AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 vs AMD Radeon RX 6700S Comparison

The data presents a stark generational contrast. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16, a 2018-era mobile GPU built on GCN 5.0, is pitted against the AMD Radeon RX 6700S, a 2022 RDNA 2.0 part. Across every shared benchmark, the RX 6700S delivers a commanding victory, with performance gaps that far exceed typical generational improvements. The only common tests are three Geekbench compute workloads, and the results are unambiguous: the RX 6700S is in a completely different performance tier.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The three head-to-head results all favor the RX 6700S, but the margins are not uniform. In Geekbench Metal, the RX 6700S scores 72,864 against the Pro Vega 16’s 29,650. This represents a delta of -59.3% for the older card, meaning the RX 6700S is roughly 2.5 times faster. This is a massive gap, but it is actually the smallest of the three deltas.

The OpenCL test widens the chasm further. Here, the RX 6700S posts 70,965 while the Pro Vega 16 manages just 18,268. The delta jumps to -74.3%, indicating the newer GPU is nearly four times as fast in this workload. This is not a marginal win; it is a complete obliteration of the older part’s compute capability.

Vulkan follows a similar pattern. The RX 6700S scores 76,150 versus the Pro Vega 16’s 21,832, a delta of -71.3%. The RX 6700S again lands in the field of three to four times the performance. The consistency across all three APIs—Metal, OpenCL, and Vulkan—suggests the advantage is fundamental to the GPU’s architecture, not a quirk of a single driver or test.

The average benchmark scores tell a slightly different story. The Pro Vega 16 has a higher average across all its benchmarks (23,250) than the RX 6700S (22,154). This is because the Pro Vega 16’s average is pulled up by its three Geekbench scores, while the RX 6700S’s average is dragged down by its Passmark results, which include older DirectX 9, 10, and 11 tests where the newer architecture may not be optimized. However, in direct head-to-head compute tests, the RX 6700S wins all three. The percentile rankings are nearly identical—68th for the Pro Vega 16 and 67th for the RX 6700S—which indicates that despite the massive performance gap, both sit in a similar position relative to all other GPUs in the database.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide is the root cause of the performance disparity. The Pro Vega 16 is built on the 14 nm node at GlobalFoundries, utilizing the GCN 5.0 architecture with the Vega 12 chip. In contrast, the RX 6700S uses the 7 nm node at TSMC with the RDNA 2.0 architecture and the Navi 23 chip. This is a full process node jump, which typically enables higher clocks and better efficiency.

The clock speeds confirm this. The Pro Vega 16 has a base clock of 815 MHz and a boost of 1190 MHz. The RX 6700S starts at 1700 MHz base and boosts to 2000 MHz, with a game clock of 1890 MHz. The RX 6700S is running at nearly double the frequency, which directly translates to higher throughput.

Core configurations are also wildly different. The Pro Vega 16 packs 1024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The RX 6700S has 1792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. That is a 75% increase in shaders and TMUs, and a 100% increase in ROPs. The RX 6700S also introduces 28 ray tracing cores, a feature entirely absent from the older GCN part.

Memory is another differentiator. The Pro Vega 16 uses 4 GB of HBM2 on a 1024-bit bus, yielding 307.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 6700S uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, providing 224.0 GB/s. The older card has more raw bandwidth, but the newer card has double the capacity. The effective memory speed is also higher on the RX 6700S at 14 Gbps versus 2.4 Gbps for the Pro Vega 16, though the wider bus of the HBM2 config partially compensates.

Other specs highlight the generational leap. The RX 6700S has 11,060 million transistors on a 237 mm² die, with a density of 46.7M / mm². The Pro Vega 16 does not list transistor count or die size in the data. The RX 6700S supports PCIe 4.0 x8, while the Pro Vega 16 is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16. The RX 6700S also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, whereas the Pro Vega 16 is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3.

