Along with new Radeon Pro mobile GPUs including the AMD Radeon Pro W6300M and more powerful Radeon Pro W6500M, AMD has announced the new Radeon Pro W6400 GPU for SFF workstation and business-class desktop computers. The three new GPUs are aimed at offering highly competitive performance per dollar metrics, while the Radeon Pro W6400, in particular, offers up to 3x performance increase compared to the previous generation AMD GPU across a range of CAD and 3D benchmarks.
The W6400 boasts 3x faster performance in AutoCAD in 3D orbital rotation in shaded models. It also offers 87 percent faster performance in McNeel Rhino using the Holomark 2 benchmark with mesh, object, and model data stress tests. The new GPUs are more highly tuned to the changing demands of work due to the Covid-19 pandemic, where flexibility and more diverse workloads go hand and hand.
AMD’s latest updates to its RDNA 2-based Radeon Pro line include this SFF workstation-class GPU with real-time hardware-accelerated raytracing support.
“Work patterns have changed dramatically over the last year, requiring professional users to work more efficiently and complete projects faster than ever,” said Scott Herkelman, senior vice president and general manager, Graphics Business Unit at AMD. “The Radeon PRO W6400 is a powerful graphics card that harnesses the award-winning AMD RDNA 2 architecture feature set, enabling not only mainstream CAD professionals to produce incredible and complex designs, but also meeting the demands of today’s office workers who need to edit images, create presentations, collaborate and multitask more than ever. In addition, the new AMD Radeon PRO W6000 Series mobile graphics provide the ideal combination of performance and mobility to drive a range of workloads for professionals on the go.”
AMD RDNA2 Class
All three of these new GPU offerings leverage AMD’s RDNA 2 Architecture, delivering industry-leading innovations like AMD Infinity Cache and hardware-accelerated raytracing rendering. Built on a 6nm process, the three new GPUs round out AMD’s most advanced and new workstation and pro-market graphics processing units (GPUs).
Here’s a look at each new GPU’s technicals:
Radeon Pro W6400
The new Radeon Pro W6400 is the most affordable real-time hardware-accelerated raytracing workstation-class GPU in the market. The entry-level GPU is quite small, enabling implementation in small form-factor (SFF) workstations and desktop business computers. It is optimized for 2x displays (more on that below). Here are basic specs:
- 4GB of GDDR6 memory
- 768 stream processors (12 compute units)
- 12 Ray Accelerators (real-time raytracing)
- 128 GB/s memory bandwidth (peak)
- PCI Expresso 4.0 (3.0 backward compatibility)
- 16 MB AMD Infinity Cache (L3 – graphics cache)
- Direct X12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, OpenCL 2.2, and Vulkan 1.2 API support
The AMD Radeon Pro W6400 sustains 3.54 Peak Teraflops (F32) compared to its bigger sister GPU the W6600 at 10.4 Peak Teraflops (F32). This card is therefore roughly a bit over 1/3 of the computational power of its newest mid-tier GPU sibling. It should be noted that the new W6600, W6800, and W6900 are manufactured on a 7nm process, so this latest round of pro-level GPUs from AMD capture performance per watt advantages over their bigger GPU siblings.
Radeon Pro W6300M
The new W6300 is the entry point for the new workstation-class mobile processors. It can support up to 5x displays, including 8K and HDR support. Here are the key specs:
- 2GB of GDDR6 memory
- 768 stream processors (12 compute units)
- 12 Ray Accelerators (real-time raytracing)
- 64 GB/s memory bandwidth (peak)
- PCI Expresso 4.0 (3.0 backward compatibility)
- 8 MB AMD Infinity Cache (L3 – graphics cache)
- Direct X12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, OpenCL 2.2, and Vulkan 1.2 API support
The AMD W6300M sustains 3.37 Peak Teraflops (F32) of performance, essentially the same entry-level workstation performance of the W6400.
