AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE vs AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Comparison

The Verdict

The database comparison between the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE is defined by architectural generation gaps and contrasting performance profiles. The recorded data shows that the RX 9070 GRE is the decisively stronger compute card in the one shared benchmark, while the Vega Frontier Edition retains its niche as a legacy workstation product with a higher bandwidth memory subsystem.

For users prioritizing raw compute performance in OpenCL workloads, the RX 9070 GRE is the clear choice. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 109,309 is 30.4% higher than the Vega Frontier Edition’s 76,111, a substantial lead that reflects its newer RDNA 4.0 design. The RX 9070 GRE is also the only active product here, while the Vega Frontier Edition is end-of-life, making the newer card the more practical option for ongoing use.

The Vega Frontier Edition, however, should appeal to those who specifically need large frame-buffer capacity and extreme memory bandwidth in a legacy environment. It offers 16 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus, delivering 483.8 GB/s, versus the RX 9070 GRE’s 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus at 432.0 GB/s. That 16 GB capacity, combined with its 1.4% lead over the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64 in average benchmark score, positions it as a still-relevant option for older professional workloads that are not bound by raw compute throughput.

In terms of overall percentile ranking, the two cards are close: the Vega Frontier Edition sits at the 91st percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 9070 GRE sits at the 87th. Yet the RX 9070 GRE’s average benchmark score of 57,367 is dragged down by the inclusion of a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result (5,424), a test that does not exist for the older card. The Vega Frontier Edition’s average of 73,370 is built entirely from Geekbench Metal, OpenCL, and Vulkan scores. When comparing only the shared OpenCL metric, the RX 9070 GRE wins decisively.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher OpenCL benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE scores 109,309 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 30.4% higher than the Vega Frontier Edition’s 76,111 in the same test.

Q: How do the two GPUs compare in overall percentile ranking?

A: The Vega Frontier Edition ranks at the 91st percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 9070 GRE ranks at the 87th. This is a narrow gap despite their very different architectures.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The Vega Frontier Edition has 16 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus with 483.8 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 9070 GRE has 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus with 432.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Are both cards still in production?

A: No. The Vega Frontier Edition is end-of-life, while the RX 9070 GRE is listed as active production.

Q: Which card offers ray tracing hardware?

A: The RX 9070 GRE includes 48 dedicated ray tracing cores. The Vega Frontier Edition has no RT core count listed in the data.

Q: How does the RX 9070 GRE compare to its nearest rival in average score?

A: The RX 9070 GRE’s average benchmark score of 57,367 is 0.7% below the Intel Arc A580 (57,756), 1.2% below the AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM (58,085), and 1.5% below the Intel Arc A570M (58,239). It trails the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT (58,392) by 1.8%.

Architecture Differences

The Vega Frontier Edition is built on the Vega 10 chip using the GCN 5.0 architecture, produced on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It belongs to the Radeon Pro Vega generation. The RX 9070 GRE uses the Navi 48 chip with RDNA 4.0 architecture, fabricated on a 4 nm process at TSMC, and is part of the Navi IV (RX 9000) generation.

Transistor counts reveal the scale of the generational shift. The Vega chip contains 12,500 million transistors on a 495 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 25.3 million per mm². The Navi 48 chip packs 53,900 million transistors on a smaller 357 mm² die, achieving 151.0 million per mm². Despite the smaller physical area, the newer chip has more than four times the transistor count.

Compute resource allocation differs significantly. The Vega Frontier Edition has 4,096 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. The RX 9070 GRE has 3,072 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. Notably, the newer card adds 48 ray tracing cores, a feature absent from the older architecture. Floating-point throughput favors the RX 9070 GRE: it delivers 34.28 TFLOPS FP32 and 34.28 TFLOPS FP16 (1:1 ratio), while the Vega card offers 13.11 TFLOPS FP32 and 26.21 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1 ratio).

The RDNA 4.0 card also supports a newer feature set. It lists DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the GCN card supports DirectX 12 (12_1). Vulkan support is version 1.4 on the RX 9070 GRE versus 1.3 on the Vega Frontier Edition. Both cards support OpenGL 4.6. Display outputs differ as well: the RX 9070 GRE provides 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1a, while the Vega Frontier Edition offers 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a.

