AMD Instinct MI308X vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data for the AMD Instinct MI308X contains no benchmark entries, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 has ten documented tests. This makes direct score-for-score comparison impossible, but the available measurements for the RTX 4070 establish a clear performance profile against its listed rivals. The RTX 4070 sits at the 81st percentile of all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 37,648. Its nearest rivals, the NVIDIA Tesla P4 and AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, score 37,628 and 37,507 respectively, placing the RTX 4070 just 0.1% and 0.4% ahead of those cards. The gap widens against the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile, which scores 38,135 and sits 1.3% above the RTX 4070, while the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 trails at 37,157, or 1.3% behind.

Looking at individual tests, the RTX 4070 shows its strongest result in Geekbench Vulkan with a score of 174,152, followed by Geekbench OpenCL at 154,858. PassMark G3D delivers 26,927 points, while PassMark GPU Compute records 14,720. The DirectX tests follow a different pattern: PassMark DirectX 9 scores 320, DirectX 11 scores 244, and DirectX 10 scores 139. The lowest result is PassMark DirectX 12 at 103, with PassMark G2D at 1,164. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test produces 3,854 points. These figures indicate that the RTX 4070 performs best in compute-oriented workloads like Vulkan and OpenCL, while its DirectX 12 result from 3DMark suggests moderate rasterization performance relative to its compute capabilities.

The AMD Instinct MI308X, by contrast, has no recorded benchmark scores and a percentile rank of 50, placing it at the median of the database distribution. Its average benchmark score is listed as zero, and it has no nearest rivals defined. This absence of data means any quantitative comparison between the two cards relies entirely on the RTX 4070's measurements and the architectural specifications of both parts. The RTX 4070's production status is end-of-life, which may explain why its benchmark set is complete while the MI308X, an accelerator with no display outputs, lacks typical consumer benchmark entries.

FAQ

Q: How does the AMD Instinct MI308X compare to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 in benchmark scores?

A: The MI308X has no recorded benchmark scores, an average score of zero, and a 50th percentile rank. The RTX 4070 has ten recorded tests, an average score of 37,648, and an 81st percentile rank.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference between the two cards?

A: The MI308X uses 192 GB of HBM3 memory on an 8192-bit bus with 5.32 TB/s bandwidth. The RTX 4070 uses 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus with 504.2 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card has higher clock speeds?

A: The MI308X has a base clock of 1000 MHz and a boost clock of 2100 MHz. The RTX 4070 has a base clock of 1920 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz.

Q: What are the transistor counts and die sizes for each GPU?

A: The MI308X contains 153,000 million transistors on a 1017 mm² die with a density of 150.4 million transistors per mm². The RTX 4070 contains 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die with a density of 121.8 million per mm².

Q: Which card supports more advanced graphics APIs?

A: The RTX 4070 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The MI308X lists N/A for DirectX, OpenGL, and Vulkan, indicating no graphics API support.

Q: What is the power consumption difference?

A: The MI308X has a TDP of 750 W with a suggested PSU of 1150 W. The RTX 4070 has a TDP of 200 W with a suggested PSU of 550 W.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs belong to entirely different architectural families. The AMD Instinct MI308X uses CDNA 3.0 architecture on a chip called Aqua Vanjaram, part of the Instinct (MIx) generation. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 uses Ada Lovelace architecture on the AD104 chip, part of the GeForce 40 series. Both are fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC, but the similarity ends there.

The MI308X is a compute-focused accelerator with no display outputs, no RT cores, no tensor cores, and zero ROPs. Its pixel rate is listed as 0 MPixel/s. The RTX 4070 is a full graphics card with 46 RT cores, 184 tensor cores, and 64 ROPs, delivering a pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s. The MI308X has 19,456 shading units, 1,216 texture mapping units, and a texture rate of 2,553.6 GTexel/s. The RTX 4070 has 5,888 shading units, 184 TMUs, and a texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s.

