AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition vs NVIDIA CMP 90HX Comparison

The AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition and NVIDIA CMP 90HX target completely different workloads, and the benchmark data confirms a decisive victory for the AMD card. In the only shared test, the Geekbench OpenCL benchmark, the Vega Frontier Edition scores 76111 against the CMP 90HX’s 69000, a 10.3% advantage. The CMP 90HX, designed as a dedicated mining GPU with no display outputs, is outclassed in general-purpose compute by a four-year-old professional workstation card, which holds a 91st percentile rank versus the NVIDIA card’s 90th.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in the shared benchmark?

A: The AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 76111, which is 10.3% higher than the NVIDIA CMP 90HX’s 69000.

Q: How does the Vega Frontier Edition compare to its closest rivals?

A: The AMD card’s average benchmark score is 73370, placing it 1.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64 (72379) and 1.8% ahead of the NVIDIA TITAN X Pascal (72098).

Q: What is the performance context for the CMP 90HX?

A: The NVIDIA card’s average score of 69000 puts it 0.3% ahead of the Intel Arc A770 (68809) and 0.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon Instinct MI25 (68562), but it trails the AMD Radeon Pro WX 8200 by 1.2% and the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 by 1.4%.

Q: Can the CMP 90HX be used with a monitor?

A: No, the NVIDIA CMP 90HX has no display outputs, making it unsuitable for any visual output tasks, unlike the Vega Frontier Edition which offers 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a.

Q: What are the memory configurations of these two cards?

A: The AMD card features 16 GB of HBM2 memory on a 2048-bit bus with 483.8 GB/s bandwidth, while the NVIDIA card has 10 GB of GDDR6X on a 320-bit bus with 760.3 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has a higher FP32 compute throughput?

A: The NVIDIA CMP 90HX delivers 21.89 TFLOPS FP32, which is substantially higher than the AMD Vega Frontier Edition’s 13.11 TFLOPS, despite the AMD card winning the OpenCL benchmark.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition wins the only direct comparison available: the Geekbench OpenCL compute test. This indicates that in open-standard compute workloads, the older GCN architecture outperforms the Ampere-based mining card despite the latter’s higher theoretical specifications. The Vega Frontier Edition’s 16 GB of HBM2 memory and 2048-bit bus provide a wide memory subsystem that likely benefits memory-intensive compute tasks, though the benchmark result is the only measurable proof.

The NVIDIA CMP 90HX does not win any head-to-head benchmarks against the Vega Frontier Edition. However, its specification sheet suggests strengths in raw throughput: the card boasts 21.89 TFLOPS FP32, 6400 shading units, and 50 RT cores alongside 200 tensor cores. These figures indicate potential superiority in workloads that leverage NVIDIA’s specialized hardware, such as ray tracing or tensor operations, but no benchmark data in the FACT PACK confirms this advantage. The card’s 760.3 GB/s memory bandwidth is 57% higher than the AMD card’s, which could favor certain bandwidth-bound algorithms, but again, this is speculation without test results.

The CMP 90HX’s design goals are evident in its lack of display outputs and its PCIe 1.0 x4 interface, which is sufficient for mining operations but cripples general-purpose data transfer. The Vega Frontier Edition, with its PCIe 3.0 x16 interface and full display connectivity, is clearly built for workstation use. In any scenario requiring a graphical interface or standard PCIe bandwidth, the AMD card is the only viable option.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs represent fundamentally different architectural philosophies and manufacturing eras. The AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition uses the Vega 10 chip built on GCN 5.0 architecture, manufactured by GlobalFoundries on a 14 nm process. This chip contains 12,500 million transistors on a 495 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 25.3M per mm². The NVIDIA CMP 90HX, in contrast, uses the GA102 chip with Ampere architecture, built by Samsung on an 8 nm process. This significantly larger chip packs 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die, achieving a density of 45.1M per mm².

The compute capabilities diverge sharply. The Vega Frontier Edition has 4096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with no dedicated RT or tensor cores. Its FP32 throughput is 13.11 TFLOPS, while FP16 is 26.21 TFLOPS via a 2:1 ratio. The CMP 90HX has 6400 shading units, 200 TMUs, and 80 ROPs, plus 50 RT cores and 200 tensor cores. Its FP32 and FP16 both hit 21.89 TFLOPS, with a 1:1 ratio, meaning no FP16 acceleration advantage. The NVIDIA card also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the AMD card supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3.

