AMD Radeon PRO W6600 vs NVIDIA L4 Comparison

The Verdict

The data presents a clear hierarchy. The NVIDIA L4 is the dominant performer in the recorded benchmarks, winning both head-to-head tests decisively. The AMD Radeon PRO W6600, while a capable card in its own right, trails significantly in raw compute throughput. The L4 is the choice for workloads prioritizing raw compute performance, particularly in OpenCL and Vulkan environments. The W6600, with its 4x DisplayPort outputs, is suited for tasks requiring direct display connectivity, which the L4 completely lacks. The L4 is active in production, while the W6600 is end-of-life, suggesting the L4 is the forward-looking option. The L4's average benchmark score of 131072 places it in the 95th percentile of all GPUs, while the W6600's 81995 average places it in the 92nd percentile. The L4 sits within 3.2% of much higher-tier rivals like the AMD Radeon PRO W6800, while the W6600 is only 1.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two cards is substantial. The NVIDIA L4 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, using a 5 nm process at TSMC. It packs 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 121.8M per mm². The AMD Radeon PRO W6600 uses the older RDNA 2.0 architecture on a 7 nm process, also from TSMC. It contains 11,060 million transistors on a 237 mm² die, for a density of 46.7M per mm². This represents a generational leap in manufacturing efficiency for the L4.

The compute resources differ massively. The L4 features 7424 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 80 ROPs, alongside 60 RT cores and 240 tensor cores. The W6600 has 1792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with 28 RT cores and no tensor cores at all. The absence of tensor cores on the AMD part is critical for AI and machine learning workloads, where the L4's dedicated hardware is a major advantage. The L4's FP32 throughput is 30.29 TFLOPS, while the W6600 manages 9.247 TFLOPS. In FP16, the L4 also delivers 30.29 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio), whereas the W6600 achieves 18.49 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio).

Memory configurations tell a similar story. The L4 has 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 300.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The W6600 has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, providing 224.0 GB/s. The L4's memory clock is listed at 1563 MHz (12.5 Gbps effective), while the W6600 runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). Despite the higher clock on the W6600, the L4's wider bus gives it significantly more total bandwidth. The L4 uses no power connectors and has a TDP of 72 W, whereas the W6600 requires a single 6-pin connector and has a 100 W TDP. The L4 is also a shorter card at 169 mm (6.7 inches) compared to the W6600's 241 mm (9.5 inches).

Where Each One Wins

Based on the recorded benchmark data, the NVIDIA L4 is the clear winner in compute-heavy scenarios. Its OpenCL score of 140838 is 91.6% higher than the W6600's 73514. This suggests a massive advantage in general-purpose GPU compute, including scientific simulation, data processing, and rendering tasks that leverage OpenCL. The Vulkan test further reinforces this, with the L4 scoring 121306 versus the W6600's 78428, a 54.7% advantage. Vulkan performance is often indicative of gaming and real-time graphics workload capability, where the L4 also excels.

The AMD Radeon PRO W6600 has no benchmark victories in the data. However, its specification differences point to where it might be preferred. The inclusion of 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs means it can drive up to four displays directly, something the L4 cannot do at all, as it has no display outputs. For multi-monitor professional visualization, digital signage, or any workstation setup requiring direct display connections, the W6600 is the only viable option from this pairing. The W6600 also has a higher base clock (2331 MHz vs 795 MHz), but the L4's boost clock reaches 2040 MHz, narrowing that gap under load.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA L4 has an average benchmark score of 131072, placing it in the 95th percentile of all GPUs. The AMD Radeon PRO W6600 has an average score of 81995, placing it in the 92nd percentile.

Q: How much faster is the NVIDIA L4 in OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA L4 scores 140838 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 91.6% higher than the AMD Radeon PRO W6600's score of 73514.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 support tensor operations?

A: No, the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 has no tensor cores listed in its specifications. The NVIDIA L4 has 240 tensor cores.

Q: Which card offers more memory bandwidth?

