AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX vs NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins the OpenCL benchmark?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile wins Geekbench OpenCL with a score of 97178 against 50465 for the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, a 92.6% advantage.

Q: Which GPU has the higher boost clock?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX has a boost clock of 2498 MHz, while the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile boosts to 1680 MHz.

Q: How much memory does each GPU have?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, while the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX has 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX delivers 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is 2.5 times the 384.0 GB/s of the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile.

Q: Which GPU has the higher transistor count?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX contains 57,700 million transistors on a 529 mm² die, compared to 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die for the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile.

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

A: Both are listed as end-of-life. The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile was released in April 2021, and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX was released in November 2022.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile is built on the Ampere architecture using the GA104 chip, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX uses the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 31 chip, codenamed Plum Bonito, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The process node difference is significant: 8 nm versus 5 nm contributes to a large gap in transistor density, with the AMD part reaching 109.1M transistors per mm² versus 44.4M per mm² for the NVIDIA part.

The die size also differs considerably. The NVIDIA chip measures 392 mm², while the AMD chip is 529 mm². Combined with the denser process, the AMD GPU packs 57,700 million transistors versus 17,400 million. This is a 3.3x transistor advantage for the AMD part.

Shading unit counts differ as well. The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile has 5120 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 80 render output units. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX has 6144 shading units, 384 TMUs, and 192 ROPs. The AMD GPU more than doubles the texture and pixel processing resources.

Ray tracing hardware is present on both, but the AMD part has 96 ray accelerators against 40 RT cores on the NVIDIA part. The NVIDIA GPU also includes 160 tensor cores, a feature the AMD part does not list. This means the NVIDIA GPU has dedicated AI acceleration hardware, while AMD relies on its shader array for such workloads.

Clock behavior is another key architectural difference. The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile has a base clock of 1140 MHz and a boost of 1680 MHz. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX runs at 1929 MHz base, 2365 MHz game clock, and 2498 MHz boost. The AMD part operates at substantially higher frequencies across the board, which, combined with more execution units, drives its much higher theoretical throughput.

Memory architecture differs in capacity and width. The NVIDIA GPU uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 12 Gbps effective speed. The AMD GPU uses 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus with 20 Gbps effective speed. The bandwidth gap is large: 384.0 GB/s versus 960.0 GB/s.

FP32 compute figures show the scale of the difference. The NVIDIA part is rated at 17.20 TFLOPS, while the AMD part reaches 61.39 TFLOPS. FP16 rates also differ in ratio: NVIDIA achieves 17.20 TFLOPS at 1:1, while AMD reaches 122.8 TFLOPS at 2:1.

Power and physical design diverge sharply. The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile is a mobile part with a 115 W TDP and no power connectors, designed for portable devices with device-dependent display outputs. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is a dual-slot desktop card with two 8-pin power connectors, a 355 W TDP, a suggested PSU of 750 W, and dimensions of 287 mm by 110 mm by 51 mm. Its display outputs include 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, and 1x USB Type-C.

Both GPUs support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, and both use a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head comparison contains nine benchmark entries. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX wins eight of them, and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile wins one.

The single NVIDIA victory is in Geekbench OpenCL, where the RTX A4000 Mobile scores 97178 against 50465 for the AMD part, a 92.6% margin. This is an unusual result given the AMD part's much higher raw compute rating, and it suggests the OpenCL workload in this test favors the NVIDIA driver stack or the mobile GPU's specific configuration.

Outside of that, the AMD part dominates. In Geekbench Vulkan, the AMD GPU scores 85612 versus 73002, a 14.7% advantage. This is the closest of the AMD wins.

The Passmark suite shows much larger gaps. In DirectX 10, AMD leads 166 to 105, a 36.7% margin. In DirectX 11, the AMD score is 356 versus 127, a 64.3% lead. In DirectX 12, AMD leads 131 to 66, a 49.6% margin. In DirectX 9, AMD leads 330 to 157, a 52.4% margin.

The 2D and 3D tests also favor AMD. Passmark G2D shows AMD at 1267 versus 585, a 53.8% lead. Passmark G3D shows AMD at 31238 versus 14796, a 52.6% lead. The compute test shows the largest gap: AMD scores 17689 versus 6394, a 63.9% margin.

The pattern is clear. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is faster in every DirectX generation tested and in both 2D and 3D Passmark workloads. The NVIDIA part only wins in the single OpenCL test, where its margin is substantial.

