AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 D Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a decisive performance gap between the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 D and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo in the two benchmarks where both cards were measured. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4090 D scored 278,621 against 98,432 for the Vega II Duo, a delta of 183.1%. That is not a marginal lead; it is a near-tripling of the raw score. In Geekbench Vulkan, the NVIDIA card posted 246,941 versus 99,296, a 148.7% advantage. Both head-to-head wins belong to the RTX 4090 D, giving it a 2-0 record in direct comparisons.

The average benchmark score tells the same story from a different angle. The RTX 4090 D sits at 178,050, while the Vega II Duo averages 106,750. That is roughly 66.8% higher on average, though the exact percentage is not in the pack. The NVIDIA card also ranks in the 98th percentile among all GPUs in the database, while the AMD card ranks in the 94th. Both are high-end parts, but the RTX 4090 D competes in a different tier entirely.

Look at the nearest rivals for context. The RTX 4090 D's closest competitors are the NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell at 182,109 (only 2.2% higher), the A100 SXM4 80 GB at 183,725 (3.1% higher), the RTX 5000 Ada Generation at 184,664 (3.6% higher), and the A100 SXM4 40 GB at 187,147 (4.9% higher). The RTX 4090 D is essentially trading blows with professional data-center cards, sitting just a few percentage points behind each. Meanwhile, the Vega II Duo's nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon Pro W6600X at 107,342 (0.6% higher), the Radeon Pro Vega II at 109,617 (2.6% higher), the Radeon PRO W7900 at 110,725 (3.6% higher), and the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 at 101,872 (4.8% lower). The Vega II Duo is competitive within its own generation and price class, but that class is far below the RTX 4090 D in raw compute.

Geekbench OpenCL is the clearest single indicator. The RTX 4090 D's 278,621 is more than 2.8 times the Vega II Duo's 98,432. In Vulkan, the margin narrows slightly but remains overwhelming: 246,941 versus 99,296. The AMD card does have a Geekbench Metal score of 122,522, but the RTX 4090 D has no Metal result recorded, so no direct comparison exists there. That Metal number is worth noting for Mac users, but it cannot be used to bridge the gap in cross-platform tests.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous for most buyers. If you are choosing between these two for general compute, rendering, or any workload that scales with FP32 throughput, the RTX 4090 D wins by a wide margin. It delivers 183.1% higher OpenCL performance and 148.7% higher Vulkan performance. Its 73.54 TFLOPS FP32 and 73.54 TFLOPS FP16 (1:1) are in a completely different class from the Vega II Duo's 14.09 TFLOPS FP32 and 28.18 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1). The RTX 4090 D also has 24 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus with 1.01 TB/s bandwidth, while the Vega II Duo has 32 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus with 1.02 TB/s. Memory capacity and bandwidth are close, but compute is not.

The Vega II Duo only makes sense if you are locked into Apple's MPX ecosystem. Its bus interface is Apple MPX, its display outputs are 1x HDMI 2.0b and 4x Thunderbolt, and its generation is explicitly "Radeon Pro Mac (Vega Series)." If your system requires that form factor and those outputs, the RTX 4090 D is not an option at all, its PCIe 4.0 x16 interface and triple-slot cooler will not fit. The launch MSRP of the Vega II Duo was 4,399 USD, versus 1,599 USD for the RTX 4090 D, but pricing is not the deciding factor here; platform compatibility is. For anyone on a standard PCIe platform, the RTX 4090 D is the only rational choice based on benchmark scores.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from entirely different eras and design philosophies. The RTX 4090 D uses the AD102 chip built on TSMC's 5 nm process, with 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die. That works out to a transistor density of 125.3 million per mm². The Vega II Duo uses the Vega 20 chip on TSMC's 7 nm process, with 13,230 million transistors on a 331 mm² die, a density of 40.0 million per mm². The RTX 4090 D packs more than five times the transistors into less than twice the die area. That is the fundamental reason for the performance gap.

The architecture names tell the rest of the story. NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace is a modern, dedicated design with 14,592 shading units, 456 TMUs, 176 ROPs, 114 RT cores, and 456 tensor cores. AMD's GCN 5.1 is an older, simpler design with 4,096 shading units, 256 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and no dedicated RT or tensor cores at all. The RTX 4090 D supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Vega II Duo only reaches DirectX 12 (12_1). Vulkan support is also newer on the NVIDIA card (1.4 versus 1.3), while OpenGL is the same at 4.6 for both.

Memory architecture differs just as dramatically. The RTX 4090 D uses 24 GB of GDDR6X with a 384-bit bus, hitting 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. The Vega II Duo uses 32 GB of HBM2 with a 4096-bit bus, reaching 1.02 TB/s. The bandwidth is nearly identical, but the memory technology and bus width are completely different approaches. The Vega II Duo's HBM2 is tightly integrated on the package, while the RTX 4090 D relies on discrete GDDR6X modules. The Vega II Duo also has a higher TDP at 475 W versus 425 W for the RTX 4090 D, despite delivering far less compute performance.

Clock speeds reinforce the gap. The RTX 4090 D runs at 2280 MHz base and 2520 MHz boost, with memory at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). The Vega II Duo runs at 1400 MHz base and 1720 MHz boost, with memory at 1000 MHz (2 Gbps effective). Higher clocks on the NVIDIA card, combined with more cores and a denser process, explain the 73.54 TFLOPS FP32 versus 14.09 TFLOPS FP32 difference. The AMD card does have a 2:1 FP16 ratio, giving it 28.18 TFLOPS FP16, but that is still less than half the RTX 4090 D's 73.54 TFLOPS FP16 (1:1).

