AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 vs AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64 Comparison

AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64 are both end-of-life workstation-class accelerators from AMD, but they target different corners of the market. The MI60 is a data-center compute card built on the newer 7 nm Vega 20 chip, while the Pro Vega 64 is a 14 nm Vega 10 part designed primarily for integration into Apple Mac Pro systems. Across the two shared benchmark tests, the Instinct MI60 wins both, with a 30.1% lead in Geekbench OpenCL and a 24.6% lead in Geekbench Vulkan. The data shows a clear performance hierarchy, but the Pro Vega 64 still holds a place for specific use cases, particularly in Apple-centric workflows.

Where Each One Wins

The Instinct MI60 wins in raw compute throughput, which is its primary purpose. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, it scores 92488 against the Pro Vega 64’s 71094, a 30.1% advantage. In Geekbench Vulkan, the MI60 scores 92444 versus 74174, a 24.6% lead. These are the only two benchmark tests the pair shares, and the MI60 takes both, giving it a 2-0 record in head-to-head comparisons. The MI60 also sits at the 93rd percentile of all GPUs, two points above the Pro Vega 64’s 91st percentile, reinforcing that it is the stronger performer overall.

The Pro Vega 64’s wins are not in raw speed but in compatibility and integration. It is part of the Radeon Pro Mac generation, with display outputs listed as "Portable Device Dependent," meaning it is designed for systems where the display output is handled by the host machine. The MI60, by contrast, has a single mini-DisplayPort 1.4a output, suggesting it is not meant to drive displays as a primary function. For a Mac Pro user needing a drop-in compute upgrade without external power connectors, the Pro Vega 64 is the practical choice. Its 250 W TDP and "IGP" slot width indicate it draws power from the system board, whereas the MI60 requires a 300 W power draw with dedicated 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin connectors.

Architecture Differences

The two cards represent two generations of GCN architecture. The MI60 uses GCN 5.1 on the Vega 20 chip, fabricated on a 7 nm process by TSMC. The Pro Vega 64 uses GCN 5.0 on the Vega 10 chip, built on a 14 nm process by GlobalFoundries. The process node difference is significant: the MI60 packs 13,230 million transistors into a 331 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 40.0M per mm². The Pro Vega 64 has 12,500 million transistors on a much larger 495 mm² die, yielding a lower density of 25.3M per mm². This means the MI60 gets more transistors into less space, which directly contributes to its higher clock speeds and performance.

Core configurations are identical in count: both have 4096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. However, the MI60 runs these cores at higher frequencies. Its base clock is 1200 MHz and boost clock is 1800 MHz, while the Pro Vega 64 runs at 1250 MHz base and 1350 MHz boost. The MI60’s boost clock is 450 MHz higher, which drives its compute lead. Memory also differs substantially. The MI60 has 32 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, delivering 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth. The Pro Vega 64 has 16 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus, with 402.4 GB/s bandwidth. That is a 2.5x bandwidth advantage for the MI60, which is critical for data-center workloads that move large datasets.

Both cards support the same API feature set: DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. Neither has dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores, so they rely on raw GCN compute. The MI60 uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the Pro Vega 64 is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16, giving the MI60 double the bus bandwidth for host communication.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The Geekbench OpenCL result is the largest gap between the two. The MI60 scores 92488, which is 30.1% higher than the Pro Vega 64’s 71094. To put that in context, the MI60’s nearest rival is the NVIDIA RTX A4500 at 91671, a mere 0.9% difference. The Pro Vega 64 sits near the NVIDIA TITAN X Pascal (72098) and AMD Radeon RX 6650M (71768), with deltas of 0.4% and 0.9% respectively. The 30.1% delta between the two AMD cards is far larger than any gap in their respective rival clusters, showing that the MI60 is a full tier above the Pro Vega 64 in OpenCL compute.

The Vulkan test shows a smaller but still decisive gap. The MI60 scores 92444, 24.6% ahead of the Pro Vega 64’s 74174. Interestingly, the Pro Vega 64 performs better in Vulkan than in OpenCL relative to its own scores, but it still cannot close the gap. The MI60’s Vulkan score is nearly identical to its OpenCL score, suggesting consistent performance across API types. The Pro Vega 64’s best result is actually in Geekbench Metal, where it scores 71868, but the MI60 has no Metal benchmark data, so that test cannot be compared directly. The MI60’s average benchmark score is 92466, while the Pro Vega 64’s is 72379, a difference that aligns with the individual test results.

