AMD Radeon Pro 580 vs NVIDIA RTX A5000 Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The recorded benchmark data splits cleanly along compute generations. The AMD Radeon Pro 580 does not win a single head-to-head test in the database's comparison set. The NVIDIA RTX A5000 takes both available head-to-head wins, and it does so by overwhelming margins.

For compute workloads, the RTX A5000 is the clear choice. Its OpenCL score of 157905 crushes the Radeon Pro 580's 38457, a 75.6% gap. That is not a close race; it is a generation gap expressed in raw numbers. Similarly, in Vulkan compute, the RTX A5000 posts 137828 against 43285, a 68.6% lead. If your workload is OpenCL or Vulkan based rendering, physics simulation, or GPU compute, the RTX A5000 is the only rational pick from this data.

The Radeon Pro 580 does have one niche worth noting: its average benchmark score across all three recorded tests is 40318, which is actually higher than the RTX A5000's average of 33622. That average is dragged down by the RTX A5000's inclusion of legacy DirectX 9, 10, 11, and 12 Passmark tests, where its scores are low (251, 153, 187, and 87 respectively). The Radeon Pro 580's three recorded tests are all Geekbench compute tests, which are uniformly strong for it. So if your comparison metric is average across the full test suite, the Radeon Pro 580 looks better, but that is an artifact of test selection rather than a genuine performance advantage.

The RTX A5000 also holds the edge in percentile ranking against all GPUs. It sits at the 78th percentile, while the Radeon Pro 580 sits at the 82nd percentile. Interestingly, the AMD card ranks higher in percentile despite losing the head-to-head compute tests, which suggests its three Geekbench scores are relatively strong compared to the broader GPU population, while the RTX A5000's Passmark results pull its percentile down.

For real-world workstation use, the RTX A5000 is the pick for heavy compute, large datasets, and modern API workloads. The Radeon Pro 580 is a legacy part from 2017 with a narrower test profile; it remains competitive only in the specific Geekbench compute tests where it was recorded.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in OpenCL compute?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A5000 is dramatically faster. It scores 157905 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the AMD Radeon Pro 580 scores 38457. That is a 75.6% lead for the RTX A5000.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon Pro 580 win any benchmark in the database?

A: No. In the two head-to-head tests recorded, the RTX A5000 wins both. The Radeon Pro 580 has zero wins in the head-to-head comparison set.

Q: How do their average benchmark scores compare?

A: The Radeon Pro 580 has a higher average benchmark score of 40318, compared to the RTX A5000's 33622. However, the RTX A5000's average includes several legacy DirectX Passmark tests with low scores, which drags its average down.

Q: What is the percentile ranking for each card?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 580 ranks at the 82nd percentile among all GPUs, while the NVIDIA RTX A5000 ranks at the 78th percentile.

Q: Which card is better for Vulkan workloads?

A: The RTX A5000 is far ahead. It scores 137828 in Geekbench Vulkan, versus 43285 for the Radeon Pro 580, a 68.6% advantage.

Q: Are both cards still in production?

A: No. Both are listed as end-of-life. The Radeon Pro 580 was released on 2017-06-04, and the RTX A5000 was released on 2021-04-11.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records two direct head-to-head tests between these cards, and both are lopsided.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX A5000 scores 157905 against the Radeon Pro 580's 38457. The delta is 75.6% in favor of NVIDIA. To put that in context, the Radeon Pro 580 would need roughly four times its score to match the RTX A5000. This is not a marginal improvement; it is a complete tier shift. OpenCL is still widely used in scientific computing, video encoding, and some rendering pipelines, so this gap has practical consequences.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX A5000 scores 137828, while the Radeon Pro 580 scores 43285. The delta is 68.6%. Vulkan is increasingly common in real-time rendering and game engines, and the RTX A5000's advantage here is almost as large as its OpenCL lead. For anyone targeting Vulkan-based workflows, the RTX A5000 is the only reasonable choice between these two.

The Radeon Pro 580's best recorded score is its Vulkan result of 43285, which is still less than a third of the RTX A5000's Vulkan score. Its OpenCL score of 38457 is its lowest recorded result. The RTX A5000's strongest compute result is OpenCL at 157905, followed by Vulkan at 137828.

Beyond the head-to-head tests, the RTX A5000 has additional benchmark coverage in the database. It records a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3783, a Passmark G3D score of 22541, and a Passmark GPU compute score of 12455. It also posts legacy DirectX scores of 251 (DX9), 153 (DX10), 187 (DX11), and 87 (DX12), plus a Passmark G2D score of 1032. The Radeon Pro 580 has no comparable entries in these tests, so direct comparison is not possible, but the pattern is consistent: the RTX A5000 is a much faster card in compute-heavy and modern API workloads.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every major specification category.

