AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 vs Intel Arc A770 Comparison

Intel’s Arc A770 decisively outclasses AMD’s Radeon Pro Vega 56 in every head-to-head benchmark recorded, leading by 76.3% in Geekbench OpenCL and 42.8% in Geekbench Vulkan. The Arc A770 sits at the 90th percentile of all GPUs, while the Pro Vega 56 lands at the 89th, but that single-point gap masks a much larger raw performance divide. The Arc A770 is the pick for anyone needing modern API support, double the memory capacity, and substantially higher compute throughput; the Pro Vega 56 remains a niche option for legacy Mac-centric workflows where its integrated form factor and HBM2 memory are the primary attractions.

The Verdict

The data presents a clear split: the Intel Arc A770 wins outright on raw performance, with an average benchmark score of 68,809 compared to the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56’s 63,693 — a difference of roughly 8%. In the two directly comparable tests, the Arc A770 posts 109,175 in Geekbench OpenCL versus 61,930, and 94,284 in Geekbench Vulkan versus 66,004. There is no benchmark in the dataset where the Pro Vega 56 takes the lead. The Arc A770 also offers 16 GB of GDDR6 memory versus 8 GB of HBM2, making it the better fit for large datasets or modern game textures.

The Pro Vega 56’s only advantages are architectural and physical. It is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with no external power connectors, drawing 210 W, while the Arc A770 is a dual-slot card requiring a 550 W PSU and both 6-pin and 8-pin connectors. For a Mac-based system with a fixed chassis, the Pro Vega 56’s slotless design is a practical necessity. The Arc A770 targets desktop builders with room for a full-length card and headroom on their power supply. For anyone building new, the Arc A770 is the superior performer; the Pro Vega 56 is a legacy component for specific upgrade paths.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different foundries and process nodes. Intel’s DG2-512 chip is built on a 6 nm TSMC process, packing 21,700 million transistors into a 406 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 53.4M per mm². AMD’s Vega 10 uses a 14 nm GlobalFoundries process, with 12,500 million transistors on a larger 495 mm² die, giving a density of just 25.3M per mm². The Intel chip is denser and more modern, which directly contributes to its higher clock speeds: 2100 MHz base and 2400 MHz boost versus 1138 MHz base and 1250 MHz boost on the AMD part.

Core counts also favor Intel. The Arc A770 has 4096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 128 ROPs, while the Pro Vega 56 has 3584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The Arc A770 also includes 32 dedicated ray tracing cores, a feature entirely absent from the Pro Vega 56. Memory subsystems differ sharply: the Arc A770 uses a 256-bit GDDR6 bus with 512.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the Pro Vega 56 uses a 2048-bit HBM2 bus with 402.4 GB/s. The Intel card’s 16 GB capacity doubles the AMD part’s 8 GB, and its 2000 MHz memory clock (16 Gbps effective) far exceeds the Pro Vega 56’s 786 MHz (1572 Mbps effective).

API support is another generational leap. The Arc A770 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the Pro Vega 56 is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. Both support OpenGL 4.6. Display outputs differ, with Intel offering 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 2.0, versus AMD’s 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The Intel card uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the AMD part is stuck on PCIe 3.0 x16.

Where Each One Wins

The Intel Arc A770 wins in every measurable compute scenario from the data. Its FP32 throughput is 19.66 TFLOPS versus 8.960 TFLOPS for the Pro Vega 56, more than doubling the AMD part’s peak. FP16 performance follows the same pattern: 39.32 TFLOPS versus 17.92 TFLOPS. Pixel and texture rates also heavily favor Intel — 307.2 GPixel/s and 614.4 GTexel/s versus 80.00 GPixel/s and 280.0 GTexel/s. For OpenCL workloads, the Arc A770’s 109,175 score is 76.3% higher than the Pro Vega 56’s 61,930, indicating a massive advantage in generic compute offload.

