AMD Radeon Pro Duo vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct benchmark comparison available between the AMD Radeon Pro Duo and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB is the Geekbench OpenCL test, and the results show a clear, though not overwhelming, victory for the AMD card. The Radeon Pro Duo scores 35,860 points against the GTX 1060 5 GB’s 33,397, giving the AMD part a 7.4% advantage. That margin is meaningful in raw compute terms, but it is far from a generational gap — it places the two cards in adjacent performance tiers rather than separate leagues.

Context from the broader database sharpens the picture. The Radeon Pro Duo’s average benchmark score of 35,860 places it in the 80th percentile of all GPUs, while the GTX 1060 5 GB’s average of 33,694 lands at the 78th percentile. The two-point percentile difference is modest, yet the AMD card’s nearest rivals — the NVIDIA Quadro GV100 at 35,520 (just 1% lower) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile at 35,435 (1.2% lower) — are all professional or high-end mobile parts. The GTX 1060 5 GB, by contrast, sits alongside the NVIDIA RTX A5000 (33,622, 0.2% higher) and the AMD Radeon RX 7700S (33,849, 0.5% higher), which are also capable but not top-tier products.

Looking at the individual benchmark entries, the GTX 1060 5 GB also has a Geekbench Vulkan score of 33,991, but no comparable Vulkan result exists for the Radeon Pro Duo in the data pack, so a cross-API comparison cannot be made. The OpenCL result is the only head-to-head data point, and it favors the AMD card by that 7.4% delta. The win count reflects this: the Radeon Pro Duo takes one win, the GTX 1060 5 GB takes zero. That is a narrow dataset, so the verdict should be tempered by the fact that the two cards were clearly designed for different workloads, as the architecture section will show.

Architecture Differences

The Radeon Pro Duo and GTX 1060 5 GB represent two fundamentally different design philosophies, and the data makes that explicit. The AMD card is built on GCN 3.0 architecture, codenamed “Capsaicin,” and manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 8,900 million transistors onto a 596 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 14.9 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA card uses Pascal architecture, built on a 16 nm process also at TSMC, with 4,400 million transistors on a 200 mm² die — a density of 22.0 million per square millimeter. The density difference is striking: NVIDIA packed nearly 50% more transistors per area, which is a direct consequence of the more advanced 16 nm node.

The compute resources diverge sharply. The Radeon Pro Duo fields 4,096 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. The GTX 1060 5 GB has 1,280 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 40 ROPs. The AMD card’s shading unit count is more than triple that of the NVIDIA part, which explains its higher raw FP32 throughput of 8.192 TFLOPS versus 4.375 TFLOPS. Pixel fill rates are closer — 64.00 GPixel/s for the AMD card against 68.36 GPixel/s for the NVIDIA card — because the GTX 1060 5 GB’s higher clock speeds compensate for its lower ROP count. Texture rate, however, favors the AMD card decisively: 256.0 GTexel/s versus 136.7 GTexel/s.

Memory is another chasm. The Radeon Pro Duo uses 4 GB of HBM on a 4096-bit bus, delivering 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GTX 1060 5 GB uses 5 GB of GDDR5 on a 160-bit bus, yielding 160.2 GB/s. The AMD card offers over three times the memory bandwidth, though with 1 GB less capacity. Clock behavior also differs: the AMD card lists no base or boost clocks in the data (only a memory clock of 500 MHz, effectively 1000 Mbps), while the GTX 1060 5 GB has a 1506 MHz base and 1709 MHz boost. The NVIDIA card’s much higher clocks are what keep its pixel rate competitive despite fewer ROPs.

Feature-level differences are visible in the API support. The Radeon Pro Duo supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The GTX 1060 5 GB supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The higher DirectX feature level (12_1 vs 12_0) and newer Vulkan version on the NVIDIA card suggest better support for certain modern rendering features, though the OpenCL benchmark does not capture that. Power draw is a major divergence: the Radeon Pro Duo is rated at 350 W TDP with a suggested 750 W PSU and three 8-pin connectors, while the GTX 1060 5 GB sips 120 W with a single 6-pin connector and a 300 W PSU suggestion. The AMD card is also longer (277 mm vs 250 mm), though both are dual-slot.

The Verdict

The data tells a story of specialization rather than outright superiority. The Radeon Pro Duo wins the only head-to-head benchmark by 7.4% in OpenCL, and its average score of 35,860 sits at the 80th percentile — two points above the GTX 1060 5 GB’s 78th percentile. The AMD card’s 8.192 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 512.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are class-leading figures that dwarf the NVIDIA card’s 4.375 TFLOPS and 160.2 GB/s. For compute-heavy workloads that leverage OpenCL, the Radeon Pro Duo is the clear choice, provided the system can handle its 350 W draw and 277 mm length.

But the GTX 1060 5 GB is not without arguments in its favor. Its 5 GB frame buffer exceeds the AMD card’s 4 GB, which matters for workloads that need capacity over bandwidth. Its 120 W TDP and single 6-pin connector make it vastly easier to integrate into existing systems. The higher DirectX 12_1 feature level and Vulkan 1.4 support suggest better forward compatibility with modern graphics APIs, even if the raw compute score lags. The pixel rate is slightly higher (68.36 vs 64.00 GPixel/s), which hints at competitive rasterization performance at lower power.

