AMD Radeon Pro VII vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Comparison

FAQ

Q: What is the benchmark score difference between the AMD Radeon Pro VII and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090?

A: In Geekbench OpenCL, the AMD Radeon Pro VII scores 90,148 while the RTX 5090 scores 334,370, a delta of -73% favoring NVIDIA. In Geekbench Vulkan, the AMD card scores 92,862 versus 376,728 for the RTX 5090, a delta of -75.4%.

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro VII has an average benchmark score of 97,131, placing it in the 93rd percentile of all GPUs. The RTX 5090 has an average score of 79,842, placing it in the 92nd percentile, despite its much higher scores in individual compute tests.

Q: How does the RTX 5090's memory configuration compare to the Radeon Pro VII?

A: The RTX 5090 features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth. The Radeon Pro VII has 16 GB of HBM2 memory on a 4096-bit bus with 1.02 TB/s bandwidth.

Q: What are the transistor counts and die sizes of these two GPUs?

A: The Radeon Pro VII uses 13,230 million transistors on a 331 mm² die, while the RTX 5090 uses 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. The transistor density is 40.0M/mm² for AMD and 122.9M/mm² for NVIDIA.

Q: Which GPU has dedicated ray tracing and tensor cores?

A: Only the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 has dedicated hardware, with 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores. The AMD Radeon Pro VII has no ray tracing or tensor cores listed.

Q: What are the release dates and production statuses of these cards?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro VII was released on 2020-05-12 and is end-of-life, with a successor of Radeon Pro Navi. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 was released on 2025-01-29 and is active, with a successor of GeForce 60.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon Pro VII is built on the Vega 20 chip using GCN 5.1 architecture, manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 uses the GB202 chip with Blackwell 2.0 architecture, also fabricated by TSMC but on a 5 nm process. The process node difference is significant: the RTX 5090 packs 92,200 million transistors into a 750 mm² die, achieving a density of 122.9M/mm², while the Radeon Pro VII fits 13,230 million transistors into a 331 mm² die at 40.0M/mm². This represents a roughly threefold improvement in transistor density for the newer NVIDIA part.

Memory architecture diverges sharply. The Radeon Pro VII uses 16 GB of HBM2 across a 4096-bit bus, delivering 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 5090 opts for 32 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus, reaching 1.79 TB/s. The HBM2 interface gives AMD a wider bus, but the GDDR7 implementation on NVIDIA's card still provides 75% more bandwidth. Clock speeds also differ: the Radeon Pro VII runs at a 1400 MHz base and 1700 MHz boost, while the RTX 5090 operates at 2017 MHz base and 2407 MHz boost.

Compute resources are radically different. The Radeon Pro VII has 3840 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The RTX 5090 has 21760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs — roughly 5.7x, 2.8x, and 2.75x more respectively. NVIDIA also adds 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores, features absent from the AMD card. Pixel rate jumps from 108.8 GPixel/s to 423.6 GPixel/s, and texture rate from 408.0 GTexel/s to 1,636.8 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput rises from 13.06 TFLOPS to 104.8 TFLOPS, an 8-fold increase. FP16 performance is 26.11 TFLOPS on AMD (via 2:1 ratio) versus 104.8 TFLOPS on NVIDIA (1:1 ratio).

The API support differs as well. AMD supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. NVIDIA supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RTX 5090 also uses PCIe 5.0 x16, while the Radeon Pro VII uses PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs are six mini-DisplayPort 1.4a on AMD versus one HDMI 2.1b and three DisplayPort 2.1b on NVIDIA.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The data shows only two shared benchmark results between these cards, both compute-oriented. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Radeon Pro VII scores 90,148, while the RTX 5090 scores 334,370. The delta is -73%, meaning NVIDIA's card is about 3.7x faster in this workload. In Geekbench Vulkan, the gap is even wider: AMD scores 92,862 versus NVIDIA's 376,728, a delta of -75.4% — that's roughly 4.1x higher performance for the RTX 5090.

These results are consistent with the raw specification differences. The RTX 5090 has 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute versus 13.06 TFLOPS on the Radeon Pro VII. The Vulkan delta is slightly larger than the OpenCL delta, which may reflect the RTX 5090's newer Vulkan 1.4 support compared to AMD's Vulkan 1.3. The RTX 5090 also has a much higher boost clock (2407 MHz versus 1700 MHz) and more than five times the shading units.

The win tally is 2-0 in favor of NVIDIA, with zero wins for AMD across the shared benchmarks. However, the average benchmark score paints a different picture. The Radeon Pro VII averages 97,131 across its three benchmarks (Geekbench Metal, OpenCL, Vulkan), while the RTX 5090 averages 79,842 across ten benchmarks (including multiple Passmark tests). This discrepancy arises because the RTX 5090's average includes legacy DirectX 9/10/11/12 Passmark scores (395, 226, 341, 185) that drag the mean down, plus a low G2D score of 1413. The Radeon Pro VII has no such legacy tests in its benchmark set.

