AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition vs NVIDIA L40 Comparison

The NVIDIA L40 and AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition represent two very different eras of professional GPU design. The L40 is a server-focused Ada Lovelace part aimed at modern compute and graphics workloads, while the Vega Frontier Edition was AMD’s 2017 attempt at a workstation card for early deep learning and content creation. The database results show a stark performance gap, but the story is more nuanced than raw scores alone. Below is a breakdown of the recorded benchmark data, comparative strengths, and architectural differences.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two cards share two common benchmark results in the database: Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan. In both tests, the NVIDIA L40 wins decisively, with margins that dwarf any differences seen among their respective nearest rivals.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the L40 scores 330,926 points, while the Vega Frontier Edition scores 76,111. That is a delta of 334.8% in favor of the L40. To put that in perspective, the L40’s average benchmark score across all recorded tests is 284,111, placing it at the 99th percentile of all GPUs in the database. The Vega Frontier Edition’s average score is 73,370, which sits at the 91st percentile. The OpenCL result is not merely a win; it is a multi-generational leap. The L40’s closest rival in the database, the NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation, posts an average score of 287,237, which is 1.1% lower than the L40. The L40S is 3.9% higher at 295,763, and the AMD Instinct MI300X is 10.7% higher at 317,994. Even against these modern competitors, the L40 is within striking distance, while the Vega Frontier Edition trails the L40 by a factor of more than four in OpenCL.

The Vulkan test tells a similar story, though the gap narrows slightly. The L40 scores 237,295, and the Vega Frontier Edition scores 71,937, resulting in a 229.9% delta. Vulkan is a lower-level API, which can sometimes favor older architectures with simpler driver overhead, but here the L40’s raw compute power and newer design still dominate. The Vega Frontier Edition’s Vulkan score is actually its lowest of the three recorded benchmarks, sitting below its OpenCL score of 76,111 and its Metal score of 72,061. For the L40, Vulkan is also its lower score, but the absolute number remains far higher.

The database records two head-to-head wins for the L40 and zero for the Vega Frontier Edition. No benchmark in the shared set favors the AMD card. The average benchmark score difference is equally lopsided: 284,111 versus 73,370, a ratio of roughly 3.9 to 1. This is not a close contest by any measured metric.

Where Each One Wins

Given the head-to-head results, the L40 is the clear winner in raw compute and graphics API performance. Its OpenCL lead of 334.8% is particularly relevant for general-purpose GPU compute, which includes scientific simulation, data processing, and rendering workloads that rely on OpenCL kernels. The Vulkan lead of 229.9% matters for real-time graphics and any application that uses Vulkan for rendering or compute. In those domains, the L40 is not just faster; it is in a different performance class.

The Vega Frontier Edition does have one unique strength in the database: it is the only card of the two with a recorded Geekbench Metal score, coming in at 72,061. Metal is Apple’s graphics and compute API, and the Vega Frontier Edition’s support for it means it can be used in macOS environments for GPU-accelerated tasks. The L40 has no Metal score in the database, so no direct comparison exists. For users locked into Apple’s ecosystem, the Vega Frontier Edition is the only option of the two, but its Metal score is in line with its OpenCL and Vulkan numbers, suggesting similar performance across APIs.

Another area where the Vega Frontier Edition holds a relative advantage is in its percentile standing among all GPUs. At the 91st percentile, it still outperforms the majority of graphics cards ever recorded. Its nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64, which scores 72,379 and is 1.4% lower, and the NVIDIA TITAN X Pascal at 72,098, which is 1.8% lower. The Vega Frontier Edition also edges out the AMD Radeon RX 6650M (71,768, 2.2% lower) and the AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE (70,829, 3.6% lower). This shows that while the Vega Frontier Edition is far behind the L40, it is still a competent performer relative to its own peers from the same generation.

For the L40, its nearest rivals include the RTX 6000 Ada Generation (1.1% lower), the L40S (3.9% higher), the L20 (13.1% lower), and the AMD Instinct MI300X (10.7% higher). The L40 sits comfortably in the middle of this group, which means that despite its massive lead over the Vega Frontier Edition, it is not the absolute fastest GPU in the database. It is, however, within 10.7% of the top-scoring rival, which is a much smaller gap than the one separating it from the Vega Frontier Edition.

In practical terms, the L40 wins for any workload that uses OpenCL or Vulkan, which covers most professional compute and rendering. The Vega Frontier Edition wins only in the narrow case of Metal compatibility, and even then, its score is modest compared to the L40’s scores in other APIs.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher Geekbench OpenCL score?

A: The NVIDIA L40 scores 330,926, while the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition scores 76,111. The L40 leads by 334.8%.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition win any shared benchmarks?

A: No. In the two shared tests (Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan), the L40 wins both. The database records 2 wins for the L40 and 0 for the Vega Frontier Edition.