The RTX A5000 uses 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384 bit bus, delivering 768.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Radeon Pro 580 uses 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256 bit bus, delivering 217.0 GB/s. That is a 3x memory capacity advantage and a 3.5x bandwidth advantage for the RTX A5000. Memory clock rates also differ: the RTX A5000 runs at 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective, while the Radeon Pro 580 runs at 1695 MHz with 6.8 Gbps effective.

The RTX A5000 has 8192 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The Radeon Pro 580 has 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. In every count, the RTX A5000 has more of each. The RTX A5000 also has 64 RT cores and 256 tensor cores; the Radeon Pro 580 has none. Pixel rate for the RTX A5000 is 162.7 GPixel/s, while the Radeon Pro 580 manages 38.40 GPixel/s. Texture rate is 433.9 GTexel/s versus 172.8 GTexel/s.

FP32 compute is 27.77 TFLOPS for the RTX A5000 and 5.530 TFLOPS for the Radeon Pro 580. FP16 is identical to FP32 on both cards, listed as 1:1 ratios, so the RTX A5000 also leads there by the same margin.

The RTX A5000 consumes 230 W TDP and requires a dual-slot cooler with a 1x 8-pin power connector and a suggested 550 W PSU. The Radeon Pro 580 is rated at 185 W and is an IGP with no power connectors. The bus interface differs as well: PCIe 4.0 x16 for the RTX A5000, PCIe 3.0 x16 for the Radeon Pro 580.

Display outputs are also different: the RTX A5000 has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the Radeon Pro 580 is marked as portable device dependent. The RTX A5000 has physical dimensions of 267 mm length and 112 mm height; the Radeon Pro 580 has no recorded dimensions.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two cards is substantial. The Radeon Pro 580 uses AMD's GCN 4.0 architecture on the Ellesmere chip, built on a 14 nm process from GlobalFoundries. The RTX A5000 uses NVIDIA's Ampere architecture on the GA102 chip, built on an 8 nm process from Samsung. The process node difference alone, 14 nm versus 8 nm, explains a significant portion of the performance and efficiency gap.

Transistor counts tell the story clearly. The RTX A5000 has 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die, for a transistor density of 45.1M per mm². The Radeon Pro 580 has 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die, for a density of 24.6M per mm². The RTX A5000 packs nearly five times as many transistors and achieves nearly double the density.

The Radeon Pro 580 belongs to the Radeon Pro Mac (500 Series) generation, while the RTX A5000 belongs to the Workstation Ampere (Ax000) generation. The RTX A5000's predecessor is listed as Quadro Turing, and its successor is Workstation Ada. The Radeon Pro 580 has no recorded predecessor or successor.

Feature support differs at the API level. The RTX A5000 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the Radeon Pro 580 supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3. Both support OpenGL 4.6. The RTX A5000's RT cores and tensor cores enable ray tracing and AI acceleration features that the Radeon Pro 580 simply does not have, since it lacks those hardware blocks entirely.

The release dates are four years apart: the Radeon Pro 580 launched on 2017-06-04, and the RTX A5000 launched on 2021-04-11. Both are now end-of-life.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA RTX A5000 is the faster card in every head-to-head compute test recorded. It leads by 75.6% in OpenCL and 68.6% in Vulkan. It has 24 GB of GDDR6 memory versus 8 GB of GDDR5, 27.77 TFLOPS of FP32 compute versus 5.530 TFLOPS, and it adds RT cores and tensor cores that the Radeon Pro 580 lacks entirely. For anyone doing modern compute, rendering, or AI-adjacent work, the RTX A5000 is the correct choice.

The Radeon Pro 580 has one statistical advantage: its average benchmark score of 40318 is higher than the RTX A5000's 33622, and it sits at the 82nd percentile versus the RTX A5000's 78th. But that advantage is an artifact of test selection. The Radeon Pro 580's three recorded tests are all Geekbench compute tests, where it performs well relative to the broader GPU population. The RTX A5000's average includes legacy DirectX Passmark scores in the low hundreds, which drag it down. Those tests do not reflect modern workstation workloads, and they do not offset the massive compute gaps in the head-to-head results.

Who should pick the Radeon Pro 580? Someone whose workload is exclusively the specific Geekbench compute tests recorded, or someone constrained to an IGP form factor with no power connectors. It is a 185 W, no-connector, portable-device-dependent part, which makes it suitable for integrated Mac-style systems from 2017. But those are narrow use cases.

Who should pick the RTX A5000? Anyone running OpenCL or Vulkan compute, anyone needing more than 8 GB of VRAM, anyone targeting DirectX 12 Ultimate features, and anyone who wants PCIe 4.0. The 230 W TDP and 1x 8-pin connector require a proper slot and power supply, but the suggested 550 W PSU is modest for the performance level. The RTX A5000 is the workstation GPU; the Radeon Pro 580 is a legacy integrated part that, on this evidence, cannot compete in the same workload classes.