantage for the newer card. In Geekbench Metal, the RX 6800 XT posts 181,337 versus 71,319 for the Pro WX 9100, a 60.7% difference. The largest gap is in Geekbench OpenCL, where the RX 6800 XT reaches 171,304 compared to 66,605, a 61.1% lead. These deltas are remarkably consistent, all falling within a narrow range of 60% to 61.1%.
The consistent margin across three different API workloads suggests the performance advantage is architectural rather than workload-specific. A 60% or greater lead in every measured test is not a case of one card being tuned for a particular API; it reflects a broad underlying performance difference. The average benchmark score also tells the same story: the RX 6800 XT averages 48,477 across its full benchmark suite, while the Pro WX 9100 averages 64,212. However, these averages are not directly comparable because the two cards were tested with different benchmark sets, and the Pro WX 9100's average includes only three Geekbench results.
The percentile rankings further contextualize the results. The Pro WX 9100 sits at the 89th percentile among all GPUs, while the RX 6800 XT is at the 85th percentile. This appears counterintuitive given the RX 6800 XT's head-to-head dominance, but the percentile data is drawn from each card's own benchmark set and rival pool. The Pro WX 9100's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA CMP 30HX (0.6% higher average), the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT LP (0.6% higher), the AMD Radeon RX 7600M (0.7% higher), and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (0.8% higher). These are very tight margins, indicating the Pro WX 9100 competes in a dense cluster of similarly performing cards. The RX 6800 XT's nearest rivals, by contrast, include the Intel Arc A550M (2.5% higher), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (3% higher), and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 (3% higher), with the NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile trailing by 1.5%. The RX 6800 XT's rival deltas are larger, meaning its competitive position is less crowded.
Architecture Differences
The two cards represent fundamentally different design generations from AMD. The Radeon Pro WX 9100 is built on the Vega 10 chip using the GCN 5.0 architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. The RX 6800 XT uses the Navi 21 chip with the RDNA 2.0 architecture, built on a 7 nm process at TSMC. The process node difference is significant: 14 nm versus 7 nm. This generational jump allows the RX 6800 XT to pack substantially more transistors into a similar die area. The Pro WX 9100 contains 12,500 million transistors on a 495 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 25.3 million per mm². The RX 6800 XT packs 26,800 million transistors onto a 520 mm² die, achieving 51.5 million per mm². That is more than double the transistor density, a direct consequence of the smaller manufacturing process.
Clock speeds also differ sharply. The Pro WX 9100 has a base clock of 1200 MHz and a boost clock of 1500 MHz. The RX 6800 XT runs at 1825 MHz base and 2250 MHz boost, with a game clock of 2015 MHz. Higher clocks combined with more execution resources explain the large benchmark deltas. The RX 6800 XT has 4608 shading units, 288 texture mapping units, and 128 render output units. The Pro WX 9100 has 4096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The RX 6800 XT also includes 72 ray tracing cores, a feature entirely absent from the Pro WX 9100, which lists no ray tracing hardware.
Memory configurations differ in both type and organization. The Pro WX 9100 uses 16 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus, with memory clocks of 945 MHz (1890 Mbps effective) and a bandwidth of 483.8 GB/s. The RX 6800 XT uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, with memory clocks of 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) and a bandwidth of 512.0 GB/s. Despite the narrower bus, the RX 6800 XT achieves higher memory bandwidth thanks to the faster GDDR6 signaling. The RX 6800 XT also has a much higher pixel rate at 288.0 GPixel/s versus 96.00 GPixel/s, and a texture rate of 648.0 GTexel/s versus 384.0 GTexel/s. Floating-point throughput follows the same pattern: the RX 6800 XT delivers 20.74 TFLOPS FP32 and 41.47 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1), while the Pro WX 9100 delivers 12.29 TFLOPS FP32 and 24.58 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1).
Interface and connectivity also reflect the generational gap. The Pro WX 9100 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the RX 6800 XT uses PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs differ as well: the Pro WX 9100 offers six mini-DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, while the RX 6800 XT provides one HDMI 2.1, two DisplayPort 1.4a, and one USB Type-C. API support favors the RX 6800 XT, which supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, compared to DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3 on the Pro WX 9100. Both support OpenGL 4.6. Power requirements are higher on the RX 6800 XT, which has a 300 W TDP and requires two 8-pin connectors with a suggested 700 W PSU. The Pro WX 9100 has a 230 W TDP, uses one 6-pin and one 8-pin connector, and calls for a 550 W PSU. Both are dual-slot cards with identical 267 mm lengths, but the RX 6800 XT is taller at 120 mm versus 111 mm and has a defined width of 50 mm.
