AMD Radeon Pro Vega II vs NVIDIA PG506-232 Comparison

NVIDIA PG506-232 and AMD Radeon Pro Vega II are both end-of-life workstation accelerators aimed at professional compute, but they serve fundamentally different purposes. The PG506-232 is a server-oriented Ampere part built for high-throughput data center tasks, while the Radeon Pro Vega II is a Mac Pro-focused card with display outputs and a massive memory pool. The database shows a single head-to-head OpenCL benchmark, where the NVIDIA part wins decisively, but the broader specifications reveal why each card exists. This analysis uses the recorded benchmark scores and physical characteristics to explain where each accelerator fits.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA PG506-232 wins the only directly comparable compute benchmark. In Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 225,124 points against the Radeon Pro Vega II’s 99,048, a delta of 127.3%. This is not a marginal victory; the NVIDIA part more than doubles the AMD card’s OpenCL throughput. The PG506-232’s percentile rank of 99 among all GPUs places it in the top 1% of recorded hardware, while the Radeon Pro Vega II sits at the 94th percentile. For raw compute workloads that rely on OpenCL, the NVIDIA card is the clear choice.

The Radeon Pro Vega II wins in areas the PG506-232 does not compete. It has 32 GB of HBM2 memory versus 24 GB, which matters for datasets that exceed the smaller pool. It also provides display outputs: one HDMI 2.0b and four Thunderbolt ports. The PG506-232 has no display outputs at all, meaning it cannot drive a monitor. The Radeon card reports complete API support including DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3, while the NVIDIA card’s API fields are null in the database. For a workstation that must render to a screen and run graphics APIs, the AMD part is the only functional option.

The AMD card also wins on raw FP32 and FP16 throughput. It delivers 14.09 TFLOPS FP32 and 28.18 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1 ratio), compared to the NVIDIA card’s 10.32 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16 (1:1 ratio). In pure floating-point math, the Vega II is faster, but the PG506-232’s tensor cores (224 of them) provide dedicated hardware for AI workloads that the AMD card lacks entirely.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different architectural generations and design philosophies. The PG506-232 uses the GA100 chip on the Ampere architecture, built on a 7 nm TSMC process. It packs 54,200 million transistors into an 826 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 65.6 million per square millimeter. This is a massive, compute-first chip with 3584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, 96 raster operation units, and 224 tensor cores. It has no ray tracing cores. The memory subsystem uses HBM2 across a 3072-bit bus, yielding 933.1 GB/s of bandwidth. Base clock is 930 MHz with a boost of 1440 MHz, and memory runs at 1215 MHz (2.4 Gbps effective). Power draw is 165 W with an 8-pin EPS connector and a suggested 450 W PSU.

The Radeon Pro Vega II uses the Vega 20 chip on the GCN 5.1 architecture, also on a 7 nm TSMC process. It contains 13,230 million transistors on a 331 mm² die, with a density of 40.0 million per square millimeter. This is a smaller, less dense chip with 4096 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units. It has no tensor cores and no ray tracing cores. Memory is 32 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, providing 825.3 GB/s of bandwidth. Clocks are higher: base 1574 MHz, boost 1720 MHz, with memory at 806 MHz (1612 Mbps effective). Power draw is 475 W, and the card is quad-slot. It uses an Apple MPX bus interface rather than standard PCIe. The PG506-232 uses PCIe 4.0 x16.

The transistor difference is stark: the NVIDIA chip has over four times as many transistors, but the AMD chip runs at higher clocks and has more shading units. The NVIDIA part’s advantage comes from its tensor cores and memory bandwidth, while the AMD part relies on raw shader throughput and a wider memory bus.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains one head-to-head benchmark: Geekbench OpenCL. The NVIDIA PG506-232 scores 225,124, and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II scores 99,048. The delta is 127.3%, meaning the NVIDIA card is 127.3% faster in this test. This is the largest recorded gap between the two parts and dominates the comparison.

To contextualize the NVIDIA score, its nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon PRO W7900D at 219,827 (2.4% slower), the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB at 207,124 (8.7% slower), the NVIDIA L20 at 251,147 (10.4% faster), and the NVIDIA RTX 6000D at 195,964 (14.9% slower). The PG506-232 sits comfortably above the A100 and RTX 6000D in OpenCL, while trailing the L20.

The AMD card’s nearest rivals show a different landscape. The Radeon PRO W7900 scores 110,725 (1% faster), the Radeon Pro W6600X scores 107,342 (2.1% slower), the Radeon Pro Vega II Duo scores 106,750 (2.7% slower), and the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile scores 113,944 (3.8% faster). The Vega II’s 99,048 OpenCL score places it below all of these rivals, indicating that it is not a competitive OpenCL performer in the current database. Its other benchmark results include Geekbench Metal at 130,183 and Geekbench Vulkan at 99,621, which the NVIDIA card cannot match because it lacks those test entries.

