AMD Caters To Graphic Pros With FirePro GPU Refresh

New GPUs are a dime a dozen these days, but GPUs made expressly for professionals are certainly harder to come by. Today, AMD is addressing that concern by launching the world's most powerful workstation graphics line -- or so it says. The new FirePro W9000, W8000, W7000 and W5000 cards are engineered specifically for graphic professionals, aimed at the workstation market instead of the consumer gaming market. Essentially, these guys are built to crank through CAD calculations, Maya models or any other advanced computational programs. Using AMD's own Eyefinity technology, these GPUs can drive up to six, 30" panels via Multi-Stream Transport (MST) hubs. Talk about surrounding yourself with work.

None of these guys are cheap, however. The lower-end W5000 starts at $599, with the top-end W9000 costing a staggering $3999. More details on the lot can be found below.

 AMD Launches World's Most Powerful Workstation Graphics Line1 - Provides Unmatched Improvements in Productivity and Workflow

– New AMD FirePro™ W9000, W8000, W7000 and W5000 workstation graphics cards are optimized and certified for leading professional software applications to deliver exceptional graphics experiences to the workstation market –

SUNNYVALE, Calif. - August 7, 2012 - Today, AMD (NYSE: AMD) launched its latest line of workstation graphics, leading with the AMD FirePro™ W9000 Graphics Processing Unit- the most powerful workstation graphics card ever created1. The AMD FirePro™ W9000 GPU features incredible compute, increased memory bandwidth and greater multi-display support performance than the competing solution.1 Following closely are the AMD FirePro™ W8000, W7000 and W5000 workstation graphics cards, all built on the AMD Graphics Core Next Architecture, and designed to balance compute and 3D workloads efficiently for computer-aided design and engineering, and media and entertainment (M&E) professionals. The AMD FirePro™ W9000, W8000, W7000 and W5000 GPUs are optimized and certified for leading software applications enabling users to unleash their creativity by ensuring ultra-high geometry performance. The latest AMD FirePro™ workstation graphics cards can enable smooth handling of complex models and feature dynamic power management that enables great performance and efficient power usage. Using AMD Eyefinity technology, the AMD FirePro™ W9000, W8000, and W7000 GPUs can drive up to six, 30" independent displays via Multi-Stream Transport (MST) hubs for maximum workspace utilization at ultra-high 4096x2160 resolutions.2

"As professionals work with larger data sets that demand advanced visualization and complex models, they need a graphics solution that is fast, powerful, and reliable," said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager of AMD Graphics. "Certified for today's software applications, the new AMD FirePro™ workstation graphics cards bring a range of features and capabilities for professionals working in digital signage, broadcast graphics, CAD/CAE and M&E, delivering the ideal balance of power, performance and reliability at the right price point."

With the latest AMD FirePro™ workstation graphics offerings, graphics professionals can create more complex models and interact with them in real time, helping improve workflows and boost productivity. Through GCN and GeometryBoost , the state-of-the-art AMD FirePro™ W9000 workstation GPU delivers a record shattering 1.95 billon triangles per second, which is 1.5 times as great as the competitor's most powerful workstation graphics card, and up to 83% greater memory bandwidth than the competing solution, for outstanding application responsiveness.1,3

"Supermicro is excited to bring the latest generation of AMD FirePro professional graphics cards first to market in our SuperWorkstations," said Don Clegg, Vice President, Marketing and Business Development at Supermicro. "Our SuperWorkstations combined with FirePro deliver phenomenal 3D graphics performance and maximize workflow and productivity. Digital content creation and computer-aided design professionals will be thrilled by the accelerated performance of our combined efforts and upcoming FirePro-based solutions."

The AMD FirePro™ W8000 workstation GPU, features Error Correcting Code (ECC) memory support and offers category leading dual-precision compute performance, up to 2.2 times as fast as the competing solution.4 This helps professionals experience greater accuracy in calculations performed for structural and molecular analysis and computational fluid dynamics without impacting application performance. Not to be outdone, the AMD FirePro™ W7000 workstation GPU is up to five times as fast as the competing solution in single-precision compute performance, while the AMD FirePro™ W5000 workstation GPU is the most powerful mid-range workstation graphics card ever created, delivering significantly better resolution, memory and display output performance than the competing card.5,6

The AMD FirePro™ W9000, W8000, W7000 and W5000 workstation graphics cards are optimized and certified for leading workstation applications. Additionally, these new AMD FirePro™ cards support PCI Express® 3.0 and AMD PowerTune and AMD ZeroCore Power technologies for dynamic power management.7, 8

AMD FirePro™ W9000
High-performance CAD engineers, media designers, digital signage professionals
4 TFLOPs single precision
1 TFLOP double precision
6GB of high speed GDDR5 memory
USD$3,999

AMD FirePro™ W8000
High-performance CAD engineers, media designers, digital signage professionals
3.23 TFLOPs single precision
806 GFLOPs double precision
4GB of high speed GDDR5 memory
USD$1,599

AMD FirePro™ W7000
Mid-range solution for CAD engineers, media designers, digital signage
2.4 TFLOPs single precision
152 GFLOPs double precision
4GB of high speed GDDR5 memory
USD$899

AMD FirePro™ W5000
Mid-range solution for CAD engineers, media designers, digital signage
1.27 TFLOPs single precision
80 GFLOPs double precision
2GB of high speed GDDR5 memory
USD$599

AMD FirePro™ W9000, W8000, W7000, W5000 workstation graphics cards are available via AMD resellers and are supported in Supermicro SuperWorkstations. AMD FirePro™M6000, M4000 and M2000 mobile workstations graphics cards are also available via AMD resellers and are featured in new systems from HP and Dell.