AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X vs AMD Radeon PRO W7700 Comparison

# AMD Radeon PRO W7700 vs AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X

The AMD Radeon PRO W7700 is decisively faster than the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X across the one benchmark both cards share, and the performance gap is substantial. In Geekbench OpenCL, the W7700 scores 108,245 against the Vega 64X’s 78,467, a 37.9% advantage that places the newer card in a different performance tier entirely. The W7700 also carries a 95th-percentile ranking among all GPUs, while the Vega 64X sits at the 92nd percentile, underscoring that even a four-year-old flagship can still hold its own against the broader GPU population—but not against this particular successor.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only directly comparable benchmark between these two cards is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is unambiguous. The AMD Radeon PRO W7700 posts a score of 108,245, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X manages 78,467. That is a 37.9% delta in favor of the W7700, a margin that separates these cards by more than a full performance tier in compute workloads.

To put the W7700’s OpenCL result in context, its average benchmark score across all tests is 118,976, which places it just 1.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GB10 (117,393) and 1.6% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation (117,088). The W7700 also leads the NVIDIA Tesla V100 SXM2 16 GB by 4% (114,395) and the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile by 4.4% (113,944). These are tight margins against strong competitors, but the W7700 comes out on top in each pairing.

The Vega 64X, by contrast, has an average benchmark score of 80,959. Its nearest rival is the AMD Radeon PRO W6600, which scores 81,995 and beats the Vega 64X by 1.3%. The Vega 64X does manage to edge out the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 by 1.4% (79,842), the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB by 1.7% (79,605), and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB by 2% (79,396). That the Vega 64X can trade blows with an RTX 5090 in this synthetic workload says more about the benchmark’s compute focus than real-world gaming performance, but the data is what it is.

The W7700’s other benchmark result, Geekbench Vulkan, comes in at 129,706, a score that further reinforces its compute strength. The Vega 64X has no Vulkan result in the data, but it does post a Geekbench Metal score of 83,450, which is higher than its OpenCL result—likely reflecting Apple’s optimization of Metal on the Mac-oriented Vega 64X.

Where Each One Wins

The W7700 wins every head-to-head comparison available in the data. In OpenCL, it beats the Vega 64X by 37.9%, and its Vulkan score of 129,706 is 20% higher than its own OpenCL result, suggesting the RDNA 3.0 architecture scales well across different compute APIs. The Vega 64X has no Vulkan result, so cross-API comparisons are limited, but its Metal score of 83,450 shows it performs better under Apple’s API than under OpenCL.

The Vega 64X’s only real advantage lies in its position within the broader GPU landscape. Its 92nd-percentile ranking means it outperforms the majority of GPUs ever tested, and its ability to beat the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 by 1.4% in average benchmark score is notable for a card released in 2019. That said, the W7700’s 95th-percentile ranking places it in an even more exclusive tier, and its nearest rivals are all newer or more specialized workstation cards.

For compute-heavy workloads like OpenCL rendering or general-purpose GPU compute, the W7700 is the clear choice. The Vega 64X, while still competitive against many modern cards, simply cannot match the W7700’s raw throughput. For users on Apple platforms where Metal is the primary API, the Vega 64X’s Metal score of 83,450 is its strongest showing, but even that falls short of the W7700’s OpenCL result by 29.7%.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two cards is generational. The W7700 uses the Navi 32 chip built on RDNA 3.0 architecture, manufactured on TSMC’s 5 nm process. The Vega 64X uses the Vega 10 chip built on GCN 5.0, manufactured on GlobalFoundries’ 14 nm process. The node difference is stark: 5 nm versus 14 nm means the W7700 packs 28,100 million transistors into a 346 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 81.2 million per square millimeter. The Vega 64X, by contrast, crams 12,500 million transistors into a much larger 495 mm² die, yielding just 25.3 million per square millimeter.

The compute architecture differs fundamentally. The W7700’s RDNA 3.0 is a modern GPU design with 3,072 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, 96 raster output units, and 48 ray tracing cores. The Vega 64X’s GCN 5.0 has more raw shading units (4,096) and more TMUs (256), but fewer ROPs (64) and no ray tracing cores at all. The Vega 64X’s higher shading unit count does not translate into better performance because its clocks are far lower: 1,250 MHz base and 1,468 MHz boost versus the W7700’s 1,900 MHz base and 2,600 MHz boost.

The memory subsystem also diverges completely. The W7700 uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth at 18 Gbps effective. The Vega 64X uses 16 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus, delivering 512.0 GB/s at 2 Gbps effective. The W7700’s narrower bus is more than compensated by its much faster memory clock, giving it 12.5% more bandwidth overall. The Vega 64X’s HBM2 has a wider bus but runs at a fraction of the speed, and its 1,000 MHz memory clock shows its age.

