AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 vs NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile Comparison

The NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile and AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 represent two very different approaches to professional graphics, separated by nearly four years of architectural evolution. The data is unambiguous: the RTX A3000 Mobile wins both head-to-head benchmarks, delivering an 18.7% higher OpenCL score and an 11.8% higher Vulkan score. However, the WX 9100 counters with vastly superior memory capacity and bandwidth, making the choice dependent on workload priorities rather than sheer compute dominance. The RTX A3000 Mobile is the pick for compute-heavy, API-modern tasks; the WX 9100 remains relevant for massive datasets that require its 16 GB frame buffer.

The Verdict

Benchmark results indicate a clear overall winner in the NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile. Its average benchmark score of 70,140 places it at the 91st percentile of all GPUs, while the AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 sits at 64,212 and the 89th percentile. In direct comparison, the RTX A3000 Mobile leads by 9.2% in average score. The OpenCL test shows the largest gap: 79,091 versus 66,605, a decisive 18.7% advantage. The Vulkan test narrows the margin to 11.8% (61,189 vs 54,711), but the NVIDIA card still wins comfortably.

The verdict is nuanced by workload type. For users running OpenCL or Vulkan workloads—which includes most modern rendering, simulation, and compute tasks—the RTX A3000 Mobile is the superior choice. Its architecture supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6, whereas the WX 9100 tops out at DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. The NVIDIA card also achieves this performance at a 70 W TDP versus the AMD card's 230 W, making it dramatically more power-efficient. However, the WX 9100 offers 16 GB of HBM2 memory with 483.8 GB/s bandwidth, compared to the RTX A3000 Mobile's 6 GB GDDR6 at 264.0 GB/s. For tasks exceeding 6 GB of memory usage—large 3D scenes, massive datasets, or multi-display 4K visualization—the AMD card has a fundamental capacity advantage that no benchmark score can negate. The data suggests: choose the RTX A3000 Mobile for speed and efficiency; choose the WX 9100 for memory-bound workflows.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile scores 70,140 on average, which is 9.2% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100's 64,212. This places the NVIDIA card in the 91st percentile of all GPUs, versus the AMD card's 89th percentile.

Q: How large is the performance gap in OpenCL and Vulkan?

A: The RTX A3000 Mobile wins OpenCL with 79,091 versus 66,605 (an 18.7% delta) and Vulkan with 61,189 versus 54,711 (an 11.8% delta). Both tests favor NVIDIA by substantial margins.

Q: What memory advantages does the AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 offer?

A: The WX 9100 has 16 GB of HBM2 memory on a 2048-bit bus, delivering 483.8 GB/s of bandwidth. This dwarfs the RTX A3000 Mobile's 6 GB GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, which achieves 264.0 GB/s.

Q: Which card supports newer graphics APIs?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6. The AMD card supports DirectX 12 (12_1), Vulkan 1.3, and OpenGL 4.6. NVIDIA also adds hardware ray tracing cores and tensor cores, which the AMD card lacks.

Q: What are the power consumption differences?

A: The RTX A3000 Mobile has a 70 W TDP and requires no external power connectors, making it suitable for mobile workstations. The WX 9100 has a 230 W TDP, requires a 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin power connector, and suggests a 550 W power supply.

Q: Which card is physically larger?

A: The WX 9100 is a dual-slot card measuring 267 mm in length and 111 mm in height, with 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. The RTX A3000 Mobile's dimensions are listed as "Portable Device Dependent," indicating its mobile form factor.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide is stark. The NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile uses the GA104 chip on an 8 nm Samsung process, packing 17,400 million transistors into a 392 mm² die. This yields a transistor density of 44.4 million per square millimeter. The architecture is Ampere, which introduces dedicated ray tracing cores (32) and tensor cores (128) alongside 4,096 shading units. The die size is smaller, yet the transistor count is higher, reflecting the advanced process node.

The AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 uses the Vega 10 chip on a 14 nm GlobalFoundries process, with 12,500 million transistors spread across a larger 495 mm² die. The transistor density is just 25.3 million per square millimeter. The architecture is GCN 5.0, which lacks dedicated ray tracing or tensor hardware. It compensates with 4,096 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. The AMD card's higher pixel rate (96.00 GPixel/s vs 78.72 GPixel/s) and texture rate (384.0 GTexel/s vs 157.4 GTexel/s) stem from higher clock speeds and more TMUs, but the NVIDIA card's newer architecture supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI workloads.

Memory architecture is fundamentally different. The RTX A3000 Mobile uses 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, while the WX 9100 uses 16 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus. The HBM2 implementation gives AMD a 483.8 GB/s bandwidth advantage, but the capacity difference (16 GB vs 6 GB) is the more impactful factor for large datasets. The RTX A3000 Mobile's FP16 performance is identical to its FP32 (10.08 TFLOPS, 1:1 ratio), whereas the WX 9100 doubles its FP32 rate to achieve 24.58 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1 ratio), a notable advantage for certain compute workloads.