Specification Differences

The table below lists only the fields where the two GPUs differ.

| Field | NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile | AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX |

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

| Architecture | Ampere | RDNA 3.0 |

| Chip | GA104 | Navi 31 |

| Codename | None | Plum Bonito |

| Process Node | 8 nm | 5 nm |

| Foundry | Samsung | TSMC |

| Transistors | 17,400 million | 57,700 million |

| Die Size | 392 mm² | 529 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 44.4M / mm² | 109.1M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1140 MHz | 1929 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1680 MHz | 2498 MHz |

| Game Clock | None | 2365 MHz |

| Memory Speed | 1500 MHz, 12 Gbps effective | 2500 MHz, 20 Gbps effective |

| Memory Size | 8 GB | 24 GB |

| Memory Bus Width | 256 bit | 384 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 384.0 GB/s | 960.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 5120 | 6144 |

| TMUs | 160 | 384 |

| ROPs | 80 | 192 |

| RT Cores | 40 | 96 |

| Tensor Cores | 160 | None |

| Pixel Rate | 134.4 GPixel/s | 479.6 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 268.8 GTexel/s | 959.2 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 17.20 TFLOPS | 61.39 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 17.20 TFLOPS (1:1) | 122.8 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 115 W | 355 W |

| Slot Width | None | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | None | 2x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | None | 750 W |

| Display Outputs | Portable Device Dependent | 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, 1x USB Type-C |

| Dimensions | Not specified | 287 mm, 110 mm, 51 mm |

| Release Date | April 2021 | November 2022 |

| Predecessor | Quadro Turing-M | Navi II |

| Successor | Ada-MW | Navi IV |

| Launch MSRP | None | 999 USD |

The two GPUs share the same PCIe 4.0 x16 bus interface, DirectX 12 Ultimate support, OpenGL 4.6, Vulkan 1.4, and end-of-life production status.

The Verdict

The recorded data shows two GPUs with very different roles and performance profiles. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX wins eight of nine head-to-head benchmarks, with particularly large margins in DirectX workloads and compute. Its G3D score of 31238 is more than double the NVIDIA's 14796, and its compute score of 17689 is nearly triple the NVIDIA's 6394.

The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile has one clear strength: the Geekbench OpenCL result, where it beats the AMD part by 92.6%. This is a decisive win in that specific test, but it is the only benchmark where the NVIDIA part comes out ahead.

The average benchmark scores in the database tell a more nuanced story. The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 21379, which places it in the 66th percentile of all GPUs. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX has an average score of 19410, placing it in the 64th percentile. Despite the AMD part winning most head-to-head tests, its average score is lower, which reflects how the benchmark set is weighted differently across the database.

The nearest rival data for each GPU also illustrates this. The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile sits close to the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000, with a 1.2% difference, and the AMD Radeon HD 8970M at 0.7%. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX sits near the NVIDIA TITAN Xp at 1.2%, the AMD FirePro D300 at 1.2%, and the NVIDIA Quadro K5200 at 1.0%. These nearest rival lists suggest the two GPUs occupy different segments of the performance landscape.

For users who prioritize raw frame rates in DirectX-based applications and compute-heavy workloads, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the stronger choice based on the head-to-head results. For users who need OpenCL performance specifically, the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile has a substantial edge.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX wins in the majority of tested workloads. Its DirectX 11 lead of 64.3% and DirectX 12 lead of 49.6% indicate strong performance in modern gaming APIs. The DirectX 10 and DirectX 9 leads of 36.7% and 52.4% respectively show backward compatibility strength as well. The 3D Passmark score of 31238 versus 14796 suggests the AMD part is better suited to general 3D rendering tasks.

Compute workloads also favor the AMD part. The 63.9% lead in Passmark GPU compute and the 53.8% lead in G2D mean the AMD GPU handles both raw compute and 2D operations with more headroom. The 14.7% Vulkan lead rounds out the picture: in every graphics API except OpenCL, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is faster.

The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile wins in Geekbench OpenCL by a wide margin, 97178 to 50465. This makes it the better choice for OpenCL-specific applications, which may include certain compute frameworks and scientific workloads that rely on this API. The NVIDIA part also has tensor cores, which the AMD part lacks, suggesting potential advantages in AI-accelerated tasks, though no direct benchmark in the recorded data tests this.

Power consumption is another differentiator. The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile draws 115 W, while the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX draws 355 W. For constrained environments such as laptops or small form factor systems, the NVIDIA part is far more manageable. The AMD part requires a 750 W suggested PSU and two 8-pin connectors, along with a dual-slot cooler and 287 mm of length.

Memory capacity and bandwidth are clear AMD advantages. The 24 GB frame buffer and 960.0 GB/s bandwidth versus 8 GB and 384.0 GB/s make the AMD part more suitable for large datasets and high-resolution textures. The NVIDIA part's 8 GB may limit it in memory-intensive scenarios.

In summary, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the benchmark leader across most tests, with decisive wins in DirectX, 3D, and compute workloads. The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile offers a specific OpenCL advantage and a far lower power envelope, making it suited to portable or power-limited deployments. The choice depends on whether the workload prioritizes the AMD part's broad performance dominance or the NVIDIA part's OpenCL strength and mobility.