AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition vs NVIDIA H200 NVL Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data contains a single shared benchmark between the NVIDIA H200 NVL and the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition: Geekbench OpenCL. In this test, the NVIDIA H200 NVL scores 334,891 points, while the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition scores 76,111 points. The delta of 340% means the NVIDIA part delivers roughly 4.4 times the raw OpenCL performance of the AMD card. This is not a marginal victory; it is a generational chasm reflected in a single metric.

For context, the NVIDIA H200 NVL sits at the 100th percentile among all GPUs in the database, meaning no other recorded GPU scores higher in its average benchmark. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA B300 SXM6 AC (369,831 points, 9.4% higher), the NVIDIA B200 (345,482 points, 3.1% higher), the AMD Instinct MI300X (317,994 points, 5.3% lower), and the NVIDIA L40S (295,763 points, 13.2% lower). The H200 NVL is not merely ahead of the Vega Frontier; it is in a performance tier occupied only by the latest NVIDIA accelerators.

Meanwhile, the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition sits at the 91st percentile, with an average benchmark score of 73,370 points. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64 (72,379 points, 1.4% lower), the NVIDIA TITAN X Pascal (72,098 points, 1.8% lower), the AMD Radeon RX 6650M (71,768 points, 2.2% lower), and the AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE (70,829 points, 3.6% lower). The Vega Frontier Edition is competitive with its contemporaries from 2017, but the H200 NVL is simply on a different plane.

The head-to-head record is 1 win for the NVIDIA H200 NVL and 0 for the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition. The delta of 340% is the largest possible differentiator: the H200 NVL is not just faster, it is categorically faster in the only test where both cards were measured.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the NVIDIA H200 NVL than the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition in OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA H200 NVL scores 334,891 points, while the AMD card scores 76,111 points, a difference of 340% in favor of the NVIDIA part.

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each GPU?

A: The NVIDIA H200 NVL has an average benchmark score of 334,891 points, while the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition averages 73,370 points.

Q: How does the NVIDIA H200 NVL compare to other high-end accelerators?

A: It is 3.1% slower than the NVIDIA B200, 9.4% slower than the NVIDIA B300 SXM6 AC, 5.3% faster than the AMD Instinct MI300X, and 13.2% faster than the NVIDIA L40S.

Q: How does the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition compare to its own peers?

A: It leads the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64 by 1.4%, the NVIDIA TITAN X Pascal by 1.8%, the AMD Radeon RX 6650M by 2.2%, and the AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE by 3.6%.

Q: Which GPU has a higher percentile rank?

A: The NVIDIA H200 NVL is at the 100th percentile among all GPUs, while the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition is at the 91st percentile.

Q: Does the AMD card have any benchmark wins over the NVIDIA card?

A: No. In the only shared benchmark (Geekbench OpenCL), the NVIDIA H200 NVL wins outright. The AMD card has no recorded wins in the head-to-head data.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA H200 NVL is built on the GH100 chip using the Hopper architecture, produced on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It packs 80,000 million transistors into a 814 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 98.3 million per mm². The AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition uses the Vega 10 chip with GCN 5.0 architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process by GlobalFoundries. Its transistor count is 12,500 million on a 495 mm² die, giving a density of 25.3 million per mm². The node advantage is clear: the H200 NVL uses a far more advanced manufacturing process, which allows roughly 3.9 times the transistor density.

The memory subsystem is radically different. The NVIDIA H200 NVL has 141 GB of HBM3e memory on a 6144-bit bus, delivering 4.89 TB/s of bandwidth. The AMD card has 16 GB of HBM2 memory on a 2048-bit bus, with 483.8 GB/s of bandwidth. The bandwidth gap is 10.1 times in favor of NVIDIA, and the capacity gap is 8.8 times. These are not incremental improvements; they represent a completely different memory strategy, where the H200 NVL is designed for massive datasets that would never fit in the Vega's memory.

Compute resources differ in scale. The H200 NVL has 16,896 shading units, 528 TMUs, and 24 ROPs, while the AMD card has 4,096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The H200 NVL has 528 Tensor Cores, a feature entirely absent from the AMD part. The pixel rate favors AMD (102.4 GPixel/s vs 42.84 GPixel/s), but the texture rate favors NVIDIA (942.5 GTexel/s vs 409.6 GTexel/s). FP32 throughput is 60.32 TFLOPS for NVIDIA versus 13.11 TFLOPS for AMD, a 4.6 times advantage. FP16 is 120.6 TFLOPS for NVIDIA versus 26.21 TFLOPS for AMD.

The NVIDIA part has no display outputs, while the AMD card has 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The NVIDIA card supports PCIe 5.0 x16, while the AMD card is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16. Power consumption is 600 W for the H200 NVL versus 300 W for the Vega, with the NVIDIA card using an 8-pin EPS connector and the AMD using dual 8-pin connectors. The suggested power supply is 1000 W for NVIDIA and 700 W for AMD, though both are dual-slot cards with identical dimensions (267 mm length, 111 mm height).

