AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100, 5100 And 4100 Series Workstation Graphics Review: Polaris Goes Pro [Updated]
The Polaris-Powered Radeon Pro WX Series
Update 12/20/2016 - This article has been updated with AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 benchmarks and information. The Radeon Pro WX 7100 is currently the highest-end card in AMD's Pro WX series line-up.
AMD initially unveiled the Polaris-based Radeon Pro WX-series of professional workstation graphics cards all the way back in July at SIGGRAPH. Along with the initial announcement, AMD also disclosed that all of the cards would be built and sold by AMD exclusively, that the cards would carry 10-year warranties, and be backed by 24/7 VIP support. The FirePro brand would eventually be phased out as well, with the Radeon Pro moniker taking over as the company's pro graphics branding.
Radeon Pro WX 4100
Though the first run of Radeon Pro WX graphics cards are built around the same Polaris 10 and Polaris 11 GPUs as the mainstream Radeon RX 470 and RX 460 products, the Radeon Pro WX series we'll be looking at here is a different sort of animal. Their clocks, coolers, PCB, and memory configurations are different, and because they target the professional workstation market, the amount of qualification the boards and their associated software and drivers go through is significantly more stringent to better ensure compatibility, stability, and accuracy when working in key content creation and design applications.
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The Radeon Pro WX 4100 is the entry-level model in the family, and features a half-height form factor for use in slim workstations. The Radeon Pro WX 5100 is a full height card and is more powerful, and the WX 7100 is also a full-height, slightly longer card, but since they all leverage the same Polaris GPU technology, their capabilities are similar.
The Radeon Pro WX 5100 features 28 active compute units, for a total of 1792 stream processors. The GPU has a typical clock of 713MHz, but can peak at up to 1086MHz and offers roughly 3.9 TFLOPS of compute performance. The GPU is linked to 8GB of GDDR5 memory (5Gbps) over a 256-bit interface and offers up to 160GB/s of bandwidth. The card has a full-height / single-slot design – featuring that deep blue fan shroud – and has a quartet of full-sized DisplayPort outputs. We should also note that there is no power connector on the Radeon Pro WX 5100 – its typical board power is below 75W, so the power supplied by the expansion slot is enough.
The Radeon Pro WX 4100 has 16 active compute units with a total of 1024 stream processors. The GPU on the card has a typical engine clock much higher than the WX 5100 – 1125MHz to be exact – and a peak frequency of 1201MHz. At those clocks, the card offers up roughly 2.4 TFLOPs of compute performance. The Radeon Pro WX 4100 also has GDDR5 memory with an effective data rate of 5Gbps, but it is only packing 4GB that rides along on a 128-bit memory interface. As such, its peak memory bandwidth is lower as well, at about 96GB/s.
The Radeon Pro WX 4100 is a half-height card designed for small form factor workstations. It too doesn’t need any external power, and it has four DisplayPort outputs as well, though they’re of the Mini-DP variety to accommodate its tiny case bracket.
The Radeon Pro WX 7100 features 36 active compute units, for a total of 2304 stream processors. The GPU has a typical clock of 1188MHz, but can peak at up to 1246MHz and offers roughly 5.7 TFLOPS of compute performance. The GPU is paired to 8GB of GDDR5 memory (7Gbps) via a 256-bit interface and offers up to 224GB/s of peak bandwidth. The card has a full-height / single-slot design, but it is a few inches longer than the WX 5100. It too has a quartet of full-sized DisplayPort outputs, but unlike its lower-end counterparts, the Radeon Pro WX 7100 does require a single 6-pin PCIe supplemental power feed due to its typical board power of roughly 130W.
AMD initially unveiled the Polaris-based Radeon Pro WX-series of professional workstation graphics cards all the way back in July at SIGGRAPH. Along with the initial announcement, AMD also disclosed that all of the cards would be built and sold by AMD exclusively, that the cards would carry 10-year warranties, and be backed by 24/7 VIP support. The FirePro brand would eventually be phased out as well, with the Radeon Pro moniker taking over as the company's pro graphics branding.
