AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 vs NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile Comparison

The NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 represent two distinct approaches to professional mobile graphics, separated by four years of architectural evolution. The benchmark data shows a split decision: the RTX A3000 Mobile takes the OpenCL crown by a wide margin, while the Radeon Pro Vega 56 counters with a solid Vulkan lead. Their overall average scores place them just two percentile points apart, with the NVIDIA card at the 91st percentile and the AMD card at the 89th percentile across all GPUs.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two cards split their head-to-head benchmark wins exactly one apiece, but the margins are anything but symmetric. In Geekbench OpenCL, the NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile scores 79,091 against the Radeon Pro Vega 56's 61,930. That is a 27.7% advantage for the Ampere-based mobile part, a decisive gap that reflects a substantial generational leap in raw compute throughput. The RTX A3000 Mobile's FP32 rating of 10.08 TFLOPS exceeds the Vega 56's 8.960 TFLOPS, and the OpenCL result aligns with that specification advantage.

The Vulkan test tells the opposite story, though with a smaller margin. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 posts 66,004, while the NVIDIA card manages 61,189. That yields a 7.3% delta in favor of the Vega 56—a meaningful win, but nowhere near the scale of NVIDIA's OpenCL dominance. The Vega 56 also has a Geekbench Metal score of 63,145, a test the RTX A3000 Mobile does not appear in; this additional data point suggests the AMD card has particular strength in Apple-centric compute workloads, consistent with its "Radeon Pro Mac" generation label.

Looking at average benchmark scores, the RTX A3000 Mobile sits at 70,140, which places it 10.1% above the Vega 56's 63,693 average. The NVIDIA card's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 (69,986, just 0.2% behind) and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 8200 (69,870, 0.4% behind), indicating it clusters with high-end workstation parts from the previous generation. The Vega 56's nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 7600M at 63,775, a mere 0.1% difference, followed by the Radeon RX 9060 XT LP at 63,830 (0.2% ahead). These proximity scores show the Vega 56 remains competitive with much newer mid-range mobile silicon, despite its age.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different design philosophies and manufacturing generations. The NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile uses the GA104 chip on an 8 nm Samsung process, packing 17,400 million transistors into a 392 mm² die. That yields a transistor density of 44.4 million per square millimeter. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 relies on the Vega 10 chip fabricated on a 14 nm GlobalFoundries process, with 12,500 million transistors spread across a much larger 495 mm² die, giving a density of just 25.3 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA part achieves 75.5% higher transistor density, a direct consequence of the more advanced node.

The compute architectures diverge sharply. The RTX A3000 Mobile is built on Ampere, with 4,096 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. It also includes 32 dedicated ray tracing cores and 128 tensor cores, features entirely absent from the Vega 56. In contrast, the Radeon Pro Vega 56 uses GCN 5.0, with 3,584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The AMD card has 75% more TMUs, which explains its higher texture rate of 280.0 GTexel/s versus the NVIDIA's 157.4 GTexel/s. However, the NVIDIA card's pixel rate is close (78.72 GPixel/s vs 80.00 GPixel/s) despite having the same ROP count, because of its higher memory clock efficiency.

Memory architecture represents another fundamental split. The RTX A3000 Mobile uses 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, achieving 264.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Radeon Pro Vega 56 uses 8 GB of HBM2 on a massive 2048-bit bus, delivering 402.4 GB/s—52.4% more bandwidth. The AMD card's memory advantage is substantial, but it comes at a cost: the Vega 56 draws 210 W versus the RTX A3000 Mobile's 70 W, a threefold difference in thermal envelope. The NVIDIA card also supports PCIe 4.0 x16, while the AMD part is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16.

Feature support also differs. The RTX A3000 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the Vega 56 tops out at DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. Both support OpenGL 4.6. The NVIDIA card lacks dedicated display outputs (portable device dependent), whereas the Vega 56 provides 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX A3000 Mobile wins decisively in OpenCL compute, leveraging its 10.08 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 1:1 FP16 ratio to outpace the Vega 56 by 27.7%. This makes it the stronger choice for general-purpose GPU compute workloads that rely on OpenCL, such as scientific simulation, data processing, and certain rendering tasks. Its ray tracing cores and tensor cores also give it hardware acceleration for ray-traced rendering and AI inference, features the Vega 56 cannot match at all. The 70 W TDP makes it suitable for thinner, more power-constrained laptops, whereas the Vega 56's 210 W requirement demands a much beefier cooling solution—its slot width is listed as "IGP," indicating an integrated form factor likely found in larger professional workstations.

