AMD makes Tonga GPU debut in new FirePro series of video cards

AMD has announced four new video cards in the FirePro line. One of them, the W7100, is equipped with AMD’s new Tonga GPU. The new FirePro cards get support for Mantle, which should reduce API overhead.

There have been rumors of a new AMD GPU codenamed Tonga for some time now, but so far AMD has not confirmed anything. With the FirePro W7100, AMD is releasing the first video card with the new GPU. Like the Tahiti Pro GPU from the HD 7950 and the R9 280, the Tonga GPU has 1792 stream processors and is based on AMD’s gcn architecture. The working memory of the W7100 is 8GB and it can be deduced that the memory bus is probably 256bit wide. That’s less than the 384bit bus AMD uses on the R9 280. AMD was unable to provide further details on, for example, clock speeds and TDPs.

The three other video cards in the new FirePro series are based on existing GPU architectures. The FirePro W2100 succeeds the V4900 and comes as a low profile card. The W4100 is a bit faster and also designed as a low profile card. The W4100 has four mini display port connections, with which up to four screens can be provided with 4k image. Finally, AMD’s FirePro W5100 is the successor to the W5000.

With the announcement of the new video cards, AMD has simultaneously announced that it will also make Mantle available for FirePro GPUs. AMD has not yet disclosed exactly how this will work, but the API would reduce overhead. As a result, more draw calls can be made, just like Mantle can already do in some games.

With the four new video cards, AMD’s FirePro line-up has been completely renewed. The manufacturer announced the FirePro W9100 in March, as the successor to the W9000. In June, the FirePro W8000 was succeeded by the W8100. The exact prices of the four new FirePro cards are not yet known, but will be comparable to the prices of their predecessors.