AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 and AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 sit at opposite ends of the GPU timeline, yet both command attention in a benchmark database. The RTX 5090 is an active, current-generation Blackwell 2.0 flagship, while the WX 9100 is an end-of-life Vega 10 workstation part from 2017. The data shows a massive performance gulf, but the comparison reveals more than raw speed—it highlights how far GPU architecture has shifted in eight years.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head results are starkly one-sided. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the RTX 5090 scores 334,370 against the WX 9100’s 66,605, a delta of 402%. That is not a marginal improvement; it is a five-fold leap in compute throughput. The Vulkan test is even more lopsided: the RTX 5090 posts 376,728 versus 54,711, a 588.6% advantage. For context, the RTX 5090’s Vulkan score alone is nearly seven times the WX 9100’s entire OpenCL result.

What does this mean in practice? OpenCL and Vulkan are cross-platform APIs used for compute and rendering, respectively. The RTX 5090’s dominance implies that any workload leveraging these interfaces—be it GPU-accelerated analysis, rendering, or machine learning inference—will see an order-of-magnitude improvement on the newer card. The WX 9100’s best showing comes from its Geekbench Metal score of 71,319, a test the RTX 5090 does not appear in, but even that figure trails the RTX 5090’s OpenCL score by over 260,000 points.

The overall benchmark averages reinforce this gap. The RTX 5090’s average benchmark score is 79,842, while the WX 9100 sits at 64,212. Interestingly, the RTX 5090’s nearest rivals—the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605) and Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79,396)—are within 0.3% and 0.6% of its average, respectively. The WX 9100’s rivals, such as the NVIDIA CMP 30HX (63,842) and AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT LP (63,830), are similarly clustered, but at a far lower performance tier. This suggests the RTX 5090 competes in a different league entirely, despite its percentile rank of 92 versus the WX 9100’s 89.

Architecture Differences

The architectural chasm between these two GPUs is vast. The RTX 5090 uses the GB202 chip on a 5 nm TSMC process, packing 92,200 million transistors into a 750 mm² die. That yields a transistor density of 122.9 million per square millimeter. The WX 9100, by contrast, relies on the Vega 10 chip fabricated on a 14 nm GlobalFoundries process, with 12,500 million transistors across a 495 mm² die—a density of just 25.3 million per square millimeter. The RTX 5090 has over seven times the transistors in only 1.5 times the die area.

Core counts tell a similar story. The RTX 5090 features 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 ROPs, alongside 170 ray-tracing cores and 680 tensor cores. The WX 9100 has 4,096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with no ray-tracing or tensor cores listed. That means the RTX 5090 offers 5.3 times the shading units, 2.7 times the TMUs, and 2.75 times the ROPs. The presence of dedicated RT and tensor cores on the RTX 5090 is a fundamental architectural addition—the WX 9100’s GCN 5.0 design predates those specialized units.

Memory architecture diverges completely. The RTX 5090 uses 32 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The WX 9100 has 16 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus, but only achieves 483.8 GB/s. Despite the WX 9100’s wider bus—four times the bit width—the RTX 5090’s newer memory technology provides 3.7 times the bandwidth. Clock speeds also favor the RTX 5090: a 2017 MHz base and 2407 MHz boost versus the WX 9100’s 1200 MHz base and 1500 MHz boost.

Where Each One Wins

Based strictly on the benchmark data, the RTX 5090 wins every head-to-head test—there are no victories for the WX 9100. However, the WX 9100 does have a unique benchmark result: a Geekbench Metal score of 71,319, which the RTX 5090 does not have a corresponding entry for. This suggests the WX 9100 retains some relevance in Apple-centric Metal workloads, though its score is modest compared to the RTX 5090’s cross-platform numbers.

The RTX 5090’s wins are not just quantitative but qualitative. In OpenCL, a 402% lead means compute-heavy tasks like physics simulations, data processing, or video encoding will complete in a fraction of the time. The Vulkan 588.6% lead is even more pronounced for real-time rendering and game development. For professional users, the RTX 5090’s 32 GB memory capacity doubles the WX 9100’s 16 GB, allowing larger datasets to reside on the GPU without spilling to system RAM.

