AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE vs NVIDIA RTX A5000 Comparison

NVIDIA RTX A5000 and AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE are two very different GPUs that land in the same performance neighborhood. The A5000 is a workstation part built on the Ampere architecture, while the RX 7900 GRE is a consumer RDNA 3.0 card. Benchmark data shows the AMD card wins the majority of head-to-head tests, but the NVIDIA card has specific strengths that matter in certain workloads.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE takes 8 of the 10 head-to-head benchmark wins, making it the stronger performer in most measured tasks. The largest margin of victory comes in PassMark DirectX 11, where the RX 7900 GRE scores 300 versus the RTX A5000's 187, a 37.7% difference. This is a decisive win in a legacy API that still sees heavy use in many applications.

In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the RX 7900 GRE scores 4814 against 3783 for the A5000, putting it 21.4% ahead. This modern DX12 test highlights the raw compute advantage of the AMD card. The RX 7900 GRE also leads in Geekbench OpenCL with 175758 points versus 157905, a 10.2% gap, and in PassMark G3D with 27089 versus 22541, a 16.8% advantage.

The NVIDIA RTX A5000 wins the remaining two tests. The most notable is Geekbench Vulkan, where it scores 137828 against the RX 7900 GRE's 99850, a 38% lead. This is the single largest delta in either direction across all benchmarks. The A5000 also edges out the RX 7900 GRE in PassMark DirectX 10, scoring 153 versus 139, a 10.1% difference.

Other wins for the AMD card include PassMark DirectX 12 (107 vs 87, 18.7% ahead), DirectX 9 (310 vs 251, 19% ahead), G2D (1180 vs 1032, 12.5% ahead), and GPU Compute (15016 vs 12455, 17.1% ahead). The RX 7900 GRE's average benchmark score is 32456, while the A5000's is 33622, meaning the NVIDIA card actually holds a slight lead in aggregate despite losing most individual tests.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different architectural generations. The RTX A5000 uses the GA102 chip on an 8 nm Samsung process, while the RX 7900 GRE uses the Navi 31 chip on a 5 nm TSMC process. The A5000 packs 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 45.1 million per mm². The RX 7900 GRE has 57,700 million transistors on a 529 mm² die, achieving 109.1 million per mm² — a much denser design.

Memory configurations diverge significantly. The A5000 offers 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, yielding 768.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 7900 GRE has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, providing 576.0 GB/s. The A5000's larger capacity and wider bus give it a memory bandwidth advantage, which can be critical for large datasets.

Compute resources tell a different story. The A5000 has 8192 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, plus 64 RT cores and 256 tensor cores. The RX 7900 GRE has 5120 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 160 ROPs, with 80 RT cores and no tensor cores listed. Despite fewer shading units, the RX 7900 GRE achieves higher raw throughput: 45.98 TFLOPS FP32 versus 27.77 TFLOPS, 91.96 TFLOPS FP16 versus 27.77 TFLOPS, 718.4 GTexel/s versus 433.9 GTexel/s, and 359.2 GPixel/s versus 162.7 GPixel/s.

Clock speeds also favor the AMD card. Its base clock is 1287 MHz and boost reaches 2245 MHz, with a game clock of 1880 MHz. The A5000 runs at 1170 MHz base and 1695 MHz boost. Memory clocks differ too: the RX 7900 GRE runs at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) versus 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) for the A5000.

Power and physical specs vary. The A5000 has a 230 W TDP with a single 8-pin connector and a 550 W suggested PSU. The RX 7900 GRE has a 260 W TDP, dual 8-pin connectors, and a 600 W suggested PSU. The A5000 measures 267 mm long and 112 mm tall; the RX 7900 GRE is 276 mm long, 110 mm tall, and 51 mm wide. Both are dual-slot cards with PCIe 4.0 x16 interfaces. Display outputs differ: the A5000 has four DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, while the RX 7900 GRE features one HDMI 2.1a, two DisplayPort 2.1, and one USB Type-C.

The Verdict

The RTX A5000's aggregate benchmark score of 33622 places it 0.2% above the GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB and 1.1% above the Radeon RX 480. The RX 7900 GRE's average of 32456 sits 0.2% above the FirePro S10000 and 0.9% above the Radeon Pro 570X. Both cards occupy the 77th-78th percentile among all GPUs, indicating they are closely matched overall.

For users prioritizing Vulkan performance, the RTX A5000 is the clear choice — its 38% lead over the RX 7900 GRE in Geekbench Vulkan is the largest gap in any test. The A5000 also wins in DirectX 10, though by a slim 10.1% margin. Its 24 GB memory and 768 GB/s bandwidth make it better suited for memory-intensive workloads like large model rendering or scientific visualization.

