AMD Radeon 860M vs AMD Radeon PRO W7900 Comparison

The Verdict

The benchmark data presents a stark contrast between these two AMD offerings. The AMD Radeon PRO W7900 is the clear performance leader, winning both recorded head-to-head tests decisively. Its average benchmark score of 110725 places it in the 94th percentile of all GPUs, while the AMD Radeon 860M averages 26401, sitting in the 72nd percentile. The PRO W7900 delivers roughly 4.2 times the average score of the 860M, and this gulf is consistent across both OpenCL and Vulkan workloads. The data indicates the PRO W7900 is designed for demanding professional workloads where raw throughput is paramount, while the 860M is positioned for efficient, integrated graphics in portable devices. The 860M is an IGP with a 15 W TDP, while the PRO W7900 is a triple-slot, 295 W discrete card requiring a 600 W power supply, which underscores their entirely different deployment scenarios.

FAQ

Q: How do the two GPUs compare in raw compute performance?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W7900 dominates. Its Geekbench OpenCL score is 84379, and its Vulkan score is 137070. The AMD Radeon 860M scores 22759 in OpenCL and 30043 in Vulkan. This gives the PRO W7900 a 73% lead in OpenCL and a 78.1% lead in Vulkan.

Q: What are the architectural differences between the chips?

A: The 860M uses the RDNA 3.5 architecture on a 4 nm process node (Krackan Point chip). The PRO W7900 uses the older RDNA 3.0 architecture on a 5 nm node (Navi 31 chip). Despite the older architecture, the PRO W7900 has vastly more compute resources, including 6144 shading units versus 512, and 96 ray tracing cores versus 8.

Q: How do their memory configurations differ?

A: The 860M uses System Shared memory, meaning its size, type, and bus width are all dependent on the host system. The PRO W7900 has a dedicated 48 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, providing 864.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This dedicated high-bandwidth memory is critical for professional applications.

Q: What is the performance class of each GPU relative to other products?

A: The 860M sits in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs, with its average score of 26401 being nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 (26421, 0.1% difference) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (26331, 0.3% difference). The PRO W7900 is in the 94th percentile, with its average score of 110725 being 1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II and 3.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W6600X.

Q: Are these GPUs from the same generation?

A: No. The AMD Radeon 860M was released on 2025-02-28 and belongs to the Navi III IGP (Strix Point Mobile) generation, succeeding the Navi II IGP. The AMD Radeon PRO W7900 was released earlier, on 2023-05-25, and is part of the Radeon Pro Navi (Navi III Series), succeeding the Radeon Pro Vega.

Q: What are the power and physical requirements of each card?

A: The 860M is an IGP with a 15 W TDP, no power connectors, and no dedicated slot width. The PRO W7900 has a 295 W TDP, requires two 8-pin power connectors, and a 600 W power supply. It is a triple-slot card measuring 280 mm in length, 110 mm in height, and 51 mm in width.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon 860M and the AMD Radeon PRO W7900 are built on fundamentally different architectures tailored for different purposes. The 860M is an integrated graphics processor based on the RDNA 3.5 architecture, manufactured on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It is part of the Navi III IGP generation for Strix Point Mobile, indicating its design for portable, power-constrained devices. The chip is codenamed Krackan Point. The PRO W7900, in contrast, uses the RDNA 3.0 architecture, fabricated on a 5 nm process, and is a discrete professional workstation card. Its chip is Navi 31, with the codename Plum Bonito, and it belongs to the Radeon Pro Navi (Navi III Series) generation.

The scale of the compute resources differs enormously. The 860M has 512 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, 16 raster output units, and 8 ray tracing cores. The PRO W7900 has 6144 shading units (12 times more), 384 TMUs, 192 ROPs, and 96 ray tracing cores. This massive difference in execution resources explains the performance gap. The PRO W7900 also has a much larger physical footprint, with 57,700 million transistors on a 529 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 109.1M per mm². The transistor count and die size for the 860M are listed as unknown. The PRO W7900 also features a dedicated memory interface with a 384-bit bus, while the 860M relies on system shared memory. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, but the PRO W7900's hardware is scaled to a degree that makes it suitable for heavy compute.