Memory architecture is another major differentiator. The AMD card uses 16 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus, achieving 483.8 GB/s bandwidth but with a relatively low 945 MHz memory clock (1890 Mbps effective). The NVIDIA card uses 10 GB of GDDR6X on a 320-bit bus, achieving 760.3 GB/s bandwidth with a much higher 1188 MHz memory clock (19 Gbps effective). The GDDR6X configuration provides 57% more bandwidth but half the capacity.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every measurable specification. The process node differs: AMD uses 14 nm GlobalFoundries, while NVIDIA uses 8 nm Samsung. Transistor counts are 12,500 million versus 28,300 million, and die sizes are 495 mm² versus 628 mm². Clock speeds differ, with the AMD card running at 1382 MHz base and 1600 MHz boost, while the NVIDIA card runs at 1500 MHz base and 1710 MHz boost. Memory capacity is 16 GB HBM2 versus 10 GB GDDR6X, with bus widths of 2048-bit versus 320-bit. Bandwidth is 483.8 GB/s versus 760.3 GB/s. Shading units are 4096 versus 6400, TMUs are 256 versus 200, and ROPs are 64 versus 80. The NVIDIA card uniquely has 50 RT cores and 200 tensor cores. Pixel rates are 102.4 GPixel/s versus 136.8 GPixel/s, and texture rates are 409.6 GTexel/s versus 342.0 GTexel/s. FP32 is 13.11 versus 21.89 TFLOPS, and FP16 is 26.21 versus 21.89 TFLOPS. TDP is 300 W versus 320 W. The bus interface is PCIe 3.0 x16 versus PCIe 1.0 x4. Display outputs are 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a versus no outputs. The AMD card is 267 mm long and 111 mm tall, while the NVIDIA card is 285 mm long and 112 mm tall. Release dates are June 2017 versus July 2021.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The sole head-to-head benchmark is Geekbench OpenCL, where the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition scores 76111 against the NVIDIA CMP 90HX’s 69000. This 10.3% delta is significant, especially given that the NVIDIA card has 67% more shading units and 67% higher FP32 throughput. The benchmark result indicates that raw compute specifications do not translate directly into OpenCL performance; the AMD card’s architecture, memory system, or driver optimizations provide a tangible advantage. In the context of their respective nearest rivals, the AMD card’s 76111 score is 5.2% above its average of 73370, while the NVIDIA card’s 69000 exactly matches its average. This suggests the Vega Frontier Edition is particularly strong in OpenCL, whereas the CMP 90HX performs consistently but at a lower level.

The AMD card’s win is even more notable when considering its percentile rank. At the 91st percentile of all GPUs, it sits above the CMP 90HX’s 90th percentile. The average benchmark scores further illustrate the gap: 73370 versus 69000, a difference of 6.3%. The nearest rival data for each card shows that the AMD card beats its closest competitor by 1.4%, while the NVIDIA card beats its closest competitor by only 0.3%, indicating that the CMP 90HX is closer to the performance level of mid-range cards like the Intel Arc A770.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition is the superior GPU for general compute workloads. It wins the only head-to-head benchmark by 10.3%, holds a higher percentile rank (91st versus 90th), and delivers a higher average benchmark score (73370 versus 69000). For any user needing a functional graphics card with display outputs, the CMP 90HX is disqualified by its lack of video connectors. The Vega Frontier Edition offers a complete package: 16 GB of HBM2 memory, PCIe 3.0 x16 connectivity, and full API support for DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3.

The NVIDIA CMP 90HX is a specialized mining product with no display capabilities and a crippled PCIe 1.0 x4 interface. Despite its superior specifications in shading units, clock speeds, memory bandwidth, and FP32 throughput, it loses in the actual benchmark. The 21.89 TFLOPS FP32 and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth are impressive on paper, but they do not overcome the AMD card’s architectural efficiency in OpenCL. The CMP 90HX is only defensible for pure mining operations, where its lack of display outputs and PCIe bandwidth are irrelevant. For compute, rendering, or any professional workstation task, the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition is the clear choice based on the data. The verdict is straightforward: buy the Vega Frontier Edition for compute, and avoid the CMP 90HX unless mining is the sole purpose.