AMD Radeon RX 590 vs NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 590 has an average benchmark score of 24,744, while the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile scores 21,379. That puts the RX 590 roughly 15.7% ahead in the database's aggregate measurements.

Q: How does the RX 590 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 590 sits within 0.1% of the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile (24,763), and it is 0.4% ahead of the Intel Arc A350M (24,647). It also leads the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT by 1.2% and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 by 1.9%.

Q: What is the RTX A4000 Mobile's closest competitor according to the database?

A: The RTX A4000 Mobile's nearest rival is the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000, which scores 21,629, putting the A4000 Mobile 1.2% behind. It is also 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon HD 8970M and 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL.

Q: Which GPU has the higher percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The RX 590 sits at the 70th percentile, while the RTX A4000 Mobile sits at the 66th percentile. The RX 590 places higher in the overall distribution of recorded GPU performance.

Q: What are the memory specifications for each card?

A: Both cards have 8 GB of memory and a 256-bit bus width. The RX 590 uses GDDR5 with 256.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the RTX A4000 Mobile uses GDDR6 with 384.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card has the higher boost clock?

A: The RX 590 boosts to 1545 MHz, while the RTX A4000 Mobile boosts to 1680 MHz. The A4000 Mobile has the higher boost clock despite having a lower base clock of 1140 MHz versus 1469 MHz.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is substantial. The AMD Radeon RX 590 uses the Polaris 30 chip built on GCN 4.0 architecture, manufactured on a 12 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It packs 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die, giving it a transistor density of 24.6 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile uses the GA104 chip built on Ampere architecture, manufactured on an 8 nm process at Samsung. It contains 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die, with a density of 44.4 million per square millimeter, nearly double the RX 590's density.

The compute resources differ dramatically. The RX 590 has 2,304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 32 raster operation units. The RTX A4000 Mobile has 5,120 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. More significantly, the A4000 Mobile adds 40 ray tracing cores and 160 tensor cores, features completely absent from the RX 590. The RX 590 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), while the A4000 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2). Both cards support OpenGL 4.6, but the A4000 Mobile supports Vulkan 1.4 versus Vulkan 1.3 on the RX 590.

Power and physical design diverge as well. The RX 590 has a 175 W TDP, requires a dual-slot cooler, uses a single 8-pin power connector, and needs a 450 W suggested PSU. The RTX A4000 Mobile has a 115 W TDP, uses no external power connectors, and has no suggested PSU listed. The RX 590 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the A4000 Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs also differ: the RX 590 has 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the A4000 Mobile's display outputs are listed as portable device dependent.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records no direct head-to-head benchmark runs between these two cards, so the comparison relies on their individual benchmark scores and aggregate averages. The RX 590's average benchmark score of 24,744 is 3,365 points higher than the A4000 Mobile's 21,379. That is a 15.7% advantage for the AMD card in the overall average.

Looking at specific tests, the RX 590 has recorded scores in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 (1,081) and Geekbench Metal (48,407). The A4000 Mobile has a much broader set of recorded tests, including Geekbench OpenCL (97,178), Geekbench Vulkan (73,002), and PassMark tests across multiple DirectX versions. The A4000 Mobile's PassMark G3D score is 14,796, and its PassMark GPU compute score is 6,394.

The RX 590's nearest rivals include the RTX A5000 Mobile at 24,763 (0.1% ahead of the RX 590), the Intel Arc A350M at 24,647 (0.4% behind), the RX 6600 XT at 24,442 (1.2% behind), and the GTX 1630 at 24,277 (1.9% behind). This cluster of scores indicates the RX 590 is competitive with a group of GPUs that are all within about 2% of each other.

The A4000 Mobile's nearest rivals tell a different story. The Quadro RTX 5000 scores 21,629 (1.2% ahead of the A4000 Mobile), the HD 8970M scores 21,237 (0.7% behind), the RX Vega M GL scores 21,153 (1.1% behind), and the GeForce RTX 5050 scores 21,035 (1.6% behind). The A4000 Mobile is grouped with older and lower-tier parts, and its 66th percentile ranking confirms it sits below the RX 590's 70th percentile placement.

