AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT vs AMD Radeon Vega 11 Comparison

The AMD Radeon Vega 11 and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT occupy opposite ends of the graphics spectrum, yet their benchmark averages tell a surprisingly close story. The Vega 11, a 2019 integrated processor graphics solution, posts an average benchmark score of 14,352, while the RX 7900 XT, a 2022 discrete flagship, averages 13,745. This places both near the 56th and 55th percentiles of all GPUs respectively, but their individual test results reveal starkly different strengths that any comparative analysis must acknowledge.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The direct comparison between these two cards is limited to two shared tests, and the results could not be more polarized. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Vega 11 wins with a score of 13,392 against the RX 7900 XT’s 12,756, a 5% advantage. This result is notable because it shows the older integrated solution outperforming a modern discrete flagship in a compute-oriented workload. The data suggests that raw shading unit count is not the sole determinant of OpenCL performance; the Vega 11’s GCN architecture appears more efficient in this specific test.

However, the Geekbench Vulkan test flips the narrative completely. The RX 7900 XT scores 71,068 against the Vega 11’s 12,273, yielding an 82.7% delta in favor of the newer card. This is the single largest margin in the entire dataset, and it highlights how the RDNA 3.0 architecture with its dedicated ray tracing cores (84 total) and significantly higher shading unit count (5,376 vs. 704) dominates in modern graphics API workloads. The Vega 11’s Vulkan score is less than one-fifth of the RX 7900 XT’s, a gap that reflects the generational leap in graphics processing capability.

When examining the broader benchmark context, the RX 7900 XT’s average of 13,745 is pulled down by its PassMark DirectX 10, 11, and 12 scores, which range from 110 to 340. These low scores in legacy APIs are counterbalanced by a PassMark G3D score of 29,009 and a GPU compute score of 16,828, both of which are far beyond anything the Vega 11 could produce. The Vega 11, by contrast, has no direct equivalent in the PassMark suite, making its average of 14,352 entirely dependent on the three Geekbench tests where it scores between 12,273 and 17,392.

Notably, the RX 7900 XT’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon 660M with an average score of 13,812 (0.5% lower) and the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile at 13,821 (0.5% lower). The Vega 11’s nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN at 14,373 (0.1% higher), which indicates that despite being an IGP, the Vega 11 competes with dedicated discrete GPUs from earlier generations. This crossover in averages is an artifact of test selection, not an indication of equivalent real-world performance in modern games.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Vega 11 has a higher average benchmark score of 14,352 compared to the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT’s 13,745, a difference of 607 points or roughly 4.4%.

Q: How do the two GPUs compare in Geekbench Vulkan performance?

A: The RX 7900 XT achieves a Geekbench Vulkan score of 71,068, which is 82.7% higher than the Vega 11’s score of 12,273. This is the largest performance gap observed in any shared test.

Q: What is the difference in TDP between the two cards?

A: The Vega 11 has a TDP of 15 W, while the RX 7900 XT has a TDP of 300 W. The RX 7900 XT consumes 20 times the power of the Vega 11.

Q: Do both GPUs support the same DirectX version?

A: No. The Vega 11 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), while the RX 7900 XT supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2). The RX 7900 XT also has a higher Vulkan version (1.4 vs. 1.3).

Q: Which GPU has more shading units?

A: The RX 7900 XT has 5,376 shading units, while the Vega 11 has 704. This is a 7.6x difference in shading unit count.

Q: What is the release date difference between the two products?

A: The Vega 11 was released on 2019-09-29, and the RX 7900 XT was released on 2022-11-02, a gap of approximately three years.

The Verdict

The data supports a clear split based on workload. For compute-heavy applications that leverage OpenCL, the Vega 11’s 5% advantage in Geekbench OpenCL suggests it can hold its own in specific parallel processing tasks, despite being an integrated solution with 15 W TDP. This is a remarkable outcome for an IGP, and it indicates that the GCN 5.0 architecture remains viable for certain non-graphics workloads.

