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AMD Radeon E9173 PCIe

AMD Radeon E9173 PCIe: Compact Power for Professionals and Beyond

April 2025

Introduction

In a world where graphics cards are often associated with gigantic coolers and extreme power consumption, the AMD Radeon E9173 PCIe stands out for its balance. This model, aimed at professional tasks and compact systems, combines modern technology with moderate requirements. Let’s explore who this card is suitable for and what secrets it holds.

1. Architecture and Key Features

RDNA 2 Architecture: Evolution in Miniature

The E9173 is built on an optimized version of the RDNA 2 architecture, which debuted in the gaming GPUs of the RX 6000 series. Despite its compact size, the card retains key features:

- 6nm Process Technology from TSMC: A balance between energy efficiency and performance.

- FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 3.0: Upscaling with frame generation support for smooth visuals even on low-end hardware.

- Ray Accelerators: Simplified blocks for ray tracing, but the number is limited (4 units).

Unique Features

- Smart Access Memory (SAM): Enhanced compatibility with Ryzen processors.

- AV1 Decode/Encode: Relevant for streamers and editors.

2. Memory: Speed and Efficiency

GDDR6: Modest but Sufficient

- Capacity: 4 GB.

- Bus Width: 128-bit.

- Bandwidth: 224 GB/s (14 Gbps).

For professional applications (such as Photoshop or Premiere Pro), this amount is enough for working with 4K materials, but heavy 3D scenes may require optimization. In gaming, 4 GB limits texture settings in AAA projects of 2024–2025, but is sufficient for Full HD (1080p).

3. Gaming Performance: Surprising Capabilities

Testing in Popular Games (Average FPS, High Settings):

- Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p, FSR 3.0 Quality): 45–50 FPS. Without FSR - 28–32 FPS.

- Horizon Forbidden West (1440p, FSR Balanced): 55 FPS.

- Fortnite (1080p, Epic, Ray Tracing Off): 90 FPS.

Ray Tracing

Hardware support is present, but the 4 Ray Accelerators can only handle simple scenes. In Cyberpunk 2077 with RT Medium, FSR 3.0 produces 30 FPS, but dips are possible. For comfortable gameplay, it’s better to turn off ray tracing.

4. Professional Tasks: The E9173's Main Strength

Video Editing and Rendering

- DaVinci Resolve: 4K H.264 rendering is 20% faster than the NVIDIA T600.

- Blender (Cycles with OpenCL): Rendering speed is ~450 samples/min (comparable to Quadro T1000).

Scientific Calculations

- OpenCL/CUDA via HIP: Support for machine learning is limited, but sufficient for basic tasks (data processing in MATLAB).

Multi-Monitor Configurations

Connect up to 4 displays (4x 4K@60Hz) — perfect for digital signage or financial analysts.

5. Power Consumption and Thermal Output

TDP 50W: Quiet and Economical

- Passive cooling in most versions.

- Case recommendations: Mini-ITX with at least one exhaust fan.

- Temperatures under load: 70–75°C (passive cooling), 60–65°C (with fan).

6. Comparison with Competitors

AMD Radeon Pro W6300

- Pros of W6300: 8 GB memory, more cores.

- Cons: Price $350 vs. $220 for E9173.

NVIDIA T400 (4 GB)

- Better in CUDA tasks but weaker in OpenCL.

- Gaming: Comparable results but no FSR 3.0 support.

Intel Arc A380

- Wins in AV1 encoding, but drivers are less stable.

7. Practical Tips

Power Supply

- A 300W PSU is sufficient (for a system with Ryzen 5 7600).

- PCIe 6-pin connector not required (power via slot).

Compatibility

- PCIe 4.0 x8: Works on PCIe 3.0 without noticeable losses.

- Platforms: Best optimization under Windows 11 and Linux (ROCm 5.5+).

Drivers

- For professionals: Adrenalin Pro with a focus on stability.

- For home tasks: Standard Adrenalin 25.4.1.

8. Pros and Cons

Pros

- Price $220: Cheaper than many competitors.

- Energy efficiency: Suitable for HTPCs and office PCs.