Despite having lower raw aggregate scores, the A4000 Mobile shows strength in specific compute-oriented tests. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 97,178 is roughly double the RX 590's Geekbench Metal score of 48,407, though these tests use different APIs and cannot be directly equated. The A4000 Mobile's Vulkan score of 73,002 further indicates strong API-level performance in modern workloads.

The Verdict

The data presents a clear performance hierarchy. The AMD Radeon RX 590 holds the higher average benchmark score at 24,744 versus 21,379 for the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile, and it also ranks higher at the 70th percentile versus the 66th percentile. For general GPU performance as measured by the database, the RX 590 is the stronger card.

However, the RTX A4000 Mobile is not without its advantages. It has a lower TDP at 115 W versus 175 W, meaning it draws less power. It also has significantly higher theoretical compute throughput: 17.20 TFLOPS FP32 versus 7.119 TFLOPS for the RX 590. The A4000 Mobile's memory bandwidth is 384.0 GB/s versus 256.0 GB/s, and it supports ray tracing and tensor cores, which the RX 590 lacks entirely.

The choice depends on the workload. For raw aggregate benchmark performance and compatibility with older DirectX titles, the RX 590 is the pick. For modern features like ray tracing, tensor operations, higher memory bandwidth, and lower power consumption, the A4000 Mobile is the pick. The RX 590's higher percentile ranking suggests it performs better across the broad set of tests in the database, but the A4000 Mobile's feature set points to newer use cases.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon RX 590 | NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile |

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

| Architecture | GCN 4.0 | Ampere |

| Process node | 12 nm | 8 nm |

| Foundry | GlobalFoundries | Samsung |

| Transistors | 5,700 million | 17,400 million |

| Die size | 232 mm² | 392 mm² |

| Transistor density | 24.6M / mm² | 44.4M / mm² |

| Base clock | 1469 MHz | 1140 MHz |

| Boost clock | 1545 MHz | 1680 MHz |

| Memory type | GDDR5 | GDDR6 |

| Memory bandwidth | 256.0 GB/s | 384.0 GB/s |

| Shading units | 2304 | 5120 |

| TMUs | 144 | 160 |

| ROPs | 32 | 80 |

| RT cores | None | 40 |

| Tensor cores | None | 160 |

| FP32 performance | 7.119 TFLOPS | 17.20 TFLOPS |

| FP16 performance | 7.119 TFLOPS (1:1) | 17.20 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 175 W | 115 W |

| Power connectors | 1x 8-pin | None |

| Bus interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |

| DirectX support | 12 (12_0) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| Vulkan support | 1.3 | 1.4 |

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 590 wins on aggregate benchmark performance. Its average score of 24,744 places it 15.7% ahead of the A4000 Mobile, and its 70th percentile ranking is four points higher. It also has a higher base clock (1469 MHz versus 1140 MHz) and a smaller die size (232 mm² versus 392 mm²), which may indicate lower manufacturing complexity. The RX 590's nearest rivals are all modern or recent mid-range parts, suggesting it competes well in current GPU performance tiers.

The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile wins on raw compute specifications. Its FP32 throughput of 17.20 TFLOPS is more than double the RX 590's 7.119 TFLOPS. Its memory bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s is 50% higher. It has more than double the shading units (5,120 versus 2,304), more than double the ROPs (80 versus 32), and adds 40 ray tracing cores and 160 tensor cores. Its boost clock of 1680 MHz is higher, and its TDP of 115 W is 60 W lower than the RX 590. The A4000 Mobile also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, and PCIe 4.0, making it the more future-proof option for newer software.

In practical terms, the RX 590 is the better choice for users prioritizing measured benchmark scores and broad compatibility with existing games. The A4000 Mobile is the better choice for users who need ray tracing, tensor core acceleration, higher memory bandwidth, or lower power draw in a mobile form factor. The database's benchmark scores favor the RX 590, but the specification sheet favors the A4000 Mobile for modern compute workloads.