AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo vs NVIDIA PG506-232 Comparison

# NVIDIA PG506-232 vs AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo

The NVIDIA PG506-232 decisively outperforms the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo in the only directly comparable benchmark, posting an 81.1% higher Geekbench OpenCL score. The PG506-232 lands in the 99th percentile of all GPUs, while the W6800X Duo sits at the 96th percentile. However, the AMD card offers substantially more memory, higher raw compute throughput in FP32 and FP16, and a broader API feature set, making the choice heavily dependent on workload and software ecosystem.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The sole head-to-head comparison available is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is lopsided. The NVIDIA PG506-232 scores 225,124, while the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo scores 124,335. That represents an 81.1% advantage for the NVIDIA card — a massive margin that dwarfs the typical performance gaps seen between comparable workstation GPUs.

Context from the nearest-rival data reinforces how dominant the PG506-232 is in OpenCL. It sits 2.4% above the AMD Radeon PRO W7900D (219,827), 8.7% above the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB (207,124), and 14.9% above the NVIDIA RTX 6000D (195,964). The only listed rival that beats it is the NVIDIA L20 at 251,147, which is 10.4% higher. In contrast, the W6800X Duo's 124,335 OpenCL score sits just 0.3% above the AMD Radeon PRO W6800 (135,396) and 0.4% above both the NVIDIA A10M (135,230) and NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation (135,218) — though those deltas are inverted, meaning the W6800X Duo actually trails those cards by small margins. The AMD card only beats the AMD Radeon PRO V620 (136,472) by 0.5% in this comparison.

The average benchmark score tells a similar story. The PG506-232 averages 225,124 across its benchmark suite, while the W6800X Duo averages 135,774. That puts the NVIDIA card roughly 65.8% higher on average. The W6800X Duo does have additional benchmark results — Geekbench Metal at 157,365 and Geekbench Vulkan at 125,622 — but no comparable scores exist for the PG506-232, which lacks Vulkan and Metal entries in the data.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA PG506-232 wins decisively in OpenCL compute workloads, which are common in scientific simulation, AI inference, and general-purpose GPU computing. Its 99th-percentile standing among all GPUs indicates that it outperforms the vast majority of graphics cards ever benchmarked, not just its direct competitors. The 81.1% OpenCL lead over the W6800X Duo suggests that applications relying on OpenCL will see dramatically better performance on the NVIDIA card.

The AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo counters with several structural advantages. It offers 32 GB of GDDR6 memory compared to 24 GB of HBM2 on the NVIDIA card — a 33.3% capacity advantage. Its FP32 throughput of 15.11 TFLOPS exceeds the PG506-232's 10.32 TFLOPS by roughly 46.4%. In FP16, the AMD card outputs 30.21 TFLOPS versus 10.32 TFLOPS on NVIDIA — a 192.8% advantage, though this comes with the caveat that AMD's FP16 is 2:1 rate while NVIDIA's is 1:1. The W6800X Duo also has 60 ray tracing cores, whereas the PG506-232 has none listed, making the AMD card the clear choice for ray-traced rendering workloads. Additionally, the AMD card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, while the NVIDIA card lists no API support at all.

The W6800X Duo also has higher texture and pixel fill rates: 472.1 GTexel/s versus 322.6 GTexel/s, and 188.8 GPixel/s versus 138.2 GPixel/s. The AMD card boosts to 1967 MHz from an 1800 MHz base, while the NVIDIA card boosts to 1440 MHz from a 930 MHz base. These clock and fill-rate advantages suggest the AMD card will perform better in graphics-heavy tasks that are not bound by OpenCL compute.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from fundamentally different architectural lineages. The NVIDIA PG506-232 uses the GA100 chip based on the Ampere architecture, belonging to the Server Ampere (Axx) generation. It is built on TSMC's 7 nm process with 54,200 million transistors on an 826 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 65.6M per mm². The AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo uses the Navi 21 chip based on RDNA 2.0, belonging to the Radeon Pro Mac (Navi II Series) generation. It also uses TSMC's 7 nm process but packs 26,800 million transistors on a 520 mm² die, for a lower density of 51.5M per mm².

The NVIDIA card's GA100 die is 58.8% larger and contains roughly twice the transistor count of the AMD chip. This reflects the Ampere architecture's emphasis on compute density, particularly its 224 tensor cores — hardware that the AMD card completely lacks. The W6800X Duo, by contrast, dedicates silicon to 60 ray tracing cores and a higher shading-unit count of 3840 versus 3584 on the NVIDIA card.

Memory architecture differs sharply. The PG506-232 uses 24 GB of HBM2 on a 3072-bit bus, delivering 933.1 GB/s of bandwidth at an effective 2.4 Gbps. The W6800X Duo uses 32 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 512.0 GB/s at an effective 16 Gbps. The NVIDIA card's HBM2 implementation provides 82.2% more memory bandwidth despite having less total capacity — a critical advantage for bandwidth-hungry compute workloads. The AMD card compensates with 33.3% more capacity, which matters for very large datasets that exceed 24 GB.