The WX 9100’s strengths lie in its legacy. As an end-of-life product, it still occupies the 89th percentile of all GPUs, meaning it outperforms most cards ever made. Its 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a outputs—versus the RTX 5090’s 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b—make it a viable choice for multi-monitor setups requiring six simultaneous displays. Its 230 W TDP and 550 W suggested PSU also make it far easier to integrate into existing systems than the RTX 5090’s 575 W TDP and 950 W PSU requirement.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every measurable specification. The RTX 5090 uses a 5 nm process; the WX 9100 uses 14 nm. Transistor counts are 92,200 million versus 12,500 million. Die size is 750 mm² versus 495 mm². Base clocks are 2017 MHz versus 1200 MHz; boost clocks are 2407 MHz versus 1500 MHz. Memory size is 32 GB GDDR7 versus 16 GB HBM2, with bus widths of 512-bit versus 2048-bit, and bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s versus 483.8 GB/s.

Compute rates show the scale of difference. The RTX 5090 delivers 104.8 TFLOPS FP32, while the WX 9100 manages 12.29 TFLOPS—an 8.5-fold gap. FP16 performance is 104.8 TFLOPS (1:1) on the RTX 5090 versus 24.58 TFLOPS (2:1) on the WX 9100. Pixel rates are 423.6 GPixel/s versus 96.00 GPixel/s, and texture rates are 1,636.8 GTexel/s versus 384.0 GTexel/s. The RTX 5090 has 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores; the WX 9100 has none.

Interface and power also diverge. The RTX 5090 uses PCIe 5.0 x16, while the WX 9100 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Power connectors are 1x 16-pin versus 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin. The RTX 5090 is 304 mm long, 137 mm tall, and 40 mm wide; the WX 9100 is 267 mm long and 111 mm tall, with no width listed. Both are dual-slot. The RTX 5090 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the WX 9100 only supports DirectX 12 (12_1). Vulkan support is 1.4 versus 1.3; OpenGL is 4.6 on both. The RTX 5090 was released on 2025-01-29, the WX 9100 on 2017-07-09.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the RTX 5090 in OpenCL?

A: The RTX 5090 scores 334,370 versus the WX 9100’s 66,605, a 402% improvement.

Q: Does the WX 9100 beat the RTX 5090 in any benchmark?

A: No. In the head-to-head tests, the RTX 5090 wins both OpenCL and Vulkan. The WX 9100 has a Geekbench Metal score of 71,319, but the RTX 5090 has no Metal result for comparison.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The RTX 5090 has 1.79 TB/s bandwidth from GDDR7, while the WX 9100 has 483.8 GB/s from HBM2. The RTX 5090 provides 3.7 times the bandwidth.

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The RTX 5090 has 21,760 shading units, compared to 4,096 on the WX 9100—a 5.3-fold difference.

Q: What is the transistor density comparison?

A: The RTX 5090 has 122.9 million transistors per mm², while the WX 9100 has 25.3 million per mm².

Q: Are both cards still in production?

A: No. The RTX 5090 is marked as Active, while the WX 9100 is End-of-life.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the superior card for nearly any workload. Its 402% OpenCL lead and 588.6% Vulkan lead over the WX 9100 mean that any compute or rendering task will see dramatic speedups. The RTX 5090’s 32 GB memory, 104.8 TFLOPS FP32, and dedicated RT and tensor cores make it a modern powerhouse for AI, ray tracing, and high-resolution content creation. Its 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs confirms it sits near the top of the performance hierarchy.

The AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100, however, is not without a niche. Its 89th percentile ranking shows it remains a capable card, especially for legacy multi-display setups with its 6x mini-DisplayPort outputs. Its 230 W TDP and 550 W PSU requirement make it far more accessible for systems with modest power budgets. For users on Apple platforms, its Metal score of 71,319 is its only unique benchmark data point.

Who should pick which? The RTX 5090 is the choice for anyone needing maximum performance, modern API support (DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4), and future-proofing. The WX 9100 makes sense only for specific legacy environments—perhaps a six-monitor workstation or a system constrained by power and PCIe 3.0. The benchmark results do not support the WX 9100 as a general-purpose alternative; they show a decisive, generation-defining victory for the RTX 5090.