AMD Radeon RX 590 GME vs NVIDIA A2 Comparison

The NVIDIA A2 and AMD Radeon RX 590 GME occupy opposite ends of the hardware spectrum, yet both are end-of-life products that still appear in benchmark databases. The data shows a clear split: the RX 590 GME wins both head-to-head benchmark contests, but the A2 holds a higher overall percentile ranking. This creates an unusual dynamic where the card that loses every direct comparison still ranks better against the entire GPU landscape.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 590 GME is the outright performance winner in every head-to-head test recorded. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 36,294 beats the NVIDIA A2's 35,357 by 2.6%, and its Geekbench Vulkan score of 60,508 crushes the A2's 34,023 by a massive 43.8%. For any workload that leverages Vulkan, the RX 590 GME is in a different league entirely. The card's raw compute advantage comes from its 2,304 shading units and 144 texture mapping units, delivering 6.543 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a texture rate of 204.5 GTexel/s. This makes it the clear choice for traditional rasterization workloads where raw throughput matters.

The NVIDIA A2 wins in efficiency and placement. It consumes only 60 W versus 175 W for the RX 590 GME, requires no power connectors, and fits in a single slot. The A2's 79th percentile ranking against all GPUs edges out the RX 590 GME's 77th percentile, despite the A2's lower average benchmark score of 34,690 versus 32,601. The A2 also brings modern feature support: it is DirectX 12 Ultimate certified with ray tracing cores and tensor cores, while the RX 590 GME only reaches DirectX 12 (12_0) with no ray tracing or tensor hardware. For compute tasks that use these accelerators, the A2 has capabilities the AMD card simply cannot match.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from fundamentally different design philosophies. The NVIDIA A2 uses the GA107 chip built on Samsung's 8 nm process, packing 8,700 million transistors into a 200 mm² die for a density of 43.5 million transistors per square millimeter. The AMD Radeon RX 590 GME uses the Polaris 20 chip on GlobalFoundries' 14 nm process, with 5,700 million transistors on a larger 232 mm² die, yielding a much lower density of 24.6 million transistors per square millimeter. The A2's newer node gives it a 1440 MHz base clock and 1770 MHz boost clock, while the RX 590 GME runs at 1257 MHz base and 1420 MHz boost.

Memory configurations diverge sharply. The A2 carries 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, with memory clocked at 1563 MHz (12.5 Gbps effective) for 200.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 590 GME has 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, running at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective) for 256.0 GB/s. The AMD card has the bandwidth advantage, but the A2 offers double the capacity. The A2's PCIe 4.0 x8 interface provides more per-lane bandwidth than the RX 590 GME's PCIe 3.0 x16, though the AMD card uses more lanes total.

Feature sets reflect their different generations. The A2 is a workstation product from the Ampere generation, supporting DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. It has 10 ray tracing cores and 40 tensor cores. The RX 590 GME is a GCN 4.0 consumer card from the Polaris generation, supporting DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. It has no ray tracing or tensor cores. The A2 has no display outputs, while the RX 590 GME provides 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. The A2 is single-slot with no power connectors and a 250 W suggested PSU, while the RX 590 GME is dual-slot with a single 8-pin connector and a 450 W suggested PSU.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The Geekbench OpenCL test shows a narrow victory for the RX 590 GME. Its score of 36,294 beats the A2's 35,357 by 2.6%. This is a close margin that suggests the two cards are broadly comparable in general compute workloads. The A2's higher boost clock of 1770 MHz versus 1420 MHz helps close the gap created by the RX 590 GME's 80% more shading units and 260% more texture mapping units. The A2 also has more than double the memory capacity at 16 GB versus 8 GB, which can help in memory-bound scenarios.

The Geekbench Vulkan test is where the RX 590 GME runs away with it. A score of 60,508 versus 34,023 represents a 43.8% advantage for the AMD card. This is a decisive margin that cannot be explained by clock speed or memory bandwidth alone. The RX 590 GME's 256.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth versus 200.1 GB/s helps, but the fundamental architecture difference is the likely cause. Vulkan's low-level access favors the AMD GCN design's raw throughput, while the A2's feature set is geared toward workstation compute rather than graphics API performance.

The A2 does win in the overall ranking despite losing both head-to-head tests. Its average benchmark score of 34,690 places it in the 79th percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 590 GME's 32,601 average lands in the 77th percentile. The A2's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA T1000 8 GB (0.4% higher score), AMD Radeon HD 7970 (0.4% higher), NVIDIA TITAN V (1% higher), and NVIDIA RTX A1000 (1.4% higher). The RX 590 GME's rivals include the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 (0.2% higher), AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (0.4% higher), AMD FirePro S10000 (0.7% higher), and NVIDIA T600 Mobile (0.8% lower). This suggests the RX 590 GME's lower average is dragged down by its weak Vulkan result in the broader test suite, despite its strong individual showings.

The Verdict

The data supports clear but different conclusions for each card. The AMD Radeon RX 590 GME is the better choice for anyone running Vulkan-based workloads or applications that can use its 6.543 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 204.5 GTexel/s texture rate. Its 43.8% Vulkan advantage over the A2 is overwhelming, and its 2.6% OpenCL lead shows it is competitive even outside its strongest area. The 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for most gaming and compute scenarios. The card's dual-slot design and 8-pin power connector indicate it expects a traditional desktop power delivery system.

The NVIDIA A2 is the better choice for efficiency-driven deployments and workloads that benefit from its modern feature set. Its 60 W power draw, single-slot design, and lack of power connectors make it suitable for dense server environments where the RX 590 GME's 175 W and dual-slot footprint would be prohibitive. The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory provides double the capacity of the AMD card, which matters for large datasets. The ray tracing cores and tensor cores offer acceleration paths that the RX 590 GME cannot match, even if benchmark data does not capture these specific workloads. The A2's higher 79th percentile ranking reflects its broader applicability across the GPU landscape.

The 1.4% difference in percentile rankings between the two cards is modest, but the A2 achieves it with significantly less power and physical space. The RX 590 GME's 14 nm process and GCN architecture are older, yet the card still delivers competitive raw performance. Neither card is a clear overall winner; the choice depends entirely on whether the workload favors Vulkan throughput (RX 590 GME) or power efficiency and modern compute features (A2). The RX 590 GME also offers display outputs for direct monitor connection, while the A2 is a compute-only accelerator.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins in Geekbench Vulkan?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 590 GME wins decisively with a score of 60,508 versus the NVIDIA A2's 34,023, a 43.8% advantage.

Q: How do the cards compare in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 590 GME edges out the NVIDIA A2 with a score of 36,294 versus 35,357, a 2.6% difference.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference?

A: The NVIDIA A2 has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory.

Q: Which card has a higher overall percentile ranking?

A: The NVIDIA A2 ranks in the 79th percentile of all GPUs, while the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME ranks in the 77th percentile.

Q: Do both cards support ray tracing?

A: No. The NVIDIA A2 has 10 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME has no ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 (12_0).

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The NVIDIA A2 has a 60 W TDP with no power connectors and a 250 W suggested PSU, while the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME has a 175 W TDP with one 8-pin connector and a 450 W suggested PSU.