Power and physical specifications also diverge. The PG506-232 has a 165 W TDP and requires a 450 W suggested PSU, while the W6800X Duo has a 400 W TDP and an 800 W suggested PSU. The NVIDIA card is dual-slot with an 8-pin EPS connector; the AMD card is quad-slot with no listed power connector, reflecting its Apple MPX bus interface. Both cards share the same 267 mm length, but the AMD card is slightly taller at 120 mm versus 112 mm. The NVIDIA card has no display outputs, while the AMD card provides 1x HDMI 2.1 and 4x Thunderbolt.

The Verdict

The data supports a clear split decision. For pure OpenCL compute performance, the NVIDIA PG506-232 is the overwhelming choice. Its 81.1% lead over the W6800X Duo in Geekbench OpenCL, combined with its 99th-percentile standing, makes it an elite compute accelerator. The NVIDIA card also offers superior memory bandwidth (933.1 GB/s versus 512.0 GB/s), tensor cores for AI workloads, and a much lower TDP of 165 W versus 400 W. Buyers running OpenCL-based scientific or AI workloads should choose the PG506-232 without hesitation.

The AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo is the better option for graphics-focused work, particularly in macOS environments given its Apple MPX interface and Thunderbolt display outputs. Its 32 GB of GDDR6 memory exceeds the NVIDIA card's 24 GB, and its FP32 throughput of 15.11 TFLOPS is 46.4% higher. The 60 ray tracing cores enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing that the PG506-232 cannot perform. The AMD card also supports modern graphics APIs — DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 — while the NVIDIA card lists none. For rendering, ray tracing, or any workload that leverages these APIs, the W6800X Duo is the data-backed selection.

The W6800X Duo's launch MSRP is 4,999 USD. Both cards are end-of-life products, with the NVIDIA card released on 2021-04-11 and the AMD card on 2021-08-02. The NVIDIA card's predecessor is Tesla Turing and its successor is Server Ada; the AMD card has no listed predecessor or successor.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA PG506-232 scores 225,124 versus 124,335 for the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo, giving NVIDIA an 81.1% advantage.

Q: Does the AMD card have more memory?

A: Yes, the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo has 32 GB of GDDR6, while the NVIDIA PG506-232 has 24 GB of HBM2 — a 33.3% capacity difference.

Q: Which card supports ray tracing?

A: Only the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo lists ray tracing cores (60). The NVIDIA PG506-232 has no ray tracing core count in its specifications.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The NVIDIA PG506-232 delivers 933.1 GB/s over a 3072-bit HBM2 bus, while the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo delivers 512.0 GB/s over a 256-bit GDDR6 bus — NVIDIA has 82.2% more bandwidth.

Q: Which card has higher FP32 compute?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo achieves 15.11 TFLOPS FP32, compared to 10.32 TFLOPS for the NVIDIA PG506-232, making AMD roughly 46.4% higher.

Q: Do both cards have display outputs?

A: No. The NVIDIA PG506-232 has no display outputs, while the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo provides 1x HDMI 2.1 and 4x Thunderbolt.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA PG506-232 | AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo |

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

| Architecture | Ampere | RDNA 2.0 |

| Chip | GA100 | Navi 21 |

| Generation | Server Ampere (Axx) | Radeon Pro Mac (Navi II Series) |

| Transistors | 54,200 million | 26,800 million |

| Die Size | 826 mm² | 520 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 65.6M / mm² | 51.5M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 930 MHz | 1800 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1440 MHz | 1967 MHz |

| Memory Size | 24 GB | 32 GB |

| Memory Type | HBM2 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus | 3072 bit | 256 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 933.1 GB/s | 512.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 3584 | 3840 |

| TMUs | 224 | 240 |

| ROPs | 96 | 96 |

| Ray Tracing Cores | None | 60 |

| Tensor Cores | 224 | None |

| FP32 Compute | 10.32 TFLOPS | 15.11 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Compute | 10.32 TFLOPS (1:1) | 30.21 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| Pixel Rate | 138.2 GPixel/s | 188.8 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 322.6 GTexel/s | 472.1 GTexel/s |

| TDP | 165 W | 400 W |

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

| Power Connectors | 8-pin EPS | None listed |

| Suggested PSU | 450 W | 800 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 4.0 x16 | Apple MPX |

| Display Outputs | No outputs | 1x HDMI 2.1, 4x Thunderbolt |

| DirectX Support | None listed | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| OpenGL Support | None listed | 4.6 |

| Vulkan Support | None listed | 1.4 |

| Dimensions (L×H) | 267 mm × 112 mm | 267 mm × 120 mm |

| Release Date | 2021-04-11 | 2021-08-02 |

| Launch MSRP | None listed | 4,999 USD |