For any modern graphics task, gaming, or Vulkan-based rendering, the RX 7900 XT is the definitive choice. Its 82.7% lead in Vulkan, combined with 20 GB of GDDR6 memory and 800.0 GB/s bandwidth versus the Vega 11’s system-shared memory, makes it categorically superior for real-time 3D rendering. The RX 7900 XT’s 51.48 TFLOPS FP32 performance versus the Vega 11’s 1.971 TFLOPS is a 26x difference that no benchmark average can obscure.

Users who prioritize low power consumption and have no discrete graphics slot should consider the Vega 11, as its 15 W TDP and integrated form factor require no power connectors. Users who need maximum graphics throughput, ray tracing capability (84 RT cores), and high-resolution texture workloads should select the RX 7900 XT, which carries a 300 W TDP and requires a 700 W suggested PSU.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs diverge on nearly every measurable specification. The Vega 11 uses a 12 nm process node from GlobalFoundries, while the RX 7900 XT uses a 5 nm node from TSMC. Transistor counts differ dramatically: 4,940 million for the Vega 11 versus 57,700 million for the RX 7900 XT, a 11.7x difference. Die size also varies, with the Vega 11 at 210 mm² and the RX 7900 XT at 529 mm², resulting in transistor densities of 23.5M/mm² and 109.1M/mm² respectively.

Clock speeds show a similar gap. The Vega 11 has a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 1400 MHz, while the RX 7900 XT operates at 1387 MHz base, 2025 MHz game clock, and 2394 MHz boost. Memory configurations are fundamentally different: the Vega 11 uses system shared memory with system-dependent bandwidth, whereas the RX 7900 XT has 20 GB of GDDR6 on a 320-bit bus with 800.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 7900 XT also has a 276 mm length, 110 mm height, and 51 mm width, while the Vega 11 has no physical dimensions listed as it is an IGP.

Architecture Differences

The Vega 11 is built on GCN 5.0 architecture with a Picasso chip, while the RX 7900 XT uses RDNA 3.0 with a Navi 31 chip. The Vega 11 has 704 shading units, 44 TMUs, and 8 ROPs, producing a pixel rate of 11.20 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 61.60 GTexel/s. The RX 7900 XT has 5,376 shading units, 336 TMUs, and 192 ROPs, with a pixel rate of 459.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 804.4 GTexel/s. The RX 7900 XT also includes 84 ray tracing cores, which the Vega 11 lacks entirely.

The Vega 11 supports FP16 at 3.942 TFLOPS (2:1) and FP32 at 1.971 TFLOPS, while the RX 7900 XT achieves 103.0 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1) and 51.48 TFLOPS FP32. Bus interfaces differ as well: the Vega 11 uses an IGP interface, while the RX 7900 XT uses PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs for the Vega 11 are motherboard dependent, whereas the RX 7900 XT offers 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, and 1x USB Type-C. The RX 7900 XT also has a dual-slot width and 2x 8-pin power connectors, while the Vega 11 has no slot width or connectors.

Where Each One Wins

The Vega 11 wins in scenarios where power efficiency and compute density are paramount. Its 15 W TDP makes it suitable for ultra-low-power systems, and its 5% advantage in Geekbench OpenCL indicates a niche in OpenCL-based compute tasks. The Vega 11’s system shared memory architecture also means it has no dedicated VRAM overhead, which can be beneficial in memory-constrained environments. Its production status is end-of-life, but its 56th percentile ranking shows it remains competitive in its class.

The RX 7900 XT wins in every graphics-intensive scenario. Its 82.7% Vulkan lead is decisive for modern game engines that use Vulkan. The 20 GB GDDR6 memory with 800.0 GB/s bandwidth provides massive headroom for high-resolution textures and large datasets. The 84 RT cores enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing, a feature entirely absent from the Vega 11. The RX 7900 XT’s PassMark G3D score of 29,009 and GPU compute score of 16,828 further cement its dominance in 3D rendering and general-purpose GPU compute. Its 109.1M/mm² transistor density on 5 nm TSMC process represents a generational leap in manufacturing efficiency. For any user running DirectX 12 Ultimate games, Vulkan applications, or ray-traced workloads, the RX 7900 XT’s 300 W TDP is a justified trade-off for its 51.48 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power.