AMD Boosts FirePro W9100 With 32GB GDDR5 Memory To Stoke Virtual Reality Flames

AMD says that the FirePro W9100 32GB, which doubles up the amount of memory that was previously available, was specifically designed for content creators. This release also allows AMD to once again leapfrog NVIDIA, which last month introduced the Quadro M6000 with 24GB of RAM.

For better or worse, the memory bump is the only spec change with the FirePro W9100 32GB. That means that this is still a professional GPU based on Hawaii architecture (28nm TSMC process) with 2816 stream processors, 176 texture units, a 930GHz core clock, and a 275W TDP.

“The imagination of the creator is limitless so much so that the professional creator consumes all available resources to produce new and never before seen designs and experiences,” said said Raja Koduri, SVP and Chief Architect for AMD’s Radeon Technologies Group. “Some professional creative workflows demand very high bandwidth memory subsystems while others demand high memory size. “With the new AMD FirePro W9100 32GB, AMD is unleashing the world’s largest memory size professional workstation graphics card.”

AMD expects general availability for the FirePro W9100 32GB during the second quarter, with an expected MSRP of $4,999. This is a $1,000 bump over the FirePro W9100 16GB, which currently has an MSRP of $3,999 (although you can find it online for $2,999 from reputable retailers) and was initially launched around this time two years ago.

In addition to the FirePro W9100 32GB, AMD has also made available the FireRender plug-in for Autodesk 3ds Max to enable the creation of 4K VR environments for content creating “storytellers.”