AMD Radeon Pro 580 vs AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX Comparison

The AMD Radeon Pro 580 and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX represent two distant generations of AMD graphics technology, yet the benchmark database places them nearly neck-and-neck in average score. The Pro 580, a 2017-era integrated-class part, posts an average benchmark score of 44,195, while the 2022 flagship RX 7900 XTX averages 44,019 — a gap of only 0.4% in favor of the older card. This near-tie is misleading, however, as the two share the same 85th percentile among all GPUs but achieve that standing through wildly different test profiles. The head-to-head data shows only two shared benchmarks, both of which the RX 7900 XTX wins by overwhelming margins, while the Pro 580’s average is buoyed by a Geekbench Metal score of 50,250 that has no equivalent on the newer card. This analysis dissects what the numbers actually say about each product’s strengths and limitations.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only two benchmarks where both cards have recorded scores are Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan, and in both cases the RX 7900 XTX delivers a decisive victory. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 7900 XTX scores 189,573 against the Pro 580’s 38,457, a delta of -79.7% from the perspective of the older card — meaning the RX 7900 XTX is roughly 4.9 times faster. The Vulkan result is similarly lopsided: 192,597 versus 43,879, a -77.2% delta, translating to about 4.4 times the performance. These are not marginal wins; they represent fundamental generational leaps in compute throughput and API efficiency.

However, the Pro 580’s overall average score of 44,195 is actually higher than the RX 7900 XTX’s 44,019, which suggests the two cards are not directly comparable across the full benchmark suite. The Pro 580’s Geekbench Metal score of 50,250 has no counterpart in the RX 7900 XTX’s results, and that single data point inflates the older card’s average. Conversely, the RX 7900 XTX has a broad set of Passmark scores — including Passmark G3D at 31,238 and Passmark GPU Compute at 17,689 — that have no equivalents on the Pro 580. When both cards appear in the same test, the RX 7900 XTX wins every time, but the Pro 580’s average is not simply a weaker version of the same workload.

The nearest-rival data reinforces this split. For the Pro 580, the RX 7900 XTX is listed as a rival with a delta of 0.4% (the Pro 580 is ahead), while for the RX 7900 XTX, the Pro 580 is a rival with a delta of -0.4%. This symmetrical relationship means that in aggregate, the two cards are statistically indistinguishable — yet the individual benchmark results tell a very different story. The RX 7900 XTX’s wins in OpenCL and Vulkan are so large that they dominate any head-to-head comparison, while the Pro 580’s advantage comes solely from tests the RX 7900 XTX does not participate in.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 580 has an average benchmark score of 44,195, while the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX averages 44,019. The Pro 580 is ahead by 0.4%, per the nearest-rival data.

Q: In the shared benchmarks, who wins?

A: The RX 7900 XTX wins both shared tests. It scores 189,573 in Geekbench OpenCL versus 38,457 for the Pro 580, and 192,597 in Geekbench Vulkan versus 43,879.

Q: How large is the performance gap in those shared tests?

A: The delta is -79.7% for OpenCL and -77.2% for Vulkan, measured from the Pro 580’s perspective. This means the RX 7900 XTX delivers roughly five times the score in both cases.

Q: Why does the Pro 580 have a higher average if it loses every shared benchmark?

A: The Pro 580’s average includes a Geekbench Metal score of 50,250, which the RX 7900 XTX has no equivalent for. The RX 7900 XTX’s average includes many Passmark tests (e.g., G3D 31,238, GPU Compute 17,689) that the Pro 580 lacks, so the averages are not based on identical workloads.

Q: Do both cards occupy the same performance percentile?

A: Yes, both the Pro 580 and the RX 7900 XTX have a percentile rank of 85 among all GPUs, according to the benchmark database.

Q: What is the RX 7900 XTX’s launch MSRP?

A: The launch MSRP is 999 USD.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from entirely different architectural eras. The Pro 580 is built on GCN 4.0, using the Ellesmere chip, while the RX 7900 XTX uses RDNA 3.0 with the Navi 31 chip, codenamed Plum Bonito. The process node tells a stark story: the Pro 580 is fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries, while the RX 7900 XTX uses a 5 nm process at TSMC. Transistor counts differ by an order of magnitude — 5,700 million for the Pro 580 versus 57,700 million for the RX 7900 XTX — and the die size grows from 232 mm² to 529 mm². Transistor density jumps from 24.6 million per mm² to 109.1 million per mm², reflecting the node shrink and design maturity.

