AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 vs AMD Radeon Pro VII Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in Geekbench Metal workloads?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro VII scores 108383 in Geekbench Metal, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 scores 63145. That is a 71.6% advantage for the Pro VII, the largest margin in any of the three recorded tests.

Q: How do the two cards compare in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The Radeon Pro VII records 90148, versus 61930 for the Radeon Pro Vega 56. The Pro VII leads by 45.6% in this test.

Q: What about Vulkan performance?

A: The Radeon Pro VII scores 92862, and the Radeon Pro Vega 56 scores 66004. The Pro VII is 40.7% ahead in Geekbench Vulkan.

Q: Which card has more memory and bandwidth?

A: The Radeon Pro VII has 16 GB of HBM2 memory on a 4096-bit bus, delivering 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth. The Radeon Pro Vega 56 has 8 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus, with 402.4 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: Do both cards support the same graphics APIs?

A: Yes. Both support DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3.

Q: What is the production status of each card?

A: Both are listed as end-of-life products. The Radeon Pro VII was released on 2020-05-12, and the Radeon Pro Vega 56 was released on 2017-08-13.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the AMD Radeon Pro VII wins every recorded benchmark against the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56. Across the three Geekbench tests, the Pro VII holds a 40.7% to 71.6% lead. Its average benchmark score is 97131, compared to 63693 for the Vega 56, a difference of roughly 52.5%. The Pro VII also sits in the 93rd percentile of all GPUs in the database, while the Vega 56 sits in the 89th percentile.

For workloads that stress compute throughput, the Pro VII is the clear pick. It delivers higher FP32 (13.06 TFLOPS versus 8.960 TFLOPS) and higher FP16 (26.11 TFLOPS versus 17.92 TFLOPS). It also doubles the memory capacity and more than doubles memory bandwidth. The Vega 56, by contrast, has a lower TDP of 210 W versus 250 W, and it uses an integrated form factor (IGP) with no external power connectors, which may fit specific system builds where the Pro VII's dual-slot, 305 mm length, and 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin connectors would not.

In practical terms, the Pro VII is the choice for anyone who needs maximum compute and memory throughput in a professional Radeon Pro card. The Vega 56 remains a capable option for lighter workloads or for systems constrained by power and physical layout, but the benchmark data does not show any performance category where it beats the newer card.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The Geekbench Metal test shows the biggest gap. The Radeon Pro VII scores 108383, and the Radeon Pro Vega 56 scores 63145. That is a 71.6% difference, by far the largest in the head-to-head set. Metal workloads often favor memory bandwidth and raw shader throughput, both of which favor the Pro VII.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the Pro VII scores 90148 against 61930 for the Vega 56, a 45.6% lead. OpenCL results here reflect the Pro VII's higher FP32 and FP16 rates, as well as its wider memory subsystem. The Vega 56's 8.960 TFLOPS FP32 is respectable, but the Pro VII's 13.06 TFLOPS is a substantial step up.

Geekbench Vulkan narrows the gap slightly. The Pro VII scores 92862, and the Vega 56 scores 66004, for a 40.7% advantage. Even in the closest test, the Pro VII still wins by more than 40%. Across all three tests, the Pro VII records 3 wins and the Vega 56 records 0 wins.

The database's nearest-rival data reinforces the separation. The Pro VII sits within 0.4% of the AMD Radeon RX 7900M (average score 97487), and it is 5% ahead of the AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 and 6% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX A4500. The Vega 56, meanwhile, is effectively tied with the AMD Radeon RX 7600M at -0.1%, the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT LP at -0.2%, and the NVIDIA CMP 30HX at -0.2%, while trailing the AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 by 0.8%. The Pro VII competes in a higher performance tier altogether.

Specification Differences

Memory is the starkest difference. The Radeon Pro VII has 16 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus with 1.02 TB/s bandwidth. The Radeon Pro Vega 56 has 8 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus with 402.4 GB/s bandwidth. That is double the capacity and roughly 2.5 times the bandwidth.

Clock speeds also differ significantly. The Pro VII runs at a 1400 MHz base and 1700 MHz boost, while the Vega 56 runs at 1138 MHz base and 1250 MHz boost. Memory clocks are 1000 MHz (2 Gbps effective) for the Pro VII and 786 MHz (1572 Mbps effective) for the Vega 56.