The Radeon Pro Vega 56 wins in Vulkan, posting a 7.3% advantage, which suggests better optimization for Vulkan-based game engines and real-time graphics APIs. Its 402.4 GB/s memory bandwidth is a massive asset for bandwidth-hungry workloads like large texture streaming, video processing, and compute kernels that repeatedly access large datasets. The 8 GB memory capacity also provides more headroom for holding larger working sets than the RTX A3000 Mobile's 6 GB. Additionally, the Vega 56's Metal score of 63,145 indicates strong performance in macOS environments, likely making it the preferred choice for Apple-centric creative workflows.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 70,140, compared to the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56's 63,693, making the NVIDIA card 10.1% faster on average.

Q: How large is the OpenCL performance gap between the two?

A: The RTX A3000 Mobile scores 79,091 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the Vega 56 scores 61,930, giving the NVIDIA card a 27.7% lead.

Q: Does the AMD card win any benchmark?

A: Yes, the Radeon Pro Vega 56 wins the Geekbench Vulkan test with a score of 66,004 versus 61,189 for the RTX A3000 Mobile, a 7.3% advantage.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 provides 402.4 GB/s of bandwidth from its 2048-bit HBM2 interface, while the RTX A3000 Mobile offers 264.0 GB/s over a 192-bit GDDR6 bus, a 52.4% difference in favor of AMD.

Q: How do their transistor densities compare?

A: The RTX A3000 Mobile achieves 44.4 million transistors per square millimeter on an 8 nm process, versus 25.3 million for the Vega 56 on 14 nm, a 75.5% higher density for the NVIDIA chip.

Q: Which card supports ray tracing?

A: Only the NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile includes ray tracing cores, with 32 dedicated RT cores, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 has no ray tracing hardware.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every major specification category. The RTX A3000 Mobile uses an 8 nm Samsung process with 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die, while the Vega 56 uses a 14 nm GlobalFoundries process with 12,500 million transistors on a 495 mm² die. Shading units differ at 4,096 for NVIDIA versus 3,584 for AMD; TMUs differ at 128 versus 224; ROPs are equal at 64. The RTX A3000 Mobile has 32 RT cores and 128 tensor cores; the Vega 56 has neither. Memory totals 6 GB GDDR6 for NVIDIA versus 8 GB HBM2 for AMD, with bus widths of 192-bit and 2048-bit, respectively. Bandwidth is 264.0 GB/s versus 402.4 GB/s. Clock speeds show the Vega 56 with a higher base clock of 1138 MHz versus 600 MHz, but the boost clocks are closer at 1250 MHz versus 1230 MHz. FP32 compute is 10.08 TFLOPS for NVIDIA and 8.960 TFLOPS for AMD; FP16 is 10.08 TFLOPS (1:1) versus 17.92 TFLOPS (2:1). TDP differs dramatically at 70 W versus 210 W. The NVIDIA card uses PCIe 4.0 x16; the AMD card uses PCIe 3.0 x16. DirectX support is 12 Ultimate (12_2) versus 12 (12_1); Vulkan support is 1.4 versus 1.3. The Vega 56 offers fixed display outputs; the RTX A3000 Mobile is portable-device dependent. Release dates are April 2021 for NVIDIA and August 2017 for AMD.

The Verdict

The data supports a clear split based on workload and platform. The NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile is the stronger overall performer, with a 10.1% higher average benchmark score, a 27.7% OpenCL advantage, and the only ray tracing and tensor core support. Its 70 W TDP makes it viable for a broader range of mobile chassis, and its 8 nm process delivers far superior transistor density. This is the card for users prioritizing OpenCL compute, ray-traced rendering, AI workloads, or power efficiency in a portable form factor.

The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 remains a compelling option in specific niches. Its 7.3% Vulkan win shows real strength in Vulkan-based applications, and its 52.4% higher memory bandwidth, combined with 2 GB more capacity, makes it attractive for memory-bound tasks. The Metal benchmark presence and "Radeon Pro Mac" generation tag suggest it holds particular value in macOS environments. Its 210 W TDP, however, confines it to larger, less portable systems. For users in the AMD ecosystem or those running Vulkan-heavy or bandwidth-intensive workloads, the Vega 56 still holds its ground; for everything else, the RTX A3000 Mobile's modern architecture and compute lead make it the data-backed choice.