AMD FirePro W600 vs NVIDIA GeForce GT 1010 Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce GT 1010 and AMD FirePro W600 are both end-of-life graphics cards, but they represent very different design philosophies and eras. The data shows a single head-to-head benchmark result, with the GT 1010 emerging as the victor in the Geekbench OpenCL test. However, a closer look at their specifications and rival comparisons reveals a more nuanced picture than a simple win-loss record might suggest.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

In the only directly comparable benchmark, Geekbench OpenCL, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 1010 scores 6698 points against the AMD FirePro W600's 6223 points. This gives the GT 1010 a 7.6% advantage, a meaningful lead in raw compute throughput. The GT 1010's score places it in the 38th percentile of all GPUs, while the FirePro W600 sits slightly lower in the 36th percentile. This percentile difference confirms that the performance gap is not just a statistical anomaly but reflects a real, if modest, separation in overall capability.

The nature of this win is worth investigating. The GT 1010 achieves this with 256 shading units, while the FirePro W600 has double that at 512. This suggests that architectural efficiency and higher clock speeds play a critical role. The GT 1010 runs at a base clock of 1228 MHz and boosts to 1468 MHz, whereas the FirePro W600 has no listed base or boost clock, indicating its performance is more dependent on its wider memory bus and higher core count. The GT 1010's 7.6% lead in OpenCL, despite having half the shading units, points to the significant generational leap in per-core performance that NVIDIA's Pascal architecture delivered over AMD's older GCN 1.0 design.

Looking at the nearest rivals for context, the GT 1010's score of 6698 is just 1% behind the AMD Radeon R7 M370 (6764) and 1.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon R7 M460 (6612). It also edges out the AMD Radeon HD 7730M (6581) by 1.8%. This places it in a tight cluster of mobile and entry-level desktop parts. The FirePro W600's score of 6223, by contrast, is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon HD 6950 (6210), showing a 0.2% difference. Interestingly, it trails the NVIDIA Quadro K620 (6282) by 0.9% and is 0.7% behind both the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER AD102 and the RTX 5070 Ti SUPER (both at 6270). This is a peculiar grouping, as the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER AD102 and RTX 5070 Ti SUPER are modern, high-end cards that one would expect to vastly outperform an older workstation part. The data shows they are statistically tied with the FirePro W600 in this specific OpenCL test, which suggests the benchmark may be sensitive to specific workloads or that the FirePro W600's driver optimizations for compute tasks keep it competitive in this narrow metric.

Where Each One Wins

The GT 1010's victory is singular and clear-cut: it wins the OpenCL compute benchmark outright. This makes it the better choice for any task that relies heavily on general-purpose GPU compute, such as OpenCL-accelerated applications. Its higher boost clock and more modern architecture give it an edge in raw floating-point operations. The GT 1010 also has a more recent API feature set, supporting DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.4, which could translate to better performance in newer software that takes advantage of these APIs.

The FirePro W600, despite losing the benchmark, has its own areas of theoretical strength that the data suggests could be advantageous in specific scenarios. Its memory configuration is notably superior: it has a 128-bit memory bus versus the GT 1010's 64-bit bus, yielding a higher memory bandwidth of 64.00 GB/s compared to 48.06 GB/s. This could make the FirePro W600 better suited for tasks that are memory-bandwidth bound, such as certain types of image processing or large data set manipulation, even if its overall compute score is lower. Additionally, the FirePro W600 is a professional workstation card with six mini-DisplayPort 1.2 outputs, making it explicitly designed for multi-display setups. The GT 1010, with only one DVI and one mini-HDMI 2.0 output, is clearly not intended for such configurations. The FirePro W600's 512 shading units and 32 texture mapping units also suggest a higher theoretical peak in texture-heavy workloads, though its lower clock speeds and older architecture mitigate this advantage in practice.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear, if narrow, winner for general compute performance: the NVIDIA GeForce GT 1010. Its 7.6% lead in the OpenCL benchmark, combined with its higher percentile ranking, makes it the superior card for purely computational tasks. Anyone looking for a low-power, single-slot solution for OpenCL workloads should favor the GT 1010. Its higher clock speeds and modern Pascal architecture deliver more performance per core, which is a decisive factor in this comparison.

