GPU Comparison

The AMD Radeon PRO W7800 and NVIDIA A10G present a fascinating study in contrasting design philosophies. The data shows a clear split, with each card claiming a decisive victory in one of the two available benchmark tests. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the NVIDIA A10G narrowly edges ahead with a score of 158,063 compared to the AMD’s 154,366, a difference of just 2.3%. However, the tables turn dramatically in the Geekbench Vulkan test, where the AMD Radeon PRO W7800 delivers a commanding score of 175,422 against the A10G’s 145,863, a substantial 20.3% lead. This split suggests that the choice between these two accelerators hinges entirely on the software environment and API in which they will be deployed.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two available data points create a distinct narrative of API-specific dominance. In the OpenCL workload, the NVIDIA A10G wins, but its margin is slim. A deltaPct of -2.3% for the AMD card indicates that the performance gap is within a range that could be considered a near-tie, influenced by driver optimizations or specific workload characteristics. The A10G’s score of 158,063 places it just 1.1% above the NVIDIA Tesla V100 PCIe 32 GB, its closest rival, while the AMD card sits 0.2% below the NVIDIA RTX A5500. This indicates both cards are in a tightly contested performance tier for OpenCL, where a single benchmark cannot definitively crown a winner.

The Vulkan results tell a very different story. The AMD Radeon PRO W7800’s score of 175,422 is not just a win; it is a significant outperformance. The 20.3% delta is a massive margin in the world of GPU benchmarking, far exceeding the differences seen between the cards and their nearest rivals. This suggests that the RDNA 3.0 architecture has a substantial advantage in this modern, low-level graphics API. The A10G’s Vulkan score of 145,863 is actually lower than its own OpenCL score, hinting that its Ampere architecture, while strong in compute, may not be as well-tuned for the specific execution paths of Vulkan.

Looking at the average benchmark score, the AMD card leads with 164,894 against the A10G’s 151,963. This aggregate positions the W7800 closer to the performance of an NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation, which scores 166,094, while the A10G sits nearer to the AMD Instinct MI100, which scores 139,035. The data implies that on average, the AMD card offers a higher overall performance level. However, this average is heavily skewed by the dominant Vulkan win, masking the fact that for OpenCL-centric applications, the NVIDIA card is the better performer.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W7800 has a higher average benchmark score of 164,894, compared to the NVIDIA A10G’s 151,963. This places the W7800 in the 97th percentile of all GPUs, a rank it shares with the A10G.

Q: Is the NVIDIA A10G better in any benchmark?

A: Yes, the NVIDIA A10G wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 158,063, which is 2.3% higher than the AMD Radeon PRO W7800’s score of 154,366.

Q: How large is the AMD card’s win in the Vulkan benchmark?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W7800 scores 175,422 in Geekbench Vulkan, which is 20.3% higher than the NVIDIA A10G’s score of 145,863. This is a significant performance advantage.

Q: What is the performance gap between the A10G and a Tesla V100?

A: The NVIDIA A10G’s average score of 151,963 is 1.1% higher than that of the NVIDIA Tesla V100 PCIe 32 GB, which has an average score of 150,305.

Q: How does the W7800 compare to the RTX A5500?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W7800’s average score of 164,894 is 0.2% lower than the NVIDIA RTX A5500’s average score of 165,217, indicating they are performance peers.

Q: Which card is better for modern graphics APIs like Vulkan?

A: The benchmark data strongly suggests the AMD Radeon PRO W7800 is better for Vulkan. Its 20.3% lead in the Geekbench Vulkan test is the largest performance delta recorded between the two cards.

The Verdict

The data does not point to a single, universal winner, but rather to a choice dictated by the target application. For workloads that leverage the Vulkan API, the AMD Radeon PRO W7800 is the clear choice. Its 20.3% performance lead in that test is too substantial to ignore, and its higher average benchmark score of 164,894 suggests a more consistently powerful overall package. The card’s 97th percentile ranking among all GPUs confirms its high-end status.

Conversely, for environments that are heavily reliant on OpenCL, the NVIDIA A10G is the more rational pick. While its 2.3% lead in that specific test is modest, it is a real advantage. The A10G’s average score of 151,963, while lower than the AMD card, is still in the 97th percentile, meaning it is a top-tier performer. The decision is less about which card is “better” and more about which API is the primary driver of the user’s workload. A Vulkan-centric rendering pipeline would be leaving significant performance on the table with the A10G, while an OpenCL compute task would see a slight edge from the NVIDIA offering.

Specification Differences

The two cards diverge significantly in their core specifications. The AMD Radeon PRO W7800 uses 32 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, resulting in a bandwidth of 576.0 GB/s. In contrast, the NVIDIA A10G uses 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a wider 384-bit bus, achieving a slightly higher bandwidth of 600.2 GB/s. The AMD card has a higher pixel rate (323.2 GPixel/s) and texture rate (707.0 GTexel/s) compared to the A10G’s 164.2 GPixel/s and 492.5 GTexel/s. The AMD card also boasts a higher boost clock of 2525 MHz versus 1710 MHz for the NVIDIA card. Finally, the AMD card has a TDP of 260 W and is a dual-slot design requiring 2x 8-pin power connectors, while the NVIDIA card has a lower TDP of 150 W and is a single-slot design using an 8-pin EPS connector.

Architecture Differences

These two GPUs are built on fundamentally different architectures and manufacturing processes. The AMD Radeon PRO W7800 is based on the RDNA 3.0 architecture, using the Navi 31 chip on a 5 nm process from TSMC. This chip packs 57,700 million transistors onto a 529 mm² die. In contrast, the NVIDIA A10G is based on the Ampere architecture, using the GA102 chip on an 8 nm process from Samsung. This chip contains 28,300 million transistors on a larger 628 mm² die. The AMD card features 70 ray tracing cores, while the NVIDIA card has 72 RT cores and also includes 288 tensor cores, which the AMD card lacks. The AMD card has 4480 shading units, 280 TMUs, and 128 ROPs, while the NVIDIA card has 9216 shading units, 288 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. A key architectural difference is in FP16 performance; the AMD card achieves 90.50 TFLOPS (2:1) while the NVIDIA card is at 31.52 TFLOPS (1:1), indicating different processing paths for half-precision data.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon PRO W7800 is the winner in scenarios that favor the Vulkan API. Its 20.3% lead in that benchmark is the single most decisive data point in this comparison. This, combined with its higher average score, makes it the stronger choice for graphics-intensive tasks, modern game engines, and any workload that can leverage the RDNA 3.0 architecture’s Vulkan performance. Its larger 32 GB memory pool also offers an advantage for very large datasets that must reside in VRAM.

The NVIDIA A10G wins in the OpenCL compute arena. Its 2.3% lead in that test, while small, is a clear advantage. Furthermore, its much lower TDP of 150 W and single-slot form factor make it a more power-efficient and space-efficient solution for dense server deployments. The inclusion of 288 tensor cores is a significant feature absent from the AMD card, suggesting a potential edge in AI and machine learning inference tasks that utilize these dedicated cores, even if not reflected in the provided Geekbench tests. The A10G is the choice for OpenCL-focused compute and environments where its lower power draw and physical size are priorities.