Specification Differences

The most obvious specification differences are in the core configuration and memory subsystem. The AMD Radeon 860M has a base clock of 600 MHz and a boost clock of 3000 MHz. The AMD Radeon PRO W7900 has a higher base clock of 1760 MHz, but its boost clock of 2495 MHz is lower than the 860M's boost. The PRO W7900 compensates with far more compute units. The 860M's memory is System Shared, making its bandwidth "System Dependent", whereas the PRO W7900 has 48 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 384-bit bus and 864.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock for the PRO W7900 is listed as 2250 MHz, or 18 Gbps effective.

The power profiles are also drastically different. The 860M's TDP is 15 W, and it has no power connectors, being an IGP. The PRO W7900's TDP is 295 W, requiring two 8-pin power connectors and a 600 W power supply. The physical dimensions differ: the PRO W7900 is a triple-slot card, 280 mm long, 110 mm high, and 51 mm wide, while the 860M is an IGP with no dedicated dimensions. The bus interface also differs: the 860M uses PCIe 4.0 x8, while the PRO W7900 uses PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs are "Portable Device Dependent" for the 860M, while the PRO W7900 has three DisplayPort 2.1 and one mini-DisplayPort 2.1 output.

The release dates are also distinct. The 860M launched on 2025-02-28, while the PRO W7900 launched on 2023-05-25. The PRO W7900 has a launch MSRP of 3,999 USD. The 860M has no launch MSRP listed. The predecessor and successor information also differs: the 860M's predecessor is the Navi II IGP, while the PRO W7900's predecessor is the Radeon Pro Vega. Both are currently listed as Active in production status.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a decisive victory for the AMD Radeon PRO W7900 in both benchmark tests. In Geekbench OpenCL, the PRO W7900 scores 84379, while the 860M scores 22759. This represents a 73% advantage for the PRO W7900. The margin is even larger in Geekbench Vulkan, where the PRO W7900 scores 137070 against the 860M's 30043, a 78.1% lead. The PRO W7900's average benchmark score of 110725 is roughly 4.19 times the 860M's average of 26401.

These results are consistent with the percentile rankings. The PRO W7900 sits in the 94th percentile of all GPUs, while the 860M is in the 72nd percentile. The nearest rivals for each card further illustrate the gap. The 860M's average score is within 1.1% of the NVIDIA GeForce MX550, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary, and the NVIDIA RTX A4000. The PRO W7900's average score is within 3.2% of the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II, the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile, the AMD Radeon Pro W6600X, and the NVIDIA Tesla V100 SXM2 16 GB. The data shows a clear hierarchy: the 860M is competitive with entry-level discrete mobile GPUs, while the PRO W7900 competes with high-end professional and data center cards.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon 860M wins in the context of system integration and power efficiency. Its 15 W TDP and IGP form factor mean it requires no additional power connectors and no dedicated slot space. It is a PCIe 4.0 x8 device, which is suitable for thin and light laptops. Its performance is competitive with the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 (0.1% difference in average score) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (0.3% difference), making it a viable option for casual gaming and general productivity on the go. Its boost clock of 3000 MHz is higher than the PRO W7900's 2495 MHz, though this does not translate into real-world performance wins due to the massive difference in core count.

The AMD Radeon PRO W7900 wins in every measurable performance category in the database. Its 48 GB of GDDR6 memory with 864.0 GB/s bandwidth is essential for large datasets, high-resolution textures, and complex compute workloads. Its 6144 shading units and 96 ray tracing cores provide the raw throughput needed for professional 3D rendering, simulation, and AI inference. The data shows it delivers 73% higher OpenCL performance and 78.1% higher Vulkan performance than the 860M. The PRO W7900 also has a higher pixel rate (479.0 GPixel/s versus 48.00 GPixel/s) and texture rate (958.1 GTexel/s versus 96.00 GTexel/s), along with far higher FP32 and FP16 throughput (61.32 TFLOPS versus 3.072 TFLOPS for both). For any workload where absolute performance is the priority, the PRO W7900 is the clear choice. The 860M is the only choice for systems where power consumption and physical space are constrained.