AMD Radeon Pro W5700X vs AMD Radeon VII Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data shows a decisive sweep for the AMD Radeon VII, winning all three recorded head-to-head comparisons. The most dramatic gap appears in the Geekbench OpenCL test, where the Radeon VII scores 91,947 against the Radeon Pro W5700X's 43,810. That is a 109.9% advantage, meaning the Radeon VII more than doubles the Pro card's compute output in this workload. The Vulkan result follows a similar pattern, with the Radeon VII at 91,788 versus 45,246, a 102.9% lead. These are not marginal differences; they represent a complete tier of separation in raw throughput.

The Metal benchmark is the only test where the two cards come close. The Radeon VII posts 77,975, while the Radeon Pro W5700X trails at 75,427, a 3.4% gap. This is notable because Metal is the API most commonly used in macOS applications, and the Pro W5700X is positioned as a Mac-oriented workstation card. Despite the narrower margin, the Radeon VII still holds the advantage, suggesting its higher raw compute resources translate even into Apple's graphics stack.

Looking at the overall average benchmark scores, the Radeon VII sits at 66,004, which places it in the 90th percentile of all GPUs in the database. The Radeon Pro W5700X averages 54,828, landing in the 87th percentile. The 11,176-point difference in average score is substantial, and the percentile gap, while smaller, still confirms that the Radeon VII ranks higher globally.

The nearest rival data provides additional context. For the Radeon VII, the closest competitor is the NVIDIA Tesla T4, which averages 66,733, a 1.1% difference. The Radeon VII also edges out the NVIDIA Tesla P40 by 1.4%, the AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 by 2.8%, and the NVIDIA CMP 30HX by 3.4%. For the Radeon Pro W5700X, the nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon 8060S at 55,757 (1.7% ahead), the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB at 55,698 (1.6% ahead), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 at 54,247 (1.1% behind). Interestingly, the RTX 4080 and RTX 4080 SUPER both trail the Pro W5700X by 1.1%, meaning the workstation card holds its own against those consumer flagships in the database's aggregate metrics.

The OpenCL and Vulkan results deserve special attention because they are compute-oriented APIs. A 109.9% and 102.9% lead respectively indicates that the Radeon VII's architecture is fundamentally better suited to these workloads, likely due to its larger shading unit count and wider memory bus. The Pro W5700X, despite its higher boost clock, cannot overcome the Radeon VII's sheer resource advantage in these tests.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different architectural generations despite sharing the AMD brand and the 7 nm process node from TSMC. The Radeon VII uses the Vega 20 chip built on GCN 5.1, while the Radeon Pro W5700X uses the Navi 10 chip built on RDNA 1.0. This is a fundamental divide: GCN 5.1 is the mature compute-oriented design, while RDNA 1.0 is AMD's first iteration of the gaming-focused RDNA architecture.

Transistor counts differ significantly. The Radeon VII packs 13,230 million transistors on a 331 mm² die, yielding a density of 40.0 million per mm². The Pro W5700X has 10,300 million transistors on a 251 mm² die, with a slightly higher density of 41.0 million per mm². The Radeon VII's larger die and higher transistor count give it more raw compute resources, which the benchmark results reflect.

Core configurations follow the architectural split. The Radeon VII has 3,840 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation pipelines. The Pro W5700X has 2,560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The Radeon VII thus has 50% more shading units and 50% more TMUs, while ROP counts match. This explains why the Radeon VII achieves 13.44 TFLOPS FP32 and 26.88 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1), compared to the Pro W5700X's 10.44 TFLOPS FP32 and 20.89 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1). The Radeon VII leads by roughly 29% in FP32 and 29% in FP16.

Clock speeds tell the opposite story. The Radeon VII has a base clock of 1400 MHz and a boost clock of 1750 MHz. The Pro W5700X starts at 1243 MHz base but boosts to 2040 MHz, which is 290 MHz higher than the Radeon VII's boost. This higher clock speed helps the Pro W5700X close some gaps in pixel and texture throughput. The Pro W5700X achieves 130.6 GPixel/s pixel rate versus the Radeon VII's 112.0 GPixel/s, a 16.6% advantage. However, the Radeon VII's texture rate of 420.0 GTexel/s exceeds the Pro W5700X's 326.4 GTexel/s by 28.7%.

Memory architecture is another major divergence. The Radeon VII uses 16 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, delivering 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth. The Pro W5700X uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s. The Radeon VII's memory bandwidth is more than double that of the Pro W5700X, which is a critical factor in compute-heavy workloads. Memory clocks also differ: the Radeon VII runs at 1000 MHz (2 Gbps effective), while the Pro W5700X runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The GDDR6's higher effective speed per pin cannot compensate for the HBM2's vastly wider bus.