The AMD FirePro W600 is not without its rationale, however. The benchmark results indicate it is a viable option for users whose priority is not raw compute but rather multi-display output and memory bandwidth. With six display outputs and a wider 128-bit memory interface, it is purpose-built for professional environments that require driving multiple monitors from a single, low-profile card. Its 2 GB of GDDR5 memory matches the GT 1010, but the faster bandwidth could help in specific visualization tasks. For a user building a multi-monitor workstation where the GPU's primary job is display output rather than compute, the FirePro W600's feature set is more appropriate. The GT 1010 is the better compute card; the FirePro W600 is the better display card.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher score in the Geekbench OpenCL benchmark?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GT 1010 has a higher score of 6698, compared to the AMD FirePro W600's 6223, giving the GT 1010 a 7.6% advantage.

Q: How does the NVIDIA GeForce GT 1010 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GT 1010 is 1% behind the AMD Radeon R7 M370 (6764), 1.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon R7 M460 (6612), and 1.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon HD 7730M (6581).

Q: Does the AMD FirePro W600 have any performance advantages over the GT 1010?

A: While it loses in compute, the FirePro W600 has a wider 128-bit memory bus that delivers 64.00 GB/s of bandwidth, which is higher than the GT 1010's 48.06 GB/s. This could be an advantage in memory-intensive tasks.

Q: What is the difference in shading unit count between the two cards?

A: The AMD FirePro W600 has 512 shading units, while the NVIDIA GeForce GT 1010 has 256. Despite having fewer, the GT 1010 still wins the compute benchmark.

Q: Which card offers more display outputs?

A: The AMD FirePro W600 offers six mini-DisplayPort 1.2 outputs, whereas the NVIDIA GeForce GT 1010 offers only one DVI and one mini-HDMI 2.0 output.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the AMD FirePro W600?

A: The AMD FirePro W600 had a launch MSRP of 599 USD.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on vastly different architectures from different eras. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 1010 is based on the GP108 chip, which uses the Pascal architecture on a 14 nm process node from Samsung. It is part of the GeForce 10 generation. The AMD FirePro W600 is built on the Cape Verde chip, which uses the older GCN 1.0 architecture on a 28 nm process node from TSMC. It belongs to the FirePro GCN (Wx000) generation.

These architectural differences are stark. The GT 1010 packs 1,800 million transistors into a 74 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 24.3M / mm². The FirePro W600 has fewer transistors at 1,500 million, but they are spread over a much larger 123 mm² die, resulting in a lower density of 12.2M / mm². This illustrates the manufacturing advantage of the newer 14 nm node. The GT 1010's smaller, denser chip allows for higher clock speeds, which is a key reason it wins the benchmark despite having fewer cores. The FirePro W600's larger, older chip is less efficient per square millimeter but compensates with a wider memory interface and more raw compute units.

The API support also reflects their respective ages. The GT 1010 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The FirePro W600 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. While both support DirectX 12, the GT 1010's feature level is higher (12_1 vs 11_1), and its Vulkan version is newer. This means the GT 1010 is likely to be more compatible with modern games and applications that utilize these newer API features. The FirePro W600, with its older GCN 1.0 architecture, is more limited in this regard.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ significantly in their core specifications. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 1010 has 256 shading units, 16 texture mapping units, and 8 render output units. The AMD FirePro W600 has double the shading units at 512, 32 texture mapping units, and 16 render output units. This gives the FirePro W600 a higher theoretical pixel rate of 12.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 24.00 GTexel/s, compared to the GT 1010's 11.74 GPixel/s and 23.49 GTexel/s. However, the GT 1010's FP32 performance is slightly higher at 751.6 GFLOPS versus the FirePro W600's 768.0 GFLOPS? No, the data shows the FirePro W600 has a higher FP32 figure at 768.0 GFLOPS, which is a notable difference from the benchmark results.

Clock speeds are a major differentiator. The GT 1010 has a base clock of 1228 MHz and a boost clock of 1468 MHz. The FirePro W600 has no listed base or boost clock, with only a memory clock of 1000 MHz (4 Gbps effective). The GT 1010's memory runs at 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective). The GT 1010's power profile is much lower, with a TDP of 30 W and a suggested PSU of 200 W, while the FirePro W600 has a TDP of 75 W and a suggested PSU of 250 W. The GT 1010's bus interface is PCIe 3.0 x4, while the FirePro W600 uses the wider PCIe 3.0 x16 interface. Finally, the physical dimensions differ: the GT 1010 is 147 mm long, while the FirePro W600 is 168 mm long, 111 mm high, and 20 mm wide.