AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 vs NVIDIA RTX A4000 Comparison

The NVIDIA RTX A4000 and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 represent two distinct generations of workstation graphics. The data shows a clear performance hierarchy, with the RTX A4000 holding a significant advantage across recorded benchmarks, while the Pro Vega 16 serves a specific mobile, integrated market. The recorded measurements place the RTX A4000 at the 72nd percentile of all GPUs and the Pro Vega 16 at the 68th, a gap that becomes far more pronounced in raw compute tests. This analysis relies exclusively on the database entries for these two processors.

FAQ

Q: What is the average benchmark score difference between the two GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A4000 records an average benchmark score of 26683, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 records 23250. This represents a performance gap of approximately 14.8% in favor of the RTX A4000.

Q: In which benchmark does the RTX A4000 show the largest relative advantage?

A: The largest recorded win for the RTX A4000 is in the Geekbench Vulkan test, where it scores 127645 against the Pro Vega 16's 21832. This is a delta of 484.7% in favor of the NVIDIA card.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 win any head-to-head benchmark?

A: No. In the head-to-head comparison, the NVIDIA RTX A4000 wins both recorded tests. The Pro Vega 16 has zero wins, while the RTX A4000 has two.

Q: What is the difference in memory bandwidth between the two cards?

A: The RTX A4000 provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth using a 256-bit bus, while the Pro Vega 16 provides 307.2 GB/s over a 1024-bit bus. Despite the wider bus on the AMD card, the NVIDIA solution offers higher total bandwidth.

Q: How do their shading unit counts compare?

A: The RTX A4000 features 6144 shading units, whereas the Pro Vega 16 is equipped with 1024 shading units. This six-fold difference in shader count is a primary driver of the compute performance disparity.

Q: What are the API support differences?

A: The RTX A4000 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the Pro Vega 16 supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. Both support OpenGL 4.6.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two products is substantial. The NVIDIA RTX A4000 is built on the Ampere architecture using the GA104 chip, manufactured on an 8 nm process at Samsung. In contrast, the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 utilizes the GCN 5.0 architecture with the Vega 12 chip, produced on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. The process node difference is a key factor, with the newer, denser 8 nm node allowing for a transistor count of 17,400 million on a 392 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 44.4M per mm². The Pro Vega 16's transistor count and die size are not recorded in the database.

The compute resources differ drastically. The RTX A4000 packs 6144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs. It also includes dedicated hardware for modern workloads: 48 RT cores for ray tracing and 192 tensor cores for AI acceleration. The Pro Vega 16 has 1024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with no dedicated RT or tensor cores listed. This indicates a fundamental capability gap in specialized workloads.

Clock speeds tell a similar story. The RTX A4000 has a base clock of 735 MHz and a boost clock of 1560 MHz. The Pro Vega 16 has a higher base clock of 815 MHz but a lower boost clock of 1190 MHz. The NVIDIA card's higher boost ceiling contributes to its peak performance. The memory subsystems also differ: the RTX A4000 uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with an effective speed of 14 Gbps, while the Pro Vega 16 uses 4 GB of HBM2 on a much wider 1024-bit bus at 2.4 Gbps effective.

The power and physical profiles are polar opposites. The RTX A4000 is a single-slot, 140 W card requiring a 1x 6-pin power connector and a suggested 300 W PSU. It supports PCIe 4.0 x16 and features 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. The Pro Vega 16 is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with a 75 W TDP, no power connectors, and a portable-device-dependent display output. Its bus interface is PCIe 3.0 x16, and it has no listed dimensions, reflecting its role as a mobile solution.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded head-to-head data shows a dominant performance from the NVIDIA RTX A4000. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the RTX A4000 scores 105739 against the Pro Vega 16's 18268. This is a delta of 478.8%, meaning the NVIDIA card is nearly five times faster in this compute workload. The Pro Vega 16 is also recorded in the Geekbench Metal test with a score of 29650, but no comparable Metal score exists for the RTX A4000, so it is not part of the direct comparison.

The Geekbench Vulkan test shows an even larger relative gap. The RTX A4000 scores 127645, while the Pro Vega 16 scores 21832. This results in a delta of 484.7% in favor of the NVIDIA card. These two tests consistently show the RTX A4000 outperforming the Pro Vega 16 by a wide margin, reflecting the massive difference in raw compute resources and architectural efficiency.