A: The NVIDIA L4 provides 300.1 GB/s of bandwidth from its 24 GB GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus. The AMD Radeon PRO W6600 offers 224.0 GB/s from its 8 GB GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus.

Q: Can the NVIDIA L4 connect to displays directly?

A: No, the NVIDIA L4 has no display outputs. The AMD Radeon PRO W6600 has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs.

Q: What is the production status of each card?

A: The NVIDIA L4 has a production status of "Active". The AMD Radeon PRO W6600 is listed as "End-of-life".

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded head-to-head data shows a dominant performance from the NVIDIA L4. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the L4 scores 140838 against the W6600's 73514. This is a delta of 91.6%, meaning the L4 delivers nearly double the OpenCL compute performance. This is the single largest gap in the comparison and suggests the L4's architecture is vastly more efficient for raw number-crunching tasks. The L4's FP32 rate of 30.29 TFLOPS versus the W6600's 9.247 TFLOPS helps explain this massive disparity in raw compute throughput.

The Geekbench Vulkan test shows a narrower but still decisive gap. The L4 scores 121306, while the W6600 scores 78428, for a delta of 54.7%. Vulkan performance is influenced by driver overhead, geometry throughput, and rasterization. The L4's texture rate of 489.6 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 163.2 GPixel/s are substantially higher than the W6600's 289.0 GTexel/s and 165.1 GPixel/s, respectively. Interestingly, the pixel rates are nearly identical, but the L4's advantage in texture rate and shading units (7424 vs 1792) gives it a clear edge in this test.

The L4's nearest rivals provide context for its score. It sits 0.7% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti, 3.1% below both the NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation and the NVIDIA A10M, and 3.2% below the AMD Radeon PRO W6800. This places the L4 in a performance tier just below some of the most powerful GPUs available, despite its lower 72 W TDP. The W6600, in contrast, is only 1.3% above the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X, 2.7% above the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, and 3% to 3.3% above the NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants. This indicates the W6600 is positioned in a much lower performance bracket.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every core specification. The NVIDIA L4 uses the AD104 chip on a 5 nm process, while the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 uses the Navi 23 chip on a 7 nm process. The L4 has 35,800 million transistors versus the W6600's 11,060 million. The L4's die is 294 mm², the W6600's is 237 mm², giving the L4 a much higher transistor density.

Clock speeds differ significantly. The L4 has a base clock of 795 MHz and a boost of 2040 MHz. The W6600 has a base clock of 2331 MHz and a boost of 2580 MHz. The W6600 runs at higher clocks, but the L4 compensates with far more shading units (7424 vs 1792), TMUs (240 vs 112), and ROPs (80 vs 64). The L4 also has 60 RT cores and 240 tensor cores, while the W6600 has 28 RT cores and no tensor cores.

Memory is a major differentiator. The L4 offers 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus with 300.1 GB/s bandwidth. The W6600 offers 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 224.0 GB/s bandwidth. The L4's memory runs at 1563 MHz (12.5 Gbps effective), while the W6600's runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The L4's FP32 performance is 30.29 TFLOPS, and its FP16 is 30.29 TFLOPS (1:1). The W6600's FP32 is 9.247 TFLOPS, and its FP16 is 18.49 TFLOPS (2:1).

Power and physical specifications also differ. The L4 has a TDP of 72 W, no power connectors, and a suggested PSU of 250 W. The W6600 has a TDP of 100 W, requires 1x 6-pin power connector, and a suggested PSU of 300 W. The L4 is single-slot and 169 mm (6.7 inches) long, while the W6600 is also single-slot but 241 mm (9.5 inches) long. The L4 uses a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface, while the W6600 uses PCIe 4.0 x8. The L4 has no display outputs, while the W6600 has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a. Release dates differ, with the L4 launching on 2023-03-20 and the W6600 on 2021-06-07. The L4 has a launch MSRP of null, while the W6600 has a launch MSRP of 649 USD.