AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo vs NVIDIA RTX A4500 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The direct comparison between the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo and the NVIDIA RTX A4500 is limited to two shared compute workloads, and the results clearly favor the NVIDIA card in both instances. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX A4500 scores 141,837 against the AMD card's 124,335, a 12.3% advantage. This is a substantial margin in a compute API that stresses raw throughput and memory bandwidth. The Vulkan results are closer: the RTX A4500 posts 129,980 versus 125,622 for the Radeon Pro W6800X Duo, a 3.4% edge. While the NVIDIA card wins both head-to-head tests, the Vulkan gap is narrow enough to suggest that the AMD architecture remains competitive in that specific API.

Looking at the broader database averages, the picture becomes more nuanced. The AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo holds an average benchmark score of 135,774, which places it in the 96th percentile among all GPUs. The NVIDIA RTX A4500, by contrast, has an average score of 91,671, sitting in the 93rd percentile. The AMD card's average is heavily influenced by its Geekbench Metal score of 157,365, a test that the NVIDIA card does not have a recorded result for. This divergence in available benchmarks creates an interesting tension: the AMD card wins on aggregated average, but the NVIDIA card wins on every directly comparable test.

The nearest rivals for each card further contextualize these numbers. The AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo's closest competitor is the AMD Radeon PRO V620 at 136,472, which actually outperforms it by 0.5%. The NVIDIA RTX A4500's nearest rival is the AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 at 92,466, which trails the NVIDIA card by 0.9%. These deltas are small, indicating that both cards sit within a tight performance cluster for their respective benchmark sets. The RTX A4500 also leads the NVIDIA Quadro GP100 by 4.8% and the AMD Radeon PRO W7600 by 5.2%, suggesting a comfortable margin over older or lower-tier workstation options.

Architecture Differences

The foundational difference lies in the manufacturing process and chip design. The AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo uses the Navi 21 chip built on TSMC's 7 nm process, containing 26,800 million transistors on a 520 mm² die. This yields a transistor density of 51.5M per mm². The NVIDIA RTX A4500 uses the GA102 chip fabricated by Samsung on an 8 nm process, packing 28,300 million transistors into a larger 628 mm² die, resulting in a lower density of 45.1M per mm². The AMD design is more compact and efficient in terms of transistor packing, while the NVIDIA chip uses more silicon area and more total transistors.

The memory subsystems take different approaches. The AMD card offers 32 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA card provides 20 GB of GDDR6 on a wider 320-bit bus, achieving 640.0 GB/s. Despite having 12 GB less capacity, the RTX A4500 moves data 25% faster, which can matter in bandwidth-sensitive workloads. Both cards run their memory at 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective speed, so the bandwidth difference comes entirely from the bus width.

Compute resources are starkly different. The AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo has 3,840 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 96 raster operation units, plus 60 ray tracing cores. The NVIDIA RTX A4500 has 7,168 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, along with 56 RT cores and 224 tensor cores. The NVIDIA card has nearly double the shading units, but fewer TMUs. Raw FP32 throughput favors NVIDIA at 23.65 TFLOPS versus 15.11 TFLOPS for AMD. The FP16 picture is more complex: AMD achieves 30.21 TFLOPS using a 2:1 ratio, while NVIDIA matches its FP32 rate at 23.65 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio. The NVIDIA tensor cores provide dedicated hardware for AI workloads, a feature the AMD card entirely lacks.

Clock speeds and power draw also diverge. The AMD card runs at a base of 1800 MHz and boosts to 1967 MHz, while the NVIDIA card starts at 1050 MHz and boosts to 1650 MHz. Despite the lower clocks, the NVIDIA card achieves higher throughput. The power envelope is a major differentiator: the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo consumes 400 W with a suggested 800 W PSU, while the RTX A4500 draws only 200 W with a 550 W PSU suggestion. The AMD card occupies a quad-slot form factor and uses the Apple MPX bus interface, whereas the NVIDIA card is dual-slot with a standard PCIe 4.0 x16 interface and a single 8-pin power connector.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo has an average benchmark score of 135,774, compared to 91,671 for the NVIDIA RTX A4500. The AMD card also sits in the 96th percentile among all GPUs, while the NVIDIA card is in the 93rd percentile.

Q: Does the NVIDIA RTX A4500 have tensor cores?

A: Yes, the NVIDIA RTX A4500 includes 224 tensor cores. The AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo has no tensor cores listed in its specifications.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A4500 has 640.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth, while the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo has 512.0 GB/s. Both use GDDR6 memory running at 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective speed.

Q: How do the power requirements compare?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo has a 400 W TDP and requires a suggested 800 W PSU. The NVIDIA RTX A4500 has a 200 W TDP and needs a suggested 550 W PSU.

Q: Which card wins in Geekbench Vulkan?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A4500 scores 129,980 in Geekbench Vulkan, beating the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo's 125,622 by 3.4%.