The RTX A4000 also has a far broader benchmark profile. The database includes scores for 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 (2604), Passmark DirectX 10 (126), DirectX 11 (158), DirectX 12 (72), DirectX 9 (240), G2D (1024), G3D (19459), and GPU Compute (9760). The Pro Vega 16 has only three recorded scores: Geekbench Metal (29650), OpenCL (18268), and Vulkan (21832). This absence of DirectX and Passmark data for the AMD card limits direct comparison in those specific tests, but the available data points are unambiguous in their verdict.

When considering the nearest rivals for each card, the performance tiers become clearer. The RTX A4000's average score of 26683 sits just 0.5% above the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary, 1% above the NVIDIA GeForce MX550, and 1.1% above the AMD Radeon 860M. The Pro Vega 16's average score of 23250 is essentially level with the NVIDIA P106-100 (0% delta), 0.1% below the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, and 0.3% below the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700. The data places the RTX A4000 in a higher performance bracket altogether.

The Verdict

The benchmark data is unequivocal: the NVIDIA RTX A4000 is the superior performer in every recorded head-to-head test. It wins both Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan by margins approaching 500%, and its average benchmark score is 14.8% higher. For any user prioritizing raw compute throughput, general GPU acceleration, or modern API support, the RTX A4000 is the clear choice. Its support for DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, alongside its dedicated RT and tensor cores, positions it for contemporary and future workloads that the Pro Vega 16 cannot handle.

The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16, however, occupies a specific niche. Its status as an IGP with a 75 W TDP and portable-device-dependent outputs indicates it is designed for thin, power-constrained laptops. In that context, its 4 GB of HBM2 memory and 307.2 GB/s bandwidth are notable for its class. The data shows it performs competitively with other mid-range mobile GPUs, as evidenced by its near-identical average score to the NVIDIA P106-100. It is not a competitor to the RTX A4000 in absolute performance, but it serves a different physical and thermal requirement.

Users should select the RTX A4000 for desktop workstations where performance is paramount, particularly for tasks involving compute, rendering, or any workload that can leverage its tensor cores or ray tracing hardware. The Pro Vega 16 is the only option when the form factor mandates an integrated solution, accepting its lower performance ceiling for the benefits of integration. There is no scenario in the recorded data where the Pro Vega 16 outperforms the RTX A4000, so the decision rests entirely on system constraints rather than performance preference.

Specification Differences

The specification sheets for these two GPUs differ in nearly every measurable field. The RTX A4000 uses an 8 nm process from Samsung, while the Pro Vega 16 uses a 14 nm process from GlobalFoundries. The NVIDIA chip is the GA104 with Ampere architecture, whereas the AMD chip is Vega 12 with GCN 5.0. The RTX A4000 integrates 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die; the Pro Vega 16's transistor count and die size are not listed.

Clock specifications diverge: the RTX A4000 has a base of 735 MHz and a boost of 1560 MHz, while the Pro Vega 16 has a base of 815 MHz and a boost of 1190 MHz. Memory speed also differs, with the RTX A4000 running at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) and the Pro Vega 16 at 1200 MHz (2.4 Gbps effective). Memory capacity is 16 GB GDDR6 for the NVIDIA card versus 4 GB HBM2 for the AMD card, with bus widths of 256-bit and 1024-bit respectively. Bandwidth is 448.0 GB/s for the RTX A4000 and 307.2 GB/s for the Pro Vega 16.

Compute unit counts show a wide gap: 6144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs for the RTX A4000, against 1024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs for the Pro Vega 16. The RTX A4000 also lists 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores, while the Pro Vega 16 has none. Pixel rate is 149.8 GPixel/s versus 38.08 GPixel/s, and texture rate is 299.5 GTexel/s versus 76.16 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput is 19.17 TFLOPS for the RTX A4000 and 2.437 TFLOPS for the Pro Vega 16. FP16 rates are 19.17 TFLOPS (1:1) for NVIDIA and 4.874 TFLOPS (2:1) for AMD.

Power and physical specifications are also distinct: the RTX A4000 has a 140 W TDP, single-slot width, a 1x 6-pin connector, and a 300 W suggested PSU, while the Pro Vega 16 has a 75 W TDP and is an IGP with no connector or PSU guidance. The RTX A4000 uses PCIe 4.0 x16 and 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs; the Pro Vega 16 uses PCIe 3.0 x16 and portable-device-dependent outputs. The RTX A4000 has dimensions of 241 mm by 112 mm; the Pro Vega 16 has no recorded dimensions. API support differs in DirectX (12 Ultimate vs 12_1) and Vulkan (1.4 vs 1.3), though both support OpenGL 4.6.