Who should pick which? Strictly from the data, the Radeon Pro Duo is for anyone whose workload is dominated by OpenCL compute and memory bandwidth, where its 7.4% benchmark win and 3.2x bandwidth advantage translate directly into faster execution. The GTX 1060 5 GB is for those who need a lower-power, higher-clock card with more memory capacity and newer API support, accepting a 6.9% average score deficit (33,694 vs 35,860) in exchange.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon Pro Duo | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB |

|---|---|---|

| Architecture | GCN 3.0 | Pascal |

| Process Node | 28 nm | 16 nm |

| Transistors | 8,900 million | 4,400 million |

| Die Size | 596 mm² | 200 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 14.9M / mm² | 22.0M / mm² |

| Base Clock | Not listed | 1506 MHz |

| Boost Clock | Not listed | 1709 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 500 MHz (1000 Mbps effective) | 2002 MHz (8 Gbps effective) |

| Memory Size | 4 GB | 5 GB |

| Memory Type | HBM | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus Width | 4096 bit | 160 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 512.0 GB/s | 160.2 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 4096 | 1280 |

| TMUs | 256 | 80 |

| ROPs | 64 | 40 |

| Pixel Rate | 64.00 GPixel/s | 68.36 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 256.0 GTexel/s | 136.7 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 8.192 TFLOPS | 4.375 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 8.192 TFLOPS (1:1) | 68.36 GFLOPS (1:64) |

| TDP | 350 W | 120 W |

| Power Connectors | 3x 8-pin | 1x 6-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 750 W | 300 W |

| Display Outputs | 1x HDMI 1.4a, 3x DisplayPort 1.2 | 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |

| DirectX | 12 (12_0) | 12 (12_1) |

| Vulkan | 1.2.170 | 1.4 |

| Length | 277 mm (10.9 inches) | 250 mm (9.8 inches) |

| Release Date | 2016-04-25 | 2017-12-25 |

| Launch MSRP | 1,499 USD | Not listed |

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Duo has an average score of 35,860, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB averages 33,694 — a difference of approximately 6.4% in favor of the AMD card.

Q: How do the two cards compare in the Geekbench OpenCL test?

A: The Radeon Pro Duo scores 35,860 versus the GTX 1060 5 GB’s 33,397, giving the AMD card a 7.4% lead. This is the only head-to-head benchmark result available.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The Radeon Pro Duo offers 512.0 GB/s over a 4096-bit HBM bus, while the GTX 1060 5 GB provides 160.2 GB/s over a 160-bit GDDR5 bus. The AMD card’s bandwidth is over three times higher.

Q: Does the GTX 1060 5 GB have any advantages in memory?

A: Yes, it has 5 GB of memory versus the Radeon Pro Duo’s 4 GB. The NVIDIA card also uses GDDR5 with a much higher effective clock (8 Gbps vs 1000 Mbps), though the wider bus on the AMD card dominates overall bandwidth.

Q: Which card supports newer graphics APIs?

A: The GTX 1060 5 GB supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.4, while the Radeon Pro Duo supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.2.170. Both support OpenGL 4.6.

Q: What is the power consumption difference?

A: The Radeon Pro Duo is rated at 350 W TDP with a 750 W suggested PSU and three 8-pin connectors. The GTX 1060 5 GB is rated at 120 W TDP with a 300 W suggested PSU and one 6-pin connector — nearly a threefold difference in power draw.

Where Each One Wins

The Radeon Pro Duo wins decisively in raw compute throughput. Its FP32 figure of 8.192 TFLOPS is nearly double the GTX 1060 5 GB’s 4.375 TFLOPS. Its texture rate of 256.0 GTexel/s is 87% higher than the NVIDIA card’s 136.7 GTexel/s. The 512.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is the standout advantage — more than triple the GTX 1060 5 GB’s 160.2 GB/s — which makes the AMD card the obvious pick for memory-bandwidth-bound workloads such as large dataset processing or high-resolution compute tasks. The FP16 performance is also lopsided: 8.192 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio) versus 68.36 GFLOPS (1:64 ratio), meaning the Radeon Pro Duo handles half-precision workloads at full speed while the NVIDIA card barely accelerates them.

The GTX 1060 5 GB wins on efficiency and practicality. Its 120 W TDP is less than a third of the Radeon Pro Duo’s 350 W, and its 300 W suggested PSU versus 750 W means it can slot into far more modest systems. The 5 GB memory capacity is 25% larger than the AMD card’s 4 GB, which helps in scenarios where dataset size exceeds 4 GB. The higher pixel rate (68.36 vs 64.00 GPixel/s) and the higher base/boost clocks (1506/1709 MHz vs no listed clocks) suggest better responsiveness in clock-bound tasks. Its display outputs include HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4a, newer standards than the AMD card’s HDMI 1.4a and DisplayPort 1.2, which matters for modern monitor connectivity. The newer Vulkan 1.4 and DirectX 12_1 support also give it an edge in API compatibility.

In the use-case split: choose the Radeon Pro Duo for OpenCL compute, texture-heavy rendering, and any workload that can exploit its massive bandwidth and FP32/FP16 throughput. Choose the GTX 1060 5 GB for lower-power builds, memory-capacity-sensitive tasks, and systems requiring modern display outputs or API features. The 7.4% OpenCL win for the AMD card is real, but so is the NVIDIA card’s 230 W power advantage — the right choice depends entirely on which constraint matters more.