The RX 7900 GRE wins in every other category, with particularly strong showings in DirectX 11 (37.7% ahead) and DirectX 9 (19% ahead). Its higher FP32 and FP16 throughput, plus faster pixel and texture rates, give it a clear edge in compute-heavy and rasterization-heavy tasks. The AMD card is also the more recent release (2023 vs 2021 for the A5000) and remains in active production, while the A5000 is end-of-life.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA RTX A5000 | AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE |

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

| Chip | GA102 | Navi 31 |

| Architecture | Ampere | RDNA 3.0 |

| Process Node | 8 nm | 5 nm |

| Foundry | Samsung | TSMC |

| Transistors | 28,300 million | 57,700 million |

| Die Size | 628 mm² | 529 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 45.1M / mm² | 109.1M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1170 MHz | 1287 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1695 MHz | 2245 MHz |

| Game Clock | None | 1880 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 2000 MHz (16 Gbps) | 2250 MHz (18 Gbps) |

| Memory Size | 24 GB | 16 GB |

| Memory Bus Width | 384 bit | 256 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 768.0 GB/s | 576.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 8192 | 5120 |

| TMUs | 256 | 320 |

| ROPs | 96 | 160 |

| RT Cores | 64 | 80 |

| Tensor Cores | 256 | None |

| Pixel Rate | 162.7 GPixel/s | 359.2 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 433.9 GTexel/s | 718.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 27.77 TFLOPS | 45.98 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 27.77 TFLOPS (1:1) | 91.96 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 230 W | 260 W |

| Power Connectors | 1x 8-pin | 2x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 550 W | 600 W |

| Display Outputs | 4x DisplayPort 1.4a | 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, 1x USB Type-C |

| Length | 267 mm (10.5 inches) | 276 mm (10.9 inches) |

| Height | 112 mm (4.4 inches) | 110 mm (4.3 inches) |

| Width | None | 51 mm (2 inches) |

| Production Status | End-of-life | Active |

| Release Date | 2021-04-11 | 2023-07-26 |

| Predecessor | Quadro Turing | Navi II |

| Successor | Workstation Ada | Navi IV |

| Launch MSRP | None | 549 USD |

FAQ

Q: Which GPU performs better in DirectX 11 workloads?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE scores 300 in PassMark DirectX 11 versus 187 for the NVIDIA RTX A5000, giving the AMD card a 37.7% advantage.

Q: Is the NVIDIA RTX A5000 better in any modern API benchmark?

A: Yes, the A5000 leads in Geekbench Vulkan with a score of 137828 versus 99850 for the RX 7900 GRE, a 38% difference. This is its most significant win.

Q: How much memory bandwidth does each card have?

A: The RTX A5000 provides 768.0 GB/s from 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus. The RX 7900 GRE provides 576.0 GB/s from 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus.

Q: What is the largest single benchmark delta between the two cards?

A: The largest delta is in Geekbench Vulkan, where the RTX A5000 leads by 38%. The largest AMD win is 37.7% in PassMark DirectX 11.

Q: Which card has higher raw FP32 compute performance?

A: The RX 7900 GRE achieves 45.98 TFLOPS FP32 versus 27.77 TFLOPS for the A5000, making it approximately 65% faster in this metric.

Q: What are the production statuses of these two GPUs?

A: The RTX A5000 is end-of-life with a release date of 2021-04-11. The RX 7900 GRE is active with a release date of 2023-07-26.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX A5000 is the pick for Vulkan-based applications and any workload that leverages its 24 GB memory capacity and 768 GB/s bandwidth. Its Geekbench Vulkan score of 137828 is far ahead of the RX 7900 GRE, and the 1:1 FP16 ratio (27.77 TFLOPS) suggests more balanced compute for certain professional tasks. The A5000 also wins in DirectX 10, making it relevant for legacy software compatibility. Its lower 230 W TDP and single 8-pin connector mean it fits into systems with less power headroom.

The RX 7900 GRE dominates across the rest of the benchmark suite. It wins DirectX 9, 11, and 12, plus OpenCL, G3D, G2D, and GPU Compute. Its 45.98 TFLOPS FP32 and 91.96 TFLOPS FP16 make it substantially faster in raw compute throughput. The 2:1 FP16 ratio indicates strong performance in mixed-precision workloads. For gaming, DirectX 11 and 12 results are the most relevant, and the RX 7900 GRE wins both by significant margins (37.7% and 18.7%, respectively). The card also has a higher pixel rate (359.2 GPixel/s) and texture rate (718.4 GTexel/s), which benefits rasterization-heavy scenes.

Users who need maximum memory capacity and Vulkan performance should choose the RTX A5000. Users who want better performance across most standard benchmarks, particularly in DirectX titles and compute tasks, should choose the RX 7900 GRE. The AMD card's higher boost clock (2245 MHz vs 1695 MHz) and game clock (1880 MHz) indicate it sustains higher performance in typical usage, while the A5000's advantage lies in memory capacity and specific API optimizations.