AMD launches two low-cost Polaris-based workstation graphics cards

Fourteen nanometre polaris cards come with eight compute units and offer 1.25 teraflops of cheap compute power

AMD has rounded off its Computex launches with the release of two new professional graphics cards that won't break the bank, the Radeon Pro WX 2100 and the Radeon Pro WX 3100. Both are aimed at low-cost graphics workstations for architects, engineers and other heavyweight design professionals.

The two cards are based on the company's 14nm Polaris GPU architecture and provide eight compute units/512 stream processors and offer 1.25 teraflops of peak compute power.

Other raw specifications include, for the Radeon Pro WX 2100, 2GB of GDDR5 memory, 48GBps memory bandwidth and a 35 watt max TDP board power. The more expensive Radeon Pro WX 3100 offers twice the amount of GDDR5 memory, and a 96GBps memory bandwidth, while the max TDP board power is 50 watts.

According to AMD, the WX 3100 offers both a 2.3 times performance improvement over its previous generation FirePro W400 graphics card, and a more modest 14 per cent improvement in benchmarks using Catia 3DExperience against the Nvidia Quadro P600. The cheaper card, meanwhile, offers a 12 per cent performance improvement against the cheaper Nvidia Quadro P400.

On the widely used SolidWorks CAD software, AMD claims an even bigger gap in its benchmarking against both Quadros, of 60 per cent and 47 per cent respectively for the WX 2100 against the Quadro P400, and the WX 3100 against the Quadro P600.

The cards will cost just $149 and $199, respectively, or about the same in pound sterling with VAT included, and will be available this month. However, the Nvidia Quadro P400 and P600 against which both cards were compared appear to be widely discounted, with the P400 now available for less than £130 and the P600 at under £190.

Enthusiasts waiting patiently for AMD's next-generation Vega-based graphics cards don't need to wait too much longer. At Computex, the company promised the first, the (probably) expensive Frontier Edition, by the end of this month, and a more mainstream product by the end of July.