AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 vs NVIDIA Tesla T4 Comparison

The NVIDIA Tesla T4 and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 represent two distinct philosophies in the GPU landscape: one is a power-efficient, feature-rich accelerator designed for datacenter inference, while the other is a mobile-integrated graphics processor aimed at professional Apple Mac systems. Benchmark data shows a clear performance hierarchy between them, with the Tesla T4 leading in compute workloads and the Vega 48 trailing in raw throughput yet offering a different API and memory architecture profile. This analysis breaks down their architectural differences, specification gaps, and head-to-head benchmark results strictly from the provided data.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla T4 has a significantly higher average benchmark score of 66,733, compared to the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48’s 60,140. This puts the Tesla T4 in the 90th percentile of all GPUs, while the Vega 48 sits in the 88th percentile.

Q: How big is the performance gap in the Vulkan API?

A: The Tesla T4 wins the Geekbench Vulkan test decisively, scoring 72,190 against the Vega 48’s 57,653. This represents a 25.2% advantage for the NVIDIA card, the largest delta in the head-to-head comparison.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference between the two cards?

A: The Tesla T4 features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 320.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Vega 48 has 8 GB of HBM2 memory on a much wider 2048-bit bus, which provides a higher bandwidth of 402.4 GB/s.

Q: Which GPU has a higher pixel fill rate?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla T4 achieves a pixel rate of 101.8 GPixel/s, which is notably higher than the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48’s 76.80 GPixel/s. This indicates the T4 has an advantage in rasterization throughput.

Q: Are these products still in production?

A: No, both the NVIDIA Tesla T4 and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 are marked as "End-of-life" in the production status field. The Tesla T4 was released on 2018-09-12, while the Vega 48 followed later on 2019-03-18.

Q: Do both GPUs support the same DirectX version?

A: No, they differ. The Tesla T4 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Vega 48 is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1). The Vega 48 also supports Vulkan 1.3, whereas the Tesla T4 supports Vulkan 1.4.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two GPUs is fundamental. The NVIDIA Tesla T4 is built on the Turing architecture, manufactured on a 12 nm process at TSMC, using a chip labeled TU104. In contrast, the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 employs the older GCN 5.0 architecture on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries, based on the Vega 10 chip. This generational difference explains several capability gaps.

The Tesla T4 integrates 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, which are absent entirely from the Vega 48’s specification sheet. These dedicated hardware units enable the T4 to accelerate ray tracing and AI inference tasks, features that the Vega 48 cannot offer. Furthermore, the T4 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, whereas the Vega 48 tops out at DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3, reflecting the newer feature set of the Turing architecture.

Transistor counts are similar, with the T4 packing 13,600 million transistors on a 545 mm² die, while the Vega 48 has 12,500 million on a 495 mm² die. The transistor density is nearly identical, at 25.0M per mm² for the T4 and 25.3M per mm² for the Vega 48, showing that the process node advantage (12 nm vs 14 nm) is partially offset by die size differences. The Vega 48’s GCN architecture relies on a wider memory interface (2048-bit) to achieve its bandwidth, whereas the T4 uses a narrower 256-bit bus with faster GDDR6 memory.

The Verdict

The data presents a straightforward verdict for compute-focused users: the NVIDIA Tesla T4 is the superior performer. It wins both head-to-head benchmarks, with a 14% lead in Geekbench OpenCL and a 25.2% lead in Geekbench Vulkan. Its higher average score of 66,733, which places it two percentile points above the Vega 48, reinforces this dominance. For workloads that leverage Vulkan or OpenCL, the T4 is the clear choice.

However, the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 is not without its niche. Its designation as an "IGP" with "Portable Device Dependent" display outputs suggests it is tailored for integrated use in laptops, specifically Mac systems. In this context, it offers a higher memory bandwidth of 402.4 GB/s, thanks to its HBM2 memory, which could benefit memory-intensive tasks despite the lower raw compute scores. Users constrained to a Mac environment with Vega 48 integration would have no choice but to use it, but the benchmark results indicate they would sacrifice 10% average performance compared to the T4.

For neutral analysts, the verdict is clear: the Tesla T4 wins on raw compute, API support, and feature set. The Vega 48’s only advantages are its higher memory bandwidth and its integrated form factor, which are specific to niche mobile applications. There is no scenario in the data where the Vega 48 outperforms the T4 in compute benchmarks, making the T4 the better pick for any general-purpose GPU task.

Specification Differences

The specification sheets for these two GPUs reveal several key differences beyond the core architecture. The most obvious is the form factor: the Tesla T4 is a single-slot card with no power connectors and a length of 168 mm (6.6 inches), while the Vega 48 is an IGP (Integrated Graphics Processor) with no dimensions listed and no power connectors, indicating it is soldered onto a motherboard.

Memory configurations diverge sharply. The T4 has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 256-bit bus, yielding 320.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Vega 48 has half the capacity at 8 GB, but uses HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus, achieving a higher 402.4 GB/s bandwidth. Clock speeds also differ, though the Vega 48’s base and boost clocks are not listed, only its memory clock of 786 MHz (1572 Mbps effective). The T4 has a base clock of 585 MHz and a boost clock of 1590 MHz, with a memory clock of 1250 MHz (10 Gbps effective).

Compute resources show a trade-off. The Vega 48 has more shading units (3072 vs 2560) and more TMUs (192 vs 160), but the T4 has a higher boost clock, which results in higher FP32 throughput (8.141 TFLOPS vs 7.373 TFLOPS) and higher FP16 throughput (16.28 TFLOPS vs 14.75 TFLOPS). Both have 64 ROPs. The T4’s pixel rate of 101.8 GPixel/s outpaces the Vega 48’s 76.80 GPixel/s, and its texture rate of 254.4 GTexel/s is also higher than the Vega 48’s 230.4 GTexel/s.

Power characteristics differ, with the T4 having a TDP of 70 W and a suggested PSU of 250 W, while the Vega 48 has no TDP listed. The T4 has no display outputs, whereas the Vega 48’s outputs are "Portable Device Dependent," reflecting its mobile integration. Finally, the T4 supports a newer DirectX version (12 Ultimate vs 12) and a newer Vulkan version (1.4 vs 1.3).

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head benchmark results are unambiguous in favor of the NVIDIA Tesla T4, which wins both recorded tests. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the T4 scores 61,276 against the Vega 48’s 53,757, a 14% advantage. This is a substantial gap that indicates the T4’s Turing architecture delivers better general-purpose compute performance despite having fewer shading units and TMUs than the Vega 48.

The margin widens significantly in the Geekbench Vulkan test. The T4 scores 72,190, while the Vega 48 manages only 57,653, resulting in a 25.2% delta in favor of the T4. This larger gap in Vulkan suggests that the T4’s newer architecture and driver optimizations provide a more pronounced benefit in this API, which is increasingly important for cross-platform workloads.

While the Vega 48 does not win any head-to-head test, it does have a comparative strength in memory bandwidth, with 402.4 GB/s versus the T4’s 320.0 GB/s. However, this does not translate into benchmark wins, as the T4’s higher clock speeds and more efficient architecture compensate. The T4’s average benchmark score of 66,733 is 10.9% higher than the Vega 48’s 60,140, which aligns with the OpenCL delta but understates the Vulkan gap. In summary, the data shows the Tesla T4 is consistently and significantly faster in every measured compute scenario.