AMD Radeon 8050S vs AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data splits cleanly between these two AMD accelerators, with the Radeon Pro Vega II Duo taking every recorded test. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Pro Vega II Duo scores 98,432 against 65,818 for the Radeon 8050S, a lead of 49.6%. The Vulkan gap is even wider: 99,296 versus 58,398, which works out to a 70% advantage for the older card. That is not a marginal victory; it is a dominant sweep across both compute APIs.

However, the Radeon 8050S wins in a category that does not appear in raw benchmark scores: power efficiency and physical footprint. The 8050S draws 55 W as an integrated graphics processor, while the Pro Vega II Duo demands 475 W and occupies a quad-slot form factor. The 8050S also reports a higher pixel rate at 179.2 GPixel/s compared to 110.1 GPixel/s for the Pro Vega II Duo, suggesting it handles fill-rate-bound workloads more effectively per unit of power. The Pro Vega II Duo counters with a higher texture rate of 440.3 GTexel/s versus 358.4 GTexel/s, so the older card pulls ahead in texture-heavy scenes.

For compute throughput, the Pro Vega II Duo delivers 14.09 TFLOPS FP32 and 28.18 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1 ratio), while the 8050S manages 11.47 TFLOPS in both FP32 and FP16 (1:1 ratio). The Pro Vega II Duo has twice the shading units (4,096 versus 2,048) and twice the TMUs (256 versus 128), which explains its compute dominance. The 8050S, though, brings 32 ray tracing cores that the Vega card lacks entirely, so in any ray-traced workload the newer architecture has a feature-level advantage that raw compute scores do not capture.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different eras and design philosophies. The Pro Vega II Duo uses the Vega 20 chip built on GCN 5.1 architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process. It packs 13,230 million transistors into a 331 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 40.0 million per square millimeter. The 8050S uses the Strix Halo chip with RDNA 3.5 architecture on a 4 nm process, with its die size listed at 308 mm² but transistor count marked as unknown, so density cannot be calculated from the data.

Memory configuration is a fundamental split. The Pro Vega II Duo carries 32 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, delivering 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth. The 8050S uses System Shared memory, meaning its bandwidth and capacity depend entirely on the host system. That is a massive difference in memory subsystem design: one card has dedicated high-bandwidth memory, the other borrows from system RAM. For large datasets or high-resolution textures, the Vega card's dedicated bandwidth is a clear structural advantage.

Clock behavior also diverges sharply. The Pro Vega II Duo has a base clock of 1400 MHz and boost of 1720 MHz, with memory running at 1000 MHz (2 Gbps effective). The 8050S starts lower at 1295 MHz base but boosts much higher to 2800 MHz. Despite the higher boost, the 8050S cannot overcome the Vega card's wider execution resources and memory bandwidth.

API support shows the generational gap. The 8050S supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the Pro Vega II Duo is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. Both support OpenGL 4.6. The 8050S also includes hardware ray tracing cores (32 of them), which the Vega architecture simply does not have.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in raw compute benchmarks?

A: The Radeon Pro Vega II Duo wins both recorded tests. It scores 98,432 in Geekbench OpenCL versus 65,818 for the 8050S, and 99,296 in Geekbench Vulkan versus 58,398. The deltas are 49.6% and 70%, respectively.

Q: Does the Radeon 8050S have any performance advantage?

A: Yes, in pixel throughput. The 8050S achieves 179.2 GPixel/s compared to 110.1 GPixel/s for the Pro Vega II Duo. It also has a much higher boost clock at 2800 MHz versus 1720 MHz, and it draws far less power (55 W versus 475 W).

Q: Can the Radeon 8050S do ray tracing?

A: Yes. It includes 32 ray tracing cores. The Radeon Pro Vega II Duo has no ray tracing cores listed, so it cannot perform hardware-accelerated ray tracing.

Q: How does memory differ between the two?

A: The Pro Vega II Duo has 32 GB of dedicated HBM2 memory on a 4096-bit bus with 1.02 TB/s bandwidth. The 8050S uses System Shared memory, with bandwidth described as "System Dependent." This means the Vega card's memory performance is fixed and dedicated, while the 8050S depends on host system RAM.

Q: Which card is more power-efficient?

A: The Radeon 8050S is dramatically more efficient. Its TDP is 55 W versus 475 W for the Pro Vega II Duo. The 8050S is an integrated GPU with no power connectors, while the Vega card requires a suggested 850 W power supply.

Q: What is the production status of each card?