The Verdict

The data is unequivocal: the AMD Radeon RX 6700S is the superior GPU for any task that leverages compute or modern graphics APIs. In the three head-to-head Geekbench tests, the RX 6700S wins by margins of 59.3% to 74.3%. The Pro Vega 16 does not win a single benchmark in the comparison. Its only redeeming metric is a slightly higher average benchmark score, but that is an artifact of the limited test set.

The RX 6700S offers more than double the shading units, higher clocks, double the memory capacity, and support for newer APIs and ray tracing. The Pro Vega 16’s only advantages are higher memory bandwidth and a smaller power draw (75 W versus 80 W), but those are moot given the performance gap.

The verdict is simple: the RX 6700S is the definitive choice for anyone prioritizing performance. The Pro Vega 16 would only be relevant in a system that cannot accommodate the newer card’s requirements, but from a pure performance standpoint, there is no contest. The data shows the RX 6700S is the clear winner in 3 out of 3 head-to-head tests.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 has a higher average benchmark score of 23,250, compared to the AMD Radeon RX 6700S’s 22,154.

Q: What is the largest performance gap between the two GPUs?

A: The largest gap is in Geekbench OpenCL, where the RX 6700S leads by 74.3%. The Pro Vega 16 scores 18,268 while the RX 6700S scores 70,965.

Q: Does the RX 6700S support ray tracing?

A: Yes, the RX 6700S includes 28 ray tracing cores, a feature the Pro Vega 16 does not have.

Q: How much memory does each GPU have?

A: The Pro Vega 16 has 4 GB of HBM2 memory, while the RX 6700S has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory.

Q: Which GPU has a higher boost clock?

A: The RX 6700S has a significantly higher boost clock of 2000 MHz, compared to the Pro Vega 16’s 1190 MHz.

Q: What is the process node difference?

A: The Pro Vega 16 is manufactured on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries, while the RX 6700S uses a 7 nm process at TSMC.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 6700S wins in every head-to-head benchmark category. In Geekbench Metal, it scores 72,864 versus 29,650. In OpenCL, it scores 70,965 versus 18,268. In Vulkan, it scores 76,150 versus 21,832. These are not close calls; they are decisive wins across the board.

The RX 6700S is the clear choice for compute-intensive workloads, modern game engines that utilize DirectX 12 Ultimate, and any application that can take advantage of Vulkan 1.4 or ray tracing. Its higher pixel rate (128.0 GPixel/s versus 38.08 GPixel/s) and texture rate (224.0 GTexel/s versus 76.16 GTexel/s) reinforce its dominance in rendering tasks.

The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 does not have a single benchmark win. Its only theoretical advantages are its higher memory bandwidth (307.2 GB/s versus 224.0 GB/s) and lower TDP (75 W versus 80 W). For a user strictly looking at performance data, the Pro Vega 16 has no winning use case. It might be suitable for a legacy system with strict power limits, but the data does not support any performance-based reason to choose it.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 | AMD Radeon RX 6700S |

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

| Architecture | GCN 5.0 | RDNA 2.0 |

| Process Node | 14 nm | 7 nm |

| Foundry | GlobalFoundries | TSMC |

| Transistors | Not listed | 11,060 million |

| Die Size | Not listed | 237 mm² |

| Base Clock | 815 MHz | 1700 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1190 MHz | 2000 MHz |

| Game Clock | Not listed | 1890 MHz |

| Memory Size | 4 GB | 8 GB |

| Memory Type | HBM2 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus | 1024 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 307.2 GB/s | 224.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 1024 | 1792 |

| TMUs | 64 | 112 |

| ROPs | 32 | 64 |

| Ray Tracing Cores | Not listed | 28 |

| Pixel Rate | 38.08 GPixel/s | 128.0 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 76.16 GTexel/s | 224.0 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 2.437 TFLOPS | 7.168 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 4.874 TFLOPS | 14.34 TFLOPS |

| TDP | 75 W | 80 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x8 |

| DirectX Support | 12 (12_1) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.3 | 1.4 |

| Memory Speed | 2.4 Gbps effective | 14 Gbps effective |