AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 vs NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records only one directly comparable benchmark between the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 and the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation: Geekbench OpenCL. In that test, the NVIDIA card scores 326898, while the AMD card scores 53757. That is a delta of 83.6% in favor of NVIDIA, meaning the RTX 5880 delivers roughly six times the raw OpenCL compute throughput of the Vega 48.

To put that gap in perspective, consider the broader database averages. The Vega 48 carries an average benchmark score of 60140 across all recorded tests, while the RTX 5880 averages 45972. This inversion is significant: the Vega 48 actually sits higher in the aggregate ranking despite losing the single head-to-head test so decisively. The reason is straightforward. The RTX 5880's average is dragged down by its Passmark scores, which are recorded under different test conditions. Its Passmark G3D score is 25096, its compute score is 14208, and its DirectX 9, 10, 11, and 12 scores are 335, 167, 228, and 70 respectively. These are not directly comparable to the Geekbench OpenCL results, but they do contribute to the overall average. The Vega 48 has no Passmark entries in the database, so only its three Geekbench scores, 69010 in Metal, 53757 in OpenCL, and 57653 in Vulkan, feed into its average of 60140.

In percentile terms, the Vega 48 ranks in the 88th percentile of all GPUs in the database, while the RTX 5880 ranks in the 85th percentile. The AMD card is therefore slightly better positioned relative to the entire GPU landscape, even though it is completely outclassed in the one test where both cards appear. This is a useful reminder that aggregate percentiles mix different workloads and different driver stacks, and a single large delta in one test can be diluted by other tests that favor the other card.

The nearest rivals for each card reinforce this picture. The Vega 48's closest competitors are the Intel Arc Pro A60 at 60326 (0.3% ahead of the Vega), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 at 60347 (0.3% ahead), the AMD Radeon PRO V710 at 58657 (2.5% behind the Vega), and the NVIDIA P102-100 at 58528 (2.8% behind). The RTX 5880's nearest rivals are the NVIDIA RTX A2000 at 46043 (0.2% ahead), the Intel Arc A730M at 45592 (0.8% behind), the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT at 45384 (1.3% behind), and the AMD Radeon RX 5600M at 46601 (1.4% ahead). In both cases, the rivals are extremely close in average score, which suggests that the database average is not a strong differentiator for either card. The real separation happens within specific tests.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins the only direct benchmark comparison in the database?

A: The NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 326898 against the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48's 53757, a delta of 83.6%.

Q: How do the two cards compare in overall database percentile?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 ranks in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, while the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation ranks in the 85th percentile. The Vega 48 is slightly higher despite losing the head-to-head test.

Q: What are the strongest benchmark results for the AMD card?

A: The Vega 48's best recorded score is 69010 in Geekbench Metal, followed by 57653 in Geekbench Vulkan and 53757 in Geekbench OpenCL. Its average benchmark score is 60140.

Q: What are the strongest benchmark results for the NVIDIA card?

A: The RTX 5880's best recorded scores are 326898 in Geekbench OpenCL, 25096 in Passmark G3D, and 14208 in Passmark GPU Compute. Its average benchmark score is 45972.

Q: Why does the RTX 5880 have a lower average score despite dominating the OpenCL test?

A: The RTX 5880's average includes multiple Passmark tests with lower scores, such as 777 in G2D, 335 in DirectX 9, 228 in DirectX 11, 167 in DirectX 10, and 70 in DirectX 12. The Vega 48 has no Passmark entries, so its average is based only on its three Geekbench scores.

Q: How does the RTX 5880 compare to its nearest rivals in average score?

A: The RTX 5880's nearest rival is the NVIDIA RTX A2000 at 46043, which is 0.2% ahead. The Intel Arc A730M is 0.8% behind, the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT is 1.3% behind, and the AMD Radeon RX 5600M is 1.4% ahead.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 wins in aggregate database standing. Its 88th percentile placement and average score of 60140 place it above the RTX 5880's 85th percentile and 45972 average. If the goal is a card that sits higher in the overall rankings relative to the full GPU field, the Vega 48 is the better choice according to the recorded data. It also has a more consistent set of benchmark results across different API tests: its Metal score of 69010, Vulkan score of 57653, and OpenCL score of 53757 are all within a reasonable range of each other. That consistency suggests the card performs at a similar level regardless of the compute API used.

The NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation wins decisively in raw compute throughput. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 326898 is 83.6% higher than the Vega 48's 53757, and that single result dwarfs every score the AMD card produces in any test. For applications that rely heavily on OpenCL compute, the RTX 5880 is the clear choice. It also offers a far more detailed benchmark profile in the database, with eight recorded tests covering DirectX 9 through 12, G2D, G3D, and compute. That broader coverage means users can see how the card behaves across legacy and modern APIs, which is useful for compatibility planning.

The use-case split is therefore simple. The Vega 48 wins on overall database percentile and cross-API consistency. The RTX 5880 wins on peak compute performance and benchmark coverage. A user who prioritizes a high percentile ranking and balanced API performance would lean toward the AMD card. A user who needs maximum OpenCL throughput would lean strongly toward the NVIDIA card.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every physical and electrical specification recorded in the database. The Vega 48 is built on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries, with 12,500 million transistors on a 495 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 25.3 million per mm². The RTX 5880 uses a 5 nm process at TSMC, with 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die, for a density of 125.3 million per mm². That is a massive jump in both transistor count and density.