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 D scores 278,621 versus 98,432 for the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo, a 183.1% advantage.

Q: Does the Vega II Duo win any head-to-head benchmark?

A: No. In the two direct comparisons recorded (Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan), the RTX 4090 D wins both. The wins tally is 2 for NVIDIA and 0 for AMD.

Q: How does the RTX 4090 D compare to its nearest rivals?

A: It is 2.2% behind the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell, 3.1% behind the A100 SXM4 80 GB, 3.6% behind the RTX 5000 Ada Generation, and 4.9% behind the A100 SXM4 40 GB. It is also 4.8% ahead of the Quadro RTX 6000, which is a rival of the Vega II Duo, not the RTX 4090 D.

Q: What is the memory configuration of each card?

A: The RTX 4090 D has 24 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus with 1.01 TB/s bandwidth. The Vega II Duo has 32 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus with 1.02 TB/s bandwidth.

Q: Does the Vega II Duo support ray tracing or tensor operations?

A: No. The Vega II Duo has no RT cores and no tensor cores. The RTX 4090 D has 114 RT cores and 456 tensor cores.

Q: Which card fits in a standard PC case?

A: The RTX 4090 D is a triple-slot card with a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface, measuring 304 mm long, 137 mm high, and 61 mm wide. The Vega II Duo uses the Apple MPX interface, is quad-slot, and has no recorded dimensions, so it will not fit standard PCIe systems.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 4090 D wins in every measured workload category. It dominates OpenCL and Vulkan, the only two benchmarks where both cards have scores. Its 73.54 TFLOPS FP32 makes it the obvious choice for compute-heavy tasks like rendering, simulation, and general GPU compute. The 1:1 FP16 ratio means it does not lose half its throughput when working with half-precision data, which is common in AI and machine learning workloads. The 114 RT cores and 456 tensor cores give it hardware acceleration for ray tracing and tensor operations, features the Vega II Duo lacks entirely. The 24 GB GDDR6X frame buffer is smaller than the Vega II Duo's 32 GB, but the bandwidth is nearly identical, and the RTX 4090 D's higher pixel rate (443.5 GPixel/s versus 110.1 GPixel/s) and texture rate (1,149.1 GTexel/s versus 440.3 GTexel/s) make it faster in rasterization and texturing.

The Vega II Duo wins only in platform-specific scenarios. Its Apple MPX interface, 4x Thunderbolt display outputs, and 32 GB HBM2 make it the only option for certain Mac Pro configurations. The Geekbench Metal score of 122,522 is its best recorded result, and it would be the relevant metric for macOS-only workflows. But even that score is lower than the RTX 4090 D's OpenCL and Vulkan results, and there is no direct Metal comparison available. The Vega II Duo also has a higher TDP (475 W versus 425 W) and a quad-slot cooler, so it is not a power or space efficiency winner. In any benchmark where both cards can physically be installed, the RTX 4090 D wins.

For a standard PC builder, the choice is clear. The RTX 4090 D is faster in every measurable way, and it costs less at launch (1,599 USD versus 4,399 USD for the Vega II Duo, but pricing is not the focus of this analysis. The Vega II Duo exists for a narrow Apple ecosystem, and the RTX 4090 D exists for everything else.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every specification. The RTX 4090 D uses the AD102 chip on a 5 nm process with 76,300 million transistors and a 609 mm² die, density of 125.3 million per mm². The Vega II Duo uses the Vega 20 chip on a 7 nm process with 13,230 million transistors and a 331 mm² die, density of 40.0 million per mm². The RTX 4090 D has 14,592 shading units, 456 TMUs, 176 ROPs, 114 RT cores, and 456 tensor cores, clocks at 2280 MHz base and 2520 MHz boost, and memory at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). The Vega II Duo has 4,096 shading units, 256 TMUs, 64 ROPs, no RT or tensor cores, clocks at 1400 MHz base and 1720 MHz boost, and memory at 1000 MHz (2 Gbps effective).

Memory differs in size and type: 24 GB GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus for NVIDIA, 32 GB HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus for AMD, with bandwidth nearly identical at 1.01 TB/s and 1.02 TB/s. The RTX 4090 D delivers 443.5 GPixel/s pixel rate, 1,149.1 GTexel/s texture rate, and 73.54 TFLOPS FP32 and FP16 (1:1). The Vega II Duo delivers 110.1 GPixel/s, 440.3 GTexel/s, 14.09 TFLOPS FP32, and 28.18 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1). TDP is 425 W for NVIDIA, 475 W for AMD. Slot width is triple-slot versus quad-slot. The RTX 4090 D uses a 1x 16-pin power connector with an 800 W suggested PSU; the Vega II Duo has no power connector listed and an 850 W suggested PSU.

Bus interfaces are incompatible: PCIe 4.0 x16 for the RTX 4090 D, Apple MPX for the Vega II Duo. Display outputs are 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a for NVIDIA, 1x HDMI 2.0b and 4x Thunderbolt for AMD. DirectX support is 12 Ultimate (12_2) versus 12 (12_1), Vulkan is 1.4 versus 1.3, and OpenGL is 4.6 for both. The RTX 4090 D measures 304 mm by 137 mm by 61 mm; the Vega II Duo has no recorded dimensions. Both are end-of-life, but the RTX 4090 D released later and has a predecessor (GeForce 30) and successor (GeForce 50), while the Vega II Duo has neither. The launch MSRP was 1,599 USD for NVIDIA and 4,399 USD for AMD.