The RTX 5090's nearest rival by average score is the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB at 79,605, just 0.3% lower, and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X at 80,959, which is 1.4% higher. The Radeon Pro VII's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 7900M at 97,487 (-0.4%) and the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 at 101,872 (-4.7%). This suggests the Radeon Pro VII, despite being older, sits in a similar performance tier when considering all benchmark types.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous in raw compute performance: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 dominates the AMD Radeon Pro VII in both shared benchmarks. The OpenCL score is 3.7x higher, and the Vulkan score is 4.1x higher. For any workload that relies on FP32 compute, the RTX 5090's 104.8 TFLOPS versus 13.06 TFLOPS makes it the clear choice. The RTX 5090 also offers double the memory (32 GB versus 16 GB), higher bandwidth (1.79 TB/s versus 1.02 TB/s), and dedicated ray tracing and tensor cores.

The Radeon Pro VII does have a higher average benchmark score (97,131 versus 79,842) and a slightly higher percentile ranking (93rd versus 92nd). This is driven by the RTX 5090's inclusion of many older DirectX and Passmark tests in its benchmark list, which pull its average down. For modern compute workloads, the NVIDIA card is superior. The AMD card also has a lower TDP (250 W versus 575 W) and simpler power requirements (1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin versus 1x 16-pin), making it easier to integrate into existing systems with a 600 W suggested PSU versus 950 W.

Who should pick which? The data suggests the RTX 5090 for users prioritizing maximum compute throughput, larger memory capacity, and modern feature support like ray tracing and tensor cores. The Radeon Pro VII could be considered for legacy system compatibility — it uses a 6-pin plus 8-pin connector rather than the newer 16-pin, and it supports six mini-DisplayPort outputs versus one HDMI and three DisplayPort. The Radeon Pro VII is also end-of-life, while the RTX 5090 is active, meaning ongoing driver support and availability favor NVIDIA.

Specification Differences

Process Node: 7 nm (AMD) versus 5 nm (NVIDIA)

Transistors: 13,230 million versus 92,200 million

Die Size: 331 mm² versus 750 mm²

Base Clock: 1400 MHz versus 2017 MHz

Boost Clock: 1700 MHz versus 2407 MHz

Memory Clock: 1000 MHz / 2 Gbps effective versus 1750 MHz / 28 Gbps effective

Memory Size: 16 GB versus 32 GB

Memory Type: HBM2 versus GDDR7

Memory Bus: 4096 bit versus 512 bit

Memory Bandwidth: 1.02 TB/s versus 1.79 TB/s

Shading Units: 3840 versus 21760

TMUs: 240 versus 680

ROPs: 64 versus 176

RT Cores: None versus 170

Tensor Cores: None versus 680

Pixel Rate: 108.8 GPixel/s versus 423.6 GPixel/s

Texture Rate: 408.0 GTexel/s versus 1,636.8 GTexel/s

FP32: 13.06 TFLOPS versus 104.8 TFLOPS

FP16: 26.11 TFLOPS (2:1) versus 104.8 TFLOPS (1:1)

TDP: 250 W versus 575 W

Power Connectors: 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin versus 1x 16-pin

Suggested PSU: 600 W versus 950 W

Bus Interface: PCIe 4.0 x16 versus PCIe 5.0 x16

Display Outputs: 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a versus 1x HDMI 2.1b + 3x DisplayPort 2.1b

DirectX: 12 (12_1) versus 12 Ultimate (12_2)

Vulkan: 1.3 versus 1.4

Dimensions: 305 mm x 111 mm versus 304 mm x 137 mm x 40 mm

Release Date: 2020-05-12 versus 2025-01-29

Where Each One Wins

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 wins in: All shared compute benchmarks. OpenCL performance is 334,370 versus 90,148, and Vulkan performance is 376,728 versus 92,862. The card also wins on memory capacity (32 GB versus 16 GB), memory bandwidth (1.79 TB/s versus 1.02 TB/s), and raw compute throughput (104.8 TFLOPS FP32 versus 13.06 TFLOPS). For ray tracing workloads, the RTX 5090 has 170 dedicated RT cores; the AMD card has none. For AI and machine learning tasks, the RTX 5090 has 680 tensor cores. The RTX 5090 also supports newer APIs (DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4) and uses a faster PCIe 5.0 interface.

AMD Radeon Pro VII wins in: Average benchmark score (97,131 versus 79,842) and percentile ranking (93rd versus 92nd). The AMD card has a much lower TDP (250 W versus 575 W) and requires a smaller PSU (600 W versus 950 W). It uses conventional power connectors (1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin) rather than the 16-pin connector, which may be easier to adapt in existing systems. The Radeon Pro VII offers six mini-DisplayPort 1.4a outputs versus NVIDIA's one HDMI and three DisplayPort, making it potentially more suitable for multi-display setups. The AMD card is also smaller in height (111 mm versus 137 mm) and has a wider memory bus (4096-bit versus 512-bit), though with lower effective bandwidth. Its HBM2 memory may offer different latency characteristics than GDDR7, though the benchmark data does not directly measure this.