AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 vs NVIDIA CMP 70HX Comparison

# NVIDIA CMP 70HX vs AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20: A Benchmark Showdown

The database places the NVIDIA CMP 70HX and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 in the same performance tier, with average benchmark scores of 30,476 and 27,839 respectively. That is a 9.5% gap in favor of the NVIDIA card. The CMP 70HX is a specialized mining GPU built on the Ampere architecture (GA104 chip), while the Vega 20 is a professional mobile GPU using GCN 5.0 with a Vega 12 die. They are very different designs aimed at different jobs, and the benchmark data makes those differences clear.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most direct comparison comes from the recorded head-to-head results. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 scores 26,679 against the NVIDIA's 25,135. That is a 5.8% win for AMD in this compute-focused workload. However, the tables turn in the Vulkan test. There, the NVIDIA CMP 70HX posts 35,817 versus 26,410 for the AMD, a 35.6% advantage for the Ampere card.

Across the combined benchmark average, the NVIDIA card sits at 30,476 versus 27,839 for the AMD. The gap is mostly driven by the Vulkan result, where NVIDIA's newer architecture and driver maturity show a substantial edge. The OpenCL result shows AMD's strength in raw compute throughput, but the Vulkan result is the more representative of modern API performance.

Looking at the nearest rivals in the database, the CMP 70HX is only 0.1% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6700, and 1.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6800. It also leads the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti by 1.8%. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20, meanwhile, trails the AMD Radeon RX 7800M by 0.2%, the Radeon Pro W5500X by 0.5%, and the GeForce GTX 980 Ti by 0.6%. The NVIDIA card sits at the 75th percentile of all GPUs in the database, while the AMD card is at the 73rd percentile, making both of them upper-midrange performers overall.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 wins the OpenCL benchmark outright. That 5.8% lead suggests the Vega architecture handles raw, compute-heavy workloads very well. For users running OpenCL-based tasks, this is the better pick. The NVIDIA CMP 70HX wins the Vulkan test by a wide 35.6% margin, showing much stronger driver-level optimization for modern graphics APIs. For gaming, content creation, or any Vulkan workload, the NVIDIA card is the better choice. For pure OpenCL compute, the AMD card has an edge.

The wins are split evenly: one benchmark for each card. The AMD card has the compute win, the NVIDIA card has the graphics API win. If your workload is mostly Vulkan, the CMP 70HX is the clear winner. If your tasks are OpenCL-heavy, the Vega 20 is the one to get.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different design philosophies. The NVIDIA CMP 70HX is a GA104 chip built on Samsung's 8 nm process node. It packs 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 44.4 million per mm². It is designed specifically for mining, with a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost of 1395 MHz. Its memory runs at 1188 MHz effective. The memory bus is 256-bit wide, and it has 8 GB of GDDR6X memory. That memory subsystem delivers 608.3 GB/s of bandwidth.

The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 uses the Vega 12 chip built on GlobalFoundries' 14 nm process, from the GCN 5.0 architecture. It clocks at 815 MHz base and 1283 MHz boost. Its 4 GB HBM2 memory runs at 740 MHz, with a 1024-bit bus, for 189.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The card has 1280 shading units, 80 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. Pixel throughput is measured at 41.06 GPixel/s, texture rate at 102.6 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 3.284 TFLOPS, and FP16 is 6.569 TFLOPS.

The NVIDIA card has 3840 shading units, 120 TMUs, 64 ROPs, 30 RT cores, and 120 tensor cores. Its pixel rate is 89.28 GPixel/s, and texture rate is 167.4 GTexel/s. FP32 is 10.71 TFLOPS, and FP16 is 10.71 TFLOPS.

The NVIDIA chip is the larger and more complex design, with more than double the shading units and a massive memory bandwidth advantage. The AMD card compensates with a very wide memory bus and HBM2 memory, which is why it still wins a compute benchmark.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher memory bandwidth?

A: The NVIDIA CMP 70HX has a 608.3 GB/s bandwidth, far above the AMD's 189.4 GB/s. The GDDR6X memory and 256-bit bus deliver more than 3x the bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU is better for Vulkan API workloads?

A: The NVIDIA CMP 70HX wins the Vulkan benchmark by 35.6%, scoring 35,817 against 26,410. The Ampere architecture and newer driver support give it a clear edge in Vulkan.

Q: What are the FP32 performance differences?

A: NVIDIA is rated at 10.71 TFLOPS FP32, while AMD is 3.284 TFLOPS. NVIDIA also supports 10.71 TFLOPS FP16 with a 1:1 ratio.

Q: Which card is more power-efficient?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 has a 100W TDP. The NVIDIA card's power level is not specified, but it does need a 200W PSU and a 12-pin power connector. The AMD card is an integrated GPU with no additional power connectors.

Q: Which GPU has the higher transistor density?

A: The NVIDIA CMP 70HX has 44.4M transistors per mm², compared to AMD which has no listed transistor count. A 8 nm process allows a much denser transistor.

The Verdict

Based on the data, the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 is the better pick for OpenCL compute workloads, where its 5.8% benchmark lead is relevant. The NVIDIA CMP 70HX is the better pick for Vulkan, modern gaming, or anything with a modern graphics API, where it is 35.6% faster. For most users, the CMP 70HX is the more versatile card because it brings the newer architecture, a higher memory bandwidth, and the best API support. The Vega 20 remains a specialist compute card, one that does well in the particular compute tasks but is less suited to a full graphics workload. Choose NVIDIA for feature-rich performance, AMD for a niche compute win.

Specification Differences

| Field | NVIDIA CMP 70HX | AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 |

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

| Chip | GA104 | Vega 12 |

| Architecture | Ampere | GCN 5.0 |

| Process | 8 nm (Samsung) | 14 nm (GlobalFoundries) |

| Transistors | 17,400 million | Not listed |

| Die size | 392 mm² | Not listed |

| Transistor density | 44.4M / mm² | Not listed |

| Base clock | 1365 MHz | 815 MHz |

| Boost clock | 1395 MHz | 1283 MHz |

| Memory clock | 1188 MHz | 740 MHz |

| Memory | 8 GB GDDR6X | 4 GB HBM2 |

| Memory bus | 256 bit | 1024 bit |

| Bandwidth | 608.3 GB/s | 189.4 GB/s |

| Shading units | 3840 | 1280 |

| TMUs | 120 | 80 |

| ROPs | 64 | 32 |

| RT cores | 30 | N/A |

| Tensor cores | 120 | N/A |

| Pixel rate | 89.28 GPixel/s | 41.06 GPixel/s |

| Texture rate | 167.4 GTexel/s | 102.6 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 10.71 TFLOPS | 3.284 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 10.71 TFLOPS (1:1) | 6.569 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | Not listed | 100 W |

| Slot width | Dual slot | IGP |

| Power connectors | 1x 12-pin | None |

| Suggested PSU | 200 W | Not listed |

| Bus interface | PCIe 1.0 x4 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| Display outputs | None | Portable Device Dependent |

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

| OpenGL | 4.6 | 4.6 |

| Vulkan | 1.4 | 1.3 |

| Length | 267 mm | Not listed |

| Height | 112 mm | Not listed |