Specification Differences

The two cards diverge on nearly every measurable specification. The Vega Frontier Edition uses a 14 nm process from GlobalFoundries, while the RX 9070 GRE uses a 4 nm process from TSMC. Die size differs: 495 mm² for Vega versus 357 mm² for Navi 48. Transistor density is 25.3M per mm² versus 151.0M per mm².

Clock speeds favor the newer card. The Vega Frontier Edition runs at a base clock of 1382 MHz and a boost clock of 1600 MHz. The RX 9070 GRE has a base of 1420 MHz, a game clock of 2220 MHz, and a boost of 2790 MHz. Memory clocks also differ: 945 MHz (1890 Mbps effective) for Vega, 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) for the RX 9070 GRE.

Memory capacity and type are inverted in an interesting way. The Vega Frontier Edition provides 16 GB of HBM2 with a 2048-bit bus and 483.8 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 9070 GRE provides 12 GB of GDDR6 with a 192-bit bus and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth. The older card has higher capacity and bandwidth, but the newer card has faster memory clock speed.

Power requirements are lower on the newer card. The Vega Frontier Edition has a TDP of 300 W and a suggested PSU of 700 W. The RX 9070 GRE has a TDP of 220 W and a suggested PSU of 550 W. Both use dual-slot cooling and 2x 8-pin power connectors.

Bus interface and dimensions differ. The Vega card uses PCIe 3.0 x16 and measures 267 mm in length (10.5 inches) and 111 mm in height (4.4 inches). The RX 9070 GRE uses PCIe 5.0 x16, and its dimensions are not recorded in the database.

Release timing and status are clear differentiators. The Vega Frontier Edition launched on 2017-06-26 with a launch MSRP of 999 USD and is now end-of-life. The RX 9070 GRE launched on 2025-05-07 with a launch MSRP of 549 USD and remains active. The Vega card’s predecessor is Radeon Pro Polaris and its successor is Radeon Pro Navi. The RX 9070 GRE’s predecessor is Navi III, with no successor listed.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison available in the database is the Geekbench OpenCL test, and it is a decisive victory for the RX 9070 GRE. The newer card scores 109,309 against the Vega Frontier Edition’s 76,111, a delta of 30.4% in favor of the RX 9070 GRE. This is a substantial margin that aligns with the architectural advantages of RDNA 4.0, including higher boost clocks and more than double the FP32 throughput.

Context from the nearest rivals reinforces this outcome. The Vega Frontier Edition’s average benchmark score of 73,370 places it 1.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64 (72,379) and 1.8% ahead of the NVIDIA TITAN X Pascal (72,098). It also leads the AMD Radeon RX 6650M (71,768) by 2.2% and the AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE (70,829) by 3.6%. This suggests the Vega card remains competitive within its own generation.

The RX 9070 GRE’s average score of 57,367, however, is lower than its nearest rivals, which is a statistical artifact of the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result. In that test it scores 5,424, a low number that pulls the average down. Its nearest rival, the Intel Arc A580, averages 57,756, which is 0.7% higher. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM averages 58,085 (1.2% higher), the Intel Arc A570M averages 58,239 (1.5% higher), and the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT averages 58,392 (1.8% higher). The RX 9070 GRE’s OpenCL score of 109,309 is its strongest recorded result, far exceeding the averages of all its listed rivals.

The data shows that for OpenCL compute workloads, the RX 9070 GRE is in a different class than the Vega Frontier Edition. The 30.4% lead is the headline number, and it is consistent with the newer architecture’s higher pixel rate (267.8 GPixel/s versus 102.4 GPixel/s) and texture rate (535.7 GTexel/s versus 409.6 GTexel/s). The Vega card’s advantage in memory bandwidth (483.8 GB/s versus 432.0 GB/s) does not translate into a compute win in this test. The RX 9070 GRE wins the only head-to-head benchmark recorded, and it does so by a wide margin.