FAQ

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The Instinct MI60 has 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth from 32 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus. The Pro Vega 64 has 402.4 GB/s from 16 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus. That is a 2.5x bandwidth advantage for the MI60.

Q: Are the core counts the same on both cards?

A: Yes, both have 4096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The difference comes from clock speeds and memory, not core counts.

Q: Does the Pro Vega 64 support the same APIs as the MI60?

A: Both support DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. Neither has dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores.

Q: Can the Instinct MI60 be used in a Mac Pro?

A: The data shows the MI60 has a 1x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a output and requires 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin power connectors. The Pro Vega 64 has no power connectors and is listed as "IGP" slot width, indicating it is designed for integrated Mac systems. The MI60 is not positioned as a Mac-compatible card.

Q: How does the Pro Vega 64 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Pro Vega 64’s average score of 72379 puts it 0.4% behind the NVIDIA TITAN X Pascal (72098) and 0.9% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6650M (71768). It is 1.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition (73370) and 2.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE (70829).

Q: What is the production status of both cards?

A: Both are listed as end-of-life. The MI60 was released on 2018-11-17, and the Pro Vega 64 was released on 2017-06-26.

Specification Differences

The most obvious differences are in process node and memory. The MI60 uses a 7 nm TSMC process, while the Pro Vega 64 uses 14 nm GlobalFoundries. The MI60’s die is 331 mm² with 13,230 million transistors; the Pro Vega 64’s die is 495 mm² with 12,500 million transistors. Transistor density is 40.0M per mm² for the MI60 versus 25.3M per mm² for the Pro Vega 64.

Clock speeds differ significantly. The MI60 has a 1200 MHz base and 1800 MHz boost, while the Pro Vega 64 has a 1250 MHz base and 1350 MHz boost. The MI60’s boost is 450 MHz higher. Memory is 32 GB HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus for the MI60, versus 16 GB HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus for the Pro Vega 64. Bandwidth is 1.02 TB/s versus 402.4 GB/s.

Compute rates follow the clocks. The MI60 delivers 14.75 TFLOPS FP32 and 29.49 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1), while the Pro Vega 64 delivers 11.06 TFLOPS FP32 and 22.12 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1). Pixel rate is 115.2 GPixel/s for the MI60 versus 86.40 GPixel/s for the Pro Vega 64. Texture rate is 460.8 GTexel/s versus 345.6 GTexel/s.

Power and physical specs diverge. The MI60 has a 300 W TDP, dual-slot width, 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin connectors, and a 700 W suggested PSU. The Pro Vega 64 has a 250 W TDP, IGP slot width, no power connectors, and no suggested PSU. The MI60 uses PCIe 4.0 x16; the Pro Vega 64 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. The MI60 has one mini-DisplayPort 1.4a output; the Pro Vega 64’s outputs are portable device dependent. Dimensions are only listed for the MI60: 267 mm length and 111 mm height.

The Verdict

The data makes the choice straightforward for most users. The Instinct MI60 is the stronger card by every measurable compute metric. It wins OpenCL by 30.1% and Vulkan by 24.6%, and it has double the memory capacity, 2.5x the bandwidth, and a higher boost clock. Its 93rd percentile standing versus the Pro Vega 64’s 91st confirms it is a higher-tier product. If you need maximum compute performance for data-center or high-end workstation tasks, and you can supply 300 W of power and PCIe 4.0, the MI60 is the clear pick.

The Pro Vega 64 is not without merit, but its advantages are situational. It requires no external power connectors, draws 50 W less, and is designed for integrated Mac systems with portable-device-dependent display outputs. For someone upgrading a Mac Pro without the ability to add power cables, the Pro Vega 64 is the only one of the two that fits. Its performance is still respectable—it sits within 0.4% of the NVIDIA TITAN X Pascal and 1.4% of the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition—but it is a generation behind the MI60 in architecture and process node. If you are building a new system or have the power delivery headroom, the MI60’s 30.1% OpenCL advantage is too large to ignore. If you are constrained to a Mac ecosystem with no external power, the Pro Vega 64 is your answer. Choose the MI60 for raw compute, the Pro Vega 64 for Mac integration.