Test Systems and Environment
For this story, we don't overclock Intel's Core i7-4930K, since the workstation world is very stability-sensitive. As a result, our processor runs at a base close rate of 3.5 GHz. But this machine's test system does sport three SSDs now. We keep the operating system separate from the benchmark suite binaries and data logs.
Normally, we would only test with drivers approved by each ISV. However, this isn’t possible for a brand-new card, so we had to use the latest driver available for AMD's FirePro W8100 (refer to table).
The power draw measurements deserve a section of their own, and we're eager to find out if the AMD FirePro W8100 is really in the sweet spot of AMD's line-up.
Here's the list of hardware we're using for benchmarking:
| Lab Bench | Microcool Banchetto 101 |
|---|---|
| System | Intel Core i7-4930K (Ivy Bridge-E), 3.5 GHz (6C/12T) Asus Rampage IV Black Edition 64 GB Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR3-2133 at 1600 MT/s Corsair H105i Closed-Loop Liquid Cooler 1x 256 GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD (System, Applications) |
| Video Editing / Workloads | 1x 480 GB Corsair Neutron GX SSD (Input) 1x 500 GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD (Output) |
| Power Supply (PSU) | 1200 W be quiet! Dark Power Pro 10 (Slightly Modified to Measure Voltages) |
| Operating Systems | Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64 (Professional Applications, Computing) Microsoft Windows 8 Professional x64 (Gaming) |
| Drivers | Catalyst Pro 13.352.1009 Certified Nvidia Quadro Desktop Driver 334.95 |
| Environment | 22 °C Ambient Temperature, Held Stable via Air Conditioning |
- Introducing AMD's FirePro W8100 Workstation Graphics Card
- Dimensions, Weight, Features and Pictures
- How We Test AMD's FirePro W8100
- OpenCL: Compute, Cryptography, and Bandwidth
- OpenCL: Financial Mathematics and Scientific Computations
- 2D Performance: GDI and GDI+
- SPECviewperf 12: CATIA, Creo and Maya 2013
- SPECviewperf 12: Showcase, Siemens NX and SolidWorks
- SPECviewperf 12: Synthetic Simulations
- OpenCL: 4K Video Post-Processing
- OpenCL: Rendering Performance
- DirectX 11 Gaming: 1920x1080
- DirectX 11 Gaming: 3840x2160
- How We Test Power Consumption
- Power Consumption: Detailed Results
- Heat and Noise
- A Jack Of All Trades For A Good Price

This should be the GTX 780 instead
1: it's a workstation card.
2: I quite like it.