AMD Radeon Vega 3 vs NVIDIA RTX 5000 Mobile Ada Generation Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark database contains no direct head-to-head test results between the AMD Radeon Vega 3 and the NVIDIA RTX 5000 Mobile Ada Generation. However, the recorded average benchmark scores and their percentile placements provide a clear picture of the performance gap. The AMD Radeon Vega 3 posts an average benchmark score of 4268 across three tests: Geekbench Metal at 4880, Geekbench OpenCL at 3963, and Geekbench Vulkan at 3961. The NVIDIA RTX 5000 Mobile Ada Generation has a single recorded score of 3596 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, giving it an average benchmark score of 3596.

At face value, the AMD part appears numerically faster, but the tests are entirely different workloads. The Vega 3’s scores come from compute-oriented Geekbench tests, while the RTX 5000’s score comes from a modern DX12 gaming benchmark. Looking at percentile placement, the AMD Radeon Vega 3 sits at the 25th percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX 5000 Mobile Ada Generation sits at the 21st percentile. This places both in the lower half of the database, but the RTX 5000’s score is from a more demanding test, which explains the lower raw number.

The nearest rivals for the AMD Radeon Vega 3 include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M with an average score of 4282 and a delta of -0.3%, the AMD FirePro W2100 at 4295 with a delta of -0.6%, the NVIDIA Quadro K3000M at 4241 with a delta of 0.6%, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 GDDR6 at 4335 with a delta of -1.5%. These deltas show that the Vega 3 is essentially level with a decade-old mobile GTX 460M and a workstation FirePro card, while trailing the RTX 4070 GDDR6 by only 1.5%.

For the NVIDIA RTX 5000 Mobile Ada Generation, the nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 545 at 3594 with a delta of 0.1%, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 735M at 3616 with a delta of -0.6%, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 at 3629 with a delta of -0.9%, and the AMD Radeon HD 6770 at 3649 with a delta of -1.5%. The RTX 5000 is essentially tied with these older desktop and mobile parts in this specific DX12 test, which is surprising given its modern architecture. The data suggests that the RTX 5000’s Steel Nomad score is not representative of its full capability, as the test may be driver-limited or the workload is not optimized for its feature set.

The single-test nature of the RTX 5000’s benchmark record means the comparison is skewed. The Vega 3 has three tests, all of which are compute-heavy and tend to favor its GCN architecture’s raw ALU throughput. The RTX 5000 has one gaming test, which is a different workload entirely. The database shows that the RTX 5000’s score is 0.1% higher than the GT 545, a card from 2011, and 0.9% higher than the GTX 1050, a budget card from 2016. In contrast, the Vega 3’s best result is 4880 in Metal, which is 23% higher than its OpenCL score and 23% higher than its Vulkan score, indicating strong platform-specific optimization for Apple’s Metal API.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon Vega 3 is built on the GCN 5.0 architecture using the Picasso chip, fabricated on a 12 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It integrates 4,940 million transistors on a die size of 210 mm², which yields a transistor density of 23.5 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA RTX 5000 Mobile Ada Generation uses the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD103 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It contains 45,900 million transistors on a die size of 379 mm², giving a transistor density of 121.1 million per square millimeter. The RTX 5000 packs more than nine times the transistors into a die that is only 1.8 times larger, reflecting the much denser 5 nm process.

The Vega 3 is an integrated graphics processor with 192 shading units, 12 texture mapping units, and 4 raster output units. It has no dedicated ray tracing cores and no tensor cores. The RTX 5000 Mobile Ada Generation has 9,728 shading units, 304 TMUs, and 112 ROPs, along with 76 ray tracing cores and 304 tensor cores. This is a 50.7 times difference in shading units, a 25.3 times difference in TMUs, and a 28 times difference in ROPs. The Vega 3’s pixel rate is 4.400 GPixel/s and its texture rate is 13.20 GTexel/s, while the RTX 5000 achieves 236.9 GPixel/s and 643.0 GTexel/s, which are 53.8 times and 48.7 times higher, respectively.

In terms of compute, the Vega 3 delivers 422.4 GFLOPS of FP32 and 844.8 GFLOPS of FP16 at a 2:1 ratio. The RTX 5000 delivers 41.15 TFLOPS of FP32 and 41.15 TFLOPS of FP16 at a 1:1 ratio, meaning the RTX 5000 is 97.4 times faster in FP32 and 48.7 times faster in FP16. The Vega 3’s clock speeds are a base of 300 MHz and a boost of 1100 MHz, while the RTX 5000 runs at a base of 1425 MHz and a boost of 2115 MHz. The RTX 5000’s memory clock is 2250 MHz with 18 Gbps effective, and it uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256 bit bus with 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Vega 3 uses system shared memory with a system dependent bandwidth.

