W4300

AMD FirePro W4300 GPU

AMD has packed a powerful mid-range GPU into a low profile graphics card. CAD users no longer have to compromise on 3D performance to get the space saving benefits of a Small Form Factor (SFF) workstation

They say the best things come in small packages, but with workstations, the diminutive desktop has always come with performance trade-offs.

Small Form Factor (SFF) workstations are between 60% to 70% smaller than a standard mini tower. But the slimline chassis demands a special low profile graphics card with a significantly smaller footprint. With less silicon on board, these custom GPUs have historically been limited in terms of performance.

Entry-level graphics is perfectly fine if you only work with small CAD assemblies, but with larger models or with realistic viewport shading and lighting, frame rates can drop considerably, making models jump about on screen.

Despite the limitations, the SFF workstation continues to grow in popularity. Graphics card manufacturers have sensed an opportunity and, rather than limit sales to entry-level designers, engineers and architects, they’re developing low profile GPUs for more demanding 3D CAD users.

Nvidia kicked things off last year with the launch of the low profile Quadro K1200 (4GB). It was a big step up from the entry-level Quadro K620, as we noted in our review of the Lenovo ThinkStation P300 SFF workstation (tinyurl.com/ P300-AEC). However, there still remained a sizeable performance gap between it and the mid-range Quadro K2200 (4GB), a popular choice for mainstream 3D CAD tower workstations.

AMD has now upped the ante with the launch of the AMD FirePro W4300, a 4GB low profile GPU that delivers virtually the same graphics horsepower as AMD’s mid-range offering, the FirePro W5100. Mid-range, small package On paper, the AMD FirePro W4300 and AMD FirePro W5100 appear very alike. Both feature 4GB GDDR5 memory with 96GB/sec memory bandwidth, 1.43 GFLOPS of single precision floating point performance and four DisplayPort outputs (the FirePro W4300 has mini wireframe modes. DisplayPort). And, as our tests confirm, The results were quite astounding. performance is also remarkably similar. Under SolidWorks with FSAA disabled,

Not surprisingly, this is reflected in the the FirePro W4300 was 10% faster on price. With an MSRP of $379 the AMD average than the Nvidia Quadro K2200. FirePro W4300 costs just $20 less than But with FSAA enabled, it was more than the AMD FirePro W5100. twice as fast.

The AMD FirePro W4300 supports up Under PTC Creo 3.0, however, the to four DisplayPort displays Nvidia Quadro K2200 had natively and up to six daisy- the lead, clocking in around chained with DisplayPort AMD FirePro 20% faster. multi-stream transport W4300 As mentioned earlier, the (MST). HDMi, DVI, even Supplier AMD AMD FirePro W4300 was VGA displays can also be Price $379 only a fraction behind the used with appropriate adapt- AMD FirePro W5100 in ers. both SolidWorks and Creo

With AMD Eyefinity, the card has the (between 2% and 5%). ability to span a CAD model across multiple tiled displays. Doing so with 4K and Conclusion 5K displays though would likely put a sig- The AMD FirePro W4300 is a hugely nificant strain on the GPU, perhaps best impressive graphics card that delivers left to higher-end cards. true mid-range performance in a low pro-

We tested the AMD FirePro W4300 file form factor. running our standard SolidWorks 2015 As the card is so new, the major workand PTC Creo 3.0 SPECapc benchmarks station OEMs have yet to announce on a single 1,920 x 1,080 display. whether or not they will be supporting it.

Our test workstation, an HP Z240 Mini We certainly hope they do, as it should Tower, was chosen so we could compare bring an exciting new edge to SFF workperformance with the full height FirePro stations, making them capable of satisfyW5100 and Nvidia Quadro K2200 GPUs. ing the 3D requirements of the most

The SolidWorks 2015 SPECapc bench- demanding users. mark captures a broad range of display Considering new generation ‘Skylake’ states, from shaded and edges and shadows SFF workstations like the HP Z240 SFF to Realview and Ambient Occlusion. The and Dell Precision 3420 can also host up to test can be run with Full Scene Anti 64GB memory, fast M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid Aliasing (FSAA) (a rendering mode that State Drives (SSDs) together with high smooths jagged edges) enabled and dis- capacity SATA hard disk drives (HDDs), abled. suddenly the entry-level SFF workstation

The PTC Creo 3.0 SPECapc benchmark doesn’t look that entry-level anymore. runs in shaded and edges, reflections and Greg Corke