AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Comparison

AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 occupy vastly different positions in the benchmark database, yet both share the same 91st percentile ranking among all GPUs. The data shows a stark generational and architectural divide, with the RTX 4090 delivering overwhelmingly higher raw scores while the Radeon Pro Vega 56 remains competitive in aggregate average due to the specific weighting of its available tests. The head-to-head results, however, leave no ambiguity about which card is faster in compute workloads.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two GPUs were directly compared in two compute-oriented tests, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 dominates both. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4090 scores 317,684 against the Radeon Pro Vega 56’s 61,930, a delta of -80.5% for the AMD card. This is not a marginal victory; the RTX 4090 delivers roughly 5.1 times the OpenCL performance, reflecting the massive difference in shading units, clock speeds, and memory bandwidth. The Geekbench Vulkan test shows a similar pattern, with the RTX 4090 scoring 270,615 versus 66,004 for the Radeon Pro Vega 56, a -75.6% delta. In Vulkan, the NVIDIA card is about 4.1 times faster, still an enormous gap.

These results make the aggregate benchmark picture more curious. The Radeon Pro Vega 56’s average benchmark score is 67,097, while the RTX 4090’s is 66,473. That puts the AMD card 0.9% ahead of the RTX 4090 in the overall average, despite losing both head-to-head tests by massive margins. The explanation lies in the test suites: the Radeon Pro Vega 56’s benchmarks are limited to Geekbench Metal, OpenCL, and Vulkan, while the RTX 4090’s scores include a broader set of PassMark tests and a 3DMark Steel Nomad result. The RTX 4090’s PassMark DirectX 10 score of 224 and DirectX 12 score of 150 are notably low, dragging its average down. The Radeon Pro Vega 56’s Geekbench Metal score of 73,356 is its strongest, and all three of its tests cluster in the 62,000–73,000 range, producing a stable but modest average.

The nearest-rival data reinforces the oddity. For the Radeon Pro Vega 56, the RTX 4090 is listed as a nearest rival with a -0.9% delta, meaning the AMD card’s average is slightly higher. For the RTX 4090, the Radeon Pro Vega 56 appears as a rival with a +0.9% delta, confirming the same relationship. Yet the head-to-head deltas of -80.5% and -75.6% tell a completely different story. The conclusion is that the average benchmark score is heavily influenced by test selection, and in this database, the two cards are only comparable in average terms because the RTX 4090’s PassMark results are anomalously low. In any direct compute comparison, the RTX 4090 is in a different performance class.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 has an average benchmark score of 67,097, which is 0.9% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090’s 66,473.

Q: How much faster is the RTX 4090 in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The RTX 4090 scores 317,684 versus the Radeon Pro Vega 56’s 61,930, a delta of -80.5% for the AMD card, meaning the NVIDIA GPU is roughly 5.1 times faster.

Q: Does the Radeon Pro Vega 56 win any head-to-head benchmark?

A: No. In the two head-to-head tests available (Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 wins both, leaving the AMD card with zero wins in the comparison.

Q: What explains the similar average scores despite the lopsided head-to-head results?

A: The average is skewed by the RTX 4090’s PassMark scores, which include low results like 224 in DirectX 10 and 150 in DirectX 12, while the Radeon Pro Vega 56’s three Geekbench scores are all above 61,000.

Q: Which GPU has the higher percentile ranking?

A: Both GPUs share the same percentile ranking of 91, placing them in the top tier of all GPUs in the database despite their vastly different performance profiles.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference between the two?

A: The RTX 4090 has a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s, while the Radeon Pro Vega 56 has 402.4 GB/s, making the NVIDIA card’s memory subsystem more than twice as fast.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two GPUs is profound, starting with the manufacturing process. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 uses a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 uses a 5 nm process at TSMC. This node difference is reflected in transistor density: the RTX 4090 packs 125.3 million transistors per square millimeter, versus 25.3 million for the AMD card. The RTX 4090’s AD102 chip contains 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die, while the Radeon Pro Vega 56’s Vega 10 chip has 12,500 million transistors on a 495 mm² die. The RTX 4090 achieves nearly 4.9 times the transistor density on a larger die, explaining its massive compute advantage.

