AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 vs Intel Arc A730M Comparison

# Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data splits cleanly between these two mobile graphics parts, and the wins are not evenly distributed. The Intel Arc A730M takes both head-to-head victories in the recorded database, with the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 failing to secure a single win across the tests where both cards appear.

The most decisive gap comes in the OpenCL workload. Intel's Arc A730M scores 70,352 against AMD's 53,757, a 23.6% advantage. That is a substantial margin in a general-purpose compute test that reflects raw shader throughput and driver efficiency on non-game workloads. For users running OpenCL-accelerated rendering, simulation, or productivity tasks, the Intel part is clearly the stronger option according to the measurements.

The Vulkan test narrows the gap but still favors Intel. The Arc A730M posts 64,693 versus the Radeon Pro Vega 48's 57,653, a 10.9% lead. Vulkan is a lower-level API that leans on driver maturity and architectural efficiency, and while the AMD part closes some distance compared to OpenCL, it still trails meaningfully.

Looking at the broader database averages, the picture becomes more complex. The Radeon Pro Vega 48 holds an average benchmark score of 60,140 across all recorded tests, while the Arc A730M averages 45,592. The AMD card sits in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, while the Intel lands in the 84th. That discrepancy suggests the Arc A730M's wins in these two specific head-to-head tests do not translate into across-the-board dominance. The Radeon Pro Vega 48 benefits from a wider set of recorded workloads where its strengths show, particularly in Metal-based tests where it scores 69,010 on Geekbench Metal, a test the Intel card does not appear in.

In practical terms, the Arc A730M wins where the database directly compares them, but the Radeon Pro Vega 48 has a stronger overall catalog of results. The Intel part is a specialized performer, excelling in cross-platform compute APIs, while the AMD card demonstrates more consistent breadth across its full benchmark suite.

# Architecture Differences

These two GPUs come from different foundries, different process nodes, and fundamentally different design philosophies. The Radeon Pro Vega 48 uses AMD's GCN 5.0 architecture on a 14 nm process from GlobalFoundries, packing 12,500 million transistors into a 495 mm² die. The Intel Arc A730M uses Xe-HPG architecture on TSMC's 6 nm node, with 21,700 million transistors in a 406 mm² die. The density difference is stark: Intel achieves 53.4 million transistors per square millimeter, while AMD manages 25.3 million.

The memory subsystems diverge sharply. AMD uses 8 GB of HBM2 with a 2048-bit bus and 402.4 GB/s of bandwidth, a high-bandwidth design with a narrow capacity. Intel counters with 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus at 336.0 GB/s. The AMD part has the bandwidth advantage, but the Intel card has 50% more memory capacity. The Radeon Pro Vega 48's memory runs at 786 MHz with 1572 Mbps effective, while the Arc A730M's memory runs at 1750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective.

Shading unit counts match at 3,072, and both cards have 192 texture mapping units. The ROP counts differ: AMD has 64, Intel has 96. That Intel ROP advantage shows up in pixel throughput, where the Arc A730M posts 196.8 GPixel/s against the Radeon's 76.80 GPixel/s. Texture rate similarly favors Intel at 393.6 GTexel/s versus 230.4 GTexel/s.

The compute numbers also favor Intel. The Arc A730M delivers 12.60 TFLOPS of FP32 and 25.19 TFLOPS of FP16, while the Radeon Pro Vega 48 offers 7.373 TFLOPS of FP32 and 14.75 TFLOPS of FP16. The Intel part does not just edge ahead, it leads by roughly 71% in FP32 and FP16 throughput.

Clock behavior tells a similar story. The Arc A730M has a listed base clock of 1100 MHz and a boost of 2050 MHz, while the Radeon Pro Vega 48 has no base or boost clock recorded in the database, indicating a fixed or differently managed clock scheme typical of integrated or vendor-controlled mobile parts.

Feature support differs in notable ways. Intel's Arc A730M includes 24 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate with feature level 12_2. The Radeon Pro Vega 48 tops out at DirectX 12 (12_1) with no ray tracing hardware listed. Both support OpenGL 4.6, but Intel lists Vulkan 1.4 while AMD lists Vulkan 1.3. The Intel card also uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while AMD uses PCIe 3.0 x16.

Power characteristics are partially recorded. The Arc A730M carries a 80 W TDP, while the Radeon Pro Vega 48 has no TDP listed. Both are classified as IGP (integrated graphics processor) for slot width, and both have portable-device-dependent display outputs.