Power and physical design differ as well. The Radeon VII has a TDP of 295 W and requires two 8-pin power connectors, with a suggested PSU of 600 W. The Pro W5700X has a TDP of 205 W, no listed power connectors, and a suggested PSU of 550 W. The Pro W5700X is also a quad-slot card, while the Radeon VII is dual-slot. The Pro W5700X uses an Apple MPX bus interface, whereas the Radeon VII uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs also differ: the Radeon VII has one HDMI 2.0b and three DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, while the Pro W5700X has one HDMI 2.0b and four Thunderbolt outputs.

API support shows a small difference. Both cards support DirectX 12 (12_1) and OpenGL 4.6. However, the Radeon VII supports Vulkan 1.3, while the Pro W5700X supports Vulkan 1.4. The Radeon VII lacks ray tracing and tensor cores, as does the Pro W5700X.

FAQ

Q: Which card has higher raw compute performance in OpenCL?

A: The AMD Radeon VII scores 91,947 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 109.9% higher than the Radeon Pro W5700X's 43,810. This is the largest single-test advantage between the two cards.

Q: How close are the two cards in Metal performance?

A: The gap is small. The Radeon VII scores 77,975 in Geekbench Metal, only 3.4% ahead of the Pro W5700X's 75,427. This is the closest of the three head-to-head tests.

Q: What memory configurations do these cards use?

A: Both have 16 GB of memory, but the Radeon VII uses HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus with 1.02 TB/s bandwidth, while the Pro W5700X uses GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card has a higher boost clock?

A: The Radeon Pro W5700X boosts to 2040 MHz, which is 290 MHz higher than the Radeon VII's 1750 MHz boost. However, the Radeon VII has a higher base clock at 1400 MHz versus 1243 MHz.

Q: Do both cards support the same API levels?

A: Both support DirectX 12 (12_1) and OpenGL 4.6. They differ in Vulkan support: the Radeon VII supports Vulkan 1.3, while the Pro W5700X supports Vulkan 1.4.

Q: How do these cards rank globally in the database?

A: The Radeon VII is in the 90th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 66,004. The Pro W5700X is in the 87th percentile with an average score of 54,828.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear winner for pure performance: the AMD Radeon VII. It wins all three head-to-head benchmarks, with particularly dominant leads in OpenCL (109.9%) and Vulkan (102.9%). Its average benchmark score of 66,004 is 11,176 points higher than the Pro W5700X's 54,828, and it ranks in the 90th percentile versus the Pro W5700X's 87th. For anyone prioritizing compute throughput, especially in OpenCL or Vulkan workloads, the Radeon VII is the stronger choice.

However, the Pro W5700X is not without merit. Its Metal score of 75,427 is within 3.4% of the Radeon VII, making it nearly equivalent in macOS-centric graphics tasks. It also consumes less power, with a 205 W TDP versus the Radeon VII's 295 W, and requires a 550 W PSU instead of 600 W. Its quad-slot design and Apple MPX bus interface suggest it is built for specific Mac Pro configurations, where the Radeon VII's PCIe 3.0 x16 interface and dual-slot footprint may not fit. The Pro W5700X also carries a higher Vulkan support level at 1.4.

The Radeon VII's launch MSRP is 699 USD, while the Pro W5700X's is 999 USD. The Radeon VII offers higher raw performance at a lower launch price, but the Pro W5700X's niche is integration into Apple's ecosystem, which the benchmark data cannot fully quantify. The choice depends on the target platform: the Radeon VII for compute-heavy, open-standard workloads, and the Pro W5700X for Mac Pro environments where its MPX interface and Thunderbolt outputs are essential.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon VII | AMD Radeon Pro W5700X |

|---|---|---|

| Chip | Vega 20 | Navi 10 |

| Architecture | GCN 5.1 | RDNA 1.0 |

| Generation | Vega II (Radeon VII) | Radeon Pro Mac (Navi Series) |

| Process Node | 7 nm | 7 nm |

| Transistors | 13,230 million | 10,300 million |

| Die Size | 331 mm² | 251 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 40.0M / mm² | 41.0M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1400 MHz | 1243 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1750 MHz | 2040 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1000 MHz, 2 Gbps effective | 1750 MHz, 14 Gbps effective |

| Memory Type | HBM2 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus Width | 4096 bit | 256 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 1.02 TB/s | 448.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 3840 | 2560 |

| TMUs | 240 | 160 |

| ROPs | 64 | 64 |

| Pixel Rate | 112.0 GPixel/s | 130.6 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 420.0 GTexel/s | 326.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 13.44 TFLOPS | 10.44 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 26.88 TFLOPS (2:1) | 20.89 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 295 W | 205 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | Quad-slot |

| Power Connectors | 2x 8-pin | None listed |

| Suggested PSU | 600 W | 550 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | Apple MPX |

| Display Outputs | 1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a | 1x HDMI 2.0b, 4x Thunderbolt |

| Vulkan Support | 1.3 | 1.4 |

| Length | 280 mm (11 inches) | 305 mm (12 inches) |

| Height | 125 mm (4.9 inches) | Not listed |

| Width | 40 mm (1.6 inches) | Not listed |

| Release Date | 2019-02-06 | 2019-12-10 |

| Launch MSRP | 699 USD | 999 USD |