The Vulkan test narrows the gap slightly but still shows Intel ahead by 42.8% (94,284 versus 66,004). The Arc A770’s ray tracing cores give it a feature advantage for any workload that uses DXR or Vulkan ray tracing, which the Pro Vega 56 cannot accelerate. The AMD card’s sole niche is its IGP form factor — it is the only option in this comparison that requires no external power connectors and occupies no expansion slot. That makes it the only plausible choice for a specific set of Apple Mac Pro systems that accept the Radeon Pro Vega series as a module.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher memory bandwidth?

A: The Intel Arc A770 leads with 512.0 GB/s from a 256-bit GDDR6 bus, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 provides 402.4 GB/s via a 2048-bit HBM2 bus.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 support hardware ray tracing?

A: No. The Pro Vega 56 has no ray tracing cores listed in the data, whereas the Intel Arc A770 includes 32 dedicated RT cores.

Q: What is the average benchmark score difference between the two?

A: The Arc A770 averages 68,809 across all benchmarks, while the Pro Vega 56 averages 63,693. The Arc A770’s nearest rival in its data set is the NVIDIA CMP 90HX at 69,000 (-0.3% delta), while the Pro Vega 56’s closest competitor is the AMD Radeon RX 7600M at 63,775 (-0.1% delta).

Q: Can the Pro Vega 56 be installed in a standard desktop PCIe slot?

A: The data lists the Pro Vega 56 as an IGP (integrated graphics processor) with no power connectors and a slot width of "IGP", meaning it is not a standard add-in card. The Arc A770 is dual-slot and requires a 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin power connection.

Q: Which GPU has better Vulkan performance?

A: The Intel Arc A770 scores 94,284 in Geekbench Vulkan, which is 42.8% higher than the Pro Vega 56’s 66,004. The Arc A770 also supports Vulkan 1.4 versus 1.3 on the AMD card.

Q: Which GPU has a higher transistor density?

A: The Intel Arc A770’s 6 nm TSMC process yields 53.4M transistors per mm², versus 25.3M per mm² for the 14 nm GlobalFoundries process used by the Pro Vega 56.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two GPUs share exactly two comparable benchmark tests in the dataset, and Intel wins both. The first is Geekbench OpenCL, where the Arc A770 scores 109,175 against the Pro Vega 56’s 61,930. That is a 76.3% delta — the largest gap in any metric between these two cards. This result aligns with the raw compute specs: the Arc A770’s FP32 throughput of 19.66 TFLOPS is more than double the Pro Vega 56’s 8.960 TFLOPS, and its texture rate of 614.4 GTexel/s is more than double the AMD part’s 280.0 GTexel/s. The OpenCL test likely stresses these units heavily, and the Intel card’s 4096 shading units versus 3584, plus its higher clocks, drive the margin.

The second shared test is Geekbench Vulkan, where the Arc A770 scores 94,284 versus 66,004 for the Pro Vega 56. The 42.8% delta is smaller but still decisive. Vulkan performance often hinges on driver efficiency and API-level capabilities; the Arc A770 supports Vulkan 1.4, while the Pro Vega 56 is limited to 1.3. The Intel card’s 16 GB of memory may also help in this workload, as Vulkan compute shaders can allocate larger buffers. The Pro Vega 56’s HBM2 memory, while offering respectable 402.4 GB/s bandwidth, is paired with a slower 1250 MHz boost clock, which limits its effective throughput.

Beyond the head-to-head tests, the Arc A770 also holds a separate 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2,969, a test the Pro Vega 56 has no recorded result for. The Intel card also lists a Geekbench Metal score of 63,145 for the AMD part — the only test where the Pro Vega 56 has a result but the Arc A770 does not — but that is not a comparative metric. The wins tally is 2-0 in favor of Intel, with no category where AMD pulls ahead. The Arc A770’s nearest rival, the NVIDIA CMP 90HX, scores 69,000 (a -0.3% delta), placing Intel essentially level with that card, while the Pro Vega 56 sits 5.1% behind the Arc A770’s average. In absolute terms, the Intel card is the faster GPU by a wide margin, and the data does not support any scenario where the Pro Vega 56 outperforms it in shared workloads.