AMD Radeon Pro Duo vs NVIDIA RTX A6000 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data contains a single direct head-to-head benchmark between these two workstation cards: Geekbench OpenCL. In that test, the NVIDIA RTX A6000 delivers a score of 193,937 against the AMD Radeon Pro Duo's 35,860. That is a 440.8% advantage for the NVIDIA card, a commanding margin that establishes the A6000 as the decisive winner in compute workloads measured by this benchmark. The delta is so large that it overshadows any other comparison; the AMD card does not claim a single benchmark win in the database's head-to-head set.

Looking beyond the direct comparison, the NVIDIA RTX A6000's average benchmark score of 44,075 places it in the 84th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile (average score 43,667, 0.9% behind), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti (average score 44,795, 1.6% ahead), the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 (average score 43,301, 1.8% behind), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile (average score 43,268, 1.9% behind). This clustering shows that the A6000 sits in a tight competitive band among modern and recent high-end parts, trading places with them by only a few percentage points.

The AMD Radeon Pro Duo, by contrast, averages 35,860 and ranks in the 80th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Quadro GV100 (average score 35,520, 1% behind), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile (average score 35,435, 1.2% behind), the NVIDIA T1000 (average score 36,289, 1.2% ahead), and the AMD Radeon RX 5300M (average score 36,529, 1.8% ahead). The Pro Duo is therefore competitive with mid-range and older high-end cards, but it is not in the same performance tier as the A6000. The gap between the two cards' average scores is roughly 8,215 points, or about 23% in favor of the NVIDIA part, even before considering the specific OpenCL result where the margin is far larger.

In the broader benchmark suite, the A6000 shows strong results across multiple API generations: Passmark DirectX 10 scores 155, DirectX 11 scores 191, DirectX 12 scores 87, and DirectX 9 scores 245. Its 2D score is 913, while the 3D score reaches 22,577 and the GPU compute score is 14,110. The Vulkan score on Geekbench is 164,462. These numbers indicate a card that handles both rasterization and compute workloads with high throughput. The AMD card's only recorded benchmark is the Geekbench OpenCL result, so its performance in other API tests is not available in the database, making a full-spectrum comparison impossible.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA RTX A6000 wins the only head-to-head benchmark recorded, and it wins by a margin of 440.8%. For any user prioritizing raw compute performance in OpenCL workloads, the A6000 is the clear choice. The card also holds a higher percentile rank (84th vs 80th) and a substantially higher average benchmark score (44,075 vs 35,860), reinforcing that its performance advantage is not limited to a single test but reflects a generally stronger overall profile.

However, the AMD Radeon Pro Duo is not without a rationale. Its launch MSRP was 1,499 USD, while the A6000's launch MSRP was 4,649 USD. That price difference is significant, though the database instructions prohibit further cost analysis. The Pro Duo also draws 350 W versus the A6000's 300 W, and it requires a 750 W suggested PSU versus the A6000's 700 W, so the NVIDIA card is more power-efficient in terms of rated power draw. The Pro Duo's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA T1000 and AMD Radeon RX 5300M, which are much lower-end parts, indicating that the Pro Duo's performance level is closer to mid-range modern GPUs than to the A6000.

For users who need maximum compute throughput, the RTX A6000 is the only rational pick based on the benchmark data. For users who are constrained by the Pro Duo's lower launch price and are working with workloads that do not require the A6000's massive compute headroom, the Pro Duo remains a functional option, but the performance gap is so large that any compute-heavy task would strongly favor the NVIDIA card. The verdict is straightforward: the A6000 wins on performance, while the Pro Duo's only advantage in the data is its lower launch MSRP.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA RTX A6000 is built on the Ampere architecture, specifically the GA102 chip, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. The AMD Radeon Pro Duo uses the GCN 3.0 architecture, with the Capsaicin chip, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. The process node difference is stark: 8 nm versus 28 nm, which explains much of the performance and efficiency gap. The A6000 packs 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 45.1 million per mm². The Pro Duo has 8,900 million transistors on a 596 mm² die, for a density of 14.9 million per mm². The A6000 is both denser and larger in terms of transistor count, though the die sizes are relatively close.

The A6000 includes 84 ray tracing cores and 336 tensor cores, features that the Pro Duo entirely lacks; the AMD card lists null values for both RT and tensor cores. This means the A6000 supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI-accelerated tensor operations, while the Pro Duo does not. The A6000 also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, whereas the Pro Duo supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The NVIDIA card's API support is more modern, particularly in DirectX and Vulkan versions.

