AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 vs NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell Comparison

NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell vs AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell is the decisive winner in this comparison, leading the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 by a massive margin in the only directly comparable benchmark. The data shows a 739.7% advantage in Geekbench Vulkan performance, placing the NVIDIA card in a completely different performance tier. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20, while still competitive in its own era, is an end-of-life product that cannot match the modern architecture, memory subsystem, or raw compute throughput of the RTX PRO 4500.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell wins the only shared benchmark, Geekbench Vulkan, with a score of 221,768 against the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20's 26,410. This represents a 739.7% delta, meaning the NVIDIA card delivers over eight times the Vulkan performance. This is the only head-to-head benchmark recorded in the database, so the NVIDIA card holds a clean 1-0 win record.

The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 has no benchmark wins against the RTX PRO 4500. However, the AMD card does have its own recorded strengths in the database, specifically in Geekbench Metal (30,427) and Geekbench OpenCL (26,679), where it shows respectable scores for its generation. These results indicate the Vega 20 remains functional for Metal and OpenCL workloads, but the absence of a Vulkan victory against the NVIDIA card is telling.

For use-case splits, the data points to a clear division: the RTX PRO 4500 is built for modern, API-heavy workloads like Vulkan and DirectX 12, where its Blackwell architecture excels. The Vega 20, with its GCN 5.0 architecture and 12_1 DirectX support, is better suited for legacy applications or specific Apple-centric Metal environments, but even there, the performance gap in Vulkan suggests the NVIDIA card would dominate in cross-platform scenarios.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap is enormous. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 uses the GB203 chip on a 5 nm TSMC process, packing 45,600 million transistors into a 378 mm² die with a transistor density of 120.6M per mm². The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 uses the Vega 12 chip on a 14 nm GlobalFoundries process, with no transistor count or die size recorded in the database. The node difference alone explains much of the performance disparity.

Core configurations diverge sharply. The NVIDIA card has 10,496 shading units, 328 TMUs, 112 ROPs, 82 RT cores, and 328 tensor cores. The AMD card has 1,280 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with no RT cores or tensor cores listed. The NVIDIA card's shading unit count is over eight times higher, and its ROP count is 3.5 times higher, which directly impacts pixel fill rates.

Clock speeds favor NVIDIA as well. The RTX PRO 4500 runs at a 1635 MHz base and 2407 MHz boost, while the Vega 20 operates at 815 MHz base and 1283 MHz boost. The NVIDIA card's boost clock is nearly double the AMD card's base clock. Memory clocks differ similarly: NVIDIA uses 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective speed, while AMD uses 740 MHz with 1480 Mbps effective speed.

Feature support is a differentiator. The NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6. The AMD card supports DirectX 12 (12_1), Vulkan 1.3, and OpenGL 4.6. The RTX PRO 4500 also has dedicated RT cores and tensor cores, which the Vega 20 lacks entirely, making the NVIDIA card the only one capable of hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI compute tasks.

The Verdict

The verdict is unequivocal based on the recorded data. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell is the superior product for virtually any workload that leverages modern graphics APIs. Its 739.7% lead in Vulkan performance is not a marginal advantage; it is a generational leap. The card's 76th percentile ranking among all GPUs, compared to the Vega 20's 73rd percentile, underscores its higher standing, though the percentile gap is smaller than the benchmark delta might suggest.

Users requiring DirectX 12 Ultimate features, ray tracing, tensor core acceleration, or high-bandwidth memory should choose the NVIDIA card without hesitation. Its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory with 896.0 GB/s bandwidth dwarfs the Vega 20's 4 GB of HBM2 with 189.4 GB/s bandwidth, making it suitable for large datasets, complex scenes, and multi-tasking.

The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 is only defensible in narrow scenarios: if software is exclusively Metal-based on a Mac environment, or if power consumption is critical. The Vega 20 draws 100 W compared to the NVIDIA card's 200 W, and it is an IGP (integrated graphics processor) form factor versus the NVIDIA card's dual-slot design. But even in those cases, the performance penalty is severe. The database records no benchmark where the Vega 20 beats the RTX PRO 4500.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher Vulkan performance?

