AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 vs NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation Comparison

NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation decisively outperforms the AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 in every recorded benchmark, with the data showing a 58.5% lead in OpenCL and a 34% lead in Vulkan. The RTX 4000 Ada Generation achieves an average benchmark score of 135,218, placing it in the 95th percentile of all GPUs, while the MI60’s average of 92,466 lands in the 93rd percentile. This gap is substantial, but the MI60 still offers distinct advantages in memory capacity and raw bandwidth, making the choice dependent on workload rather than a simple speed comparison.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The RTX 4000 Ada Generation wins both head-to-head tests outright, and the margins are not subtle. In Geekbench OpenCL, the NVIDIA card scores 146,593 against the MI60’s 92,488 — a 58.5% advantage. That is a massive delta, indicating that for compute-heavy OpenCL workloads, the Ada card is in a different performance class entirely. The Vulkan result narrows the gap but still favors NVIDIA decisively: 123,842 versus 92,444, a 34% lead. These are not edge cases; both tests confirm the same conclusion.

Contextualizing via nearest rivals, the RTX 4000 Ada Generation sits within 0.9% of the NVIDIA A10M (135,230) and essentially ties the AMD Radeon PRO W6800 (135,396), showing it is competitive with professional cards in its segment. The MI60, meanwhile, is 0.9% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX A4500 (91,671) and 1.5% ahead of the RTX A4500 Mobile (91,134), but it trails the AMD Radeon Pro VII (97,131) by 4.8% and the Radeon RX 7900M (97,487) by 5.2%. In other words, the MI60’s raw compute scores place it near older workstation parts, while the RTX 4000 Ada Generation competes with much newer hardware.

The data shows a clear pattern: the RTX 4000 Ada Generation delivers 58.5% more OpenCL performance and 34% more Vulkan performance than the MI60. For any application that relies on these APIs — whether rendering, simulation, or general compute — the NVIDIA card is the superior choice on raw speed. The MI60’s wins, if any, will have to come from elsewhere, such as memory capacity or sustained throughput on specific tasks.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two cards is generational. The RTX 4000 Ada Generation uses the AD104 chip built on TSMC’s 5 nm process, packing 35,800 million transistors into a 294 mm² die — a transistor density of 121.8 million per mm². The MI60 uses the Vega 20 chip on a 7 nm process, with 13,230 million transistors across a 331 mm² die, yielding a density of just 40.0 million per mm². The NVIDIA chip is smaller yet more than twice as dense, reflecting a much newer design.

The RTX 4000 Ada Generation is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, part of the GeForce 40-series workstation lineup, succeeding Workstation Ampere. It features 6,144 shading units, 192 TMUs, 64 ROPs, 48 ray-tracing cores, and 192 tensor cores. The MI60, meanwhile, uses the GCN 5.1 architecture (Radeon Instinct series), with 4,096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 64 ROPs — but it has no dedicated ray-tracing or tensor cores. This is a fundamental divergence: NVIDIA integrates specialized hardware for ray tracing and AI workloads, while AMD’s GCN 5.1 relies on general-purpose compute.

Clock speeds favor NVIDIA as well. The RTX 4000 Ada Generation runs at a base of 1500 MHz and boosts to 2175 MHz, whereas the MI60 sits at 1200 MHz base and 1800 MHz boost. This clock advantage compounds with the higher shader count, explaining the large FP32 gap: 26.73 TFLOPS for NVIDIA versus 14.75 TFLOPS for AMD. Interestingly, the MI60 flips the script on FP16: it delivers 29.49 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio) versus the RTX 4000 Ada Generation’s 26.73 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio). So for mixed-precision workloads that can leverage FP16, the AMD card actually has a throughput edge.

Memory architectures could not be more different. The RTX 4000 Ada Generation has 20 GB of GDDR6 on a 160-bit bus, delivering 360.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The MI60 has 32 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, delivering 1.02 TB/s — nearly three times the bandwidth and 60% more capacity. This makes the MI60 a memory-bandwidth specialist, while the RTX 4000 Ada Generation is a generalist with balanced specs.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in OpenCL performance?

A: The NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation scores 146,593 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 58.5% higher than the AMD Radeon Instinct MI60’s 92,488.

Q: Does the AMD card have any performance advantage at all?

A: In FP16 compute, the MI60 delivers 29.49 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio) versus the RTX 4000 Ada Generation’s 26.73 TFLOPS (1:1). It also offers more memory bandwidth (1.02 TB/s versus 360.0 GB/s) and more capacity (32 GB versus 20 GB).