The memory architectures are fundamentally different. The A6000 uses 48 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 768.0 GB/s. The Pro Duo uses 4 GB of HBM on a 4096-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 512.0 GB/s. The bus width is far wider on the AMD card, but the capacity and total bandwidth are much lower. The A6000 also has a memory clock of 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective), while the Pro Duo runs its memory at 500 MHz (1000 Mbps effective). The A6000's memory subsystem is clearly superior in both capacity and bandwidth.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every specification field. The NVIDIA RTX A6000 has 10,752 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 112 render output units. The AMD Radeon Pro Duo has 4,096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The A6000's pixel rate is 201.6 GPixel/s and its texture rate is 604.8 GTexel/s, compared to the Pro Duo's 64.00 GPixel/s and 256.0 GTexel/s. In FP32 compute, the A6000 delivers 38.71 TFLOPS, and the same figure for FP16 (1:1), while the Pro Duo delivers 8.192 TFLOPS in both FP32 and FP16 (1:1). The A6000 is roughly 4.7 times faster in raw floating-point throughput.

Clock speeds also differ: the A6000 has a base clock of 1410 MHz and a boost clock of 1800 MHz, while the Pro Duo's base and boost clocks are not recorded. The A6000 uses an 8-pin EPS power connector and has a TDP of 300 W, whereas the Pro Duo requires 3x 8-pin connectors and has a TDP of 350 W. The suggested PSU is 700 W for the A6000 and 750 W for the Pro Duo. The bus interface is PCIe 4.0 x16 on the A6000 versus PCIe 3.0 x16 on the Pro Duo, a full generation newer.

Display outputs differ as well: the A6000 offers 4x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the Pro Duo offers 1x HDMI 1.4a and 3x DisplayPort 1.2. Physical dimensions are similar, with the A6000 at 267 mm (10.5 inches) long and the Pro Duo at 277 mm (10.9 inches); both are dual-slot and 112 mm / 111 mm tall. The A6000 was released on 2020-10-04, while the Pro Duo came out on 2016-04-25, a gap of over four years. Both are end-of-life products, with the A6000's predecessor being Quadro Turing and its successor Workstation Ada, while the Pro Duo's predecessor is FirePro GCN and its successor Radeon Pro Polaris.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins the only direct benchmark comparison in the database?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A6000 wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 193,937 against the AMD Radeon Pro Duo's 35,860, a 440.8% advantage.

Q: How do the two cards compare in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The A6000 has an average benchmark score of 44,075, placing it in the 84th percentile, while the Pro Duo averages 35,860 and sits in the 80th percentile.

Q: What are the nearest rivals to each card in the database?

A: The A6000's nearest rivals are the RTX 4090 Mobile (0.9% behind), RTX 4070 Ti (1.6% ahead), Quadro M6000 (1.8% behind), and RTX 5050 Mobile (1.9% behind). The Pro Duo's nearest rivals are the Quadro GV100 (1% behind), RTX 5070 Ti Mobile (1.2% behind), T1000 (1.2% ahead), and RX 5300M (1.8% ahead).

Q: Does the AMD Radeon Pro Duo support ray tracing or tensor cores?

A: No. The Pro Duo lists null values for both RT cores and tensor cores, while the A6000 has 84 RT cores and 336 tensor cores.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference between the two cards?

A: The A6000 has 48 GB of GDDR6 memory with 768.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the Pro Duo has 4 GB of HBM with 512.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card has a higher power draw and PSU requirement?

A: The Pro Duo has a TDP of 350 W and requires a 750 W suggested PSU, while the A6000 has a TDP of 300 W and requires a 700 W suggested PSU.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA RTX A6000 wins in every recorded benchmark category. The head-to-head OpenCL result is a 440.8% blowout, and the average score advantage is roughly 23%. The A6000 also wins on compute throughput (38.71 TFLOPS FP32 vs 8.192 TFLOPS), memory capacity (48 GB vs 4 GB), memory bandwidth (768.0 GB/s vs 512.0 GB/s), and feature set (RT cores, tensor cores, newer API support). Its 84th percentile ranking versus the Pro Duo's 80th percentile further confirms its superiority in the database's performance hierarchy.

The AMD Radeon Pro Duo's only win is its launch MSRP of 1,499 USD, which is lower than the A6000's 4,649 USD launch MSRP. For users who are strictly limited to that lower price point, the Pro Duo is the only option between the two. Additionally, the Pro Duo's wider 4096-bit memory bus is an architectural curiosity, but it does not translate into a performance win given the lower bandwidth and capacity. The Pro Duo's nearest rivals include the T1000 and RX 5300M, which are much lower-tier cards, suggesting that the Pro Duo is best suited for older or lighter workloads where the A6000's compute headroom is unnecessary.

In practical terms, the A6000 is the choice for any GPU-accelerated compute task, large dataset handling, or modern API development. The Pro Duo may still serve in legacy DirectX 12 (12_0) environments or HBM-based workflows where its unique memory type is preferred, but the data does not show any benchmark where it outperforms the A6000. The verdict from the recorded measurements is clear: the A6000 wins on performance across the board, and the Pro Duo's only distinguishing factor is its lower launch price.