AMD Radeon Pro Vega II vs NVIDIA L40S Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a decisive performance gap between the NVIDIA L40S and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II across the two shared benchmark tests. In Geekbench OpenCL, the L40S scores 330727 against 99048 for the Radeon Pro Vega II, a delta of 233.9% in favor of the NVIDIA part. That is more than three times the raw score, and it represents the largest single-test advantage in this comparison. The Vulkan result is similarly one-sided: the L40S posts 260799, while the Radeon Pro Vega II manages 99621, a delta of 161.8%. Both tests place the L40S firmly ahead, and the AMD card does not win either of the head-to-head metrics recorded in the database.

The average benchmark score reinforces this picture. The L40S sits at 295763, while the Radeon Pro Vega II averages 109617. That difference is not merely a function of one outlier test; it reflects consistent dominance across the workloads captured. The L40S also ranks in the 99th percentile among all GPUs, whereas the Radeon Pro Vega II sits in the 94th percentile. While both are high-performing parts in absolute terms, the percentile gap indicates that the L40S operates in a different performance tier entirely.

Looking at the nearest rivals for each card provides additional context. The L40S is 3% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation and 4.1% ahead of the NVIDIA L40, but it trails the AMD Instinct MI300X by 7% and the NVIDIA H200 NVL by 11.7%. This places the L40S at the upper edge of its competitive set, with only the most massive datacenter accelerators exceeding it. The Radeon Pro Vega II, by contrast, is essentially level with its immediate peers: it is 1% behind the AMD Radeon PRO W7900, 2.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W6600X, and 2.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo. It also trails the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile by 3.8%. The Radeon Pro Vega II is thus competitive within its own generation, but it belongs to a much lower performance class than the L40S.

The data also reveals a stark contrast in compute throughput. The L40S delivers 91.61 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, while the Radeon Pro Vega II offers 14.09 TFLOPS. That is a 6.5x difference in raw single-precision compute. In FP16, the L40S again provides 91.61 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio, whereas the AMD part reaches 28.18 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio. Even accounting for the AMD card's faster FP16 rate relative to its own FP32, the L40S still holds a substantial lead. Texture and pixel rates follow the same pattern: the L40S achieves 1,431.4 GTexel/s and 483.8 GPixel/s, compared to 440.3 GTexel/s and 110.1 GPixel/s for the Radeon Pro Vega II.

The Verdict

The benchmark results are unambiguous: the NVIDIA L40S is the superior compute platform in this comparison. It wins both head-to-head tests by massive margins, holds a 99th percentile rank versus the Radeon Pro Vega II's 94th, and delivers roughly 2.7x the average benchmark score. Any workload that depends on raw GPU compute, whether OpenCL or Vulkan, will see a dramatic improvement with the L40S. The data does not suggest any scenario where the Radeon Pro Vega II outperforms the L40S in the measured metrics.

However, the choice is not purely about performance numbers. The Radeon Pro Vega II targets a different ecosystem: it uses the Apple MPX bus interface, has four Thunderbolt display outputs alongside one HDMI 2.0b port, and was designed for Mac Pro systems. The L40S uses PCIe 4.0 x16, offers one HDMI 2.1 and three DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, and is a dual-slot card. The AMD part is quad-slot, which imposes physical constraints. For a Mac-based workstation, the Radeon Pro Vega II is the only one of the two that fits the platform. For any PCIe-based server or workstation, the L40S is the clear choice based on the recorded data.

The Radeon Pro Vega II also carries a launch MSRP of 2,199 USD, but that figure should not be interpreted as a value statement. The database records no launch MSRP for the L40S, so no direct price comparison is possible from the available facts. What the data does show is that the L40S offers a performance class several steps above the Radeon Pro Vega II, with the latter's nearest rivals scoring between 106750 and 113944, while the L40S sits among cards scoring from 284111 to 334891. Users who need maximum compute should select the L40S; users locked to the Apple MPX ecosystem have only the Radeon Pro Vega II option.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA L40S wins in every measured benchmark category. In Geekbench OpenCL, its 330727 score is 233.9% higher than the Radeon Pro Vega II's 99048. In Geekbench Vulkan, the L40S's 260799 is 161.8% higher than the AMD card's 99621. The L40S also wins on raw specifications that drive these scores: it has 18176 shading units versus 4096, 568 TMUs versus 256, 192 ROPs versus 64, and 568 tensor cores where the Radeon Pro Vega II has none. The L40S further includes 142 ray tracing cores, a feature entirely absent from the AMD part.

Memory capacity and bandwidth also favor the L40S. It has 48 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, yielding 864.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Radeon Pro Vega II has 32 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, but its effective bandwidth is 825.3 GB/s. The L40S thus provides 50% more memory capacity and slightly higher bandwidth, despite using a narrower bus. The Radeon Pro Vega II's HBM2 advantage in bus width does not translate to a bandwidth win.

The Radeon Pro Vega II does have one unique advantage in the recorded data: its FP16 rate is exactly double its FP32 rate (28.18 TFLOPS versus 14.09 TFLOPS), which reflects a 2:1 ratio. The L40S offers a 1:1 ratio, meaning its FP16 equals its FP32 at 91.61 TFLOPS. In absolute terms, the L40S still crushes the AMD card, but the AMD architecture may be more efficient for workloads that specifically leverage the 2:1 FP16 path. The Radeon Pro Vega II also supports Metal via Geekbench, scoring 130183 in that test, while no Metal score is recorded for the L40S. This is a platform-specific consideration: the Radeon Pro Vega II is the only one of the two with a recorded Metal benchmark.