Q: What are the memory specifications of each card?

A: The RTX 4000 Ada Generation has 20 GB of GDDR6 on a 160-bit bus with 360.0 GB/s bandwidth. The MI60 has 32 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus with 1.02 TB/s bandwidth.

Q: Are these cards in the same generation?

A: No. The RTX 4000 Ada Generation is from the Workstation Ada generation (released August 2023), while the MI60 is from the Radeon Instinct generation (released November 2018). The NVIDIA card uses 5 nm process technology; the AMD card uses 7 nm.

Q: Which card has ray tracing and tensor cores?

A: Only the NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation has dedicated hardware: 48 ray-tracing cores and 192 tensor cores. The AMD MI60 has none of these specialized units.

Q: What is the power consumption difference?

A: The RTX 4000 Ada Generation has a TDP of 130 W, while the MI60 has a TDP of 300 W. The NVIDIA card also requires a lower suggested PSU (300 W versus 700 W).

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation | AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 |

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

| Process Node | 5 nm | 7 nm |

| Transistors | 35,800 million | 13,230 million |

| Die Size | 294 mm² | 331 mm² |

| Base Clock | 1500 MHz | 1200 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 2175 MHz | 1800 MHz |

| Memory Size | 20 GB GDDR6 | 32 GB HBM2 |

| Memory Bus | 160 bit | 4096 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 360.0 GB/s | 1.02 TB/s |

| Shading Units | 6144 | 4096 |

| TMUs | 192 | 256 |

| RT Cores | 48 | None |

| Tensor Cores | 192 | None |

| FP32 Performance | 26.73 TFLOPS | 14.75 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 26.73 TFLOPS (1:1) | 29.49 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 130 W | 300 W |

| Slot Width | Single-slot | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | 1x 16-pin | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin |

| Display Outputs | 4x DisplayPort 1.4a | 1x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a |

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

| Vulkan Support | 1.4 | 1.3 |

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

| Release Date | August 2023 | November 2018 |

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation wins on almost every compute metric that matters for general workstation tasks. Its FP32 throughput of 26.73 TFLOPS is 81% higher than the MI60’s 14.75 TFLOPS, and its shading unit count (6,144 versus 4,096) gives it a clear advantage in single-precision workloads. The presence of 48 ray-tracing cores and 192 tensor cores means it is ready for ray-traced rendering and AI-accelerated tasks, which the MI60 cannot handle with dedicated hardware. Its lower TDP (130 W versus 300 W) and single-slot form factor make it far easier to integrate into dense systems. For OpenCL and Vulkan benchmarks — the only tests recorded — it wins by 58.5% and 34%, respectively.

The AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 wins in memory-centric scenarios. Its 32 GB of HBM2 offers 60% more capacity than the RTX 4000 Ada Generation’s 20 GB, and its 1.02 TB/s bandwidth is 183% higher than 360.0 GB/s. This makes it the better choice for workloads that are bandwidth-bound, such as large dataset processing or certain scientific simulations. Its FP16 throughput of 29.49 TFLOPS exceeds NVIDIA’s 26.73 TFLOPS, so mixed-precision compute that can utilize FP16 will see an advantage. The MI60 also has more TMUs (256 versus 192) and a higher texture rate (460.8 GTexel/s versus 417.6 GTexel/s), which could help in specific texture-heavy tasks.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation is the faster card in every recorded benchmark, with a 58.5% OpenCL lead and a 34% Vulkan lead. Its architecture is newer, denser, and more feature-rich — 5 nm versus 7 nm, 35.8 billion transistors versus 13.2 billion, ray tracing and tensor cores versus none. For users who prioritize raw compute speed, FP32 performance, or modern API support, the RTX 4000 Ada Generation is the only choice from this comparison.

The AMD Radeon Instinct MI60, however, is not without purpose. Its 32 GB HBM2 memory with 1.02 TB/s bandwidth is a legitimate differentiator, and its FP16 throughput is higher. For workloads that are memory-bound or can exploit FP16, the MI60 remains relevant despite its age. It is also end-of-life, which may matter for procurement decisions, while the RTX 4000 Ada Generation is active.

The verdict depends on the workload. For general workstation tasks, rendering, AI, or any modern compute API, pick the NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation. For massive memory footprints or bandwidth-intensive scientific workloads where FP32 speed is secondary, the AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 has a defensible role. But on raw performance, the RTX 4000 Ada Generation wins 2–0 in head-to-head tests, and that is the headline.