AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo vs Intel Arc Pro A60 Comparison

The Verdict

The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo and Intel Arc Pro A60 occupy opposite ends of the professional GPU spectrum, and the benchmark data reflects that divide clearly. The Radeon Pro Vega II Duo is the definitive choice for compute-heavy workloads where raw throughput matters most. Its average benchmark score of 106,750 places it in the 94th percentile of all GPUs, and it wins both recorded head-to-head tests against the Intel card. The Intel Arc Pro A60, with an average score of 60,326 and an 88th percentile ranking, is the more sensible pick for professionals who prioritize modern API support, efficient power draw, and a compact form factor.

The data shows that the AMD card leads the Intel card by 55% in OpenCL and by 73.7% in Vulkan. Those are enormous margins, not incremental differences. For anyone running rendering, simulation, or data-parallel workloads that scale across massive compute resources, the Radeon Pro Vega II Duo is the clear winner. However, the Intel card is not without merit. It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, and DisplayPort 2.0 outputs, features that the older AMD card cannot match. The Arc Pro A60 also draws 130 W compared to 475 W for the AMD card, and it fits in a single slot rather than a quad-slot design.

The choice comes down to workload priorities. Compute-heavy professionals with a Mac Pro environment should choose the Radeon Pro Vega II Duo. Professionals needing a modern, efficient, multi-display workstation card in a standard PCIe slot should choose the Intel Arc Pro A60.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different architectural generations and design philosophies. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo uses the Vega 20 chip built on GCN 5.1 architecture, manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It packs 13,230 million transistors on a 331 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 40.0 million per square millimeter. The Intel Arc Pro A60 uses the DG2-256 chip based on Xe-HPG architecture, also manufactured at TSMC but on a 6 nm process. It contains 11,500 million transistors on a 269 mm² die, achieving a slightly higher transistor density of 42.8 million per square millimeter.

The AMD card is a dual-GPU design, as its name suggests, and it is massive. It requires a quad-slot footprint and connects via Apple MPX bus interface, rather than a standard PCIe slot. The Intel card is a single-slot design using PCIe 4.0 x16. That form factor difference alone dictates which systems can even accommodate these cards.

Memory configurations differ substantially. The Radeon Pro Vega II Duo offers 32 GB of HBM2 memory on a 4096-bit bus, delivering 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth. The Intel Arc Pro A60 offers 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 384.0 GB/s. The AMD card has over 2.6 times the memory bandwidth, which directly feeds its compute advantage. The Intel card uses faster effective memory clocks at 16 Gbps versus 2 Gbps effective for the AMD card, but the narrow bus width limits overall throughput.

Compute resources also diverge sharply. The AMD card provides 4096 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. The Intel card provides half the shading units at 2048, half the TMUs at 128, and the same 64 ROPs. The AMD card has no dedicated ray tracing cores, while the Intel card includes 16 ray tracing cores. Neither card lists tensor cores. In terms of raw compute, the AMD card delivers 14.09 TFLOPS FP32 and 28.18 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1), while the Intel card delivers 8.397 TFLOPS FP32 and 16.79 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1).

Clock speeds tell a different story. The Intel card has a base clock of 900 MHz and a boost clock of 2050 MHz, while the AMD card has a base clock of 1400 MHz and a boost clock of 1720 MHz. The Intel card boosts higher, but the AMD card compensates with far more compute units and memory bandwidth.

API support is another generational gap. The AMD card supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The Intel card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The Intel card also supports ray tracing hardware, a feature absent from the AMD card.

Where Each One Wins

The Radeon Pro Vega II Duo wins decisively in raw compute benchmark tests. Its OpenCL score of 98,432 is 55% higher than the Intel card's 63,485. Its Vulkan score of 99,296 is 73.7% higher than the Intel card's 57,166. The AMD card also has a Metal benchmark score of 122,522, though the Intel card has no corresponding Metal result in the database, reflecting the AMD card's Mac-oriented positioning.

The AMD card wins in memory capacity and bandwidth. With 32 GB of HBM2 and 1.02 TB/s bandwidth, it can handle datasets that would exhaust the Intel card's 12 GB GDDR6 allocation and 384.0 GB/s bandwidth. The AMD card also produces a higher texture rate of 440.2 GTexel/s versus 262.4 GTexel/s for the Intel card, giving it an advantage in texture-heavy workloads.

