AMD Radeon Pro 560X vs NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile Comparison

The AMD Radeon Pro 560X and NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile represent two very different eras of mobile graphics, and the benchmark data reflects a generational chasm. The AMD part, based on the older Polaris 21 chip, is a legacy solution from 2018, while the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile is a newer Ampere-based professional part from 2021. The performance gap is not subtle; it is a decisive victory for the NVIDIA card in every measurable compute benchmark, though the AMD card holds its own in specific legacy scenarios. This analysis breaks down the data to help determine which GPU fits a specific workload.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most striking comparison comes from the Geekbench OpenCL test. Here, the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile scores a massive 56,518 points, dwarfing the AMD Radeon Pro 560X's 9,663 points. This represents a delta of -82.9%, meaning the AMD card is nearly 83% slower in this raw compute workload. This is not a marginal difference; it is a complete obliteration. The NVIDIA card's advantage is so vast that it suggests the AMD part is simply out of its depth in modern, compute-heavy applications.

The second direct comparison, Geekbench Vulkan, tells a similar story, albeit with a slightly smaller margin. The NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile scores 53,146 points, while the AMD Radeon Pro 560X manages 16,819 points. The delta here is -68.4%, still a commanding lead for NVIDIA. While the AMD card performs relatively better in Vulkan than in OpenCL, it still trails by a factor of more than three. These two head-to-head results are the only direct benchmark comparisons available, and NVIDIA wins both, securing a 2-0 record in the wins column.

Looking at the average benchmark scores provides additional context, though the data includes a wider range of tests for the NVIDIA card. The AMD Radeon Pro 560X has an average score of 15,082, while the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile rests at 13,821. On the surface, this seems contradictory to the head-to-head results. However, the NVIDIA card's average is pulled down by its Passmark DX10, DX11, and DX12 scores, which are extremely low (57, 68, and 47, respectively). These specific tests appear to be outliers or indicative of driver issues in legacy APIs, and they skew the average. The NVIDIA card's Passmark G3D score of 9,611 and GPU Compute score of 4,334 are far more representative of its actual capability than the low DX scores.

The percentile rankings further clarify the situation. The AMD Radeon Pro 560X sits in the 57th percentile of all GPUs, while the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile is in the 55th percentile. Despite its overwhelming win in the head-to-head compute tests, the NVIDIA card's overall percentile is dragged down by those anomalous Passmark DX scores. This paints a picture of a GPU that is exceptional at modern compute and graphics APIs (OpenCL, Vulkan) but may have significant issues with older, legacy DirectX workloads. The AMD card, conversely, is more consistent across its limited benchmark suite, even if its peak performance is far lower.

Where Each One Wins

The data clearly shows that the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile is the superior choice for any modern, compute-intensive workload. Its performance in OpenCL and Vulkan is in a different league entirely. For tasks like GPU-accelerated rendering, machine learning inference, or scientific computing that leverage these APIs, the RTX A2000 Mobile would be the only logical choice. Its 8.637 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 8.637 TFLOPS of FP16 performance, combined with dedicated ray tracing and tensor cores, make it a far more capable compute engine than the AMD card's 2.056 TFLOPS.

The AMD Radeon Pro 560X does not win any benchmark in the provided data. Its only potential advantage lies in its lower power consumption. With a TDP of 75 W compared to the NVIDIA's 95 W, the AMD card could be a better fit for ultra-thin laptops or systems with stringent thermal limits. However, this is a trade-off for drastically lower performance. The AMD card's higher percentile rank (57th vs 55th) is the only statistical metric it wins, but this is a flawed metric as it is heavily influenced by the NVIDIA card's anomalous DirectX scores. The data suggests that the Radeon Pro 560X is not a competitive option for any workload where the RTX A2000 Mobile is available, unless power draw is an absolute priority.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in the Geekbench OpenCL test?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile is drastically faster, scoring 56,518 points compared to the AMD Radeon Pro 560X's 9,663 points, a difference of -82.9%.

Q: Is the AMD Radeon Pro 560X better in any benchmark?

A: No. According to the head-to-head data, the AMD card wins zero benchmarks. The NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile wins both the OpenCL and Vulkan tests.

Q: Why does the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile have a lower average benchmark score than the AMD card?