The architectures themselves are generations apart. The Radeon Pro Vega 56 is built on GCN 5.0, an architecture dating to 2017, while the RTX 4090 uses Ada Lovelace, NVIDIA’s latest generation for the GeForce 40 series. The AMD card has 3,584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output pipelines. The RTX 4090 has 16,384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs — roughly 4.6 times the shader count, 2.3 times the TMUs, and 2.75 times the ROPs. Critically, the RTX 4090 also has 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores, features entirely absent from the Radeon Pro Vega 56, which has neither.

Memory architecture is another major divergence. The Radeon Pro Vega 56 uses 8 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus, yielding 402.4 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 4090 uses 24 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus, achieving 1.01 TB/s bandwidth. The RTX 4090’s memory clock is 1313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective speed, while the AMD card’s memory runs at 786 MHz with 1572 Mbps effective. The NVIDIA card also supports PCIe 4.0 x16, while the AMD card is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16. The RTX 4090 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, whereas the Radeon Pro Vega 56 supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. Both support OpenGL 4.6.

Specification Differences

The specification sheet highlights a clear generational gap. The RTX 4090’s base clock is 2235 MHz with a boost of 2520 MHz, compared to 1138 MHz base and 1250 MHz boost for the Radeon Pro Vega 56. The NVIDIA card’s FP32 performance is 82.58 TFLOPS, versus 8.960 TFLOPS for the AMD card — a 9.2 times difference. FP16 performance shows a similar story: 82.58 TFLOPS (1:1) for the RTX 4090 versus 17.92 TFLOPS (2:1) for the AMD card. Pixel rate is 443.5 GPixel/s for the RTX 4090 versus 80.00 GPixel/s for the AMD card, and texture rate is 1,290.2 GTexel/s versus 280.0 GTexel/s.

Power consumption differs significantly, with the RTX 4090 rated at 450 W TDP and the Radeon Pro Vega 56 at 210 W. The RTX 4090 requires a 1x 16-pin power connector and suggests an 850 W PSU, while the AMD card has no power connectors and is listed as an IGP slot width. The RTX 4090 is a triple-slot card measuring 304 mm in length, 137 mm in height, and 61 mm in width, while the Radeon Pro Vega 56 has no dimensions listed and is an integrated-style form factor. Display outputs are similar: the RTX 4090 has 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the AMD card has 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The RTX 4090’s launch MSRP was 1,599 USD.

The Verdict

The data makes it clear that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the superior performer in every direct comparison. Its OpenCL score is 5.1 times higher, and its Vulkan score is 4.1 times higher, with corresponding advantages in shader count, memory bandwidth, and compute throughput. The Radeon Pro Vega 56’s only "win" is a 0.9% higher average benchmark score, a statistical artifact of the RTX 4090’s low PassMark results. For anyone prioritizing raw compute performance, the RTX 4090 is the obvious choice, provided the 450 W power draw and triple-slot size are acceptable. The Radeon Pro Vega 56, being end-of-life and from 2017, offers no competitive advantage in modern workloads.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 4090 wins decisively in compute-heavy applications, as evidenced by its Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan scores. Its 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 performance, 128 ray tracing cores, and 512 tensor cores make it suitable for rendering, AI inference, and ray-traced workloads. The 24 GB GDDR6X memory with 1.01 TB/s bandwidth supports large datasets and high-resolution textures. The Radeon Pro Vega 56, with its 17.92 TFLOPS FP16 performance and HBM2 memory, might still handle lighter compute tasks, but its 8 GB capacity and 402.4 GB/s bandwidth are limiting. In the aggregate average, the Radeon Pro Vega 56 edges ahead by 0.9%, but this is a narrow statistical quirk. The RTX 4090 wins every head-to-head test, making it the clear choice for any workload that benefits from massive parallel throughput. The Radeon Pro Vega 56’s lower 210 W TDP and IGP form factor could suit power-constrained or space-constrained systems, but its end-of-life status and lack of modern features like ray tracing hardware relegate it to legacy or niche roles.