AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo vs NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation Comparison

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation is the far stronger performer in every benchmark where both cards were measured. Its average benchmark score of 287,237 places it in the 99th percentile of all GPUs, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo sits at 106,750, or the 94th percentile. In direct comparisons, the RTX 6000 Ada wins both recorded tests, with an OpenCL score of 311,629 versus 98,432 (a 216.6% lead) and a Vulkan score of 262,845 versus 99,296 (a 164.7% lead). If your workload is compute-heavy and you need maximum throughput, the RTX 6000 Ada is the clear choice.

However, context matters. The Radeon Pro Vega II Duo is a Mac-oriented product with an Apple MPX bus interface, 32 GB of HBM2 memory, and a launch MSRP of 4,399 USD. It has its own benchmark strengths: a Metal score of 122,522, which is not directly comparable to the RTX 6000 Ada's results because no Metal test was recorded for the NVIDIA card. The RTX 6000 Ada has a launch MSRP of 6,799 USD and is end-of-life, as is the Vega II Duo. For users locked into a Mac Pro chassis with Apple MPX slots, the Vega II Duo remains the relevant option. For anyone building a PC with PCIe 4.0 x16, the RTX 6000 Ada is the superior choice by a wide margin.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from entirely different design philosophies. The NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation uses the AD102 chip, built on Ada Lovelace architecture, and is fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It packs 76,300 million transistors into a 609 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 125.3M per mm². The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo uses the Vega 20 chip with GCN 5.1 architecture, also made by TSMC but on a 7 nm process. It contains 13,230 million transistors across a 331 mm² die, for a density of 40.0M per mm². The process node difference is significant: the RTX 6000 Ada is denser and more modern.

In terms of compute resources, the RTX 6000 Ada has 18,176 shading units, 568 TMUs, 192 ROPs, 142 RT cores, and 568 tensor cores. The Vega II Duo has 4,096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with no RT cores and no tensor cores listed. The absence of RT and tensor hardware on the AMD side means no dedicated ray tracing or AI acceleration features, whereas the RTX 6000 Ada includes both. The NVIDIA card also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the AMD card is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. Both support OpenGL 4.6.

Memory architecture is another major split. The RTX 6000 Ada has 48 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, with 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Vega II Duo has 32 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, with 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth. Despite having less capacity, the AMD card offers higher memory bandwidth due to its wide HBM2 interface. Clock speeds also differ: the RTX 6000 Ada runs at a base of 915 MHz and boost of 2505 MHz, while the Vega II Duo runs at 1400 MHz base and 1720 MHz boost. The NVIDIA card's higher boost clock helps explain its massive compute lead.

Power and physical design diverge sharply. The RTX 6000 Ada is rated at 300 W TDP, fits in a dual-slot form factor, uses a single 16-pin power connector, and is 267 mm long. The Vega II Duo is a quad-slot card rated at 475 W TDP, uses an Apple MPX bus interface, and has no listed dimensions or power connector details. The suggested PSU for the NVIDIA card is 700 W, while the AMD card suggests 850 W. The Vega II Duo is clearly a more power-hungry, physically larger product, and its Apple MPX interface limits it to specific Apple systems.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation scores 311,629 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo scores 98,432. That is a 216.6% advantage for the NVIDIA card.

Q: Does the AMD card have ray tracing cores?

A: No. The Radeon Pro Vega II Duo lists no RT cores and no tensor cores. The RTX 6000 Ada has 142 RT cores and 568 tensor cores.

Q: Which card has more memory?

A: The RTX 6000 Ada has 48 GB of GDDR6, while the Vega II Duo has 32 GB of HBM2. However, the Vega II Duo has higher memory bandwidth at 1.02 TB/s versus the RTX 6000 Ada's 960.0 GB/s.

Q: Can the Radeon Pro Vega II Duo be used in a standard PC?

A: No. The Vega II Duo uses an Apple MPX bus interface, not PCIe. The RTX 6000 Ada uses PCIe 4.0 x16 and fits in standard PC motherboards.

Q: Which card is more power efficient?

A: The RTX 6000 Ada has a 300 W TDP, while the Vega II Duo has a 475 W TDP. The NVIDIA card also suggests a 700 W PSU versus 850 W for the AMD card.

Q: What is the average benchmark score difference?