The practical takeaway: for OpenCL compute, the PG506-232 is in a different league, outperforming the Vega II by more than double. For Metal or Vulkan workloads, the AMD card has recorded scores, but the NVIDIA card has no recorded data in those APIs, so no comparison is possible.

FAQ

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The NVIDIA PG506-232 has 933.1 GB/s, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II has 825.3 GB/s. The NVIDIA card is ahead by roughly 107.8 GB/s.

Q: Does the Radeon Pro Vega II support display outputs?

A: Yes, it has one HDMI 2.0b and four Thunderbolt ports. The NVIDIA PG506-232 has no display outputs.

Q: Which card has higher FP32 performance?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II has 14.09 TFLOPS FP32, compared to the NVIDIA PG506-232’s 10.32 TFLOPS. The AMD card is about 36.5% higher in raw FP32.

Q: Does the NVIDIA card have tensor cores?

A: Yes, it has 224 tensor cores. The AMD card has none.

Q: What is the power consumption difference?

A: The NVIDIA PG506-232 is rated at 165 W TDP with a suggested 450 W PSU. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II is rated at 475 W TDP with a suggested 850 W PSU.

Q: Which card has more memory capacity?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II has 32 GB, while the NVIDIA PG506-232 has 24 GB. The AMD card offers 8 GB more.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measured specification. Here are the fields where they diverge:

• Chip: GA100 (NVIDIA) vs Vega 20 (AMD)
• Architecture: Ampere vs GCN 5.1
• Generation: Server Ampere (Axx) vs Radeon Pro Mac (Vega Series)
• Transistors: 54,200 million vs 13,230 million
• Die Size: 826 mm² vs 331 mm²
• Transistor Density: 65.6M / mm² vs 40.0M / mm²
• Base Clock: 930 MHz vs 1574 MHz
• Boost Clock: 1440 MHz vs 1720 MHz
• Memory Clock: 1215 MHz (2.4 Gbps effective) vs 806 MHz (1612 Mbps effective)
• Memory Size: 24 GB vs 32 GB
• Memory Bus Width: 3072 bit vs 4096 bit
• Memory Bandwidth: 933.1 GB/s vs 825.3 GB/s
• Shading Units: 3584 vs 4096
• TMUs: 224 vs 256
• ROPs: 96 vs 64
• Tensor Cores: 224 vs none
• Pixel Rate: 138.2 GPixel/s vs 110.1 GPixel/s
• Texture Rate: 322.6 GTexel/s vs 440.3 GTexel/s
• FP32: 10.32 TFLOPS vs 14.09 TFLOPS
• FP16: 10.32 TFLOPS (1:1) vs 28.18 TFLOPS (2:1)
• TDP: 165 W vs 475 W
• Slot Width: Dual-slot vs Quad-slot
• Power Connectors: 8-pin EPS vs none listed
• Suggested PSU: 450 W vs 850 W
• Bus Interface: PCIe 4.0 x16 vs Apple MPX
• Display Outputs: No outputs vs 1x HDMI 2.0b, 4x Thunderbolt
• APIs: null for DirectX, OpenGL, Vulkan vs DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, Vulkan 1.3
• Dimensions: 267 mm length, 112 mm height vs no dimensions listed
• Release Date: 2021-04-11 vs 2019-06-02
• Predecessor: Tesla Turing vs none
• Successor: Server Ada vs none
• Launch MSRP: none vs 2,199 USD
• Average Benchmark Score: 225,124 vs 109,617

The process node and foundry are the same (7 nm, TSMC), but everything else differs. The NVIDIA card is denser, more power-efficient, and has tensor cores. The AMD card has more memory, more shaders, higher clocks, and display outputs.

The Verdict

The data points to two different buyers. The NVIDIA PG506-232 is for compute workloads where OpenCL performance dominates. Its 127.3% lead over the Radeon Pro Vega II in the head-to-head benchmark is decisive. It also has tensor cores for AI acceleration, lower power draw at 165 W, and a standard PCIe 4.0 x16 interface. The lack of display outputs is irrelevant for a server accelerator. Its 99th percentile rank and proximity to the NVIDIA L20 (which is 10.4% faster) show it is a strong compute part, though not the fastest in the database.

The AMD Radeon Pro Vega II is for a Mac Pro workstation that needs to output video and handle large memory footprints. Its 32 GB of HBM2, four Thunderbolt outputs, and one HDMI port make it a viable display card. It also has higher FP32 and FP16 throughput, which benefits certain graphics and scientific workloads. However, its OpenCL score of 99,048 places it below all its nearest rivals, including the Radeon PRO W7900 and the RTX A5500 Mobile. Its 94th percentile rank and 475 W power draw make it less efficient and less performant in compute tasks.

If the workload is pure compute, specifically OpenCL, the PG506-232 is the obvious choice. If the workload requires display output, runs on Apple MPX, or needs more than 24 GB of memory, the Radeon Pro Vega II is the only option. The two cards do not really compete; they target different systems and different tasks. The benchmark data confirms that the NVIDIA card is the compute winner, while the AMD card wins on memory capacity and connectivity.