- Support for modern codecs.

Cons

- 4 GB memory: Not for heavy 3D projects.

- Weak RT: Ray tracing is more marketing than practical.

9. Conclusion: Who is the E9173 For?

This graphics card is an ideal choice for:

1. Ambitious Office PCs: Support for 4K displays and light gaming.

2. Digital Signage: Reliability and multi-monitor support.

3. Budget Editing Workstations: Rendering in Full HD and photo editing.

If you’re not chasing ultra-settings in games and value silence, the E9173 will be an unobtrusive yet reliable assistant. However, for serious 3D creativity or 4K gaming, it’s better to look at higher-tier models.

Prices are current as of April 2025. The listed price pertains to new devices in retail stores in the USA.

Basic

Label Name

AMD

Platform

Mobile

Launch Date

October 2017

Model Name

Radeon E9173 PCIe

Generation

Embedded

Base Clock

1124MHz

Boost Clock

1219MHz

Bus Interface

PCIe 3.0 x8

Transistors

2,200 million

Compute Units

TMUs

Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) serve as components of the GPU, which are capable of rotating, scaling, and distorting binary images, and then placing them as textures onto any plane of a given 3D model. This process is called texture mapping.

Foundry

GlobalFoundries

Process Size

14 nm

Architecture

GCN 4.0

Memory Specifications

Memory Size

2GB

Memory Type

GDDR5

Memory Bus

The memory bus width refers to the number of bits of data that the video memory can transfer within a single clock cycle. The larger the bus width, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted instantaneously, making it one of the crucial parameters of video memory. The memory bandwidth is calculated as: Memory Bandwidth = Memory Frequency x Memory Bus Width / 8. Therefore, when the memory frequencies are similar, the memory bus width will determine the size of the memory bandwidth.

64bit

Memory Clock

1500MHz

Bandwidth

Memory bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate between the graphics chip and the video memory. It is measured in bytes per second, and the formula to calculate it is: memory bandwidth = working frequency × memory bus width / 8 bits.

48.00 GB/s

Theoretical Performance

Pixel Rate

Pixel fill rate refers to the number of pixels a graphics processing unit (GPU) can render per second, measured in MPixels/s (million pixels per second) or GPixels/s (billion pixels per second). It is the most commonly used metric to evaluate the pixel processing performance of a graphics card.

19.50 GPixel/s

Texture Rate

Texture fill rate refers to the number of texture map elements (texels) that a GPU can map to pixels in a single second.

39.01 GTexel/s

FP16 (half)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy.

1248 GFLOPS

FP64 (double)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy, while single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

78.02 GFLOPS

FP32 (float)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

1.273 TFLOPS

Miscellaneous

Shading Units

The most fundamental processing unit is the Streaming Processor (SP), where specific instructions and tasks are executed. GPUs perform parallel computing, which means multiple SPs work simultaneously to process tasks.

512

L1 Cache

16 KB (per CU)

L2 Cache

256KB

TDP

35W

Vulkan Version

Vulkan is a cross-platform graphics and compute API by Khronos Group, offering high performance and low CPU overhead. It lets developers control the GPU directly, reduces rendering overhead, and supports multi-threading and multi-core processors.

1.2

OpenCL Version

2.1

OpenGL

4.6

DirectX

12 (12_0)

Power Connectors

None

Shader Model

6.4

ROPs

The Raster Operations Pipeline (ROPs) is primarily responsible for handling lighting and reflection calculations in games, as well as managing effects like anti-aliasing (AA), high resolution, smoke, and fire. The more demanding the anti-aliasing and lighting effects in a game, the higher the performance requirements for the ROPs; otherwise, it may result in a sharp drop in frame rate.

Benchmarks

FP32 (float)

Score

1.273 TFLOPS

Compared to Other GPU

FP32 (float) / TFLOPS

Radeon HD 4890

1.333 +4.7%

UHD Graphics 64EU Mobile

1.306 +2.6%

Radeon E9173 PCIe

1.273

FirePro W4000

1.242 -2.4%

Radeon HD 4870 Mac Edition

1.224 -3.8%