A: The NVIDIA card's average score of 13,821 is dragged down by very low Passmark DirectX 10, 11, and 12 scores (57, 68, and 47). These legacy API scores are far below its performance in modern APIs, pulling its average below the AMD card's 15,082.

Q: Which GPU has a higher percentile ranking?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 560X is in the 57th percentile, while the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile is in the 55th percentile. This is likely due to the NVIDIA card's inconsistent performance across different benchmark types.

Q: What is the performance difference in the Geekbench Vulkan test?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile scores 53,146 points, while the AMD Radeon Pro 560X scores 16,819 points. This gives the NVIDIA card a 68.4% advantage.

Q: Does the NVIDIA card have dedicated hardware features?

A: Yes, the data shows the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile has 20 RT cores and 80 tensor cores, which the AMD Radeon Pro 560X does not have.

Specification Differences

The core specifications reveal a fundamental architectural disparity. The AMD Radeon Pro 560X is built on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries, while the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile uses an 8 nm process from Samsung. The NVIDIA chip, GA107, packs 8,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die, while the AMD's Polaris 21 has 3,000 million transistors on a 123 mm² die. This leads to a transistor density of 43.5M / mm² for NVIDIA versus 24.4M / mm² for AMD. The NVIDIA card also features a much higher boost clock of 1687 MHz (the AMD part has no listed boost clock) and significantly faster memory, with 12 Gbps effective GDDR6 compared to the AMD's 5.9 Gbps GDDR5. Memory bandwidth reflects this, with the NVIDIA card offering 192.0 GB/s versus the AMD's 94.08 GB/s.

The compute units differ substantially as well. The NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile has 2560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, while the AMD Radeon Pro 560X has 1024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and only 16 ROPs. This results in a massive throughput difference: the NVIDIA card delivers 80.98 GPixel/s pixel rate and 135.0 GTexel/s texture rate, compared to the AMD's 16.06 GPixel/s and 64.26 GTexel/s. The NVIDIA card also has 20 RT cores and 80 tensor cores, features entirely absent from the AMD part. The bus interface also differs, with the NVIDIA card using PCIe 4.0 x16 while the AMD uses PCIe 3.0 x8.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on fundamentally different architectures. The AMD Radeon Pro 560X uses the GCN 4.0 architecture, which is an older design that does not natively support hardware-accelerated ray tracing or tensor operations. Its FP16 performance is identical to its FP32 performance at 2.056 TFLOPS, indicating a 1:1 ratio. In contrast, the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile uses the Ampere architecture, which is a modern design featuring dedicated RT cores for ray tracing and tensor cores for AI acceleration. Its FP16 performance is also 1:1 with FP32 at 8.637 TFLOPS, but the raw throughput is over four times higher.

The API support also highlights the generational gap. The NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the AMD card is limited to DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3. This means the NVIDIA card can support more advanced DirectX 12 features, such as DirectX Raytracing and Variable Rate Shading, which are hardware-accelerated by its RT cores. While the AMD card supports Vulkan 1.3, it cannot leverage hardware ray tracing. The NVIDIA card is also a successor to the Quadro Turing-M line and is itself succeeded by Ada-MW, while the AMD card is simply listed as end-of-life with no direct successor mentioned.

The Verdict

The choice between these two GPUs is straightforward based on the data. The NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile is the clear winner for any task that requires modern compute or graphics performance. Its 82.9% lead in OpenCL and 68.4% lead in Vulkan make it the only viable option for serious professional workloads. The presence of RT and tensor cores further cements its position for future-proofed applications. The AMD Radeon Pro 560X is a legacy part that simply cannot compete in raw performance.

The only scenario where the AMD card might be considered is if power consumption is the absolute limiting factor. Its 75 W TDP is lower than the NVIDIA's 95 W, which could be critical in a thin-and-light chassis. However, this comes at a massive cost in performance. For a builder or buyer, the data overwhelmingly points to the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile as the superior GPU. The AMD card's higher percentile rank is an artifact of the NVIDIA's poor legacy DirectX scores and does not reflect real-world performance in modern APIs. If you need performance, choose the NVIDIA. If you are strictly constrained by power and only use legacy applications, the AMD card exists, but it is not a competitive choice.