A: The RTX 6000 Ada has an average benchmark score of 287,237, placing it in the 99th percentile. The Vega II Duo averages 106,750, placing it in the 94th percentile.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every specification. The RTX 6000 Ada uses a 5 nm process, while the Vega II Duo uses 7 nm. Transistor counts are 76,300 million versus 13,230 million, and die sizes are 609 mm² versus 331 mm². The NVIDIA card has 18,176 shading units, 568 TMUs, 192 ROPs, 142 RT cores, and 568 tensor cores; the AMD card has 4,096 shading units, 256 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and no RT or tensor cores. Base clocks are 915 MHz versus 1400 MHz, but boost clocks are 2505 MHz versus 1720 MHz.

Memory differs in capacity, type, bus width, and bandwidth: 48 GB GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus with 960.0 GB/s versus 32 GB HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus with 1.02 TB/s. The RTX 6000 Ada has a memory clock of 2500 MHz (20 Gbps effective), while the Vega II Duo has a memory clock of 1000 MHz (2 Gbps effective). Pixel rates are 481.0 GPixel/s versus 110.1 GPixel/s, and texture rates are 1,422.8 GTexel/s versus 440.3 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 91.06 TFLOPS versus 14.09 TFLOPS. FP16 is 91.06 TFLOPS (1:1) for NVIDIA versus 28.18 TFLOPS (2:1) for AMD.

TDP is 300 W versus 475 W. The NVIDIA card is dual-slot with a 16-pin connector and a 700 W suggested PSU; the AMD card is quad-slot with an Apple MPX interface and an 850 W suggested PSU. The RTX 6000 Ada has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, while the Vega II Duo has 1x HDMI 2.0b and 4x Thunderbolt. DirectX support is 12 Ultimate (12_2) versus 12 (12_1), and Vulkan is 1.4 versus 1.3. The NVIDIA card was released in 2022 and has a predecessor (Workstation Ampere) and successor (Blackwell PRO W); the AMD card was released in 2019 and lists no predecessor or successor.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head data shows a complete sweep for the RTX 6000 Ada. In Geekbench OpenCL, the NVIDIA card scores 311,629 against the Vega II Duo's 98,432, a delta of 216.6%. This is the largest measured gap between the two. In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 6000 Ada scores 262,845 against 99,296, a 164.7% lead. Both tests were won by the NVIDIA card, giving it 2 wins and 0 losses.

The average benchmark scores reinforce the margin. The RTX 6000 Ada sits at 287,237, which is 9.7% below the AMD Instinct MI300X (317,994) but 1.1% above the NVIDIA L40 (284,111) and 14.4% above the NVIDIA L20 (251,147). The Vega II Duo, at 106,750, is within 0.6% of the AMD Radeon Pro W6600X (107,342) and 2.6% below the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II (109,617), but 4.8% above the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 (101,872). The NVIDIA card operates in a completely different performance tier.

The RTX 6000 Ada's compute advantage is not just a single-test fluke. Its FP32 rating of 91.06 TFLOPS is roughly 6.5 times the Vega II Duo's 14.09 TFLOPS, and its texture rate of 1,422.8 GTexel/s is more than triple the Vega II Duo's 440.3 GTexel/s. Pixel rate is similarly lopsided: 481.0 GPixel/s versus 110.1 GPixel/s. The NVIDIA card's boost clock of 2505 MHz versus 1720 MHz helps it extract far more work per cycle, despite a lower base clock.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 6000 Ada Generation wins in every directly measured category: OpenCL, Vulkan, FP32 compute, texture rate, pixel rate, and shading unit count. It is the card to choose for general compute workloads, 3D rendering, AI inference (thanks to 568 tensor cores), and any task that benefits from ray tracing (142 RT cores). Its 48 GB GDDR6 frame buffer is larger than the Vega II Duo's 32 GB, which helps with very large datasets or high-resolution textures. The 99th percentile ranking and the fact that it beats the NVIDIA L40 by 1.1% and the NVIDIA L20 by 14.4% in average score place it among the top workstation GPUs in the database.

The Radeon Pro Vega II Duo wins in a few specific areas. It has higher memory bandwidth at 1.02 TB/s versus 960.0 GB/s, which can matter for bandwidth-bound tasks. It supports Metal, with a recorded Geekbench Metal score of 122,522, a benchmark not measured for the RTX 6000 Ada. Its Apple MPX interface makes it the only one of the two that can be installed in Apple Mac systems that use that bus. It is also lower in launch MSRP at 4,399 USD versus 6,799 USD, though that price difference comes with a massive performance gap. For users with a Mac Pro that accepts Apple MPX cards, the Vega II Duo is the relevant choice; for everyone else, the RTX 6000 Ada is the stronger hardware in almost every measurable way.