AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 vs AMD Radeon RX 9070 Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 represent two distinct eras of GPU design, with the former built on modern RDNA 4.0 and the latter on legacy GCN 5.0. Benchmark data shows a decisive performance gap, with the RX 9070 winning both shared head-to-head tests by substantial margins. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 9070 scores 131,539 against the Pro Vega 16’s 18,268, a delta of 620.1%. The Vulkan test shows a narrower but still commanding lead: 58,705 versus 21,832, a 168.9% advantage. These results place the RX 9070 in the 69th percentile of all GPUs, while the Pro Vega 16 sits at the 68th percentile, though this near-parity in percentile ranking is misleading given the enormous raw score differences.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only two tests shared by both cards are Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan, and the RX 9070 dominates both. The OpenCL result is particularly stark: the RX 9070’s 131,539 score is 7.2 times higher than the Pro Vega 16’s 18,268, representing a 620.1% improvement. This is not a marginal generational gain but a complete overhaul of compute capability. The Vulkan test tells a similar story, though the gap narrows to 168.9%, with scores of 58,705 and 21,832 respectively. This suggests that while the RX 9070’s advantage in raw compute is overwhelming, the Pro Vega 16’s GCN architecture retains some relative strength in API-level efficiency, though it remains far behind in absolute terms.

Looking at the broader benchmark landscape, the RX 9070 posts an average benchmark score of 23,877 across ten tests, including Passmark G3D (25,381), Geekbench OpenCL (131,539), and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 (6,290). The Pro Vega 16, with only three benchmarks recorded, averages 23,250 — a figure that is remarkably close to the RX 9070’s average despite the massive head-to-head deltas. This discrepancy arises because the Pro Vega 16’s Geekbench Metal score of 29,650 helps pull its average up, while the RX 9070’s average is dragged down by low Passmark DirectX scores (141 for DX10, 281 for DX11, 74 for DX12, 343 for DX9). These low legacy DX scores are likely a quirk of the RX 9070’s RDNA 4.0 driver stack on older tests, rather than a reflection of real-world capability.

The RX 9070’s nearest rivals, based on average score, include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z (23,736, +0.6%), AMD Radeon RX 6800S (24,063, -0.8%), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile (23,628, +1.1%), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (24,170, -1.2%). This places the RX 9070 in a tight cluster of high-end mobile and older desktop GPUs, all within 1.2% of its average. The Pro Vega 16’s rivals are similarly close: NVIDIA P106-100 (23,249, 0%), AMD Radeon RX 6600M (23,273, -0.1%), AMD Radeon R9 M290X (23,276, -0.1%), and AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 (23,315, -0.3%). Both cards sit within 0.6% of their nearest competitor, indicating that average benchmark scores alone do not capture the RX 9070’s dominance in modern workloads.

Where Each One Wins

The RX 9070 wins every shared benchmark, so the question of where the Pro Vega 16 wins is largely confined to contexts not covered by head-to-head data. The Pro Vega 16’s only recorded benchmark where it does not face the RX 9070 is Geekbench Metal, where it scores 29,650. This test is exclusive to Apple’s Metal API, and the RX 9070 has no comparable result in the FACT PACK. The Pro Vega 16’s presence in the Radeon Pro Mac series, with the generation label "Radeon Pro Mac (Vega Series)" and display outputs described as "Portable Device Dependent," indicates its design for mobile Mac systems. In that niche, its 75 W TDP and IGP slot width make it a low-power integrated solution, whereas the RX 9070 is a 220 W dual-slot discrete card requiring 2x 8-pin power connectors and a 550 W suggested PSU.

For the RX 9070, the wins are comprehensive. Its 16 GB GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 644.6 GB/s bandwidth, compared to the Pro Vega 16’s 4 GB HBM2 on a 1024-bit bus with 307.2 GB/s. Despite the Pro Vega 16’s wider bus, the RX 9070 delivers over twice the bandwidth. The RX 9070 also has 56 RT cores, which the Pro Vega 16 lacks entirely, making ray tracing a non-starter on the older card. In compute-heavy tasks like OpenCL, the RX 9070’s 36.13 TFLOPS FP32 is roughly 14.8 times the Pro Vega 16’s 2.437 TFLOPS. Even in FP16, where the Pro Vega 16 achieves a 2:1 ratio (4.874 TFLOPS), the RX 9070 still matches its FP32 rate at 36.13 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio.

