AMD Radeon Pro 455 vs NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database does not contain any direct head-to-head benchmark runs between the AMD Radeon Pro 455 and the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q. There are no shared test workloads recorded for both parts, so a side-by-side comparison of identical tasks is impossible from the available data. Instead, the comparison must rely on each card’s standalone benchmark scores and how those scores position them within the broader GPU landscape.

Looking at the recorded data for each card, the AMD Radeon Pro 455 has three benchmark entries: Geekbench Metal at 15916, Geekbench OpenCL at 10336, and Geekbench Vulkan at 12240. Its average benchmark score across all recorded tests is 12831. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q has a single recorded benchmark: 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 at 11088, which also serves as its average score.

These numbers are not directly comparable because they come from different test suites. The AMD card’s scores are all Geekbench compute tests, while the NVIDIA card’s score is a 3DMark DX12 workload. The Geekbench Metal score of 15916 for the AMD card is its strongest result, outperforming its own OpenCL and Vulkan scores by 54% and 30%, respectively. This suggests the Radeon Pro 455 is particularly well optimized for Apple’s Metal API, which aligns with its positioning in the Radeon Pro Mac generation.

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q, despite having only one recorded benchmark, sits at the 50th percentile of all GPUs in the database. Its nearest rivals are remarkably close in average score: the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q matches it exactly at 11088 with a 0% delta, the AMD Radeon RX 550 trails by just 0.1% at 11075, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER is 0.4% behind. The AMD FirePro W4300 is actually 1.2% ahead at 11225. This clustering indicates that the RTX PRO 6000D’s 3DMark Steel Nomad result sits in a dense performance band where many older and mid-range cards score similarly, at least in this specific test.

The AMD Radeon Pro 455, by contrast, sits at the 52nd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals show a different pattern: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 matches it almost exactly at 12830 (0% delta), the AMD FirePro W5100 is 0.1% behind at 12847, and the AMD Radeon 740M is 0.3% behind. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 is 0.5% ahead at 12773. These deltas are all within a fraction of a percent, meaning the Radeon Pro 455’s average compute performance is essentially tied with a group of cards from the GTX 500/600 era and recent integrated graphics.

What the data does not show is any head-to-head wins for either card, as the head-to-head benchmark list is empty and both win counters are zero. This is a case where the absence of shared tests means no direct winner can be declared from benchmark scores alone. The verdict must instead come from the architectural and specification differences, which are substantial and point to entirely different use cases.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 455 has an average benchmark score of 12831 across three Geekbench tests, while the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q has an average of 11088 from its single 3DMark Steel Nomad run. However, these averages come from different test suites and are not directly comparable.

Q: How does each card compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Radeon Pro 455 is within 0.5% of four rivals: the GTX 590 (0% delta), FirePro W5100 (-0.1%), Radeon 740M (-0.3%), and GTX 670 (+0.5%). The RTX PRO 6000D is similarly clustered: the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q is at 0% delta, the RX 550 is 0.1% behind, the GTX 1650 SUPER is 0.4% behind, and the FirePro W4300 is 1.2% ahead.

Q: What API support does each card offer?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 455 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Q: What is the memory configuration of each card?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 455 has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus with 81.28 GB/s bandwidth. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q has 96 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth.

Q: What are the production statuses of these cards?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 455 is end-of-life, having been released on 2016-10-29. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q is active, with a release date of 2025-03-17.

Q: Does either card have ray tracing or tensor cores?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 455 has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q has 188 ray tracing cores and 752 tensor cores.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Pro 455 wins in scenarios that favor its specific benchmark strengths. Its Geekbench Metal score of 15916 is the highest recorded result for this card, indicating strong performance in Apple-centric compute workloads that leverage Metal. This makes it a sensible choice for legacy Mac Pro systems or mobile workstations from the 2016 era where Metal-accelerated applications are the primary workload. The card’s 35 W TDP and MXM Module form factor also make it suitable for compact, power-limited portable systems, where its low power draw is a practical advantage.

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q wins in every category that matters for modern professional workloads. Its 96 GB of GDDR7 memory is the single largest advantage, enabling datasets that would completely exhaust the Radeon Pro 455’s 2 GB frame buffer. The 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth is over 20 times the AMD card’s bandwidth, which translates directly to faster data movement for large models and high-resolution textures. The 188 ray tracing cores and 752 tensor cores open up hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI inference, neither of which the Radeon Pro 455 can do at all.

The RTX PRO 6000D also wins on raw compute throughput. Its FP32 performance of 110.1 TFLOPS dwarfs the Radeon Pro 455’s 1,313.3 GFLOPS, a difference of roughly 84 times. Pixel rate and texture rate follow the same pattern: the NVIDIA card delivers 439.3 GPixel/s and 1,720.6 GTexel/s versus the AMD card’s 13.68 GPixel/s and 41.04 GTexel/s. For rendering, simulation, or any compute-heavy task, the RTX PRO 6000D is in a different performance class.

The Radeon Pro 455 wins only on the narrow criteria of historical compatibility and low power. Its 35 W TDP means it can run in systems without auxiliary power connectors, while the RTX PRO 6000D requires a 16-pin connector and a 700 W suggested power supply. The MXM Module form factor of the AMD card is also a niche advantage for certain laptop and small-form-factor designs, whereas the NVIDIA card is a dual-slot 267 mm PCIe 5.0 x16 card.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every specification field. The AMD Radeon Pro 455 uses a Baffin chip on a 14 nm process from GlobalFoundries, with 3,000 million transistors on a 123 mm² die. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q uses a GB202 chip on a 5 nm process from TSMC, with 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. Transistor density tells the story: the NVIDIA chip packs 122.9 million transistors per mm² versus 24.4 million per mm² for the AMD chip.