Radeon Pro WX 4100
The
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| Radeon Pro WX 7100 | Radeon Pro WX 5100 | Radeon Pro WX 4100 | |
| GPU Architecture | GCN 4th Generation | GCN 4th Generation | GCN 4th Generation |
| Stream Processors | 2304 | 1792 | 1024 |
| Peak Performance | 5.7 TFLOPS | 3.9 TFLOPS | 2.4 TFLOPS |
| Peak Triangles | 4.97 BT/s | 4.34 BT/s | 4.80 BT/s |
| Peak Engine Clock | 1243 MHz | 1086 MHz | 1201 MHz |
| Typical Engine Clock | 1188 MHz | 713 MHz | 1125 MHz |
| Memory Type | 8 GB GDDR5 | 8 GB GDDR5 | 4 GB GDDR5 |
| Memory Interface | 256 bit | 256 bit | 128 bit |
| Memory Data Rate/ Bandwidth | 7 Gbps / 224 GB/s | 5 Gbps / 160 GB/s | 5 Gbps / 96 GB/s |
| Typical Board Power | 130 W | 75 W | <75W |
| FreeSync Technology | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CrossFire Pro Technology | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Display Output Connectors | 4 x DP | 4 x DP | 4 x Mini-DP |
| DisplayPort Version | 1.4 - HDR Ready | 1.4 - HDR Ready | 1.4 - HDR Ready3 |
| 5K Support @ 60Hz | 1x single-cable 5K monitor, or 2x dual-cable 5K monitors | ||
| Display Color Depth | 10-bit Support | 10-bit Support | 10-bit Support |
| Stereo 3D Output (3-pin DIN) | Yes | Yes | No |
| Framelock/Genlock support | Yes | No |
No |
| API Support | DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.5, OpenCL 2.0, Vulkan 1.0 | ||
| Operating System Support | Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 10 64-bit, Linux 64-bit |
||
| Form Factor | Full-Height Single Slot, 9.8" Length | Full-Height Single Slot, 6.8" Length | Half-Heigh Single Slot, 6.6" Length |
The Radeon Pro WX 4100 is the entry-level model in the family, and features a half-height form factor for use in slim workstations. The Radeon Pro WX 5100 is a full height card and is more powerful, and the WX 7100 is also a full-height, slightly longer card, but since they all leverage the same Polaris GPU technology, their capabilities are similar.
The Radeon Pro WX 5100 features 28 active compute units, for a total of 1792 stream processors. The GPU has a typical clock of 713MHz, but can peak at up to 1086MHz and offers roughly 3.9 TFLOPS of compute performance. The GPU is linked to 8GB of GDDR5 memory (5Gbps) over a 256-bit interface and offers up to 160GB/s of bandwidth. The card has a full-height / single-slot design – featuring that deep blue fan shroud – and has a quartet of full-sized DisplayPort outputs. We should also note that there is no power connector on the Radeon Pro WX 5100 – its typical board power is below 75W, so the power supplied by the expansion slot is enough.
The Radeon Pro WX 4100 has 16 active compute units with a total of 1024 stream processors. The GPU on the card has a typical engine clock much higher than the WX 5100 – 1125MHz to be exact – and a peak frequency of 1201MHz. At those clocks, the card offers up roughly 2.4 TFLOPs of compute performance. The Radeon Pro WX 4100 also has GDDR5 memory with an effective data rate of 5Gbps, but it is only packing 4GB that rides along on a 128-bit memory interface. As such, its peak memory bandwidth is lower as well, at about 96GB/s.
The Radeon Pro WX 4100 is a half-height card designed for small form factor workstations. It too doesn’t need any external power, and it has four DisplayPort outputs as well, though they’re of the Mini-DP variety to accommodate its tiny case bracket.
The Radeon Pro WX 7100 features 36 active compute units, for a total of 2304 stream processors. The GPU has a typical clock of 1188MHz, but can peak at up to 1246MHz and offers roughly 5.7 TFLOPS of compute performance. The GPU is paired to 8GB of GDDR5 memory (7Gbps) via a 256-bit interface and offers up to 224GB/s of peak bandwidth. The card has a full-height / single-slot design, but it is a few inches longer than the WX 5100. It too has a quartet of full-sized DisplayPort outputs, but unlike its lower-end counterparts, the Radeon Pro WX 7100 does require a single 6-pin PCIe supplemental power feed due to its typical board power of roughly 130W.