Compute resources: the Pro VII has 3840 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The Vega 56 has 3584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The Pro VII leads in shading units and TMUs, while ROP counts match.

Pixel and texture rates follow the core counts. The Pro VII reaches 108.8 GPixel/s and 408.0 GTexel/s. The Vega 56 reaches 80.00 GPixel/s and 280.0 GTexel/s.

Power and physical design differ as well. The Pro VII is rated at 250 W TDP, uses a dual-slot cooler, requires 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin power connectors, and has a suggested PSU of 600 W. The Vega 56 is rated at 210 W, uses an IGP form factor, and has no external power connectors. The Pro VII measures 305 mm (12 inches) in length and 111 mm (4.4 inches) in height; the Vega 56 has no listed dimensions.

The Pro VII uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the Vega 56 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs: the Pro VII has 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a, and the Vega 56 has 1x HDMI 2.0b plus 3x DisplayPort 1.4a.

The launch MSRP of the Radeon Pro VII is 1,899 USD. No launch MSRP is recorded for the Radeon Pro Vega 56.

Architecture Differences

The Radeon Pro VII is built on the Vega 20 chip and GCN 5.1 architecture, fabricated on TSMC's 7 nm process. The Radeon Pro Vega 56 uses the Vega 10 chip and GCN 5.0 architecture, on GlobalFoundries' 14 nm process. The Pro VII's 7 nm node allows for a smaller die (331 mm² versus 495 mm²) while housing more transistors (13,230 million versus 12,500 million transistor count). Transistor density is 40.0M per mm² for the Pro VII, versus 25.3M per mm² for the Vega 56.

Both are GCN-based designs, but the Pro VII's newer GCN 5.1 revision and newer process node explain much of its efficiency and performance lead despite the Vega 56's older, larger die. Neither card includes ray tracing cores or tensor cores. The Pro VII supports PCIe 4.0 x16, which the Vega 56 does not offer.

In the database's generation labels, the Pro VII belongs to the Radeon Pro Vega (Vega II Series) generation, while the Vega 56 belongs to the Radeon Pro Mac (Vega Series) generation. The Pro VII's predecessor is listed as Radeon Pro Polaris, and its successor as Radeon Pro Navi. The Vega 56 has no listed predecessor or successor recorded in the database.

Feature-wise, the Pro VII offers more display outputs and a wider memory bus, and its smaller process node directly contributes to its lower power draw per unit of compute. The Vega 56's higher TDP of 250 W versus the Pro VII's 210 W is notable, but the Pro VII delivers substantially higher performance at only 40 W higher TDP. That efficiency gap is a direct consequence of the 7 nm versus 14 nm process difference.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Pro VII wins in every benchmark category recorded: Geekbench Metal (108383 versus 63145), Geekbench OpenCL (90148 versus 61930), and Geekbench Vulkan (92862 versus 66004). It wins on memory capacity, memory bandwidth, shading units, TMUs, pixel rate, texture rate, FP32 throughput, and FP16 throughput. For compute-heavy professional workloads, deep learning inference, or large data sets that need more than 8 GB of VRAM, the Pro VII is the obvious choice. Its PCIe 4.0 interface and 16 GB HBM2 capacity make it better suited for scenarios where memory transfers and large working sets dominate.

The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 wins on power efficiency in absolute terms, with a 210 W TDP versus 250 W, and on its integrated form factor with no external power connectors. For systems that require a low-profile integrated GPU solution or lack PCIe power cabling, the Vega 56 is the only viable option between the two. It also uses PCIe 3.0, which is still broadly compatible with existing motherboards, and it offers a simpler output layout with 1x HDMI 2.0b plus 3x DisplayPort 1.4a versus the Pro VII's six mini-DisplayPort connectors.

The Vega 56's nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon RX 7600M (-0.1% delta) and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 (-0.8% delta), placing it in a mid-range professional tier. The Pro VII's nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 7900M (-0.4% delta), NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 (-4.7% delta), AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 (5% delta), and NVIDIA RTX A4500 (6% delta), placing it in a high-end tier. The data shows no workload in the recorded benchmarks where the Vega 56 outpaces the Pro VII. The Pro VII is the superior performer, and the Vega 56 is the fallback for constrained physical or power environments.