AMD Radeon Vega 8 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 and the AMD Radeon Vega 8 represent two entirely different approaches to graphics processing: a dedicated, high-performance add-in board versus an integrated GPU designed for efficiency. The benchmark data confirms a predictable but lopsided contest, with the GTX 1070 winning all three head-to-head comparisons by substantial margins. However, the Vega 8’s data reveals a distinct purpose, making the choice between them less about raw performance and more about the target platform.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The GeForce GTX 1070 asserts dominance across every shared benchmark test, with the most staggering victory coming in the Geekbench OpenCL compute test. The GTX 1070 scores 44,700 points against the Vega 8’s 8,822 points, a delta of 406.7% in favor of the NVIDIA card. This is not a marginal lead; the GTX 1070 is delivering more than five times the raw compute throughput in this specific API, highlighting the vast gulf in shading power and memory bandwidth between a 150 W discrete GPU and a 25 W integrated solution.

The Vulkan benchmark shows a similarly one-sided outcome, though the gap narrows in percentage terms. The GTX 1070 posts a score of 22,121, while the Vega 8 manages 8,134, resulting in a 172% advantage for the NVIDIA part. This indicates that while the Vega 8’s GCN 5.0 architecture handles the low-level API reasonably well, it simply lacks the hardware resources to compete. The GTX 1070’s 1,920 shading units and 64 ROPs, combined with 256.3 GB/s of dedicated bandwidth, provide a massive structural advantage over the Vega 8’s 512 shaders and system-dependent memory.

The closest contest occurs in the Geekbench Metal test, though “closest” is relative. The GTX 1070 scores 18,801 points, leading the Vega 8’s 10,706 points by 75.6%. This smaller delta suggests that Metal’s high-level abstraction may reduce the impact of raw hardware differences, or that the Vega 8’s integrated design is better optimized for this specific Apple API. Nevertheless, the GTX 1070 still wins decisively, reinforcing the overall trend: 3 wins for NVIDIA, 0 for AMD.

Looking at the broader benchmark context, the GTX 1070’s average benchmark score of 9,780 places it at the 47th percentile of all GPUs, while the Vega 8’s average of 9,221 sits at the 45th percentile. These percentile rankings are remarkably close, but the head-to-head deltas tell a different story. The GTX 1070’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro M2000M (avg score 9,832, delta -0.5%) and AMD FirePro W5000 (avg score 9,803, delta -0.2%), showing it competes in a performance tier far above the Vega 8. The Vega 8, by contrast, sits alongside the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (avg score 9,273, delta -0.6%) and the GTX 465 (avg score 9,294, delta -0.8%), indicating its performance class is closer to older discrete GPUs than to modern high-end parts.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 has an average benchmark score of 9,780, compared to the AMD Radeon Vega 8’s 9,221. The GTX 1070 also holds a higher percentile rank at 47% versus the Vega 8’s 45%.

Q: How much faster is the GTX 1070 in the Geekbench OpenCL test?

A: The GTX 1070 scores 44,700 points, which is 406.7% higher than the Vega 8’s 8,822 points. This represents the largest performance delta between the two across all shared benchmarks.

Q: Does the Vega 8 win any benchmark against the GTX 1070?

A: No. In the three head-to-head tests conducted (Geekbench Metal, OpenCL, and Vulkan), the GTX 1070 wins all of them, with a 3-0 record in the wins tally.

Q: What are the nearest rivals to the Vega 8 in terms of average score?

A: The Vega 8’s closest competitors include the AMD Radeon 890M (avg score 9,210, delta 0.1%), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (avg score 9,273, delta -0.6%), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 (avg score 9,294, delta -0.8%).

Q: What is the GTX 1070’s closest competitor based on average score?

A: The AMD FirePro W5000 is the nearest rival, with an average score of 9,803, just 0.2% higher than the GTX 1070’s 9,780. The NVIDIA Quadro M2000M is also close at 9,832, a 0.5% difference.

Q: Which GPU has a higher FP16 (half-precision) compute capability?

A: The AMD Radeon Vega 8 has a native FP16 rate of 2.253 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio), while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 has a drastically lower FP16 rate of 101.0 GFLOPS (1:64 ratio). This is a rare area where the integrated GPU outperforms the discrete card.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on fundamentally different architectures and process nodes. The GTX 1070 uses the NVIDIA Pascal architecture on the GP104 chip, manufactured on a 16 nm process at TSMC. This configuration packs 7,200 million transistors into a 314 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 22.9M per mm². The Vega 8, in contrast, employs AMD’s GCN 5.0 architecture on the Raven chip, built on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It contains 4,940 million transistors on a 210 mm² die, yielding a slightly higher transistor density of 23.5M per mm², but with fewer total resources.

