AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 records an average benchmark score of 63693, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile averages 43667. The AMD part sits at the 89th percentile of all GPUs in the database, whereas the NVIDIA part sits at the 84th percentile.

Q: How do these two compare in Geekbench OpenCL performance?

A: The RTX 4090 Mobile scores 180831 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the Radeon Pro Vega 56 scores 61930. That is a 65.8% gap in favor of the NVIDIA part, per the head-to-head delta.

Q: What about Vulkan performance?

A: In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 4090 Mobile scores 170774 versus 66004 for the Radeon Pro Vega 56. The delta is 61.4% in favor of NVIDIA.

Q: Which GPU has more memory and what type?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 576.0 GB/s bandwidth. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 has 8 GB of HBM2 memory on a 2048-bit bus with 402.4 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Do both support modern APIs?

A: The AMD part supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The NVIDIA part supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Q: What are the production statuses of these two products?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 is end-of-life, with a release date of 2017-08-13. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile is active, with a release date of 2023-01-02.

Where Each One Wins

The recorded data shows a clear split between these two parts. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile wins both of the head-to-head benchmark tests in the database: Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan. Its OpenCL score of 180831 is roughly 2.9 times higher than the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56's 61930. Its Vulkan score of 170774 is roughly 2.6 times higher than the AMD's 66004. There are no head-to-head wins for the AMD part.

Yet the average benchmark score tells a different story. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 averages 63693 across all recorded tests, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile averages 43667. This is because the NVIDIA part's average is pulled down by a set of Passmark tests: DirectX 10 at 173, DirectX 11 at 262, DirectX 12 at 107, DirectX 9 at 310, G2D at 984, G3D at 27212, and GPU Compute at 12347. These low Passmark scores drag its average down, even though its Geekbench scores are far higher.

Where each one wins depends on the test suite. For raw compute workloads measured by Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan, the RTX 4090 Mobile is overwhelmingly faster. For the aggregate average across all benchmark types, the Radeon Pro Vega 56 comes out ahead because of the disparate test mix. The AMD GPU also holds a higher percentile ranking at 89 versus 84, meaning it outperforms a larger share of the database's GPU population in the recorded average.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from completely different design eras. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 uses the Vega 10 chip built on GCN 5.0 architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It packs 12,500 million transistors on a 495 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 25.3 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile uses the AD103 chip built on Ada Lovelace architecture, manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It packs 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 121.1 million per square millimeter. In short, NVIDIA crams over three times as many transistors into a smaller die.

The compute resources differ accordingly. The Radeon Pro Vega 56 has 3584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units. The RTX 4090 Mobile has 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output units. The NVIDIA part also includes 76 ray tracing cores and 304 tensor cores, which the AMD part lacks entirely. The AMD part has no RT or tensor core equivalents in the database.

Memory architecture is another fundamental difference. The AMD GPU uses HBM2 with a 2048-bit bus, while the NVIDIA GPU uses GDDR6 with a 256-bit bus. The AMD part's HBM2 runs at 786 MHz (1572 Mbps effective), while the NVIDIA part's GDDR6 runs at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective). The NVIDIA part's narrower bus is compensated by much faster memory clocks and a larger capacity.

The API support also reflects the generational gap. AMD lists DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3, while NVIDIA lists DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4. Both support OpenGL 4.6.

Specification Differences

The specification sheets diverge on nearly every meaningful field. The process node differs: 14 nm for AMD versus 5 nm for NVIDIA. Transistor count differs: 12,500 million versus 45,900 million. Die size differs: 495 mm² versus 379 mm². Transistor density differs: 25.3 million per mm² versus 121.1 million per mm².

Clock speeds differ. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 has a base clock of 1138 MHz and a boost clock of 1250 MHz. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile has a base clock of 1335 MHz and a boost clock of 1695 MHz. The NVIDIA part boosts roughly 35% higher.

Memory specifications differ in every dimension. AMD has 8 GB of HBM2, NVIDIA has 16 GB of GDDR6. AMD's bus is 2048-bit, NVIDIA's is 256-bit. AMD's bandwidth is 402.4 GB/s, NVIDIA's is 576.0 GB/s. AMD's memory clock is 786 MHz (1572 Mbps effective), NVIDIA's is 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective).

