Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

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AMD FirePro W4300 graphics card promises 'the best CAD performance'


Graphics card integrates a 4GB GPU in a low-profile design for workstations

By Lee Bell

Wed Dec 02 2015, 13:38






AMD HAS UNVEILED the FirePro W4300 professional graphics card for small form factor (SFF) and tower workstations that the firm claims delivers "the best computer-aided design [CAD] performance".

Announced at the Autodesk University 2015 conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday, AMD's FirePro series addition is said to integrate a powerful GPU with 4GB of GDDR5 memory in a low-profile design for installation in SFF as well as full-sized systems.

"Organisations can now confidently simplify their IT management by standardising on a single, capable professional graphics solution throughout their workstation deployment," said theAMD FirePro W4300 firm.



The FirePro W4300 professional graphics card is specifically designed to run the latest CAD applications, including Autodesk AutoCAD, Inventor, Revit, Dassault Systèmes' SolidWorks, CATIA, PTC Creo, Siemens NX and many others.

The card is based on AMD's Graphics Core Next heterogeneous architecture which the company claimed will optimise performance. It has 4GB of GDDR5 GPU memory for large projects that will improve workflow application responsiveness, and AMD's Eyefinity multi-display technology that allows the use of up to six ultra-high resolution displays for multitasking across multiple applications.

The FirePro W4300 also features four DisplayPort 1.2a connections as standard, with support for up to six DisplayPort monitors via an MST-enabled hub, and AMD FreeSync technology that enables GPU control of the display refresh rate for tear-free display updates. There's also OpenCL 2.0 support and power monitoring and management technologies onboard.

"We designed the AMD FirePro W4300 specifically for CAD," said Sean Burke, VP and GM of AMD's Radeon Technologies Group.

"CAD users rely on AMD FirePro graphics cards to enable their application features to best visualise their designs, and can now continue to do so without having to compromise by using the latest energy efficient SFF workstations."

This means that engineering professionals using the GPU can work more efficiently with large geometry-intense models and apply GPU-accelerated features in their projects, such as the new Order Independent Transparency mode supported in SolidWorks.

The FirePro W4300 graphics card is currently in production with availability planned for some time in 2016. µ