Feature support differs as well. The W7700 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the Vega 64X is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. Both support OpenGL 4.6. The W7700 also includes hardware ray tracing via its 48 RT cores, a feature the Vega 64X lacks entirely.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every specification that matters. The W7700 has a 5 nm process node versus the Vega 64X’s 14 nm. The W7700’s die is 346 mm² with 28,100 million transistors; the Vega 64X’s die is 495 mm² with 12,500 million transistors. Transistor density is 81.2M/mm² for the W7700 versus 25.3M/mm² for the Vega 64X.

Clock speeds are dramatically different: the W7700 runs at 1,900 MHz base and 2,600 MHz boost, while the Vega 64X runs at 1,250 MHz base and 1,468 MHz boost. Memory clocks are 2,250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) for the W7700 versus 1,000 MHz (2 Gbps effective) for the Vega 64X.

Compute throughput favors the W7700 overwhelmingly. It delivers 31.95 TFLOPS FP32 and 63.90 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1), while the Vega 64X manages 12.03 TFLOPS FP32 and 24.05 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1). The W7700 has higher pixel rate (249.6 GPixel/s versus 93.95 GPixel/s) and higher texture rate (499.2 GTexel/s versus 375.8 GTexel/s).

Power and physical specs also diverge. The W7700 has a 190 W TDP with a single 8-pin power connector and a suggested 450 W PSU, while the Vega 64X has a 250 W TDP with no power connectors (it is an integrated graphics processor, or IGP). The W7700 is a dual-slot card measuring 241 mm (9.5 inches) long and 111 mm (4.4 inches) tall, with four DisplayPort 2.1 outputs. The Vega 64X has no listed dimensions and its display outputs are "Portable Device Dependent," reflecting its Mac-oriented design.

The W7700 uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the Vega 64X uses PCIe 3.0 x16. The W7700 was released on 2023-11-12 with a launch MSRP of 999 USD, while the Vega 64X was released on 2019-03-18 and is now end-of-life. The W7700’s predecessor is the Radeon Pro Vega series, making it a direct descendant of the Vega 64X’s lineage.

FAQ

Q: Which card has higher FP32 compute performance?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W7700 delivers 31.95 TFLOPS FP32, which is 2.7 times the Vega 64X’s 12.03 TFLOPS FP32.

Q: How do their memory bandwidths compare?

A: The W7700 has 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth from 16 GB GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, while the Vega 64X has 512.0 GB/s from 16 GB HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus. The W7700 is 12.5% faster.

Q: Does the Vega 64X support ray tracing?

A: No. The Vega 64X has no ray tracing cores, while the W7700 includes 48 RT cores.

Q: What is the process node difference?

A: The W7700 is built on TSMC’s 5 nm process, while the Vega 64X uses GlobalFoundries’ 14 nm process. The W7700 achieves 81.2M transistors per mm² versus 25.3M for the Vega 64X.

Q: Which card is better for OpenCL workloads?

A: The W7700 scores 108,245 in Geekbench OpenCL, a 37.9% advantage over the Vega 64X’s 78,467.

Q: What are their release dates?

A: The W7700 was released on 2023-11-12, while the Vega 64X was released on 2019-03-18 and is now end-of-life.

The Verdict

The data makes the choice straightforward. The AMD Radeon PRO W7700 is the superior card in every measurable way: 37.9% faster in OpenCL, higher average benchmark score (118,976 versus 80,959), higher percentile ranking (95th versus 92nd), and better specifications across the board—FP32, FP16, pixel rate, texture rate, memory bandwidth, and process node. It also adds ray tracing support, a feature the Vega 64X cannot offer.

The Vega 64X is not without merit. Its 92nd-percentile ranking shows it still outperforms most GPUs, and its ability to beat the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 by 1.4% in average score confirms its compute efficiency. Its Metal score of 83,450 suggests it remains viable for Apple-centric workflows. But the Vega 64X is end-of-life, built on a 14 nm process, and cannot match the W7700’s 2.7x FP32 advantage.

For anyone choosing between these two today, the W7700 is the only rational pick. It is faster, more power-efficient (190 W versus 250 W despite higher performance), newer, and has modern API support including DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4. The Vega 64X’s only niche is legacy Apple systems where its IGP form factor and Metal optimization might be relevant, but even there, its performance is severely limited compared to the W7700. The verdict is clear: the W7700 wins decisively, and the Vega 64X should only be considered if platform constraints force the choice.