Specification Differences

The specification sheets reveal contrasting design philosophies. Clock speeds differ significantly: the RTX A3000 Mobile runs at a 600 MHz base and 1230 MHz boost, while the WX 9100 operates at 1200 MHz base and 1500 MHz boost. The AMD card's higher clocks contribute to its 12.29 TFLOPS FP32 performance versus NVIDIA's 10.08 TFLOPS. However, the NVIDIA card achieves this at a fraction of the power: 70 W TDP versus 230 W TDP.

Memory specifications are the largest divergence. The RTX A3000 Mobile offers 6 GB GDDR6 with a 192-bit bus, 1375 MHz memory clock (11 Gbps effective), and 264.0 GB/s bandwidth. The WX 9100 offers 16 GB HBM2 with a 2048-bit bus, 945 MHz memory clock (1890 Mbps effective), and 483.8 GB/s bandwidth. The bus width difference (192-bit vs 2048-bit) explains the bandwidth gap, but the capacity difference is what matters for real-world memory limits.

Other differences include bus interface (PCIe 4.0 x16 vs PCIe 3.0 x16), display outputs (Portable Device Dependent vs 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a), and physical attributes. The WX 9100 is a dual-slot card with specific dimensions (267 mm length, 111 mm height) and power requirements (1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin, 550 W suggested PSU). The RTX A3000 Mobile has no listed dimensions, power connectors, or suggested PSU, consistent with a mobile design. API support also differs: NVIDIA offers DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while AMD offers DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head data shows NVIDIA dominance in both available tests. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX A3000 Mobile scores 79,091 against the WX 9100's 66,605, a delta of 18.7%. This is the larger margin and indicates a significant compute advantage in OpenCL workloads. The Vulkan test shows a closer but still decisive result: 61,189 versus 54,711, an 11.8% delta. The NVIDIA card wins both tests, and the wins count is 2-0 in favor of the RTX A3000 Mobile.

Contextualizing these scores against nearest rivals adds perspective. The RTX A3000 Mobile's average score of 70,140 sits just 0.2% above the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 (69,986) and 0.4% above the AMD Radeon Pro WX 8200 (69,870). It also edges out the AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE (70,829) by 1% and the NVIDIA CMP 90HX (69,000) by 1.7%. The WX 9100's average of 64,212 is 0.6% above the NVIDIA CMP 30HX (63,842), 0.6% above the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT LP (63,830), 0.7% above the AMD Radeon RX 7600M (63,775), and 0.8% above the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (63,693). This places the WX 9100 in a lower performance tier, roughly 9% behind the RTX A3000 Mobile's average.

The OpenCL delta is particularly telling. A 18.7% gap means the RTX A3000 Mobile completes compute tasks in OpenCL roughly 19% faster, which translates to real time savings in rendering or simulation. The Vulkan gap of 11.8% is smaller but still substantial. Notably, the WX 9100 offers a Metal benchmark score of 71,319, but no comparable Metal score exists for the RTX A3000 Mobile, so that data point cannot be used for cross-comparison.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX A3000 Mobile wins decisively in compute performance and architecture modernity. It is faster in OpenCL by 18.7% and in Vulkan by 11.8%. It supports hardware ray tracing and tensor cores, enabling workloads that the WX 9100 cannot handle at all. Its 70 W TDP makes it suitable for mobile workstations or power-constrained environments, while the WX 9100's 230 W TDP demands a desktop chassis with adequate cooling and a 550 W power supply. The RTX A3000 Mobile also supports PCIe 4.0, doubling the bandwidth of the WX 9100's PCIe 3.0 interface, which benefits data transfer to and from the GPU.

The WX 9100 wins in memory capacity and bandwidth. Its 16 GB of HBM2 memory is more than double the RTX A3000 Mobile's 6 GB, and its 483.8 GB/s bandwidth is 83% higher. This makes the AMD card the better choice for workloads that exceed 6 GB of VRAM, such as large-scale 3D rendering, scientific visualization, or multi-monitor setups with 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. The WX 9100 also has a higher FP32 throughput (12.29 TFLOPS vs 10.08 TFLOPS) and a much higher FP16 throughput (24.58 TFLOPS vs 10.08 TFLOPS), which could benefit certain compute tasks if memory capacity is not the bottleneck.

The use-case split is clear: for general professional compute, modern API support, ray tracing, and energy efficiency, the RTX A3000 Mobile is the superior choice based on all available data. For memory-intensive applications that require more than 6 GB of VRAM, the WX 9100's 16 GB capacity and higher bandwidth provide an advantage that benchmarks cannot fully capture. The RTX A3000 Mobile wins 2 out of 2 head-to-head benchmarks, but the WX 9100 remains a viable option for specific memory-bound scenarios.