The Pro Vega 16’s single advantage is efficiency at the low end. Its 75 W TDP is less than a third of the RX 9070’s 220 W, and its IGP form factor means no power connectors are needed. For ultra-portable systems where battery life and thermals are paramount, the Pro Vega 16 is the only viable option among the two, but this is a design constraint rather than a performance win. In any measurable benchmark, the RX 9070 is the clear victor.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two GPUs is generational. The RX 9070 uses the Navi 48 chip built on RDNA 4.0 architecture, fabricated on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It contains 53,900 million transistors on a 357 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 151.0 million per mm². The Pro Vega 16 uses the Vega 12 chip on GCN 5.0 architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. Its transistor count and die size are not listed in the FACT PACK, but the process node alone indicates a significant density disadvantage. The RX 9070’s 4 nm process is three generations ahead of the 14 nm node, enabling 53,900 million transistors in a relatively compact die.

The RX 9070 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Pro Vega 16 only reaches DirectX 12 (12_1). This means the RX 9070 supports the latest DX12 features, including ray tracing via its 56 dedicated RT cores. The Pro Vega 16 has no RT cores, so hardware-accelerated ray tracing is unavailable. Vulkan support also differs: the RX 9070 supports Vulkan 1.4, while the Pro Vega 16 supports Vulkan 1.3. OpenGL support is identical at 4.6 for both.

The memory architectures are fundamentally different. The RX 9070 uses GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, while the Pro Vega 16 uses HBM2 on a 1024-bit bus. The RX 9070’s memory clock is 2518 MHz (20.1 Gbps effective), delivering 644.6 GB/s. The Pro Vega 16’s memory clock is 1200 MHz (2.4 Gbps effective), delivering 307.2 GB/s. Despite the Pro Vega 16’s four-times-wider bus, the RX 9070’s faster memory and larger capacity (16 GB vs 4 GB) result in more than double the bandwidth. The RX 9070 also has more shading units (3,584 vs 1,024), more TMUs (224 vs 64), and more ROPs (128 vs 32), leading to pixel rates of 322.6 GPixel/s versus 38.08 GPixel/s and texture rates of 564.5 GTexel/s versus 76.16 GTexel/s.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every measurable specification, making a direct comparison straightforward. The RX 9070 has a base clock of 1330 MHz, a boost clock of 2520 MHz, and a game clock of 2070 MHz. The Pro Vega 16 has a base clock of 815 MHz and a boost clock of 1190 MHz, with no game clock listed. The RX 9070’s shading units number 3,584, while the Pro Vega 16 has 1,024. TMUs are 224 versus 64, and ROPs are 128 versus 32. The RX 9070 has 56 RT cores; the Pro Vega 16 has none.

Memory differs in capacity, type, bus width, and bandwidth: 16 GB GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 644.6 GB/s versus 4 GB HBM2 on a 1024-bit bus with 307.2 GB/s. The RX 9070’s FP32 performance is 36.13 TFLOPS, and its FP16 is also 36.13 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio). The Pro Vega 16’s FP32 is 2.437 TFLOPS, and its FP16 is 4.874 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio). Power consumption is 220 W for the RX 9070 versus 75 W for the Pro Vega 16. The RX 9070 is dual-slot with 2x 8-pin power connectors and a 550 W suggested PSU; the Pro Vega 16 is IGP with no power connectors or suggested PSU listed.

The RX 9070 uses PCIe 5.0 x16, while the Pro Vega 16 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs are 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1a for the RX 9070, versus "Portable Device Dependent" for the Pro Vega 16. The RX 9070 is an active production card released on 2025-03-05, while the Pro Vega 16 is end-of-life, released on 2018-11-13. The RX 9070 has a launch MSRP of 549 USD; the Pro Vega 16 has no launch MSRP listed. The RX 9070’s predecessor is Navi III, while the Pro Vega 16 has no predecessor listed. Neither card has a successor listed.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher Geekbench OpenCL score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9070 scores 131,539, which is 620.1% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16’s 18,268.

Q: How much faster is the RX 9070 in Geekbench Vulkan?

A: The RX 9070 scores 58,705, a 168.9% improvement over the Pro Vega 16’s 21,832.

Q: Does the Pro Vega 16 support hardware ray tracing?

A: No, the Pro Vega 16 has no RT cores listed, while the RX 9070 has 56 RT cores.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The RX 9070 provides 644.6 GB/s from 16 GB GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus; the Pro Vega 16 provides 307.2 GB/s from 4 GB HBM2 on a 1024-bit bus.

Q: Which card has a higher FP32 compute throughput?

A: The RX 9070 achieves 36.13 TFLOPS FP32, roughly 14.8 times the Pro Vega 16’s 2.437 TFLOPS.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The RX 9070 has a 220 W TDP with 2x 8-pin power connectors and a 550 W suggested PSU; the Pro Vega 16 has a 75 W TDP with no power connectors and no suggested PSU listed.