AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 vs NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded database results show a clear and consistent advantage for the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 across both shared benchmark tests. In the Geekbench OpenCL workload, the AMD part scores 61930 against the NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile's 48703, a delta of 27.2% in favor of the Vega 56. This is not a marginal lead; it represents a substantial performance gap in a compute-oriented API that stresses raw shader throughput and memory bandwidth.

The disparity widens further in the Geekbench Vulkan test. Here, the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 posts 66004, while the NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile manages only 46782. The resulting delta is 41.1%, meaning the AMD adapter is nearly half again as fast in this particular workload. Vulkan's low-level nature tends to expose architectural efficiency, and the data indicates the Vega 10 chip responds far better to that pressure than the GA107 die in the RTX A1000 Mobile.

It is notably the RTX A1000 Mobile has no Metal benchmark recorded in the database, whereas the Vega 56 has a Geekbench Metal score of 63145. That absence is itself informative: the NVIDIA mobile GPU appears oriented toward environments where OpenCL and Vulkan are the primary interfaces, while the AMD part's presence in the Apple ecosystem (given its Radeon Pro Mac generation) means Metal support is a core feature. When placed against its nearest rivals, the Vega 56's average benchmark score of 63693 sits just 0.1% below the AMD Radeon RX 7600M (63775) and 0.2% below both the Radeon RX 9060 XT LP and NVIDIA CMP 30HX (63830 and 63842 respectively). The RTX A1000 Mobile's average of 47743, by contrast, trails the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (48477) by 1.5% but leads the RX 6550M (46702) by 2.2%.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different design philosophies and process nodes. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 is built on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries, using the Vega 10 chip with a GCN 5.0 architecture. It packs 12,500 million transistors onto a 495 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 25.3M per mm². The NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile, in contrast, uses Samsung's 8 nm process with the GA107 chip under the Ampere architecture. It contains 8,700 million transistors on a much smaller 200 mm² die, achieving a higher density of 43.5M per mm². This density advantage speaks to NVIDIA's more modern manufacturing, but the raw transistor count and die size favor AMD's older, larger design.

Memory configurations diverge sharply. The Vega 56 uses 8 GB of HBM2 across a 2048-bit bus, delivering 402.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX A1000 Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, with a peak bandwidth of 176.0 GB/s. That is less than half the bandwidth of the AMD part, and the implications for memory-bound workloads are evident in the benchmark deltas. Clock speeds also differ: the Vega 56 runs at a base of 1138 MHz and boosts to 1250 MHz, while the RTX A1000 Mobile starts at a much lower 630 MHz base but boosts to 1140 MHz. The memory clock on the AMD side is 786 MHz (1572 Mbps effective) versus 1375 MHz (11 Gbps effective) on the NVIDIA side.

Compute resources tell a similar story. The Vega 56 has 3584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, compared to the RTX A1000 Mobile's 2048 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The AMD GPU also holds a decisive lead in pixel rate (80.00 GPixel/s versus 36.48 GPixel/s) and texture rate (280.0 GTexel/s versus 72.96 GTexel/s). FP32 throughput is 8.960 TFLOPS versus 4.669 TFLOPS. However, the NVIDIA part introduces dedicated hardware absent from the AMD design: 16 RT cores and 64 tensor cores. The Vega 56 has no such units, meaning ray tracing and tensor-based workloads are simply not part of its feature set. FP16 performance also differs in character: the Vega 56 achieves 17.92 TFLOPS via a 2:1 ratio, while the RTX A1000 Mobile runs FP16 at the same rate as FP32 (4.669 TFLOPS, 1:1).

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score across all recorded tests?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 averages 63693, placing it in the 89th percentile of all GPUs. The NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile averages 47743, which sits in the 85th percentile.

Q: How large is the performance gap in the shared OpenCL test?

A: The Vega 56 scores 61930 against the RTX A1000 Mobile's 48703, a 27.2% advantage for the AMD part.

Q: Does the NVIDIA GPU offer any ray tracing capability?

A: Yes, the RTX A1000 Mobile includes 16 RT cores. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 has no RT cores at all, so it cannot perform hardware-accelerated ray tracing.

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

A: The Vega 56 provides 402.4 GB/s over a 2048-bit HBM2 bus, while the RTX A1000 Mobile provides 176.0 GB/s over a 128-bit GDDR6 bus. The AMD part has more than double the bandwidth.

Q: Are both GPUs still in production?

A: No. Both are listed as end-of-life in the database. The Vega 56 was released in August 2017, and the RTX A1000 Mobile was released in March 2022.

Q: Which GPU supports the newer DirectX version?

