AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 vs NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile Comparison

AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 and NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile are both end-of-life workstation-class GPUs, yet they deliver nearly identical average benchmark scores while occupying opposite ends of the compute spectrum. The MI60, a 2018-era accelerator built on GCN 5.1, edges out the newer Ampere-based mobile part by a razor-thin 1.5% in average score (92,466 vs. 91,134). Both sit in the 93rd percentile of all GPUs, but their performance profiles diverge sharply depending on the workload, with each card claiming one decisive victory in the two head-to-head tests.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The Geekbench OpenCL test shows a clear win for the NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile, which scores 105,307 against the MI60’s 92,488. That is a 12.2% gap in NVIDIA’s favor, and it reflects the Ampere architecture’s higher raw FP32 throughput — 17.66 TFLOPS versus 14.75 TFLOPS for the MI60. The A4500 Mobile also brings 5,888 shading units and 184 tensor cores to the table, giving it a substantial compute advantage in general-purpose OpenCL workloads that scale with shader count. The MI60’s older Vega 20 die, despite its 4,096 shading units, cannot keep pace here, and the 12.2% deficit is consistent with the FP32 peak-rate difference.

The Vulkan test flips the script entirely. The MI60 posts 92,444, while the A4500 Mobile manages only 76,960 — a 20.1% victory for AMD. This is a dramatic reversal, and it suggests that the MI60’s memory subsystem is the deciding factor. With 32 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus delivering 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth, the MI60 can feed its compute units far more efficiently than the A4500 Mobile’s 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus at 512.0 GB/s. Vulkan workloads often stress memory bandwidth and latency, and the MI60’s 4x wider bus and 2x higher bandwidth give it an insurmountable edge. The MI60’s 20.1% win is nearly double the A4500 Mobile’s OpenCL margin, indicating that AMD’s design is better tuned for graphics-adjacent compute tasks.

Looking at the nearestRivals data, the MI60’s average score of 92,466 puts it 0.9% ahead of the desktop NVIDIA RTX A4500 (91,671) and 1.5% ahead of the A4500 Mobile (91,134). However, it trails the AMD Radeon Pro VII by 4.8% (97,131) and the Radeon RX 7900M by 5.2% (97,487). The A4500 Mobile, conversely, is 0.6% behind its desktop sibling, 1.4% behind the MI60, but 4.2% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro GP100 (87,445) and 4.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon PRO W7600 (87,108). These deltas place both cards in the same performance tier, yet the MI60’s Vulkan advantage is large enough to reverse the overall ranking.

The Verdict

The data supports a clear split decision. For users running Vulkan-based workloads — which often include CAD visualization, game engine rendering, or compute shaders — the AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 is the superior choice, offering a 20.1% performance lead that no other benchmark in this comparison can match. Its 32 GB memory capacity and 1.02 TB/s bandwidth are also decisive for large datasets that exceed the A4500 Mobile’s 16 GB frame buffer. The MI60 also has a slight overall average score advantage (1.5%), so if a workload mixes both APIs, AMD edges ahead.

For OpenCL-centric tasks — which are common in scientific computing, machine learning inference, and general-purpose GPU compute — the NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile is the clear winner, with a 12.2% lead. Its 17.66 TFLOPS FP32 rate and 46 RT cores plus 184 tensor cores provide modern features that the MI60 lacks entirely. The A4500 Mobile also consumes less power (140 W vs. 300 W TDP) and requires no auxiliary power connectors, making it far easier to integrate into mobile workstations or compact systems. The MI60, by contrast, is a dual-slot card with 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin connectors and a 700 W suggested PSU, limiting its deployment to desktop chassis.

Strictly from the benchmark data, the decision hinges on API preference. If Vulkan performance is paramount, the MI60 is the only rational pick — its 20.1% victory is the largest delta in the entire comparison. If OpenCL is the primary workload, the A4500 Mobile’s 12.2% win is equally decisive. For mixed workloads, the MI60’s higher average score (92,466 vs. 91,134) gives it a marginal overall edge, but the A4500 Mobile’s modern feature set (ray tracing, tensor cores, DX12 Ultimate) may be worth the 1.5% average score penalty for users who need those capabilities.