Q: Are both cards end-of-life products?

A: Yes, both the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo and the NVIDIA RTX A4500 have a production status of end-of-life.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every major specification category. The process node differs: AMD uses 7 nm from TSMC, NVIDIA uses 8 nm from Samsung. Transistor counts are close, with NVIDIA at 28,300 million and AMD at 26,800 million, but die size favors AMD's efficiency at 520 mm² versus NVIDIA's 628 mm². Memory capacity favors AMD at 32 GB versus NVIDIA's 20 GB, but bus width and bandwidth favor NVIDIA at 320-bit and 640.0 GB/s versus 256-bit and 512.0 GB/s.

Shader configuration is a major split: NVIDIA has 7,168 shading units and 224 TMUs, while AMD has 3,840 shading units and 240 TMUs. Both have 96 ROPs. Ray tracing cores are similar in count, with AMD at 60 and NVIDIA at 56, but NVIDIA adds 224 tensor cores where AMD has none. Pixel rate favors AMD at 188.8 GPixel/s versus 158.4 GPixel/s, while texture rate also favors AMD at 472.1 GTexel/s versus 369.6 GTexel/s. FP32 output favors NVIDIA at 23.65 TFLOPS versus 15.11 TFLOPS, and FP16 favors AMD at 30.21 TFLOPS (2:1) versus NVIDIA's 23.65 TFLOPS (1:1).

Power and physical design differ sharply. The AMD card consumes 400 W with a quad-slot profile, while the NVIDIA card draws 200 W in a dual-slot design. The AMD card uses an Apple MPX bus interface, while the NVIDIA card uses PCIe 4.0 x16 with a 1x 8-pin power connector. Display outputs also differ: AMD offers 1x HDMI 2.1 and 4x Thunderbolt, while NVIDIA provides 4x DisplayPort 1.4a. Both cards are 267 mm long, but the AMD card is 120 mm tall versus NVIDIA's 112 mm. Release dates are roughly three months apart, with AMD launching on August 2, 2021, and NVIDIA on November 22, 2021.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo wins on memory capacity and rasterization throughput. Its 32 GB of VRAM is 60% larger than the NVIDIA card's 20 GB, which matters for large datasets and high-resolution textures. The higher pixel rate of 188.8 GPixel/s and texture rate of 472.1 GTexel/s indicate stronger fill-rate performance in traditional graphics workloads. The FP16 output of 30.21 TFLOPS, achieved through a 2:1 ratio, gives it an advantage in compute tasks that can leverage reduced precision. The AMD card also has a higher average benchmark score and a higher percentile ranking, driven primarily by its Metal performance.

The NVIDIA RTX A4500 wins on compute throughput, memory bandwidth, and power efficiency. Its FP32 output of 23.65 TFLOPS is 56% higher than the AMD card, and its 640.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is 25% faster. The tensor cores enable dedicated AI and deep learning acceleration, which the AMD card cannot match. The 200 W TDP, half of the AMD card's 400 W, means lower power draw and a simpler dual-slot installation. The NVIDIA card wins both head-to-head benchmarks: 12.3% in OpenCL and 3.4% in Vulkan. It also supports standard PCIe 4.0 x16 connectivity, making it more flexible for conventional workstation builds.

The AMD card's quad-slot design and Apple MPX interface tie it to Apple's Mac Pro ecosystem, while the NVIDIA card's PCIe interface and 4x DisplayPort outputs suit generic PC workstations. The AMD card's higher pixel and texture rates suggest it may handle certain graphics-heavy tasks better, but the NVIDIA card's advantages in raw compute, bandwidth, and AI features give it a broader application range.

The Verdict

The data presents a clear trade-off between raw compute capability and specialized features. The NVIDIA RTX A4500 wins every directly comparable benchmark, with a 12.3% lead in OpenCL and a 3.4% lead in Vulkan. Its higher FP32 throughput, larger memory bandwidth, and tensor cores make it the stronger choice for general-purpose compute, AI inference, and bandwidth-sensitive workloads. The lower power draw and dual-slot form factor also make it easier to integrate into standard systems.

The AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo counters with double the memory capacity, higher rasterization rates, and a higher average benchmark score, though that average relies on Metal results the NVIDIA card never faced. Its 32 GB VRAM and superior texture and pixel throughput could benefit specific graphics-heavy tasks, and its FP16 performance is notably higher. The Apple MPX interface means it is intended for Mac Pro systems, where its unique form factor and Thunderbolt outputs provide value.

For users building a conventional PC workstation, the NVIDIA RTX A4500 is the safer choice based on head-to-head performance, power efficiency, and AI capabilities. For those invested in the Apple ecosystem with a need for maximum VRAM, the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo offers a compelling alternative, especially given its end-of-life status and 4,999 USD launch MSRP. The recorded data shows the NVIDIA card winning where they compete directly, but the AMD card's advantages in memory and fill rate keep it relevant for specific use cases.