NVIDIA Quadro K5100M

The NVIDIA Quadro K5100M is a mobile workstation graphics solution built on the Kepler architecture, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 3,540 million transistors onto a 294 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.0M / mm². The GPU operates at a fixed 771 MHz clock for both base and boost, with memory running at 900 MHz (3.6 Gbps effective). This configuration produces a peak FP32 throughput of 2.369 TFLOPS, a pixel rate of 24.67 GPixel/s, and a texture rate of 98.69 GTexel/s. The card is equipped with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 115.2 GB/s of bandwidth. It is designated as end-of-life, with a release date of July 22, 2013, and serves as the successor to the Quadro Fermi-M, being succeeded by the Quadro Maxwell-M.

Power and Cooling

The Quadro K5100M carries a thermal design power (TDP) of 100 W. This is a modest figure for the performance class, reflecting the efficiency of the 28 nm Kepler process relative to older Fermi parts. The card is designed as an MXM Module with a slot width of "MXM Module," indicating it is intended for laptop and mobile workstation chassis rather than desktop towers. Power delivery is handled through the MXM-B (3.0) bus interface, and the card requires no auxiliary power connectors—the fact pack lists "None" for power connectors. This simplifies integration into mobile platforms, as the system's existing power delivery is sufficient.

For system builders, the absence of a suggested PSU rating in the data implies that power supply recommendations are dictated by the host laptop, not the GPU module itself. The 100 W TDP is the sole power figure available; no cooler size or wattage specifications beyond this are provided. Given the MXM form factor, cooling is typically a shared system solution with heat pipes and fans designed for the specific chassis. The data does not specify a fan or heatsink design, so a qualitative assessment is appropriate: the K5100M's power envelope is low enough for standard mobile cooling solutions found in professional laptops of its era. The bus interface is MXM-B (3.0), which is the third-generation MXM standard, ensuring compatibility with systems designed for that connector.

How It Compares

The average benchmark score for the Quadro K5100M is 9860, placing it at the 47th percentile among all GPUs. This is a mid-pack position, indicating it sits near the median of the entire GPU landscape. The nearest rivals, as determined by average score, are clustered within a narrow performance band, and the deltaPct values show differences of roughly one percent or less—except for one outlier. Each rival comparison below uses the exact scores and deltaPct values from the data.

• NVIDIA Quadro 6000: The Quadro 6000 posts an average score of 9850, which is 0.1% lower than the K5100M's 9860. This puts the two cards in a statistical dead heat; the K5100M is functionally identical in performance to the older Quadro 6000. The deltaPct of 0.1 is within run-to-run variance, so benchmark results indicate no meaningful winner between these two in aggregate compute tasks. The K5100M's advantage, if any, would come from newer architecture features rather than raw throughput.

• AMD Radeon Pro 5300M: This AMD part scores 9881, which is 0.2% higher than the K5100M. The deltaPct of -0.2 means the Radeon Pro 5300M is marginally ahead, again a negligible margin. In practice, the two are interchangeable in average benchmark performance. The K5100M is older and end-of-life, yet it holds its own against a newer AMD competitor, suggesting the Kepler architecture's compute capabilities remain competitive at this performance tier.

• NVIDIA Quadro M2000M: The Quadro M2000M scores 9832, a 0.3% deficit relative to the K5100M. This is the closest rival in terms of absolute score difference, with the K5100M edging ahead by 28 points. The deltaPct of 0.3 confirms the K5100M is slightly faster, but the gap is trivial. Both are mobile Quadro parts, and the data shows the K5100M retains a small lead over its Maxwell-based successor in these aggregated benchmarks.

• AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100: The Radeon Pro WX 3100 scores 9738, which is 1.3% lower than the K5100M. This is the largest performance gap among the nearest rivals, and it still favors the K5100M. The deltaPct of 1.3 represents a real, albeit modest, advantage—over a full percentage point is notable when the other rivals are within 0.3%. The K5100M outperforms this AMD workstation card by a margin that would show up in consistent multi-run testing.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The Quadro K5100M is built on the Kepler architecture, which predates dedicated ray tracing hardware. The fact pack lists no RT cores and no tensor cores; these fields are null. Consequently, the K5100M does not offer hardware-accelerated ray tracing or tensor-based AI acceleration. Any ray tracing workloads would rely on software implementations, which are not benchmarked in the provided data. The card's API support includes DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175. The DirectX 12 support is specifically the 11_0 feature level, meaning it cannot leverage the full DirectX 12 Ultimate feature set, including DXR ray tracing. OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.2.175 are modern API versions, providing broad compatibility for professional OpenGL applications and Vulkan-based compute or rendering. The absence of tensor cores means no DLSS or similar AI upscaling is available; the card relies on traditional rasterization and compute via its 1536 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The memory configuration of 8 GB GDDR5 is fixed, and the display outputs are listed as "Portable Device Dependent," which means the available ports vary by the laptop manufacturer's implementation.

FAQ

Q: What is the average benchmark score of the Quadro K5100M?

A: The average benchmark score is 9860, based on aggregated results from Geekbench Metal (score 8009) and Geekbench OpenCL (score 11710).

Q: How does the K5100M compare to the AMD Radeon Pro 5300M?

A: The Radeon Pro 5300M scores 9881, which is 0.2% higher than the K5100M. The deltaPct of -0.2 indicates the AMD card is marginally faster, but the difference is negligible in practical terms.

Q: Does the K5100M support hardware ray tracing?

A: No. The fact pack lists no RT cores or tensor cores for this GPU, and its DirectX 12 support is limited to the 11_0 feature level, which excludes DXR ray tracing.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth and capacity?

A: The card has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s.

Q: What is the TDP and does it require external power connectors?

A: The TDP is 100 W, and the card requires no power connectors; it draws power solely through the MXM-B (3.0) bus interface.

Q: What is the production status and release date?

A: The production status is end-of-life, with a release date of July 22, 2013. It is the successor to the Quadro Fermi-M and the predecessor to the Quadro Maxwell-M.

Who Should Consider It

The Quadro K5100M's benchmark profile is defined by an average score of 9860 and a 47th percentile ranking across all GPUs. This places it in the middle of the performance distribution, which translates to specific use-case guidance. For users working at 1080p resolution, this card is capable of handling professional workloads—CAD, 3D modeling, and moderate GPU compute—with reasonable smoothness. The 2.369 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is sufficient for real-time viewport rendering in many OpenGL applications, and the 8 GB memory capacity is ample for large textures or datasets at that resolution. The 1.3% lead over the Radeon Pro WX 3100 and the 0.3% lead over the Quadro M2000M indicate that the K5100M is slightly ahead of its closest peers, so it remains a viable option for entry-level mobile workstations, despite being end-of-life.

At 1440p or higher resolutions, the card will struggle with heavy graphical loads. The pixel rate of 24.67 GPixel/s and texture rate of 98.69 GTexel/s are modest by modern standards, and the 47th percentile ranking confirms it is not a high-end part. Users targeting 1440p with high-detail settings in professional visualization tools should expect reduced frame rates or lower quality presets. The lack of RT cores and tensor cores means no ray tracing or AI-accelerated features, so it is not suitable for workloads relying on those technologies. However, for legacy software, driver-stable environments, or applications that are compute-bound rather than graphics-bound, the K5100M's OpenCL score of 11710 suggests strong raw compute throughput. The Geekbench Metal score of 8009 is lower, indicating weaker performance on Apple's Metal API, which may matter for macOS-based workflows, though the card's primary market is Windows-based mobile workstations.

The nearest rival data shows a tight cluster: the Quadro 6000 (9850), Radeon Pro 5300M (9881), Quadro M2000M (9832), and Radeon Pro WX 3100 (9738). The K5100M is within 0.3% of three of these, meaning any of them would deliver nearly identical average performance. Therefore, the decision to choose the K5100M over these alternatives should be based on factors outside raw benchmark scores—such as driver support, ecosystem compatibility, or system integration—since the performance deltas are within noise. The 47th percentile ranking reinforces this: it is a mid-range mobile GPU, and users should set expectations accordingly. For 1080p professional work with moderate graphics demands, the K5100M is adequate. For high-resolution or ray-traced workloads, it is not the right tool. The card's end-of-life status also means no future driver optimizations are likely, so long-term viability depends on the user's specific software stack.