Radeon Pro W6500M
The W6500M is a noteworthy step up from the W5300M, offering more powerful workstation-class mobile processors. It can support up to 5x displays, including 8K and HDR support. Here are the specs:
- 4GB of GDDR6 memory
- 1024 stream processors (16 compute units)
- 16 Ray Accelerators (real-time raytracing)
- 128 GB/s memory bandwidth (peak)
- PCI Expresso 4.0 (3.0 backward compatibility)
- 8 MB AMD Infinity Cache (L3 – graphics cache)
- Direct X12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, OpenCL 2.2, and Vulkan 1.2 API support
The W6500M matches the W6400 in memory bandwidth at 128 GB/s transfer speeds yet packs more Ray Accelerators for real-time raytracing. It offers sustained 5.3 Teraflops (F32) performance, the most in this group of three new GPUs.
Workstation Features
The new AMD Radeon Pro GPUs listed above all feature certification for many ISV applications in the professional markets (CAD, BIM, 3D, simulation), plus take advantage of AMD’s Infinity Cache fabric technology and RDNA 2 microarchitecture which Architosh had detailed in a previous article (see: Architosh, “AMD’s RDNA 2 Architecture—Behind the Radeon Pro W6600’s Stellar Performance,” 18 Oct 21).
Importantly, AMD’s Infinity Cache offers 2.4x greater bandwidth per watt than just GDDR6 memory alone, as in the previous RDNA generation GPUs. RDNA 2 Architecture benefits from lessons learned from AMD’s market disruptive Zen Architecture for CPUs.
A bird’s eye view of the new AMD Radeon Pro W6400 GPU. It features dual 2x DisplayPort connectors.
All three GPUs feature real-time hardware-accelerated raytracing, as noted in the Ray Accelerators. The AMD Radeon Pro W6400, W6300M, and W6500M are all geared to take on real-time raytracing apps in the AEC market space like V-Ray, Enscape, Twinmotion, Lumion, Unreal Engine, and more. Architosh will be publishing a review of the new W6400 soon.
Physically, the AMD Radeon Pro W6500M is 24x28mm and uses 35-50 watts of power. The W6300M is the same size but uses less power at 25 watts. The W6400 has a peak board power of 50 watts and a PSU min recommendation of 350 watts.
Dual Monitors
Unlike the recently introduced AMD Radeon Pro W6600, the new AMD Radeon Pro W6400 has full-sized DisplayPort connections (2x configuration). As you can see in the image above AMD’s market research shows that dual-monitor setups are very common in the pro markets with over 1/3 of all pro users using two displays. The most popular setup is dual 1080p displays and the second most popular is 4k displays.
Anticipated Performance
AMD’s Radeon Pro W6400 is the new entry-point for the RDNA 2-based professional workstation-class GPUs by AMD. Where the W6800 was designed for heavy workloads and the W6600 for medium workloads, the W6400 is designed for light workloads.
This GPU is oriented at performant business-class desktop computers and entry-level and SFF workstations where a mixture of application use is highly prevalent. While it can handle real-time raytracing the GPU is oriented at 2D CAD, Desktop Publishing, Office Productivity, and Finance applications or any mixture therein.
Most business-class tasks are aimed at CPU-predominate applications. However, delivering presentations and handling photo editing takes up the GPU much more. Increasingly, in CAD industries—including AEC in particular—real-time viewports of BIM and 3D models are increasing.
When it comes to office loads, the W6400 delivers comparable performance to its bigger siblings (W6600 – W6800). For AEC and manufacturing workloads, the W6400 delivers nearly 2x performance increase over its prior-generation AMD Radeon Pro WX3200 and approximately around 41 percent of the performance of the W6600. When it comes to photo editing workloads, the W6400 delivers 70 percent of the performance of the W6600 and is 31 percent faster than the previous generation WX3200.
Architosh will be publishing a review soon.
Price and Availability
The new AMD Radeon Pro W6400 has an MSRP of USD 229. The Radeon Pro W6400 is expected to begin shipping in Q1 2022, while the Radeon Pro W6500M and Radeon Pro W6300M are due to be available in pre-built OEM systems in select countries later this year.
To learn more about each select the links in the paragraph above or visit AMD here.