A: The Radeon Pro Vega II Duo is end-of-life, released on 2019-06-02. The Radeon 8050S is active, released on 2025-01-05, and its predecessor is listed as Polaris Mobile.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo | AMD Radeon 8050S |

|---|---|---|

| Architecture | GCN 5.1 | RDNA 3.5 |

| Process Node | 7 nm | 4 nm |

| Transistors | 13,230 million | unknown |

| Die Size | 331 mm² | 308 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 40.0M / mm² | null |

| Base Clock | 1400 MHz | 1295 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1720 MHz | 2800 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1000 MHz (2 Gbps effective) | System Shared |

| Memory Size | 32 GB | System Shared |

| Memory Type | HBM2 | System Shared |

| Memory Bus Width | 4096 bit | System Shared |

| Memory Bandwidth | 1.02 TB/s | System Dependent |

| Shading Units | 4096 | 2048 |

| TMUs | 256 | 128 |

| ROPs | 64 | 64 |

| RT Cores | null | 32 |

| Pixel Rate | 110.1 GPixel/s | 179.2 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 440.3 GTexel/s | 358.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 14.09 TFLOPS | 11.47 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 28.18 TFLOPS (2:1) | 11.47 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 475 W | 55 W |

| Slot Width | Quad-slot | IGP |

| Power Connectors | null | None |

| Suggested PSU | 850 W | null |

| Bus Interface | Apple MPX | PCIe 5.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | 1x HDMI 2.0b, 4x Thunderbolt | Portable Device Dependent |

| DirectX | 12 (12_1) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| Vulkan | 1.3 | 1.4 |

| Production Status | End-of-life | Active |

| Release Date | 2019-06-02 | 2025-01-05 |

| Launch MSRP | 4,399 USD | null |

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two recorded head-to-head tests both favor the Pro Vega II Duo, but the margins tell different stories about workload types. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Vega card scores 98,432 against 65,818, a delta of 49.6%. This measures general-purpose compute across many algorithms, and the Vega card's 4,096 shading units and 1.02 TB/s memory bandwidth provide a substantial throughput advantage.

The Vulkan test shows an even larger gap: 99,296 versus 58,398, a 70% delta. Vulkan tends to stress driver efficiency and low-level hardware utilization. The Pro Vega II Duo's mature GCN architecture and dedicated memory handle this workload far better than the 8050S's system-shared memory setup. A 70% lead is not a small edge; it means the Vega card completes Vulkan compute tasks in roughly 59% of the time the 8050S requires.

Context from the nearest rivals list reinforces these results. The Pro Vega II Duo's average benchmark score is 106,750, placing it at the 94th percentile of all GPUs. Its closest rival is the Radeon Pro W6600X at 107,342 (0.6% higher), followed by the Radeon Pro Vega II at 109,617 (2.6% higher) and the Radeon PRO W7900 at 110,725 (3.6% higher). The Vega II Duo leads the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 by 4.8% (101,872 average).

The 8050S sits at the 89th percentile with an average score of 62,108. Its nearest rival is the Radeon Pro W6600M at 61,896 (0.3% higher), then the Radeon Pro Vega 56 at 63,693 (2.5% higher), the Radeon RX 7600M at 63,775 (2.6% higher), and the Radeon RX 9060 XT LP at 63,830 (2.7% higher). The 8050S essentially trades blows with mid-range mobile GPUs from previous generations, while the Pro Vega II Duo competes with workstation-class cards that score nearly twice as high.

The Verdict

The data paints a clear picture for different use cases. If the workload is raw compute, especially OpenCL or Vulkan, the Radeon Pro Vega II Duo is the superior choice by a wide margin. Its 49.6% OpenCL lead and 70% Vulkan lead are decisive, backed by 14.09 TFLOPS FP32, 32 GB of dedicated HBM2 at 1.02 TB/s, and a 94th percentile ranking. This card was designed for heavy compute tasks in professional Mac environments, and its benchmark results confirm that positioning.

The Radeon 8050S, however, is a completely different class of product. As an integrated GPU with a 55 W TDP, it belongs in portable or compact systems where power draw and physical space are the primary constraints. Its 89th percentile ranking and average score of 62,108 are respectable for an IGP, and it outperforms the Vega card in pixel rate (179.2 GPixel/s versus 110.1 GPixel/s) despite having half the shading units. The inclusion of 32 ray tracing cores means it supports hardware ray tracing, which the Vega card cannot do at all.

Choose the Radeon Pro Vega II Duo if you need maximum compute throughput, have a system that can handle a 475 W quad-slot card with an 850 W power supply, and do not need ray tracing. It is end-of-life, but the benchmarks show it still competes with modern workstation cards. Choose the Radeon 8050S if you need an integrated solution with modern API support (DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4), hardware ray tracing, and dramatically lower power consumption. The performance gap is real, but so is the efficiency gap in the opposite direction. The launch MSRP of the Pro Vega II Duo was 4,399 USD, reflecting its workstation-class positioning; the 8050S has no recorded launch MSRP, consistent with its role as a mobile integrated part.