AMD Radeon PRO W7900 vs NVIDIA L40 Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA L40 records an average benchmark score of 284,111, while the AMD Radeon PRO W7900 scores 110,725. The L40 sits in the 99th percentile of all GPUs, compared to the W7900’s 94th percentile.

Q: How large is the performance gap in OpenCL workloads?

A: In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the NVIDIA L40 scores 330,926 versus the AMD Radeon PRO W7900’s 84,379. That is a 292.2% advantage for the L40, meaning it delivers nearly four times the OpenCL throughput.

Q: What about Vulkan performance?

A: The L40 again leads, scoring 237,295 in Geekbench Vulkan against the W7900’s 137,070. The delta is 73.1% in favor of NVIDIA.

Q: Do both cards have the same memory configuration?

A: Yes. Both use 48 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, with identical bandwidth of 864.0 GB/s and the same 18 Gbps effective memory clock.

Q: Which card is lighter on system power requirements?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W7900 has a 295 W TDP and suggests a 600 W power supply, while the NVIDIA L40 is rated at 300 W TDP and suggests a 700 W PSU. The W7900 also uses two 8-pin connectors versus the L40’s single 16-pin.

Q: What are the closest rivals for each card according to the database?

A: For the NVIDIA L40, the nearest rival is the NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation (287,237 average score, 1.1% lower). For the AMD Radeon PRO W7900, the closest rival is the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II (109,617 average score, 1% lower).

The Verdict

The data presents a clear hierarchy. The NVIDIA L40 dominates the AMD Radeon PRO W7900 in every recorded benchmark, with a 292.2% lead in OpenCL and a 73.1% lead in Vulkan. Its average benchmark score of 284,111 is more than 2.5 times the W7900’s 110,725. For workloads that rely heavily on compute APIs such as OpenCL or Vulkan, the L40 is the unequivocal choice based on measured performance.

However, the Radeon PRO W7900 is not without merit. It is an active product with a launch MSRP of 3,999 USD, while the L40 is end-of-life. The W7900 offers a lower TDP (295 W versus 300 W), a smaller suggested PSU (600 W versus 700 W), and uses standard 8-pin power connectors rather than the 16-pin connector on the L40. For systems with existing power infrastructure or where the newer DisplayPort 2.1 outputs are required, the W7900 holds practical advantages.

Who should pick which? If the priority is raw compute performance in the tested APIs, the NVIDIA L40 wins outright. If the priority is a currently supported product with slightly lower power demands and modern display outputs, the AMD Radeon PRO W7900 is the sensible alternative, accepting a substantial performance deficit.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head results are lopsided. In Geekbench OpenCL, the NVIDIA L40 scores 330,926 against the AMD Radeon PRO W7900’s 84,379. The delta of 292.2% means the L40 is approximately 3.9 times faster in this test. This is the largest gap between the two cards in any recorded metric.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the margin narrows but remains decisive. The L40 posts 237,295, while the W7900 manages 137,070. The 73.1% advantage for NVIDIA indicates that even in a lower-level graphics API where AMD architectures often compete well, the L40’s Ada Lovelace design still holds a commanding lead.

The database records 2 wins for the NVIDIA L40 and 0 wins for the AMD Radeon PRO W7900 across all head-to-head benchmarks. No test in the dataset favors the AMD card.

When contextualized against their respective nearest rivals, the picture sharpens. The L40’s average score of 284,111 is only 1.1% below the RTX 6000 Ada Generation and 3.9% below the L40S, placing it firmly in high-end server compute territory. The W7900’s 110,725 average is nearly identical to the Radeon Pro Vega II (1% higher) and 2.8% below the RTX A5500 Mobile, indicating it performs at a much lower tier despite its 48 GB memory capacity.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every compute specification. The NVIDIA L40 features 18,176 shading units, 568 texture mapping units, and 192 ROPs. The AMD Radeon PRO W7900 has 6,144 shading units, 384 TMUs, and 192 ROPs. Both share the same ROP count, but the L40 has roughly three times the shading units and 48% more TMUs.

