AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64 vs AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT Comparison

# AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT vs AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64

The Verdict

The benchmark data is unambiguous: the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT wins every head-to-head test against the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64. Across three Geekbench workloads, the RX 6850M XT leads by margins ranging from 19.6% to 79.5%. The average benchmark score tells the same story — the RX 6850M XT posts 78,940 versus 72,379 for the Pro Vega 64, a difference of roughly 9% overall. The RX 6850M XT also ranks in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, while the Pro Vega 64 sits at the 91st percentile. For anyone choosing strictly on performance data, the RX 6850M XT is the clear pick. The Pro Vega 64 retains one advantage: 16 GB of HBM2 memory versus 12 GB of GDDR6, which matters for workloads that exhaust the smaller frame buffer. However, given that the RX 6850M XT wins all three benchmark comparisons and delivers a substantially higher average score, the data supports choosing it unless the larger memory pool is an absolute requirement.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural generations and manufacturing processes. The RX 6850M XT uses the Navi 22 chip built on RDNA 2.0 architecture, manufactured by TSMC on a 7 nm process. The Pro Vega 64 uses the Vega 10 chip built on GCN 5.0 architecture, manufactured by GlobalFoundries on a 14 nm process. This process gap is significant: the RX 6850M XT packs 17,200 million transistors into a 335 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 51.3 million per square millimeter. The Pro Vega 64 contains 12,500 million transistors across a larger 495 mm² die, resulting in a density of just 25.3 million per square millimeter. The RX 6850M XT achieves more than double the transistor density. The architectural differences extend to feature support. The RX 6850M XT includes 40 ray tracing cores, while the Pro Vega 64 has none. The RX 6850M XT supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), whereas the Pro Vega 64 supports DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6, but the RX 6850M XT supports Vulkan 1.4 versus Vulkan 1.3 on the Pro Vega 64. The RX 6850M XT also runs on PCIe 4.0 x16, while the Pro Vega 64 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. These differences reflect the generational leap from GCN 5.0 to RDNA 2.0, with the newer architecture bringing hardware ray tracing and a newer DirectX feature level.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The largest delta appears in the Geekbench Metal test. The RX 6850M XT scores 128,981, while the Pro Vega 64 scores 71,868. That is a 79.5% advantage for the RX 6850M XT — nearly double the performance in this compute API. This result is striking because the Pro Vega 64 has more shading units (4,096 versus 2,560) and more texture mapping units (256 versus 160), yet the RX 6850M XT’s higher clock speeds and newer architecture dominate. The RX 6850M XT boosts to 2,581 MHz, while the Pro Vega 64 boosts to 1,350 MHz — a 1,231 MHz gap that explains much of the Metal result. The Vulkan test shows a 34.1% win for the RX 6850M XT, which scores 99,483 versus 74,174. This is a substantial margin, though smaller than Metal, suggesting the older GCN architecture handles Vulkan relatively better than Metal. The closest contest is in Geekbench OpenCL, where the RX 6850M XT scores 85,040 against 71,094 for the Pro Vega 64 — a 19.6% lead. Even in its weakest relative result, the RX 6850M XT remains nearly a fifth faster. The RX 6850M XT’s raw compute figures support these wins: 13.21 TFLOPS FP32 versus 11.06 TFLOPS, and 26.43 TFLOPS FP16 versus 22.12 TFLOPS. The pixel rate also favors the RX 6850M XT at 165.2 GPixel/s versus 86.40 GPixel/s, as does the texture rate at 413.0 GTexel/s versus 345.6 GTexel/s.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every core specification. The RX 6850M XT has 2,560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, plus 40 ray tracing cores. The Pro Vega 64 has 4,096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with no ray tracing cores. Despite having fewer shading units and TMUs, the RX 6850M XT achieves higher throughput due to its much higher clocks — base 2,321 MHz versus 1,250 MHz, boost 2,581 MHz versus 1,350 MHz, and a game clock of 2,463 MHz on the RX 6850M XT where the Pro Vega 64 has no game clock listed. Memory configurations also diverge. The RX 6850M XT uses 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 432.0 GB/s bandwidth with memory clocked at 2,250 MHz (18 Gbps effective). The Pro Vega 64 uses 16 GB of HBM2 on a 2,048-bit bus, delivering 402.4 GB/s bandwidth with memory at 786 MHz (1,572 Mbps effective). The Pro Vega 64 has a wider bus but slightly lower bandwidth. Power consumption differs sharply: the RX 6850M XT is rated at 165 W TDP, while the Pro Vega 64 is rated at 250 W. Both are integrated into portable devices with no power connectors and portable-device-dependent display outputs. The RX 6850M XT was released on January 3, 2022, while the Pro Vega 64 came out on June 26, 2017 — a gap of roughly four and a half years. Both are end-of-life products. The RX 6850M XT belongs to the Radeon RX 6000 series with a Navi Mobile generation, while the Pro Vega 64 belongs to the Radeon Pro Mac (Vega Series) generation.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT has an average benchmark score of 78,940, compared to 72,379 for the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64. The RX 6850M XT also ranks at the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, versus the 91st percentile for the Pro Vega 64.

