AMD Radeon PRO W7600 vs AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data shows a clear overall victory for the AMD Radeon PRO W7600, which wins both recorded head-to-head tests against the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition. In Geekbench OpenCL, the PRO W7600 scores 81,528 against the Vega Frontier Edition’s 76,111, a 7.1% advantage. That gap widens dramatically in Geekbench Vulkan, where the PRO W7600 posts 92,688 versus 71,937 for its older rival — a 28.8% lead. These are not marginal differences; the Vulkan result represents a substantial generational leap in compute efficiency under a modern graphics API.

Looking at the broader benchmark context, the PRO W7600’s average benchmark score of 87,108 places it in the 93rd percentile of all GPUs, while the Vega Frontier Edition’s 73,370 average sits in the 91st percentile. The raw percentile gap understates the performance chasm because the older card’s percentile is buoyed by a much older and weaker field. The PRO W7600’s nearest rivals in the database — the NVIDIA Quadro GP100 at 87,445 (0.4% lower), the NVIDIA CMP 40HX at 85,637 (1.7% higher), the NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile at 91,134 (4.4% lower), and the NVIDIA RTX A4500 at 91,671 (5.0% lower) — show that it competes in a performance band well above the Vega Frontier Edition’s neighborhood. The Vega Frontier Edition, by contrast, sits closest to the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64 at 72,379 (1.4% lower), the NVIDIA TITAN X Pascal at 72,098 (1.8% lower), the AMD Radeon RX 6650M at 71,768 (2.2% lower), and the AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE at 70,829 (3.6% lower).

The Vulkan delta is particularly telling. A 28.8% advantage in a low-level, multi-threaded API suggests the PRO W7600’s architecture extracts far more throughput from the same workload class, not merely that it has faster clocks. The OpenCL result, while narrower, still confirms the PRO W7600’s superiority in a compute-centric workload that both cards support natively. Notably, the Vega Frontier Edition also has a Geekbench Metal score of 72,061, but no comparable Metal result exists for the PRO W7600 in the data, so cross-API comparisons are limited to OpenCL and Vulkan.

Architecture Differences

The two cards represent fundamentally different design philosophies separated by six years of silicon evolution. The PRO W7600 is built on the Navi 33 chip using RDNA 3.0 architecture (codename "Hotpink Bonefish"), fabricated on a 6 nm process at TSMC. The Vega Frontier Edition uses the Vega 10 chip with GCN 5.0 architecture, built on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. This process shrink alone — from 14 nm to 6 nm — explains much of the efficiency and clock-speed disparity.

Transistor counts are surprisingly close: the PRO W7600 packs 13,300 million transistors on a 204 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 65.2M per mm². The Vega Frontier Edition has 12,500 million transistors spread across a much larger 495 mm² die, for a density of just 25.3M per mm². The PRO W7600 crams more than 2.5 times the transistor density into less than half the silicon area, which directly enables its higher clocks and lower power draw.

Clock speeds tell a stark story. The PRO W7600 runs at a 1720 MHz base and 2440 MHz boost, while the Vega Frontier Edition is limited to 1382 MHz base and 1600 MHz boost. That 840 MHz boost-clock difference is the single largest architectural advantage the newer card holds. Memory clocks also diverge sharply: the PRO W7600 uses 2250 MHz GDDR6 (18 Gbps effective), while the Vega Frontier Edition uses 945 MHz HBM2 (1890 Mbps effective).

The memory subsystems are architecturally opposed. The PRO W7600 has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Vega Frontier Edition has 16 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus, delivering 483.8 GB/s. The older card has more capacity and substantially higher bandwidth, yet still loses in compute benchmarks — evidence that raw memory throughput is not the bottleneck for these workloads. The PRO W7600 compensates with a 128-bit bus that is far narrower but paired with much faster GDDR6 and a more efficient memory controller.

Compute resources are also arranged differently. The PRO W7600 has 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and 32 ray-tracing cores. The Vega Frontier Edition has 4096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, but no ray-tracing cores at all. Despite having double the shader count, the Vega Frontier Edition’s FP32 throughput of 13.11 TFLOPS is well below the PRO W7600’s 19.99 TFLOPS. Pixel rate favors the newer card at 156.2 GPixel/s versus 102.4 GPixel/s, but texture rate goes the other way: 312.3 GTexel/s for the PRO W7600 versus 409.6 GTexel/s for the Vega Frontier Edition, reflecting the older card’s higher TMU count.