Clock speeds favor AMD. The W7900 has a base clock of 1,760 MHz and a boost clock of 2,495 MHz. The L40 starts at 735 MHz base and boosts to 2,490 MHz. Despite the higher base clock on the AMD card, the L40 achieves far higher throughput due to its larger compute footprint.

Pixel and texture rates differ accordingly. The L40 delivers 478.1 GPixel/s and 1,414.3 GTexel/s. The W7900 posts 479.0 GPixel/s and 958.1 GTexel/s. Pixel rates are nearly identical, but the L40’s texture rate is about 48% higher.

Floating-point performance strongly favors NVIDIA. The L40 reaches 90.52 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16 (1:1). The W7900 achieves 61.32 TFLOPS for both, a 47.6% deficit. The L40 also includes 568 tensor cores and 142 RT cores, while the W7900 has 96 RT cores and no tensor cores listed.

Physical dimensions and power delivery also diverge. The L40 is a dual-slot card measuring 267 mm in length and 111 mm in height, with a single 16-pin connector. The W7900 is a triple-slot card at 280 mm long, 110 mm high, and 51 mm wide, using two 8-pin connectors.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA L40 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using the AD102 chip, fabricated by TSMC on a 5 nm process. It packs 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 125.3 million per square millimeter. The AMD Radeon PRO W7900 uses the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 31 chip, codenamed Plum Bonito. It also uses TSMC 5 nm but contains 57,700 million transistors on a 529 mm² die, for a density of 109.1 million per square millimeter.

The L40 has a clear transistor advantage: 24% more transistors on a 15% larger die. This directly translates into the L40’s higher shading unit count and the presence of dedicated tensor cores, which the W7900 lacks entirely. The L40’s 568 tensor cores are designed for AI and deep learning workloads, a capability absent from the AMD chip’s spec sheet.

Ray tracing hardware also differs. The L40 has 142 RT cores, while the W7900 has 96. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so API compatibility is identical. However, the underlying compute architecture is fundamentally different: Ada Lovelace is a server-oriented design, while RDNA 3.0 is derived from AMD’s gaming and prosumer lineage.

Display outputs separate the two as well. The L40 offers 4x DisplayPort 1.4a. The W7900 provides 3x DisplayPort 2.1 plus 1x mini-DisplayPort 2.1, supporting newer display standards.

Production status and release timing also differ. The L40 was released on 2022-10-12 and is now end-of-life, with its predecessor listed as Server Ampere and successor as Server Hopper. The W7900 was released on 2023-05-25, remains active, and lists its predecessor as Radeon Pro Vega with no successor recorded.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA L40 wins in every compute benchmark recorded in the database. Its 292.2% OpenCL advantage makes it the clear choice for OpenCL-heavy workloads such as scientific simulation, data processing, or any compute task that leverages this API. The 73.1% Vulkan lead extends that recommendation to graphics rendering and compute workloads using Vulkan, where the L40’s higher shading unit count and tensor cores provide substantial headroom.

The L40 also wins on raw specifications that predict future performance in untested workloads. Its 90.52 TFLOPS FP32 and FP16 performance, 568 tensor cores, and 1,414.3 GTexel/s texture rate suggest strong capabilities in AI inference, machine learning training, and texture-bound rendering tasks. The 99th percentile ranking among all GPUs reinforces its position as a top-tier compute accelerator.

The AMD Radeon PRO W7900 wins in areas not measured by raw performance. It is an active product with ongoing support, while the L40 is end-of-life. Its 295 W TDP and 600 W suggested PSU make it easier to integrate into existing systems with lower power budgets. The three DisplayPort 2.1 outputs plus one mini-DisplayPort 2.1 provide modern display connectivity, whereas the L40 is limited to DisplayPort 1.4a. The triple-slot cooler may be larger physically, but the card’s power connectors (two standard 8-pin) are more universally compatible than the L40’s 16-pin connector.

For users whose workloads are dominated by OpenCL or Vulkan performance, the NVIDIA L40 is the only rational choice based on the data. For users prioritizing product longevity, power efficiency, or display output standards, the AMD Radeon PRO W7900 offers a viable alternative, albeit with a large performance trade-off. The database shows no benchmark where the W7900 surpasses the L40, so any decision favoring AMD must rest on non-performance criteria.