AMD Radeon PRO W7800 vs NVIDIA PG506-232 Comparison

The data presents a clear contrast: the NVIDIA PG506-232 is a compute-oriented server accelerator with a commanding lead in the tested OpenCL workload, while the AMD Radeon PRO W7800 is a current-generation workstation card with a broader feature set and display outputs. Benchmark results show the NVIDIA part winning the only head-to-head test, but the AMD card offers distinct advantages in architecture and connectivity that cater to different professional use cases.

The Verdict

The NVIDIA PG506-232 is the clear performance winner in raw compute throughput based on the available benchmark data. It scores 225,124 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 45.8% higher than the AMD Radeon PRO W7800’s 154,366. This places the NVIDIA card in the 99th percentile of all GPUs, outperforming its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon PRO W7900D, by 2.4% and the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB by 8.7%. For users whose primary workload is OpenCL compute and who do not require display output, the PG506-232 is the data-driven choice.

The AMD Radeon PRO W7800, while slower in this specific test, is the more versatile card for a workstation environment. It is an active product with modern display outputs (3x DisplayPort 2.1 and 1x mini-DisplayPort 2.1), a higher transistor count, and a much higher FP32 throughput of 45.25 TFLOPS. Its 97th percentile ranking is still strong, and its nearest rivals—the NVIDIA RTX A5500 and RTX 4500 Ada Generation—are within 0.7% of its score, indicating competitive performance in its class. The W7800 is the pick for professionals needing a current, all-in-one solution with graphics output and API support.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on fundamentally different architectures and process nodes. The NVIDIA PG506-232 uses the GA100 chip based on the Ampere architecture, manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC. This chip contains 54,200 million transistors on an 826 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 65.6 million per mm². In contrast, the AMD Radeon PRO W7800 uses the Navi 31 chip (codename Plum Bonito) based on RDNA 3.0, also from TSMC but on a more advanced 5 nm node. The AMD chip packs 57,700 million transistors into a smaller 529 mm² die, achieving a significantly higher density of 109.1 million per mm².

Memory configurations also diverge sharply. The NVIDIA card features 24 GB of HBM2 memory on a 3072-bit bus, delivering a massive 933.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The AMD card counters with 32 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, providing 576.0 GB/s. While the AMD card has more total memory capacity, the NVIDIA card offers superior memory bandwidth, which can be critical for certain compute workloads.

Compute unit layouts reflect their different design goals. The NVIDIA PG506-232 has 3,584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs. It also includes 224 tensor cores, which are absent from the AMD specification. The AMD W7800 has more raw shading units (4,480), TMUs (280), and ROPs (128), and it includes 70 ray tracing cores. Clock speeds are notably different: the AMD card boosts to 2,525 MHz versus the NVIDIA’s 1,440 MHz, contributing to the AMD’s higher FP32 rating of 45.25 TFLOPS compared to 10.32 TFLOPS. The NVIDIA card’s FP16 performance matches its FP32 at 10.32 TFLOPS (1:1), while the AMD card doubles its FP16 to 90.50 TFLOPS (2:1). Power envelopes also differ, with the NVIDIA at 165 W and the AMD at 260 W.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct benchmark comparison available is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is decisive. The NVIDIA PG506-232 scores 225,124, which is 45.8% higher than the AMD Radeon PRO W7800’s score of 154,366. This is a substantial margin that underscores the NVIDIA card’s compute-focused design. In practical terms, this means the NVIDIA card is nearly half again as fast in this specific OpenCL test.

Context from the nearest rivals strengthens the NVIDIA’s position. Its score of 225,124 places it above the AMD Radeon PRO W7900D (219,827) by 2.4% and the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB (207,124) by 8.7%. It even leads the NVIDIA RTX 6000D (195,964) by 14.9%. Only the NVIDIA L20 (251,147) beats it, and that by a 10.4% margin. These results show the PG506-232 is not just faster than the W7800; it is a top-tier performer among all GPUs, sitting in the 99th percentile.

The AMD Radeon PRO W7800, with its 154,366 OpenCL score, sits in the 97th percentile. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA RTX A5500, which scores 165,217, making the AMD card 0.2% slower. The NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation (166,094) is also slightly ahead by 0.7%. The AMD card does beat the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40 GB (162,504) by 1.5%, but it trails the AMD Radeon Pro W6900X (168,574) by 2.2%. This indicates the W7800 is competitive with mid-range workstation cards but does not approach the top-tier compute performance of the PG506-232.

FAQ

Q: Which card has higher raw compute performance in the tested benchmark?

A: The NVIDIA PG506-232 is the clear winner, scoring 225,124 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 45.8% higher than the AMD Radeon PRO W7800’s 154,366.

Q: Does the AMD card offer any advantages in terms of memory capacity?

A: Yes, the AMD Radeon PRO W7800 has 32 GB of GDDR6 memory, which is 8 GB more than the NVIDIA PG506-232’s 24 GB of HBM2. However, the NVIDIA card has significantly higher memory bandwidth at 933.1 GB/s versus 576.0 GB/s.

Q: Which card supports display outputs?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W7800 includes 3x DisplayPort 2.1 and 1x mini-DisplayPort 2.1 outputs. The NVIDIA PG506-232 has no display outputs, making it unsuitable for direct graphics display.

Q: How do the cards compare in terms of FP32 floating-point performance?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W7800 is substantially ahead with 45.25 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, compared to 10.32 TFLOPS for the NVIDIA PG506-232.

Q: What is the production status of each card?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W7800 is an active product, while the NVIDIA PG506-232 is listed as end-of-life.

Q: How does the AMD card compare to its closest rivals?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W7800 scores 154,366, which is 0.2% behind the NVIDIA RTX A5500 and 0.7% behind the RTX 4500 Ada Generation, but it is 1.5% ahead of the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40 GB.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA PG506-232 wins decisively in the OpenCL compute benchmark. Its 45.8% lead over the AMD W7800 makes it the superior choice for workloads that rely heavily on OpenCL performance, such as certain scientific simulations, data processing, and machine learning inference. The card’s higher memory bandwidth (933.1 GB/s) also gives it an edge in memory-bound tasks. Its high percentile ranking (99th) and consistent wins against rivals like the A100 and RTX 6000D reinforce its position as a top-tier compute accelerator. However, this comes with the caveat that the card is end-of-life and has no display outputs, limiting its use to headless compute servers.

The AMD Radeon PRO W7800 wins in versatility and workstation features. It is an active product with modern API support, including DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, which the NVIDIA card lacks in the data. Its display outputs make it suitable for interactive work, 3D modeling, and any task requiring a visual interface. The AMD card also offers more memory (32 GB) and significantly higher FP32 and FP16 compute rates (45.25 TFLOPS and 90.50 TFLOPS, respectively), which could benefit workloads that leverage these specific instruction paths. Its 2:1 FP16 ratio suggests strong performance in AI inference tasks that use half-precision. The 97th percentile ranking and near-parity with the RTX A5500 show it is a capable competitor in its own class, just not in the same league as the PG506-232 for raw OpenCL computation.

In summary, the NVIDIA PG506-232 is the winner for pure compute performance, while the AMD Radeon PRO W7800 is the winner for a general-purpose workstation with graphics and modern API support. The choice depends entirely on whether the user prioritizes the benchmark-proven OpenCL throughput of the NVIDIA card or the feature-rich, active platform of the AMD card.