Architecture Differences

The MI60 is built on AMD’s GCN 5.1 architecture using a Vega 20 chip fabricated on TSMC’s 7 nm process. It packs 13,230 million transistors into a 331 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 40.0M per mm². The A4500 Mobile uses NVIDIA’s Ampere architecture with a GA104 chip on Samsung’s 8 nm process, housing 17,400 million transistors in a 392 mm² die — a density of 44.4M per mm². This makes the NVIDIA chip physically larger and denser, but the AMD chip benefits from a more advanced (smaller) process node.

The MI60’s compute layout revolves around 4,096 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, with no dedicated RT or tensor cores. The A4500 Mobile fields 5,888 shading units, 184 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, augmented by 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores. This means NVIDIA’s part supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI tensor operations, while the MI60 relies purely on shader-based compute. The FP16 throughput also differs fundamentally: the MI60 achieves 29.49 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio) — double its FP32 rate — while the A4500 Mobile delivers 17.66 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio), matching its FP32 output. For workloads that exploit FP16, the MI60 has a theoretical advantage, but for FP32, the A4500 Mobile leads.

Memory architecture is the most striking divergence. The MI60 uses 32 GB of HBM2 with a 4096-bit bus, delivering 1.02 TB/s bandwidth. The A4500 Mobile uses 16 GB of GDDR6 with a 256-bit bus, yielding 512.0 GB/s — exactly half the bandwidth. The MI60’s memory clock is 1000 MHz (2 Gbps effective), while the A4500 Mobile runs at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective), but the bus width difference dominates. This explains the Vulkan result, where the MI60’s bandwidth advantage shines.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every major specification. The MI60 has a base clock of 1200 MHz and a boost clock of 1800 MHz, versus 930 MHz base and 1500 MHz boost for the A4500 Mobile. The MI60’s FP32 rating is 14.75 TFLOPS, while the A4500 Mobile reaches 17.66 TFLOPS. Pixel rates are 115.2 GPixel/s for AMD and 144.0 GPixel/s for NVIDIA, but texture rates favor the MI60 at 460.8 GTexel/s versus 276.0 GTexel/s — a direct result of its 256 TMUs versus 184.

Power consumption differs dramatically: the MI60 is rated at 300 W TDP with a dual-slot cooler and power connectors (1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin), requiring a 700 W suggested PSU. The A4500 Mobile is a 140 W part with no power connectors and a portable-device-dependent display output. The MI60 is 267 mm long and 111 mm tall, while the A4500 Mobile has no listed dimensions. The MI60 supports PCIe 4.0 x16, as does the A4500 Mobile, but the MI60 has 1x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a output, while the A4500 Mobile’s outputs are portable-device dependent.

API support also differs: the MI60 offers DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3, while the A4500 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4. Both support OpenGL 4.6. The MI60 was released on 2018-11-17, with a predecessor of FirePro Data Center and no successor. The A4500 Mobile launched on 2022-03-21, succeeding Quadro Turing-M and preceding Ada-MW. Neither card has a launch MSRP listed in the data.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 has an average score of 92,466, which is 1.5% higher than the NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile’s 91,134. Both sit in the 93rd percentile of all GPUs.

Q: How large is the Vulkan performance gap between the two?

A: The MI60 wins Geekbench Vulkan with 92,444 points versus 76,960 for the A4500 Mobile, a 20.1% advantage for AMD. This is the largest performance delta in the entire comparison.

Q: Does the NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile win any benchmark?

A: Yes, it wins Geekbench OpenCL with 105,307 points versus 92,488 for the MI60, a 12.2% lead. This reflects its higher FP32 throughput of 17.66 TFLOPS.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The MI60 offers 1.02 TB/s bandwidth via 32 GB HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus. The A4500 Mobile provides 512.0 GB/s via 16 GB GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus — exactly half the bandwidth.

Q: Which card supports ray tracing and tensor cores?

A: Only the NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile includes 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores. The AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 has neither, relying solely on 4,096 shading units.

Q: How do the power requirements compare?

A: The MI60 has a 300 W TDP, requires a dual-slot cooler, 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin power connectors, and a 700 W suggested PSU. The A4500 Mobile has a 140 W TDP with no power connectors and no suggested PSU listed.