Memory configurations are equally divergent. The Vega 48 has 8 GB of HBM2 on a 2048 bit bus, with 402.4 GB/s of bandwidth and a memory clock of 786 MHz (1572 Mbps effective). The RTX 5880 has 48 GB of GDDR6 on a 384 bit bus, with 864.0 GB/s of bandwidth and a memory clock of 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective). The RTX 5880 offers six times the capacity and more than double the bandwidth.

Compute resources differ by a wide margin. The Vega 48 has 3072 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The RTX 5880 has 14080 shading units, 440 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. The RTX 5880 also includes 110 RT cores and 440 tensor cores, while the Vega 48 has none. Pixel rate for the Vega 48 is 76.80 GPixel/s and texture rate is 230.4 GTexel/s. The RTX 5880 reaches 433.0 GPixel/s and 1,082.4 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput is 7.373 TFLOPS for the Vega 48 versus 69.27 TFLOPS for the RTX 5880. FP16 is 14.75 TFLOPS (2:1) for the AMD card and 69.27 TFLOPS (1:1) for the NVIDIA card.

Power and physical design also differ. The Vega 48 has no recorded TDP, uses no power connectors, and is listed as an IGP (integrated graphics processor) with portable device dependent display outputs. The RTX 5880 has a TDP of 285 W, requires a single 16-pin power connector, suggests a 600 W power supply, and is a dual-slot card measuring 267 mm in length and 112 mm in height. The Vega 48 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the RTX 5880 uses PCIe 4.0 x16. The Vega 48 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The RTX 5880 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Production status and release timing are also different. The Vega 48 is end-of-life and was released on 2019-03-18. The RTX 5880 is active and was released on 2024-01-04. Its predecessor is listed as Workstation Ampere and its successor as Blackwell PRO W. The Vega 48 has no predecessor or successor recorded.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two cards is generational. The Vega 48 uses GCN 5.0, AMD's fifth-generation Graphics Core Next design, built on a 14 nm process. The RTX 5880 uses Ada Lovelace, NVIDIA's latest workstation architecture, built on a 5 nm process. The node shrink alone accounts for a large part of the performance difference, but the architectural changes go deeper.

The Vega 48 is a pure compute and rasterization design with no dedicated ray tracing or tensor hardware. Its 3072 shading units handle all workloads through traditional shader execution, and its FP16 throughput of 14.75 TFLOPS is achieved through a 2:1 ratio, meaning it halves the shader rate for half-precision work. The RTX 5880, by contrast, includes 110 RT cores for hardware-accelerated ray tracing and 440 tensor cores for AI workloads. Its FP16 throughput matches its FP32 throughput at 69.27 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio, so there is no penalty for half-precision compute.

The transistor counts tell the story clearly. The Vega 48 packs 12,500 million transistors into 495 mm², while the RTX 5880 fits 76,300 million into 609 mm². That is roughly six times the transistor count on a die that is only 23% larger. The density improvement from 25.3 million per mm² to 125.3 million per mm² reflects both the process node change and the architectural complexity of adding RT and tensor cores.

Memory architecture also differs fundamentally. The Vega 48 uses HBM2 on a 2048 bit bus, which is a wide but relatively slow configuration. The RTX 5880 uses GDDR6 on a 384 bit bus, which is narrower but much faster per pin, resulting in 864.0 GB/s versus 402.4 GB/s. The Vega 48's HBM2 was designed for bandwidth efficiency in a compact package, while the RTX 5880's GDDR6 prioritizes capacity and raw throughput. The Vega 48's 8 GB capacity is a hard limit for large datasets, while the RTX 5880's 48 GB opens up substantially larger working sets.

The API support also reflects the architectural differences. The Vega 48 supports DirectX 12 at feature level 12_1, which lacks some modern features such as mesh shaders and variable rate shading. The RTX 5880 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate at feature level 12_2, which includes those features along with hardware ray tracing. Vulkan support is also newer on the NVIDIA card, at 1.4 versus 1.3 for the AMD card. OpenGL support is identical at 4.6.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear performance hierarchy, but the choice depends on what matters more to the user. The NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation is the dominant card in raw compute. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 326898 is 83.6% higher than the Vega 48's 53757, and its FP32 throughput of 69.27 TFLOPS is nearly ten times the Vega 48's 7.373 TFLOPS. It also offers 48 GB of memory, hardware ray tracing, tensor cores, and modern API support. For anyone working with OpenCL-heavy workloads, large datasets, or AI and ray tracing tasks, the RTX 5880 is the only rational choice from these two options.

The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 is not without merit in the database, however. It ranks in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, three points higher than the RTX 5880's 85th percentile. Its average benchmark score of 60140 exceeds the RTX 5880's 45972 by a substantial margin. Its Metal score of 69010 is particularly strong, and its Vulkan score of 57653 shows respectable cross-API performance. For users who prioritize a high percentile ranking and consistent performance across different compute APIs, the Vega 48 holds its own despite being older and far less powerful in absolute terms.

The production status is also a factor. The Vega 48 is end-of-life and was released in 2019, while the RTX 5880 is active and was released in 2024. The RTX 5880 has a clear successor path in the database, with Blackwell PRO W listed as its successor. The Vega 48 has no successor recorded. For long-term support and future compatibility, the RTX 5880 is the safer bet.

The practical verdict is straightforward. If the workload is compute-intensive and demands maximum throughput, the RTX 5880 wins without contest. If the workload is more balanced and the user values a high percentile ranking with consistent API performance, the Vega 48 is a viable option. The recorded data does not support the Vega 48 as a competitor in raw performance, but it does support it as a well-rounded card that ranks higher in the overall GPU landscape. Most builders would pick the RTX 5880 for serious work and the Vega 48 only if its specific strengths, particularly Metal performance and aggregate ranking, align with the application.