The NVIDIA part is from the Server Hopper generation, released on 2024-11-17 and is still in production. The AMD part is from the Radeon Pro Vega series, released on 2017-06-26 and is end-of-life. The API support differs: the NVIDIA card has no recorded DirectX, OpenGL, or Vulkan support, while the AMD card supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA H200 NVL is in a completely different performance class than the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition. With a 340% lead in OpenCL, a 100th percentile rank, and 8.8 times the memory capacity, the H200 NVL is designed for workloads where the Vega Frontier Edition would be entirely inadequate. The AMD card, at 91st percentile and with a 2017 release, is competitive only within its own generation peers, such as the Radeon Pro Vega 64 or TITAN X Pascal.

Who should pick which? The NVIDIA H200 NVL is the obvious choice for anyone running large-scale compute tasks that require massive memory bandwidth, high FP32 throughput, and Tensor Core acceleration, provided they do not need display outputs and can accommodate a 600 W power draw. The AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition, with its display outputs and lower 300 W power draw, is a better fit for legacy workflows, desktop use, or applications that rely on DirectX or Vulkan, where the NVIDIA card has no recorded support. The AMD card is also the only one with a launch MSRP of 999 USD, but that is a historical fact, not a current purchasing guide.

The benchmark data strongly suggests that the NVIDIA H200 NVL is a server-oriented accelerator, while the AMD Vega Frontier Edition is a workstation card with broader API compatibility. For raw performance, the choice is unilateral: the H200 NVL wins the only shared test by a factor of 4.4.

Specification Differences

• Process Node: 5 nm (NVIDIA) vs 14 nm (AMD)
• Foundry: TSMC (NVIDIA) vs GlobalFoundries (AMD)
• Transistors: 80,000 million (NVIDIA) vs 12,500 million (AMD)
• Die Size: 814 mm² (NVIDIA) vs 495 mm² (AMD)
• Transistor Density: 98.3M / mm² (NVIDIA) vs 25.3M / mm² (AMD)
• Base Clock: 1365 MHz (NVIDIA) vs 1382 MHz (AMD)
• Boost Clock: 1785 MHz (NVIDIA) vs 1600 MHz (AMD)
• Memory Clock: 1593 MHz (NVIDIA) vs 945 MHz (AMD)
• Memory Size: 141 GB (NVIDIA) vs 16 GB (AMD)
• Memory Type: HBM3E (NVIDIA) vs HBM2 (AMD)
• Memory Bus Width: 6144 bit (NVIDIA) vs 2048 bit (AMD)
• Memory Bandwidth: 4.89 TB/s (NVIDIA) vs 483.8 GB/s (AMD)
• Shading Units: 16,896 (NVIDIA) vs 4,096 (AMD)
• TMUs: 528 (NVIDIA) vs 256 (AMD)
• ROPs: 24 (NVIDIA) vs 64 (AMD)
• Tensor Cores: 528 (NVIDIA) vs None (AMD)
• Pixel Rate: 42.84 GPixel/s (NVIDIA) vs 102.4 GPixel/s (AMD)
• Texture Rate: 942.5 GTexel/s (NVIDIA) vs 409.6 GTexel/s (AMD)
• FP32 Performance: 60.32 TFLOPS (NVIDIA) vs 13.11 TFLOPS (AMD)
• FP16 Performance: 120.6 TFLOPS (NVIDIA) vs 26.21 TFLOPS (AMD)
• TDP: 600 W (NVIDIA) vs 300 W (AMD)
• Power Connectors: 8-pin EPS (NVIDIA) vs 2x 8-pin (AMD)
• Suggested PSU: 1000 W (NVIDIA) vs 700 W (AMD)
• Bus Interface: PCIe 5.0 x16 (NVIDIA) vs PCIe 3.0 x16 (AMD)
• Display Outputs: No outputs (NVIDIA) vs 1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a (AMD)
• API Support: None (NVIDIA) vs DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.6, Vulkan 1.3 (AMD)
• Release Date: 2024-11-17 (NVIDIA) vs 2017-06-26 (AMD)
• Production Status: Active (NVIDIA) vs End-of-life (AMD)

Where Each One Wins

NVIDIA H200 NVL wins in:

• Raw compute throughput: 4.6x higher FP32, 4.6x higher FP16, 10.1x higher memory bandwidth, 8.8x higher memory capacity.
• Advanced features: Tensor Cores, PCIe 5.0 support, larger transistor count and density.
• Benchmark performance: 340% faster in the only shared test, 100th percentile rank.

AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition wins in:

• Pixel fill rate: 102.4 GPixel/s vs 42.84 GPixel/s, a 2.4x advantage.
• Display support: includes HDMI and DisplayPort outputs, while the NVIDIA card has none.
• API compatibility: supports DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3, which the NVIDIA card lacks.
• Lower power draw: 300 W vs 600 W, and a lower suggested PSU requirement (700 W vs 1000 W).
• It also has a higher base clock (1382 MHz vs 1365 MHz), though the NVIDIA boost clock is higher.

The AMD card is also the only one with a launch MSRP, at 999 USD, but the database records no such pricing for the NVIDIA part.

In practical terms, the H200 NVL is for compute-bound, data-heavy server tasks with no need for display output. The Vega Frontier Edition is for a desktop workstation with visual output and legacy API support, where raw compute is secondary. The benchmark data shows only one winner in the shared test, but the AMD card holds unique advantages in the areas of connectivity, API support, and power efficiency.