# The Verdict

The database points to a clear division of labor. For users whose workloads run through OpenCL or Vulkan, the Intel Arc A730M is the stronger choice, and by a meaningful margin in OpenCL. The 23.6% lead in that test is not a marginal difference; it represents a real performance tier gap. The 10.9% Vulkan advantage reinforces that Intel's Xe-HPG architecture handles these cross-platform APIs well.

For users who need the broadest overall performance profile, the Radeon Pro Vega 48 has the better average score at 60,140 versus 45,592, and it sits higher in the global percentile ranking at 88 versus 84. The AMD part also carries a significant bandwidth advantage at 402.4 GB/s, which matters in memory-bound workloads. Its 2048-bit HBM2 interface is a different class of memory subsystem compared to the Arc A730M's 192-bit GDDR6 setup, even if the Intel card has more capacity at 12 GB versus 8 GB.

The ray tracing situation favors Intel outright. The Arc A730M has 24 dedicated RT cores and DirectX 12 Ultimate support, while the Radeon Pro Vega 48 has no RT hardware and stops at DirectX 12 (12_1). Any workload that depends on hardware-accelerated ray tracing will only run properly on the Intel part.

The verdict from the data is straightforward: the Arc A730M wins the direct head-to-head tests and offers modern features like ray tracing and a newer API feature level. The Radeon Pro Vega 48 wins on aggregate benchmark average and holds a higher percentile ranking, suggesting it performs well across a wider variety of recorded tests. Each card has a legitimate claim depending on the target workload.

# FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins the OpenCL benchmark?

A: The Intel Arc A730M wins with a score of 70,352, beating the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48's 53,757 by 23.6%.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 have ray tracing hardware?

A: No. The database lists no RT cores for the AMD card, while the Intel Arc A730M includes 24 ray tracing cores.

Q: Which GPU has more memory bandwidth?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 has 402.4 GB/s of bandwidth using HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus. The Intel Arc A730M has 336.0 GB/s using GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus.

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 has an average benchmark score of 60,140, compared to the Intel Arc A730M's 45,592.

Q: What is the transistor density difference between the two GPUs?

A: The Intel Arc A730M has 53.4 million transistors per mm², while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 has 25.3 million transistors per mm².

Q: Which GPU supports a newer version of Vulkan?

A: The Intel Arc A730M supports Vulkan 1.4, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 supports Vulkan 1.3.

# Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records two direct comparisons between these GPUs, and both require careful reading because the delta percentages are expressed from the perspective of the losing card.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the Intel Arc A730M scores 70,352 against the Radeon Pro Vega 48's 53,757. The delta is listed as -23.6%, which reflects how far the AMD card trails the Intel winner. This is the largest margin in any recorded test between the two parts. The AMD card's 7.373 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput versus Intel's 12.60 TFLOPS helps explain the scale of this gap. OpenCL workloads that scale with raw shader compute will favor the Intel part substantially.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the margin narrows. Intel scores 64,693 and AMD scores 57,653, a delta of -10.9% from AMD's perspective. Vulkan's lower overhead can expose architectural inefficiencies differently than OpenCL, and the AMD card's GCN 5.0 design closes some of the distance. Still, Intel retains the win. The Arc A730M's 96 ROPs and 196.8 GPixel/s pixel rate versus the Radeon's 64 ROPs and 76.80 GPixel/s may contribute to its sustained advantage in this API.

The Radeon Pro Vega 48's best recorded result is a Geekbench Metal score of 69,010, which exceeds both of Intel's head-to-head scores in OpenCL and Vulkan. However, Metal is Apple's API and the Intel card has no recorded Metal result in the database, so no direct comparison is possible on that test.

The Arc A730M also has a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result of 1,732, a test with no corresponding AMD entry. This is a modern DirectX 12 workload, and the Intel card's DirectX 12 Ultimate support with feature level 12_2 positions it for current and upcoming DX12 titles.

The aggregate data tells a nuanced story. The Intel Arc A730M wins both direct comparisons and offers higher compute throughput, more ROPs, ray tracing support, and a smaller and denser process node. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 counters with a higher average score across all its recorded benchmarks, a higher global percentile, and significantly more memory bandwidth. Users optimizing for the specific APIs where these cards compete directly should choose Intel. Users who value broad workload coverage and memory bandwidth should consider the AMD part despite its losses in the direct tests.