The MI308X's FP32 and FP16 performance are both listed at 81.72 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio, indicating a compute architecture that does not rely on rate-limited FP16 operations. The RTX 4070 delivers 29.15 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16, also at 1:1. The MI308X's memory subsystem is built around HBM3 with a massive 8192-bit bus, while the RTX 4070 uses GDDR6X on a 192-bit bus. These architectural choices reflect their intended roles: the MI308X is designed for data center compute workloads, while the RTX 4070 targets consumer gaming and graphics.

The MI308X's transistor count of 153,000 million on a 1017 mm² die gives it a density of 150.4 million transistors per mm². The RTX 4070 packs 35,800 million transistors into 294 mm², achieving 121.8 million per mm². The MI308X's die is more than three times larger in area and holds more than four times the transistors. The RTX 4070 includes a 16-pin power connector, while the MI308X has no power connectors listed, relying on its OAM module slot for power delivery.

Specification Differences

The key specification differences between the AMD Instinct MI308X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 are substantial across every major category.

Memory capacity differs by 16 times: the MI308X holds 192 GB of HBM3, while the RTX 4070 holds 12 GB of GDDR6X. Memory bus width is 8192 bits versus 192 bits, and memory bandwidth is 5.32 TB/s versus 504.2 GB/s. The MI308X's memory clock is listed as 1300 MHz with 5.2 Gbps effective, while the RTX 4070's memory clock is 1313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective.

Shading units number 19,456 on the MI308X versus 5,888 on the RTX 4070. Texture mapping units are 1,216 versus 184. The RTX 4070 has 64 ROPs and a 158.4 GPixel/s pixel rate, while the MI308X has zero ROPs and a 0 MPixel/s pixel rate. The RTX 4070 includes 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores; the MI308X has neither.

Clock speeds favor the RTX 4070: base clocks are 1920 MHz versus 1000 MHz, and boost clocks are 2475 MHz versus 2100 MHz. FP32 and FP16 performance favors the MI308X at 81.72 TFLOPS versus 29.15 TFLOPS. Texture rate is 2,553.6 GTexel/s versus 455.4 GTexel/s.

Power requirements differ sharply, with the MI308X at 750 W TDP and 1150 W suggested PSU, while the RTX 4070 runs at 200 W TDP with a 550 W suggested PSU. The MI308X uses an OAM module form factor with no display outputs, while the RTX 4070 is a dual-slot card measuring 240 mm by 110 mm by 40 mm, with 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. The MI308X uses PCIe 5.0 x16, while the RTX 4070 uses PCIe 4.0 x16.

API support also separates them: the RTX 4070 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, while the MI308X lists N/A for all three. The RTX 4070 has a launch MSRP of 599 USD. The MI308X has no launch MSRP recorded. Both have release dates in 2023, with the MI308X on December 5 and the RTX 4070 on April 11.

The Verdict

The data shows two products with fundamentally different design goals. The AMD Instinct MI308X is a data center accelerator with massive memory capacity, high compute throughput, and no graphics output capability. Its 192 GB of HBM3, 5.32 TB/s bandwidth, and 81.72 TFLOPS of FP32 performance position it for large-scale compute tasks, but the absence of any benchmark scores in the database leaves its real-world performance unquantified. Its 50th percentile rank reflects no recorded data rather than a performance assessment.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is a consumer graphics card with a complete benchmark profile. Its 81st percentile rank and average score of 37,648 place it near the top of the database distribution. Its nearest rivals, the Tesla P4 and RX Vega 56, sit just 0.1% and 0.4% below, while the RTX 4080 Mobile leads by 1.3% and the Radeon PRO W6400 trails by 1.3%. The RTX 4070's support for DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, combined with its display outputs, makes it a functional graphics solution, though its production status is end-of-life.

Users with compute-heavy workloads requiring large memory pools and high FP32 throughput would look to the MI308X, given its 16 times more memory and 2.8 times higher FP32 performance than the RTX 4070. Users needing a graphics card with display output, ray tracing cores, and a full API stack would select the RTX 4070, as the MI308X offers no graphics functionality. The benchmark data only exists for the RTX 4070, so any performance claims about the MI308X must rely on its architectural specifications rather than measured results. The two cards do not compete in the same market segment, and the data confirms they serve distinct purposes.