The Radeon Pro Vega II's closest rivals, the AMD Radeon PRO W7900, the AMD Radeon Pro W6600X, and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo, all score within 2.7% of it. This suggests that the Radeon Pro Vega II is well-matched to its own generation, but that generation is simply not in the same league as the L40S. The L40S's nearest rivals, the RTX 6000 Ada Generation, the L40, the MI300X, and the H200 NVL, all score within 11.7% of it, indicating that the L40S is positioned among the fastest accelerators available.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the NVIDIA L40S than the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II in OpenCL?

A: The L40S scores 330727 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the Radeon Pro Vega II scores 99048. That is a 233.9% advantage for the L40S.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II have any benchmark where it beats the NVIDIA L40S?

A: No. In the head-to-head benchmarks recorded, the L40S wins both Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan. The Radeon Pro Vega II has an additional Metal score of 130183, but no comparable Metal result exists for the L40S in the database.

Q: Which card has more memory and bandwidth?

A: The L40S has 48 GB of GDDR6 with 864.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Radeon Pro Vega II has 32 GB of HBM2 with 825.3 GB/s bandwidth. The L40S leads in both capacity and bandwidth.

Q: How do these cards compare to their nearest rivals?

A: The L40S is 3% ahead of the RTX 6000 Ada Generation and 4.1% ahead of the L40, but 7% behind the MI300X and 11.7% behind the H200 NVL. The Radeon Pro Vega II is 1% behind the Radeon PRO W7900, 2.1% ahead of the Radeon Pro W6600X, and 2.7% ahead of the Radeon Pro Vega II Duo.

Q: What are the key architectural differences between the two cards?

A: The L40S uses the AD102 chip on a 5 nm process with 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die. The Radeon Pro Vega II uses the Vega 20 chip on a 7 nm process with 13,230 million transistors on a 331 mm² die. The L40S has 18,176 shading units, 568 TMUs, 192 ROPs, 142 RT cores, and 568 tensor cores. The Radeon Pro Vega II has 4,096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with no RT or tensor cores.

Q: Which card should I choose for a PCIe-based workstation?

A: The data strongly favors the NVIDIA L40S. It wins all recorded benchmarks, has a higher average score (295763 versus 109617), and ranks in the 99th percentile versus the 94th. The Radeon Pro Vega II is only preferable if your system requires the Apple MPX bus interface.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA L40S and AMD Radeon Pro Vega II represent two fundamentally different design philosophies. The L40S uses the AD102 chip built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, with 76,300 million transistors packed into a 609 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 125.3 million per square millimeter. The Radeon Pro Vega II uses the Vega 20 chip on a 7 nm process, also at TSMC, with 13,230 million transistors on a 331 mm² die, for a density of 40.0 million per square millimeter. The L40S is not only larger but also significantly denser, reflecting the newer manufacturing node and more complex architecture.

The core configurations differ wildly. The L40S has 18,176 shading units, 568 texture mapping units, and 192 raster operation units. It also includes 142 ray tracing cores and 568 tensor cores, making it a fully featured modern accelerator. The Radeon Pro Vega II, based on GCN 5.1, has 4,096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with no ray tracing or tensor cores. This explains the massive FP32 gap: 91.61 TFLOPS for the L40S versus 14.09 TFLOPS for the Radeon Pro Vega II. The L40S also reaches 91.61 TFLOPS in FP16 at a 1:1 ratio, while the Radeon Pro Vega II reaches 28.18 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio, meaning its FP16 rate is exactly double its FP32 rate.

Memory architecture further separates the two. The L40S uses 48 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, with a memory clock of 2250 MHz and 18 Gbps effective, producing 864.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Radeon Pro Vega II uses 32 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, with a memory clock of 806 MHz and 1612 Mbps effective, producing 825.3 GB/s. The L40S's GDDR6 implementation is more efficient per pin, but the Radeon Pro Vega II's massive bus width nearly compensates. Still, the L40S ends up with slightly higher bandwidth and 50% more capacity.

The power and physical profiles also diverge sharply. The L40S has a TDP of 300 W, is dual-slot, uses a single 16-pin power connector, and suggests a 700 W PSU. It measures 267 mm in length and 111 mm in height. The Radeon Pro Vega II has a TDP of 475 W, is quad-slot, lists no power connector details, and suggests an 850 W PSU. It has no recorded dimensions. The L40S is thus a more power-efficient and physically smaller solution, despite vastly higher performance.

Platform compatibility is another major differentiator. The L40S uses PCIe 4.0 x16, making it a standard server or workstation card. The Radeon Pro Vega II uses the Apple MPX bus interface, which is proprietary to Apple's Mac Pro line. This means the Radeon Pro Vega II cannot be installed in a conventional PC or server without significant modification, while the L40S is designed for open PCIe slots. The display outputs also reflect this: the L40S offers one HDMI 2.1 and three DisplayPort 1.4a, while the Radeon Pro Vega II offers one HDMI 2.0b and four Thunderbolt ports.

The API support shows the generational gap. The L40S supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The Radeon Pro Vega II supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The L40S's higher DirectX and Vulkan versions reflect its newer architecture. The Radeon Pro Vega II does have a recorded Metal benchmark score of 130183, which is not present for the L40S, underscoring its intended macOS use case.

The production status for both cards is end-of-life, but their release dates differ significantly: the Radeon Pro Vega II launched in June 2019, while the L40S launched in October 2022. The L40S lists its predecessor as Server Ampere and its successor as Server Hopper, indicating its place in NVIDIA's datacenter roadmap. The Radeon Pro Vega II has no recorded predecessor or successor in the database. The transistor scale difference (76,300 million versus 13,230 million) and the process node difference (5 nm versus 7 nm) are the most telling architectural facts: the L40S is a modern, high-density design built for compute-heavy workloads, while the Radeon Pro Vega II is a previous-generation part designed for specific Mac Pro integration.