Compute rates differ dramatically. AMD's pixel rate is 80.00 GPixel/s, NVIDIA's is 189.8 GPixel/s. AMD's texture rate is 280.0 GTexel/s, NVIDIA's is 515.3 GTexel/s. AMD's FP32 throughput is 8.960 TFLOPS, NVIDIA's is 32.98 TFLOPS. AMD's FP16 is 17.92 TFLOPS (2:1), NVIDIA's is 32.98 TFLOPS (1:1).

Power and interface specifications also differ. The AMD part is rated at 210 W TDP, while the NVIDIA part is rated at 120 W TDP. Both are listed as IGP slot width with no power connectors. The AMD part uses PCIe 3.0 x16, the NVIDIA part uses PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs differ: AMD lists 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while NVIDIA lists "Portable Device Dependent."

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head data in the database covers two tests, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile dominates both. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4090 Mobile scores 180831 against the Radeon Pro Vega 56's 61930, a delta of 65.8% in NVIDIA's favor. In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 4090 Mobile scores 170774 against the AMD part's 66004, a delta of 61.4% in NVIDIA's favor. The database records zero wins for the AMD part in direct head-to-head comparisons.

These are enormous margins. An OpenCL score of 180831 is nearly three times the AMD's 61930. The Vulkan result is similar in magnitude. If you are looking at compute workloads that use these APIs, the RTX 4090 Mobile is in a completely different performance class.

The average benchmark scores complicate the picture. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 averages 63693 across all tests, which places it near rivals like the AMD Radeon RX 7600M at 63775 (0.1% delta), the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT LP at 63830 (0.2% delta), the NVIDIA CMP 30HX at 63842 (0.2% delta), and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 at 64212 (0.8% delta). The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile averages 43667, placing it near the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 at 43301 (0.8% delta), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile at 43268 (0.9% delta), the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB at 43262 (0.9% delta), and the NVIDIA RTX A6000 at 44075 (0.9% delta, negative direction).

The RTX 4090 Mobile's Passmark scores are the reason its average is lower. Its Passmark G3D score of 27212 and GPU Compute score of 12347 are respectable, but its DirectX 9 score of 310, DirectX 10 score of 173, DirectX 11 score of 262, and DirectX 12 score of 107 are all very low. The AMD part has no Passmark scores recorded in the database, so its average is based solely on its three Geekbench results (Metal 63145, OpenCL 61930, Vulkan 66004).

The Verdict

The data points to two different conclusions depending on what you prioritize. If you need raw Geekbench OpenCL or Vulkan performance, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile is the clear choice. It beats the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 by 65.8% in OpenCL and 61.4% in Vulkan. It also has twice the memory (16 GB versus 8 GB), higher bandwidth (576.0 GB/s versus 402.4 GB/s), more than double the FP32 throughput (32.98 TFLOPS versus 8.960 TFLOPS), and hardware ray tracing and tensor cores that the AMD part lacks entirely. It does all of this at a lower TDP (120 W versus 210 W), which is remarkable for a mobile part.

If you are looking at the aggregate average benchmark score, the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 comes out ahead at 63693 versus 43667, and it holds a higher percentile rank at 89 versus 84. However, that average is heavily influenced by the test mix. The NVIDIA part's Passmark DirectX scores are anomalously low, which drags its average down despite its Geekbench dominance.

For a builder choosing between these two, the RTX 4090 Mobile is the stronger GPU for modern compute and graphics workloads, especially those that leverage DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, or ray tracing. The Radeon Pro Vega 56 is an older, end-of-life part with a higher TDP and no RT or tensor cores. Its only advantage in the recorded data is the higher average benchmark score, which stems from a different set of tests. The production status tells the story: AMD's part is end-of-life from 2017, while NVIDIA's part is active from 2023. The practical choice, based strictly on the data, is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile for performance, with the caveat that its Passmark results are inconsistent with its Geekbench results.