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each card, and how do they rank overall?

A: The L40 has an average benchmark score of 284,111 and sits at the 99th percentile of all GPUs. The Vega Frontier Edition has an average score of 73,370 and sits at the 91st percentile.

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

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% in average score.

Q: Does the Vega Frontier Edition support an API that the L40 does not?

A: Yes. The Vega Frontier Edition has a recorded Geekbench Metal score of 72,061. The L40 has no Metal score in the database, so there is no direct comparison for that API.

Q: What is the Vulkan performance difference?

A: The L40 scores 237,295 in Geekbench Vulkan, and the Vega Frontier Edition scores 71,937, giving the L40 a 229.9% advantage.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every major specification. The L40 uses 48 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, yielding 864.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Vega Frontier Edition uses 16 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus, yielding 483.8 GB/s. The memory type and bus width are fundamentally different, with the L40 favoring higher capacity and the Vega Frontier Edition using a wider but older memory interface. The L40’s memory clock is listed as 2250 MHz with 18 Gbps effective, while the Vega Frontier Edition runs at 945 MHz with 1890 Mbps effective.

The L40 has 18,176 shading units, 568 texture mapping units, and 192 render output units. The Vega Frontier Edition has 4,096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. These numbers directly explain the fill rate differences: the L40 achieves 478.1 GPixel/s and 1,414.3 GTexel/s, while the Vega Frontier Edition achieves 102.4 GPixel/s and 409.6 GTexel/s. The FP32 compute is similarly lopsided, with the L40 delivering 90.52 TFLOPS versus the Vega Frontier Edition’s 13.11 TFLOPS. For FP16, the L40 maintains 90.52 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio, while the Vega Frontier Edition reaches 26.21 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio, meaning it trades precision for speed.

Power consumption is identical at 300 W for both, and both are dual-slot cards with the same physical dimensions of 267 mm in length and 111 mm in height. The power connectors differ: the L40 uses a single 16-pin connector, while the Vega Frontier Edition uses two 8-pin connectors. Both have a suggested PSU of 700 W. The bus interface differs as well, with the L40 using PCIe 4.0 x16 and the Vega Frontier Edition using PCIe 3.0 x16.

Display outputs are not the same. The L40 offers four DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, while the Vega Frontier Edition offers one HDMI 2.0b port and three DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. The L40 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the Vega Frontier Edition supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. Both support OpenGL 4.6.

The release dates are far apart: the L40 was released on October 12, 2022, and the Vega Frontier Edition on June 26, 2017. Both are marked as end-of-life in the database. The L40 has no launch MSRP recorded, while the Vega Frontier Edition has a launch MSRP of 999 USD.

Architecture Differences

The L40 is built on NVIDIA’s Ada Lovelace architecture, using the AD102 chip fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It contains 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 125.3 million per mm². The Vega Frontier Edition uses AMD’s GCN 5.0 architecture, with the Vega 10 chip fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It contains 12,500 million transistors on a 495 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 25.3 million per mm². The L40 has roughly six times the transistor count and a much higher density, reflecting the newer process node and more complex design.

The L40 includes 142 ray tracing cores and 568 tensor cores, which are specialized units for ray-traced rendering and AI workloads. The Vega Frontier Edition has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores, meaning it lacks hardware acceleration for these tasks. The L40’s shading units, TMUs, and ROPs are all significantly higher, and its clock speeds differ as well. The L40 has a base clock of 735 MHz and a boost clock of 2490 MHz, while the Vega Frontier Edition has a base clock of 1382 MHz and a boost clock of 1600 MHz. The Vega Frontier Edition starts at a higher base clock, but the L40’s boost clock is much higher, which contributes to its compute advantage.

The L40 is part of the Server Ada generation, with its predecessor listed as Server Ampere and its successor as Server Hopper. The Vega Frontier Edition is part of the Radeon Pro Vega generation, with its predecessor as Radeon Pro Polaris and its successor as Radeon Pro Navi. The L40 supports PCIe 4.0, while the Vega Frontier Edition supports PCIe 3.0. The memory architectures are also distinct: GDDR6 on a narrower 384-bit bus versus HBM2 on a much wider 2048-bit bus. The L40’s higher bandwidth and capacity make it better suited for large datasets, while the Vega Frontier Edition’s HBM2 was advanced for its time but is now superseded.

The absence of ray tracing and tensor cores on the Vega Frontier Edition is a critical architectural difference. The L40’s tensor cores enable accelerated AI inference and training, and its ray tracing cores enable real-time ray-traced graphics. The Vega Frontier Edition relies on general-purpose shader units for these tasks, which is far less efficient. The process node gap, from 14 nm to 5 nm, explains much of the performance and efficiency difference, though both cards share the same 300 W TDP. The L40 achieves its performance at the same power envelope, indicating a major efficiency improvement.