AMD Rounds Out Its Current Radeon Pro Lineup With WX 3100 & WX 2100

To say it’s been a busy 2017 for AMD would be an incredible understatement. We’ve seen the launch of the company’s hugely anticipated Ryzen desktop processors, a second generation Radeon Pro Duo, and preparations for the launch of the first graphics card based on Vega, called Frontier Edition. While we wait for the likes of EPYC and desktop Vega to make their arrival, AMD has decided to flesh out its workstation GPU lineup with two new lower-end models: WX 2100, and WX 3100.

Radeon Pro WX 4100

AMD's Radeon Pro WX 2100 Workstation Graphics Card

Radeon Pro WX 4100

AMD's Radeon Pro WX 3100 Workstation Graphics Card

Radeon Pro WX 4100

AMD's Radeon Pro WX 4100 Workstation Graphics Card

Radeon Pro WX 5100

AMD's Radeon Pro WX 5100 Workstation Graphics Card

Radeon Pro WX 7100

AMD's Radeon Pro WX 7100 Workstation Graphics Card

AMD Radeon Pro Duo (2017)

AMD's Radeon Pro Duo Workstation Graphics Card (2017)

AMD Radeon Pro Duo (2017)

AMD's Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Workstation Graphics Card

The current Radeon Pro lineup, including these new SKUs, can be seen in the slider above. While the Vega Frontier Edition isn’t being dubbed “Radeon Pro”, it is in fact designed for the workstation market; its differing nomenclature is the explicit result of it being a special, premier card.

Both the WX 2100 and WX 3100 are sub-$200 GPUs, and are designed to give those who need a reliable graphics solution but not higher-end performance an inexpensive option. Both cards sport the same basic specs, with the WX 2100 halving the framebuffer of the WX 3100, while also dropping 15W off of its peak load. The price difference between the two cards is $50.

It’s interesting to note that for this generation, AMD decided to forego the quad set of mini-DP ports on these two cards, instead opting to go with two mini-DP and one regular-sized DisplayPort. This is a great move, in my opinion, because I’d have to imagine the number of people using four displays on a GPU of this level is rare, whereas most are not going to have a mini-DP adapter. This should make things easier all-around for those using a single monitor.

As with the bigger and beefier Radeon Pros, the WX 3100 and WX 2100 come equipped with certifications and optimizations for high-end CAD suites like SolidWorks, PTC Creo, Siemens NX, and CATIA. Versus NVIDIA’s competition, AMD says that these modest cards can boost performance in SolidWorks by 60% for the WX 3100 (vs. Quadro P400), and 47% for the WX 2100 (vs. Quadro P600).

For general performance improvements, AMD says that both cards offer a dramatic boost over their own predecessors, and because they are built on the recent Polaris architecture, power efficiency is also much improved. Finally, both cards carry a three-year warranty and are backed by 24/7 customer support. Want to extend the warranty by an additional four years? Customers will have that option, although its cost is to be determined.