A: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell scores 221,768 in Geekbench Vulkan, which is 739.7% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20's 26,410.

Q: What are the memory capacities and types?

A: The NVIDIA card has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus with 896.0 GB/s bandwidth. The AMD card has 4 GB of HBM2 memory on a 1024-bit bus with 189.4 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 support ray tracing?

A: No, the database lists no RT cores for the AMD card. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 has 82 RT cores.

Q: Which card has a higher shading unit count?

A: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 has 10,496 shading units, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 has 1,280 shading units.

Q: What is the process node difference?

A: The NVIDIA card uses a 5 nm TSMC process, while the AMD card uses a 14 nm GlobalFoundries process.

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 has an average benchmark score of 31,532, compared to the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20's 27,839.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The sole head-to-head benchmark is Geekbench Vulkan, and the result is lopsided. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell scores 221,768, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 scores 26,410. The delta of 739.7% means the NVIDIA card is roughly 8.4 times faster in this test. This is not a close contest; it is a demonstration of how far GPU architecture has advanced between the 2018-era Vega 20 and the 2025-era Blackwell design.

To contextualize this score, the NVIDIA card's nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA TITAN RTX (average score 31,676, delta -0.5%), NVIDIA GRID M60-1Q (31,220, delta 1%), and NVIDIA Quadro M5000 (31,206, delta 1%). The RTX PRO 4500's average score of 31,532 places it just 0.5% below the TITAN RTX, showing it is competitive with that high-end consumer card. The AMD Vega 20's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 7800M (27,883, delta -0.2%), AMD Radeon Pro W5500X (27,973, delta -0.5%), and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (28,020, delta -0.6%). The Vega 20's average score of 27,839 is just 1% above the GeForce RTX 3090 (27,565), which is notable since the RTX 3090 is a much newer card.

The Vulkan benchmark gap is so large that it skews the entire comparison. Even if the AMD card were to win hypothetical Metal or OpenCL tests, the NVIDIA card's lead in a cross-platform API like Vulkan is the more important metric for general-purpose workstation use.

Specification Differences

The specification differences between these two cards are extensive. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell uses the GB203 chip with Blackwell 2.0 architecture, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 uses the Vega 12 chip with GCN 5.0 architecture. The manufacturing process is 5 nm TSMC for NVIDIA versus 14 nm GlobalFoundries for AMD.

Core counts differ dramatically: 10,496 shading units, 328 TMUs, 112 ROPs, 82 RT cores, and 328 tensor cores for NVIDIA; 1,280 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs for AMD, with no RT or tensor cores. Clock speeds are 1635 MHz base and 2407 MHz boost for NVIDIA, versus 815 MHz base and 1283 MHz boost for AMD. Memory specifications show NVIDIA with 32 GB GDDR7 on a 256-bit bus at 896.0 GB/s, while AMD has 4 GB HBM2 on a 1024-bit bus at 189.4 GB/s.

Rates and compute throughput also differ. The NVIDIA card has a pixel rate of 269.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 789.5 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 50.53 TFLOPS and FP16 at the same 50.53 TFLOPS (1:1). The AMD card has a pixel rate of 41.06 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 102.6 GTexel/s, with FP32 at 3.284 TFLOPS and FP16 at 6.569 TFLOPS (2:1). Power consumption is 200 W for NVIDIA versus 100 W for AMD. The NVIDIA card is dual-slot with a 1x 16-pin power connector and a suggested PSU of 550 W, while the AMD card is an IGP with no power connector or PSU recommendation. Bus interfaces are PCIe 5.0 x16 for NVIDIA versus PCIe 3.0 x16 for AMD. Display outputs are 4x DisplayPort 2.1b for NVIDIA versus "Portable Device Dependent" for AMD. Production status is Active for NVIDIA and End-of-life for AMD.