Q: How much faster is the RX 6850M XT in the Geekbench Metal test?

A: The RX 6850M XT scores 128,981 in Geekbench Metal, while the Pro Vega 64 scores 71,868. This gives the RX 6850M XT a 79.5% advantage, the largest delta between the two GPUs across all tested workloads.

Q: Does the Pro Vega 64 have any specification advantage?

A: Yes, the Pro Vega 64 has 16 GB of HBM2 memory on a 2,048-bit bus, whereas the RX 6850M XT has 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus. The Pro Vega 64 also has more shading units (4,096 versus 2,560) and more TMUs (256 versus 160), though the RX 6850M XT still wins all benchmarks.

Q: What is the TDP difference between the two GPUs?

A: The RX 6850M XT is rated at 165 W TDP, while the Pro Vega 64 is rated at 250 W TDP. The RX 6850M XT achieves higher performance while drawing 85 W less power according to the TDP figures.

Q: Which GPU supports hardware ray tracing?

A: The RX 6850M XT includes 40 ray tracing cores, while the Pro Vega 64 has no ray tracing cores listed. The RX 6850M XT also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), whereas the Pro Vega 64 supports DirectX 12 (12_1).

Q: How do the two GPUs compare in Vulkan performance?

A: In Geekbench Vulkan, the RX 6850M XT scores 99,483 against 74,174 for the Pro Vega 64, a 34.1% advantage for the RX 6850M XT. This is a smaller margin than Metal but still a decisive win.

Where Each One Wins

The RX 6850M XT wins every benchmark category tested. In Geekbench Metal, its 79.5% lead makes it the dominant choice for Metal-based compute and graphics workloads. This is the largest performance gap of any test and likely reflects the combination of RDNA 2.0 architecture, higher clocks, and PCIe 4.0 connectivity. In Vulkan, the 34.1% margin still gives the RX 6850M XT a decisive advantage for Vulkan applications. In OpenCL, the 19.6% edge is the narrowest of the three, but it remains a clear win. The RX 6850M XT also delivers higher pixel rate (165.2 GPixel/s versus 86.40 GPixel/s) and texture rate (413.0 GTexel/s versus 345.6 GTexel/s), making it better suited for resolution-heavy and texture-heavy rendering. Its 13.21 TFLOPS FP32 and 26.43 TFLOPS FP16 outperform the Pro Vega 64’s 11.06 and 22.12 TFLOPS, respectively. For users prioritizing raw compute, ray tracing support, newer DirectX features, or lower power draw, the RX 6850M XT is the data-backed choice.

The Pro Vega 64’s wins are limited to memory capacity and bus width. With 16 GB of HBM2 versus 12 GB of GDDR6, the Pro Vega 64 offers 4 GB more memory. This could matter for workloads that require larger datasets in memory, such as certain machine learning inference tasks or large 3D scenes. Its 2,048-bit bus is also wider, though the resulting bandwidth (402.4 GB/s) is slightly lower than the RX 6850M XT’s 432.0 GB/s. The Pro Vega 64 also has more shading units and TMUs, but the benchmark results show these hardware advantages do not translate into performance wins. For any scenario where memory capacity is the binding constraint, the Pro Vega 64 is the only option of the two. For every other measured metric, the RX 6850M XT leads. Given the data, the RX 6850M XT is the stronger GPU overall, with the Pro Vega 64 serving as a niche pick for memory-bound workloads.