Core configuration differences are stark. The GTX 1070 features 1,920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 64 render output units (ROPs). The Vega 8 has just 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 8 ROPs. This represents a 3.75x advantage in shaders and an 8x advantage in ROPs for the NVIDIA card, which directly translates to its massive lead in pixel rate (107.7 GPixel/s vs 8.8 GPixel/s) and texture rate (202.0 GTexel/s vs 35.20 GTexel/s).

Memory architecture could not be more different. The GTX 1070 uses 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 256.3 GB/s of dedicated bandwidth. The Vega 8 relies on “System Shared” memory, with its bandwidth described as “System Dependent.” This means the Vega 8’s performance scales with the host system’s RAM speed and configuration, creating inherent variability. Clock speeds also diverge significantly: the GTX 1070 has a base clock of 1,506 MHz and boost of 1,683 MHz, while the Vega 8 operates at a modest 300 MHz base and 1,100 MHz boost. The Vega 8’s TDP of 25 W versus the GTX 1070’s 150 W explains this frequency disparity, as the integrated part must stay within a strict thermal envelope.

API support shows partial overlap. Both support DirectX 12 (12_1) and OpenGL 4.6. The GTX 1070 supports Vulkan 1.4, while the Vega 8 supports Vulkan 1.3. This means the NVIDIA card is slightly more forward-compatible with the latest Vulkan releases. Neither GPU has dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores, as both predate the widespread adoption of those technologies in consumer hardware.

The Verdict

The data presents a clear verdict: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is the superior performer by every measurable metric in the shared benchmark suite. Its wins in Metal (75.6% ahead), Vulkan (172% ahead), and especially OpenCL (406.7% ahead) demonstrate overwhelming dominance in compute and graphics workloads. The GTX 1070’s average benchmark score of 9,780 and 47th percentile ranking place it in a competitive tier with professional workstation cards like the AMD FirePro W5000 and NVIDIA Quadro M2000M. For any user requiring high-resolution gaming, content creation, or GPU-accelerated compute, the GTX 1070 is the only viable choice between these two.

The AMD Radeon Vega 8, however, serves a different purpose entirely. As an integrated GPU with a 25 W TDP and no power connectors, it is designed for compact, low-power systems where discrete graphics are impossible. Its 45th percentile ranking and average score of 9,221 place it in the same performance class as the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 and GTX 465, which are older discrete cards. The Vega 8’s FP16 compute of 2.253 TFLOPS (2:1) is notably higher than the GTX 1070’s 101.0 GFLOPS (1:64), suggesting it could have niche advantages in specific half-precision workloads. Additionally, its Vulkan 1.3 support and DirectX 12 (12_1) capability mean it can run modern APIs, albeit at significantly lower performance levels.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 | AMD Radeon Vega 8 |

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

| Architecture | Pascal | GCN 5.0 |

| Process Node | 16 nm | 14 nm |

| Transistors | 7,200 million | 4,940 million |

| Die Size | 314 mm² | 210 mm² |

| Base Clock | 1506 MHz | 300 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1683 MHz | 1100 MHz |

| Memory Size | 8 GB | System Shared |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | System Shared |

| Memory Bus Width | 256 bit | System Shared |

| Memory Bandwidth | 256.3 GB/s | System Dependent |

| Shading Units | 1920 | 512 |

| TMUs | 120 | 32 |

| ROPs | 64 | 8 |

| Pixel Rate | 107.7 GPixel/s | 8.800 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 202.0 GTexel/s | 35.20 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Compute | 6.463 TFLOPS | 1,126.4 GFLOPS |

| FP16 Compute | 101.0 GFLOPS (1:64) | 2.253 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 150 W | 25 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | IGP |

| Power Connectors | 1x 8-pin | None |

| Suggested PSU | 450 W | None |

| DirectX Support | 12 (12_1) | 12 (12_1) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.4 | 1.3 |

| Pixel Rate (Relative) | 12.2x higher | Baseline |

| Texture Rate (Relative) | 5.7x higher | Baseline |