Where Each One Wins
The RX 6800 XT wins decisively in raw compute across all three shared Geekbench tests. Its 60% to 61.1% margins in Metal, OpenCL, and Vulkan indicate that for any workload using these APIs, the RX 6800 XT is the stronger choice. The card also carries features that the Pro WX 9100 lacks entirely, most notably 72 ray tracing cores and DirectX 12 Ultimate support. For gaming or any application that leverages ray tracing or modern DirectX 12 Ultimate features, the RX 6800 XT has a clear functional advantage, not merely a speed advantage.
The Pro WX 9100's strengths are more specialized. Its 16 GB of HBM2 memory on a 2048-bit bus is a workstation-oriented configuration, and the card's six mini-DisplayPort 1.4a outputs support multi-display professional setups in a way the RX 6800 XT's four outputs cannot match. The Pro WX 9100 also has a lower TDP at 230 W versus 300 W, which may be relevant for systems with tighter power budgets. Its position at the 89th percentile versus the RX 6800 XT's 85th percentile suggests that within its own benchmark pool, the Pro WX 9100 ranks slightly higher relative to its contemporaries than the RX 6800 XT does against its own rivals.
The benchmark data does not include any test where the Pro WX 9100 beats the RX 6800 XT. The wins column is 0 for the Pro WX 9100 and 3 for the RX 6800 XT. Therefore, any use-case advantage for the Pro WX 9100 must be inferred from its specifications rather than measured performance. The HBM2 memory and display output array point toward professional visualization environments, while the RX 6800 XT's architecture, clock speeds, and ray tracing support point toward high-performance gaming and general compute.
The Verdict
The data is unambiguous: the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT outperforms the AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 in every benchmark they share. The RX 6800 XT leads by 60% in Geekbench Vulkan, 60.7% in Geekbench Metal, and 61.1% in Geekbench OpenCL. It has more shading units, more TMUs, double the ROPs, ray tracing cores, higher clock speeds, higher memory bandwidth, and nearly double the FP32 throughput at 20.74 TFLOPS versus 12.29 TFLOPS. Its 7 nm process allows more than double the transistor density compared to the 14 nm Pro WX 9100.
The Pro WX 9100's case rests on its professional feature set rather than its benchmark scores. Its 2048-bit HBM2 memory interface, six mini-DisplayPort outputs, and lower 230 W power draw are legitimate workstation considerations. But the recorded performance data offers no scenario where the Pro WX 9100 wins a measured test. The RX 6800 XT also has 16 GB of memory, matching the Pro WX 9100's capacity, and exceeds its bandwidth at 512.0 GB/s versus 483.8 GB/s.
For anyone choosing between these two cards based on the database measurements, the RX 6800 XT is the correct pick unless the specific professional features of the Pro WX 9100, such as the multi-display output configuration, are essential. The RX 6800 XT's launch MSRP was 649 USD, while the Pro WX 9100 launched at 1,599 USD. The RX 6800 XT is also newer, releasing in 2020 compared to 2017 for the Pro WX 9100, and offers PCIe 4.0 support, DirectX 12 Ultimate, and Vulkan 1.4. The Pro WX 9100 is limited to PCIe 3.0, DirectX 12 (12_1), and Vulkan 1.3. The architecture gap is simply too wide for the older card to compete on measured performance.
FAQ
Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?
A: The AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 has an average benchmark score of 64,212, while the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT averages 48,477. However, the averages are drawn from different benchmark sets, so the head-to-head Geekbench results are the more reliable comparison.
Q: How large is the performance gap in Geekbench Metal?
A: The RX 6800 XT scores 181,337 in Geekbench Metal, while the Pro WX 9100 scores 71,319. The delta is 60.7% in favor of the RX 6800 XT.
Q: Does the Pro WX 9100 win any benchmark in the head-to-head comparison?
A: No. The Pro WX 9100 wins 0 of the 3 shared tests. The RX 6800 XT wins all 3, including Geekbench Metal, OpenCL, and Vulkan.
Q: What memory configurations do the two cards use?
A: The Pro WX 9100 uses 16 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus with 483.8 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 6800 XT uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 512.0 GB/s bandwidth.
Q: Which card supports ray tracing?
A: The RX 6800 XT includes 72 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2). The Pro WX 9100 has no ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 (12_1).
Q: How do the transistor counts compare?
A: The Pro WX 9100 has 12,500 million transistors on a 14 nm process, while the RX 6800 XT has 26,800 million transistors on a 7 nm process. The RX 6800 XT achieves 51.5 million transistors per mm² versus 25.3 million per mm² for the Pro WX 9100.