The RX 7900 XTX introduces dedicated ray tracing hardware with 96 RT cores, a feature entirely absent from the Pro 580, which lists no RT cores. Shading units jump from 2,304 to 6,144, texture mapping units from 144 to 384, and render output units from 32 to 192. The RX 7900 XTX also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) versus DirectX 12 (12_0) on the Pro 580, and Vulkan 1.4 versus 1.3. Both support OpenGL 4.6. The RX 7900 XTX’s FP32 throughput of 61.39 TFLOPS dwarfs the Pro 580’s 5.530 TFLOPS, and its FP16 rate of 122.8 TFLOPS (2:1) is similarly far ahead of the Pro 580’s 5.530 TFLOPS (1:1). These architectural differences explain why the RX 7900 XTX dominates in compute-heavy workloads.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification. Memory capacity is 8 GB of GDDR5 on the Pro 580 versus 24 GB of GDDR6 on the RX 7900 XTX. The memory bus widens from 256 bit to 384 bit, and bandwidth grows from 217.0 GB/s to 960.0 GB/s — a 4.4x increase. Clock speeds are substantially higher on the RX 7900 XTX: base clock of 1929 MHz versus 1100 MHz, boost of 2498 MHz versus 1200 MHz, and a game clock of 2365 MHz (the Pro 580 has no game clock listed). Memory clock is 2500 MHz (20 Gbps effective) versus 1695 MHz (6.8 Gbps effective) on the Pro 580.

Pixel rate jumps from 38.40 GPixel/s to 479.6 GPixel/s, and texture rate from 172.8 GTexel/s to 959.2 GTexel/s. Power consumption differs sharply: the Pro 580 has a TDP of 185 W and no power connectors (it is an IGP with slot width listed as such), while the RX 7900 XTX has a TDP of 355 W, requires 2x 8-pin connectors, and suggests a 750 W PSU. The bus interface advances from PCIe 3.0 x16 to PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs also differ: the Pro 580 is listed as “Portable Device Dependent,” while the RX 7900 XTX offers 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, and 1x USB Type-C. Physical dimensions are only given for the RX 7900 XTX (287 mm length, 110 mm height, 51 mm width), and it is a dual-slot card. The Pro 580’s dimensions are not listed.

Where Each One Wins

The RX 7900 XTX wins decisively in any workload covered by the shared benchmarks. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 189,573 and Vulkan score of 192,597 indicate massive compute capability, suitable for rendering, scientific computation, or any task that leverages OpenCL or Vulkan APIs. The 96 RT cores and 24 GB of GDDR6 memory at 960.0 GB/s make it a strong candidate for modern gaming and 3D workloads, though no gaming benchmarks are in the shared set. Its Passmark scores — G3D 31,238 and GPU Compute 17,689 — further suggest strength in general 3D rendering and compute tasks.

The Pro 580’s wins are narrower and more situational. Its Geekbench Metal score of 50,250 is its highest recorded benchmark, and since the RX 7900 XTX has no Metal result, the Pro 580 effectively owns that niche. This makes sense for a card listed under “Radeon Pro Mac (500 Series)” — it is tailored for macOS environments where Metal is the primary graphics API. The Pro 580’s lower TDP of 185 W and IGP form factor (no power connectors, portable-device-dependent outputs) also make it suitable for compact or integrated systems, whereas the RX 7900 XTX requires a dual-slot chassis, 2x 8-pin connectors, and a 750 W PSU recommendation.

The Verdict

From the data, the RX 7900 XTX is the clear performance winner in any direct comparison. It wins both shared benchmarks by margins of roughly 79.7% and 77.2%, and its architectural specs — 6,144 shading units, 96 RT cores, 61.39 TFLOPS FP32, 960.0 GB/s bandwidth — are uniformly superior to the Pro 580’s. The Pro 580’s higher average score is an artifact of test coverage: its Metal result of 50,250 has no counterpart on the RX 7900 XTX, and the two cards share only two benchmarks. If the question is which card performs better on the same workload, the answer is unambiguously the RX 7900 XTX.

However, the Pro 580 holds value in its specific ecosystem. Its Radeon Pro Mac designation and portable-device-dependent outputs indicate it was designed for Apple’s platform, and its Metal score suggests it handles that API well. For users constrained to such systems, the Pro 580 may be the only option with this exact profile. But for anyone choosing between the two on general-purpose compute or modern graphics APIs, the RX 7900 XTX’s 4.9x lead in OpenCL and 4.4x lead in Vulkan leave no room for debate. The RX 7900 XTX is the card to pick when performance matters; the Pro 580 is a legacy part whose strengths are confined to benchmarks the newer card does not even run.