The Vega 3 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The RTX 5000 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RTX 5000’s higher DX12 feature level and newer Vulkan version indicate support for more advanced rendering features. The Vega 3 is an end-of-life product released on November 19, 2019, while the RTX 5000 is an active product released on March 20, 2023. The Vega 3’s predecessor is GCN 3.0 IGP and its successor is Vega II IGP, while the RTX 5000’s predecessor is Ampere-MW and its successor is Blackwell-MW.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Vega 3 has a higher average benchmark score of 4268 compared to the NVIDIA RTX 5000 Mobile Ada Generation’s 3596. However, the tests are different, with the Vega 3 using Geekbench compute tests and the RTX 5000 using a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test.

Q: How do the two chips compare in transistor count and process node?

A: The RTX 5000 Mobile Ada Generation uses a 5 nm TSMC process with 45,900 million transistors, while the Vega 3 uses a 12 nm GlobalFoundries process with 4,940 million transistors. The RTX 5000 has 9.3 times more transistors.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The RTX 5000 has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256 bit bus with 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Vega 3 uses system shared memory with system dependent bandwidth and no dedicated memory size or type.

Q: Does the RTX 5000 support ray tracing?

A: Yes, the RTX 5000 has 76 ray tracing cores and 304 tensor cores. The Vega 3 has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores.

Q: What are the FP32 performance figures for each?

A: The Vega 3 delivers 422.4 GFLOPS of FP32, while the RTX 5000 delivers 41.15 TFLOPS of FP32. The RTX 5000 is 97.4 times faster in FP32 compute.

Q: Which GPU has a higher percentile ranking in the database?

A: The Vega 3 is at the 25th percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX 5000 is at the 21st percentile. Both are in the lower half, but the Vega 3 ranks slightly higher despite its older architecture.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon Vega 3 | NVIDIA RTX 5000 Mobile Ada Generation |

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

| Architecture | GCN 5.0 | Ada Lovelace |

| Process node | 12 nm | 5 nm |

| Foundry | GlobalFoundries | TSMC |

| Transistors | 4,940 million | 45,900 million |

| Die size | 210 mm² | 379 mm² |

| Transistor density | 23.5M / mm² | 121.1M / mm² |

| Base clock | 300 MHz | 1425 MHz |

| Boost clock | 1100 MHz | 2115 MHz |

| Memory size | System Shared | 16 GB |

| Memory type | System Shared | GDDR6 |

| Memory bus | System Shared | 256 bit |

| Memory bandwidth | System Dependent | 576.0 GB/s |

| Shading units | 192 | 9728 |

| TMUs | 12 | 304 |

| ROPs | 4 | 112 |

| RT cores | None | 76 |

| Tensor cores | None | 304 |

| Pixel rate | 4.400 GPixel/s | 236.9 GPixel/s |

| Texture rate | 13.20 GTexel/s | 643.0 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 422.4 GFLOPS | 41.15 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 844.8 GFLOPS (2:1) | 41.15 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 15 W | 120 W |

| Bus interface | IGP | PCIe 4.0 x16 |

| DirectX | 12 (12_1) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| Vulkan | 1.3 | 1.4 |

| Release date | 2019-11-19 | 2023-03-20 |

| Production status | End-of-life | Active |

The Verdict

The data shows that the NVIDIA RTX 5000 Mobile Ada Generation is the overwhelmingly more capable part in every architectural metric. It has 50.7 times more shading units, 48.7 times higher texture rate, 53.8 times higher pixel rate, and 97.4 times higher FP32 compute. It also brings dedicated ray tracing and tensor cores, a 16 GB GDDR6 memory subsystem with 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth, and a modern 5 nm process with 121.1 million transistors per square millimeter.

The AMD Radeon Vega 3 is an integrated graphics solution from 2019 with a 15 W TDP, system shared memory, and no dedicated VRAM. Its benchmark scores are higher in the database, but this is due to the different test workloads. The Vega 3’s Geekbench compute scores do not translate to gaming performance, and its nearest rivals in the database are all older or low-end parts. The RTX 5000’s nearest rivals in the Steel Nomad test are similarly old, but the test itself is a modern DX12 workload that likely underrepresents the RTX 5000’s full feature set.

Who should pick the Vega 3? Only those constrained to an integrated GPU with no expansion options, where the 15 W power draw and system shared memory are acceptable. It supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3, which is sufficient for basic compute workloads and legacy titles. But its 25th percentile ranking and 422.4 GFLOPS of FP32 make it a low-end part even among integrated graphics.

Who should pick the RTX 5000 Mobile Ada Generation? Anyone who needs a mobile workstation GPU with 16 GB of GDDR6, 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth, 76 ray tracing cores, and 304 tensor cores. Its 41.15 TFLOPS of FP32 and 643.0 GTexel/s texture rate place it in a completely different performance class. The 120 W TDP is higher, but the PCIe 4.0 x16 interface and active production status indicate a current-generation part designed for demanding professional workloads. The database’s single benchmark result does not capture its capabilities, but the architectural data makes the choice clear: the RTX 5000 Mobile Ada Generation is the superior hardware by every measurable specification.