Memory is the most dramatic divergence. The Radeon Pro 455 has 2 GB GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 81.28 GB/s. The RTX PRO 6000D has 96 GB GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s. The memory clock also differs: 1270 MHz (5.1 Gbps effective) for the AMD card versus 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective) for the NVIDIA card.

Compute units scale massively. The Radeon Pro 455 has 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. The RTX PRO 6000D has 24064 shading units, 752 TMUs, and 192 ROPs. The NVIDIA card also adds 188 ray tracing cores and 752 tensor cores, neither of which exists on the AMD card. Pixel rate is 13.68 GPixel/s versus 439.3 GPixel/s, and texture rate is 41.04 GTexel/s versus 1,720.6 GTexel/s. FP32 is 1,313.3 GFLOPS versus 110.1 TFLOPS, with both cards offering 1:1 FP16.

Power and physical specifications are equally different. The Radeon Pro 455 has a 35 W TDP, uses an MXM Module slot, requires no power connectors, and has a PCIe 3.0 x8 interface. The RTX PRO 6000D has a 300 W TDP, uses a dual-slot form factor, requires one 16-pin power connector, and has a PCIe 5.0 x16 interface. The NVIDIA card measures 267 mm by 111 mm by 40 mm, while the AMD card has no recorded dimensions. Display outputs also diverge: the AMD card has portable-device-dependent outputs, while the NVIDIA card has four DisplayPort 2.1b outputs.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap spans two generations of GPU design. The AMD Radeon Pro 455 is built on GCN 4.0 architecture, a design from 2016 that predates hardware ray tracing and tensor acceleration. Its feature set is limited to traditional rasterization and compute, with DirectX 12 (12_0) support that lacks the full DX12 Ultimate feature set. The chip is fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries, using 3 billion transistors in a relatively modest 123 mm² die.

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q is built on Blackwell 2.0 architecture, representing a fundamentally newer design. It is manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC, with 92.2 billion transistors on a 750 mm² die. The architecture includes dedicated ray tracing cores and tensor cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing, DLSS-style AI upscaling, and other neural network workloads. Its DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) support includes the full feature set for modern games and professional applications, and its Vulkan 1.4 support is a generation newer than the AMD card’s Vulkan 1.3.

The transistor budget tells the story of architectural complexity. The NVIDIA chip uses 30 times more transistors than the AMD chip, and those transistors are packed at 5 times the density. This allows for the massive increase in shading units (24064 versus 768), TMUs (752 versus 48), and ROPs (192 versus 16). The addition of 188 ray tracing cores and 752 tensor cores represents entirely new functional blocks that did not exist in the GCN 4.0 design.

Memory architecture also reflects generational progress. The Radeon Pro 455 uses GDDR5, a memory type from the early 2010s, while the RTX PRO 6000D uses GDDR7, the latest standard. The 512-bit bus width on the NVIDIA card is four times wider than the 128-bit bus on the AMD card, and the effective memory clock of 28 Gbps is over five times faster than the AMD card’s 5.1 Gbps. The result is a 22-fold increase in memory bandwidth.

The PCIe interface also differs by two generations. The AMD card uses PCIe 3.0 x8, while the NVIDIA card uses PCIe 5.0 x16. This affects host-to-device transfer speeds, which matters for large datasets that must be streamed to the GPU. The display outputs reflect their respective eras: the AMD card’s outputs are dependent on the portable device it is installed in, while the NVIDIA card offers four DisplayPort 2.1b ports for modern high-resolution monitors.

The Verdict

The data paints a clear picture of two products from different eras serving entirely different purposes. The AMD Radeon Pro 455 is a 2016-era mobile workstation GPU with 2 GB of memory, no ray tracing, no tensor cores, and a 35 W power envelope. It is end-of-life, and its benchmark scores place it at the 52nd percentile of all GPUs, tied with cards like the GTX 590 and FirePro W5100. Its strongest showing is in Geekbench Metal, where it scores 15916, suggesting it remains serviceable for legacy Mac-centric compute tasks.

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q is a 2025-era professional GPU with 96 GB of GDDR7 memory, 188 ray tracing cores, 752 tensor cores, and 110.1 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. It is an active product with a launch MSRP of 8,565 USD. Its only recorded benchmark, 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 at 11088, places it at the 50th percentile, but this single data point does not capture its memory capacity or specialized compute capabilities.

For anyone building or upgrading a system today, the RTX PRO 6000D is the obvious choice for professional workloads involving large datasets, AI inference, ray-traced rendering, or any modern graphics API. The Radeon Pro 455 has no path to those workloads: 2 GB of memory is insufficient for modern content creation, and the lack of tensor and ray tracing cores excludes it from AI and RT applications entirely.

The Radeon Pro 455 should only be selected if the use case is explicitly a legacy Mac Pro or mobile workstation that requires an MXM module and cannot accommodate a dual-slot PCIe card. Its 35 W TDP and lack of power connectors make it usable in systems with minimal power delivery. For any new build, the RTX PRO 6000D’s 96 GB memory capacity and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are transformative, and its 752 tensor cores provide hardware acceleration for the AI workloads that increasingly dominate professional computing. The benchmark data does not show a direct head-to-head, but the specification differences are so vast that no shared test would be competitive.