The Intel Arc Pro A60 wins in efficiency metrics. Its 130 W TDP is less than a third of the AMD card's 475 W TDP. The Intel card suggests a 300 W PSU, while the AMD card suggests 850 W. Pixel fill rate favors the Intel card at 131.2 GPixel/s, ahead of the AMD card's 110.2 GPixel/s, which matters for pixel-throughput-bound tasks. The Intel card is also production status is Active, meaning it remains available, while the AMD card is End-of-life.

The Intel card wins on display output flexibility. It offers 4x DisplayPort 2.0 ports, while the AMD card offers 1x HDMI 2.0 and 4x Thunderbolt ports. The Intel card uses the modern PCIe 4.0 x16 interface, making it compatible with standard workstation motherboards and PC enclosures.

The Intel card wins on API modernity. Its DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 compatibility makes it suitable for modern software stacks that leverage the latest graphics features. The 16 ray tracing cores on the Intel card provide hardware acceleration for ray-traced workflows, a capability the AMD card lacks entirely.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo has an average benchmark score of 106,750, placing it in the 94th percentile of all GPUs. The Intel Arc Pro A60 has an average score of 60,326, placing it in the 88th percentile.

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

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo scores 99,296 in Vulkan, which is 73.7% higher than the Intel Arc Pro A60's 57,166. This is the largest victory margin for the AMD card in the head-to-head benchmarks.

Q: Which card supports ray tracing?

A: The Intel Arc Pro A60 includes 16 dedicated ray tracing cores. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo does not list any ray tracing cores in its specifications.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The AMD card has 32 GB of HBM2 memory on a 4096-bit bus with 1.02 TB/s bandwidth. The Intel card has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus with 384.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card is more power-efficient?

A: The Intel Arc Pro A60 has a TDP of 130 W and suggests a 300 W PSU. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo has a TDP of 475 W and suggests an 850 W PSU.

Q: How does the AMD card compare to its closest rivals?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo sits within 3.6% of the AMD Radeon PRO W7900, within 2.6% of the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II, and within 0.6% of the AMD Radeon Pro W6600X. It leads the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 by 4.8%.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database includes two direct benchmark comparisons between these cards, and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo wins both. In the OpenCL test, the AMD card scores 98,432 against 63,485 for the Intel Arc Pro A60. That is a 55% advantage for the AMD card. The gap is substantial enough that no amount of driver optimization could plausibly close it; this is a fundamental compute resource disparity.

The Vulkan test shows an even larger divide. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo scores 99,296, while the Intel Arc Pro A60 scores 57,166. The AMD card leads by 73.7% in this API. Interestingly, the AMD card's Vulkan score is actually higher than its OpenCL score, while the Intel card performs better in OpenCL than Vulkan. The Intel card's Vulkan score of 57,166 is roughly 10% lower than its OpenCL score of 63,485, suggesting Vulkan is not the Intel card's strongest API in this workload.

The AMD card also holds a Metal score of 122,522, which is its highest individual benchmark result. The Intel card has no Metal benchmark in the database, consistent with the AMD card's positioning in the Radeon Pro Mac generation and its Apple MPX bus interface. The AMD card's OpenCL and Vulkan scores are relatively close to each other, at 98,432 and 99,296 respectively, showing consistent performance across compute APIs.

Looking at the broader competitive landscape, the AMD card's average benchmark score of 106,750 places it among the top 6% of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon PRO W7900 at 110,725, which is 3.6% ahead, and the AMD Radeon Pro W6600X at 107,342, which is 0.6% ahead. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II sits at 109,617, 2.6% ahead of the Duo variant. The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 trails at 101,872, with the Duo leading it by 4.8%. These margins are small, indicating that the Vega II Duo performs in a tight cluster with these professional cards, despite its older architecture.

The Intel Arc Pro A60's average score of 60,326 places it at the 88th percentile. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 at 60,347, which is essentially tied with a 0% delta. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 scores 60,140, just 0.3% behind the Intel card. The AMD Radeon Pro W6600M is 2.5% ahead at 61,896, and the AMD Radeon PRO V710 trails by 2.8% at 58,657. The Intel card sits in a competitive mid-range cluster, far from the AMD card's performance tier.

The comparison is not close in any recorded metric. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo wins 2 head-to-head benchmarks, the Intel Arc Pro A60 wins 0. The data does not suggest any scenario where the Intel card overtakes the AMD card in raw compute performance. Instead, the Intel card's advantages lie in power draw, form factor, modern API support, and ray tracing capability, none of which are captured in the compute benchmark scores.