API support also differs. The PRO W7600 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The Vega Frontier Edition is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The newer DirectX feature level and Vulkan revision matter for modern workloads that leverage ray tracing or newer shading models.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins in Geekbench Vulkan, and by how much?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W7600 wins decisively, scoring 92,688 against the Vega Frontier Edition’s 71,937, a 28.8% advantage.

Q: Does the Vega Frontier Edition have any benchmark where it beats the PRO W7600?

A: No. In the head-to-head data, the PRO W7600 wins both recorded tests (Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan). The Vega Frontier Edition has an additional Geekbench Metal score of 72,061, but no comparable Metal result exists for the PRO W7600.

Q: How do the memory configurations compare?

A: The Vega Frontier Edition has 16 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus with 483.8 GB/s bandwidth. The PRO W7600 has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth. The older card has double the capacity and 68% more bandwidth.

Q: What is the transistor density difference between the two architectures?

A: The PRO W7600 (Navi 33) achieves 65.2M transistors per mm² on a 6 nm TSMC process, while the Vega Frontier Edition (Vega 10) achieves 25.3M per mm² on a 14 nm GlobalFoundries process.

Q: Does the PRO W7600 support ray tracing?

A: Yes, the PRO W7600 includes 32 ray-tracing cores. The Vega Frontier Edition has no ray-tracing cores.

Q: What are the power connector requirements for each card?

A: The PRO W7600 uses a single 6-pin connector with a 300 W suggested PSU. The Vega Frontier Edition requires two 8-pin connectors and a 700 W suggested PSU.

The Verdict

The data points to a straightforward conclusion: the AMD Radeon PRO W7600 is the superior performer in every recorded benchmark. Its 28.8% Vulkan lead and 7.1% OpenCL lead over the Vega Frontier Edition are substantial, and its 93rd percentile ranking versus 91st percentile reinforces that it sits in a higher performance class overall. The PRO W7600 achieves this with a 130 W TDP versus the Vega Frontier Edition’s 300 W, making it more than twice as power-efficient. It also occupies a single slot, requires only one 6-pin connector, and supports a newer DirectX feature level and Vulkan version.

The Vega Frontier Edition does retain advantages in specific areas: 16 GB of memory versus 8 GB, higher memory bandwidth (483.8 GB/s versus 288.0 GB/s), and higher texture fill rate (409.6 GTexel/s versus 312.3 GTexel/s). For workloads that are bandwidth-bound or require more than 8 GB of frame buffer, the older card still has a role. However, the benchmark results indicate that these advantages do not translate into better compute performance in OpenCL or Vulkan, where the PRO W7600’s higher clocks, newer architecture, and ray-tracing support carry the day.

Buyers who need maximum compute throughput, modern API support, and power efficiency should choose the PRO W7600. Buyers whose workloads demand more than 8 GB of memory or ultra-wide memory buses — and who can tolerate a 300 W TDP, dual-slot footprint, and two 8-pin connectors — may still find the Vega Frontier Edition relevant, but they should expect lower raw compute scores. The production status also favors the PRO W7600, which is listed as Active, while the Vega Frontier Edition is End-of-life.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon PRO W7600 | AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition |

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

| Architecture | RDNA 3.0 | GCN 5.0 |

| Process Node | 6 nm (TSMC) | 14 nm (GlobalFoundries) |

| Transistors | 13,300 million | 12,500 million |

| Die Size | 204 mm² | 495 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 65.2M / mm² | 25.3M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1720 MHz | 1382 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 2440 MHz | 1600 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) | 945 MHz (1890 Mbps effective) |

| Memory Size | 8 GB | 16 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR6 | HBM2 |

| Memory Bus Width | 128 bit | 2048 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 288.0 GB/s | 483.8 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 2048 | 4096 |

| TMUs | 128 | 256 |

| ROPs | 64 | 64 |

| Ray Tracing Cores | 32 | None |

| Pixel Rate | 156.2 GPixel/s | 102.4 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 312.3 GTexel/s | 409.6 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 19.99 TFLOPS | 13.11 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 39.98 TFLOPS (2:1) | 26.21 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 130 W | 300 W |

| Slot Width | Single-slot | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | 1x 6-pin | 2x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 300 W | 700 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 4.0 x8 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | 4x DisplayPort 2.1 | 1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |

| DirectX Support | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | 12 (12_1) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.4 | 1.3 |

| Production Status | Active | End-of-life |

| Release Date | 2023-08-02 | 2017-06-26 |

| Launch MSRP | 599 USD | 999 USD |