A: The RTX A1000 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), whereas the Vega 56 supports DirectX 12 (12_1). The NVIDIA part also lists Vulkan 1.4 support versus Vulkan 1.3 on the AMD side.

Specification Differences

The two adapters differ across nearly every measurable specification. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 uses a Vega 10 chip on GCN 5.0 architecture with a 14 nm process, while the NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile uses GA107 on Ampere with an 8 nm process. Transistor counts are 12,500 million versus 8,700 million, and die sizes are 495 mm² versus 200 mm². Transistor density is 25.3M per mm² on AMD versus 43.5M per mm² on NVIDIA.

Clock speeds: the Vega 56 has a 1138 MHz base and 1250 MHz boost, while the RTX A1000 Mobile has a 630 MHz base and 1140 MHz boost. Memory: 8 GB HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus with 402.4 GB/s bandwidth versus 4 GB GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 176.0 GB/s bandwidth. Memory clocks are 786 MHz (1572 Mbps effective) versus 1375 MHz (11 Gbps effective).

Compute units: 3584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 64 ROPs on the AMD part; 2048 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs on the NVIDIA part. The RTX A1000 Mobile adds 16 RT cores and 64 tensor cores, which the Vega 56 lacks. Pixel rate is 80.00 GPixel/s versus 36.48 GPixel/s, texture rate is 280.0 GTexel/s versus 72.96 GTexel/s, and FP32 is 8.960 TFLOPS versus 4.669 TFLOPS. FP16 is 17.92 TFLOPS (2:1) versus 4.669 TFLOPS (1:1).

Power draw: 210 W for the Vega 56 versus 60 W for the RTX A1000 Mobile. Both are IGP slot width with no power connectors. The bus interface differs: PCIe 3.0 x16 on AMD versus PCIe 4.0 x8 on NVIDIA. Display outputs: the Vega 56 has 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the RTX A1000 Mobile is listed as portable device dependent. API support: DirectX 12 (12_1) versus 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6 on both, Vulkan 1.3 versus 1.4.

The Verdict

The data points to a straightforward conclusion for raw compute performance: the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 is the faster GPU by a wide margin in the recorded benchmarks. It wins both shared tests, with a 27.2% lead in OpenCL and a 41.1% lead in Vulkan. Its average score of 63693 places it in the 89th percentile, while the RTX A1000 Mobile's 47743 falls to the 85th percentile. For anyone prioritizing peak throughput in OpenCL or Vulkan workloads, the Vega 56 is the clear choice based on these measurements.

However, the RTX A1000 Mobile should not be dismissed outright. Its 60 W power draw is dramatically lower than the Vega 56's 210 W, making it far more suitable for thin-and-light mobile workstations where thermal and battery constraints are paramount. The NVIDIA part also brings hardware ray tracing and tensor cores, features that the Vega 56 cannot offer at all. Its PCIe 4.0 x8 interface and more modern 8 nm process indicate a newer design, despite the lower transistor count. The RTX A1000 Mobile's predecessor is Quadro Turing-M and its successor is Ada-MW, showing it sits in a continuous product line, whereas the Vega 56 is a standalone entry in the Radeon Pro Mac generation.

The database also shows that the RTX A1000 Mobile's average score is only 1.5% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, a high-end desktop part, which suggests its efficiency is competitive within its class. Yet, against the Vega 56, the performance gap is too large to ignore. The verdict depends on the use case: if raw compute is the sole criterion, the AMD part wins decisively. If power efficiency and modern feature support matter more, the NVIDIA part has its own merits.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 wins in every recorded benchmark comparison. It leads by 27.2% in Geekbench OpenCL and by 41.1% in Geekbench Vulkan. Its higher FP32 throughput (8.960 TFLOPS versus 4.669 TFLOPS), larger memory pool (8 GB versus 4 GB), and vastly superior bandwidth (402.4 GB/s versus 176.0 GB/s) make it the stronger choice for compute-heavy tasks like rendering, scientific simulation, or any workload that saturates memory. The Vega 56 also has a Metal benchmark score of 63145, indicating solid performance in Apple-centric environments, which aligns with its Radeon Pro Mac generation.

The NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile wins where the AMD part cannot compete: power efficiency and specialized hardware. Its 60 W TDP versus 210 W means it can operate in systems where the Vega 56 would require far more thermal headroom. The presence of 16 RT cores and 64 tensor cores gives it capabilities in ray-traced rendering and AI inference that the Vega 56 lacks entirely. Its newer 8 nm process and higher transistor density (43.5M per mm² versus 25.3M per mm²) suggest better energy efficiency per transistor, and its PCIe 4.0 x8 interface offers newer system integration. For mobile workloads that prioritize battery life, portability, and modern graphics features over raw throughput, the RTX A1000 Mobile is the appropriate pick.