AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition vs NVIDIA RTX A5500 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data shows a decisive victory for the NVIDIA RTX A5500 across every shared test. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX A5500 scores 174,637 against 76,111 for the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition, a delta of 129.5%. That is not a marginal improvement; it is more than double the compute throughput in a raw, API-agnostic workload. The Vulkan result tells the same story: the RTX A5500 posts 155,797 against 71,937, a 116.6% advantage. Both cards were tested under the same database conditions, and the margin is consistent enough to suggest a generational gulf rather than a driver quirk or a workload-specific anomaly.

Looking at the average benchmark score reinforces the gap. The RTX A5500 averages 165,217, while the Vega Frontier Edition averages 73,370. That places the RTX A5500 in the 97th percentile of all GPUs tracked, whereas the AMD card sits in the 91st percentile. The percentile difference may sound small, but the raw score difference is roughly 2.25 times. The RTX A5500's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon PRO W7800 at 164,894 (just 0.2% behind), the NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation at 166,094 (0.5% ahead), and the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40 GB at 162,504 (1.7% behind). The Vega Frontier Edition, by contrast, competes with the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64 at 72,379 (1.4% behind), the NVIDIA TITAN X Pascal at 72,098 (1.8% behind), and the AMD Radeon RX 6650M at 71,768 (2.2% behind). In other words, the RTX A5500 is trading blows with modern workstation flagships, while the Vega Frontier Edition is hovering near mid-range mobile parts from years later.

The wins tally is 2 for the RTX A5500 and 0 for the AMD card. There is no benchmark in the database where the Vega Frontier Edition comes out ahead. The closest it gets is in Vulkan, where it still loses by over 100%. For builders who rely on cross-API performance, the data shows that the NVIDIA card is not just faster in one compute framework; it dominates in both OpenCL and Vulkan. That consistency matters for professional workloads where the API choice is often dictated by the software stack, not user preference.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two cards is substantial and explains the benchmark results. The NVIDIA RTX A5500 uses the GA102 chip on the Ampere architecture, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. It packs 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 45.1 million per mm². The AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition uses the Vega 10 chip on the GCN 5.0 architecture, built on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. That chip has 12,500 million transistors on a 495 mm² die, for a density of 25.3 million per mm². The RTX A5500 has more than double the transistor count and a significantly higher density, which is a direct result of the newer process node.

The compute resources diverge sharply. The RTX A5500 has 10,240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 96 render output units. The Vega Frontier Edition has 4,096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The NVIDIA card also includes 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, while the AMD card has none of either. That means the RTX A5500 can handle hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI inference tasks, while the Vega Frontier Edition relies purely on traditional shader compute. The FP32 throughput reflects this: the RTX A5500 delivers 34.10 TFLOPS, while the Vega Frontier Edition delivers 13.11 TFLOPS. Interestingly, the AMD card has a higher FP16 rate at 26.21 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio) compared to its FP32, whereas the RTX A5500 offers FP16 at a 1:1 ratio of 34.10 TFLOPS. For mixed-precision work, the NVIDIA card is still ahead, but the Vega card's FP16 advantage relative to its own FP32 is notable.

Memory architecture is another clear differentiator. The RTX A5500 uses 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, with 768.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Vega Frontier Edition uses 16 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus, but only achieves 483.8 GB/s due to a lower memory clock. The NVIDIA card has more capacity and more bandwidth, which is critical for large datasets and high-resolution textures. The Vega card's HBM2 has a wider bus, but that does not compensate for the lower effective speed.

The feature set also differs in API support. The RTX A5500 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The Vega Frontier Edition supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The DirectX 12_2 feature level on the NVIDIA card enables hardware ray tracing and mesh shaders, which are absent on the AMD card. Power delivery and interface also differ: the RTX A5500 has a 230 W TDP with a single 8-pin connector and a 550 W suggested PSU, while the Vega Frontier Edition has a 300 W TDP with dual 8-pin connectors and a 700 W suggested PSU. The NVIDIA card is more power-efficient per unit of performance, and it runs on the newer PCIe 4.0 x16 interface versus PCIe 3.0 x16 on the AMD card.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA RTX A5500 is the superior card for almost every professional use case. It wins both head-to-head benchmarks by over 100%, has more than double the average benchmark score, and sits in a higher performance percentile. The RTX A5500 is also more feature-complete, with RT cores, tensor cores, a newer API set, and a more efficient power profile. The Vega Frontier Edition, by contrast, is an older design that has been surpassed not just by NVIDIA's current workstation line but also by AMD's own later products, as shown by its nearest rivals.

Who should pick the RTX A5500? Anyone running OpenCL or Vulkan workloads that are compute-bound. The 129.5% OpenCL lead and 116.6% Vulkan lead mean that tasks like rendering, simulation, or data processing will finish in roughly half the time on the NVIDIA card. The 24 GB memory capacity also makes it a better fit for large model inference or high-resolution video work. Who should pick the Vega Frontier Edition? The data does not support choosing it over the RTX A5500 in any benchmark category. The only scenario where it might be considered is if the workload is specifically tuned for GCN architecture or if the 16 GB HBM2 is somehow sufficient and the lower cost is a factor, but that is not a performance justification. The launch MSRP of the Vega Frontier Edition was 999 USD, which is worth noting, but the benchmark results show that the RTX A5500 delivers over twice the compute performance.

Specification Differences

The following fields differ between the two cards, based on the recorded data:

• Process node: 8 nm (RTX A5500) vs 14 nm (Vega Frontier Edition)
• Foundry: Samsung vs GlobalFoundries
• Transistors: 28,300 million vs 12,500 million
• Die size: 628 mm² vs 495 mm²
• Transistor density: 45.1M / mm² vs 25.3M / mm²
• Base clock: 1080 MHz vs 1382 MHz
• Boost clock: 1665 MHz vs 1600 MHz
• Memory clock: 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) vs 945 MHz (1890 Mbps effective)
• Memory size: 24 GB vs 16 GB
• Memory type: GDDR6 vs HBM2
• Memory bus width: 384 bit vs 2048 bit
• Memory bandwidth: 768.0 GB/s vs 483.8 GB/s
• Shading units: 10240 vs 4096
• Texture mapping units: 320 vs 256
• Render output units: 96 vs 64
• RT cores: 80 vs none
• Tensor cores: 320 vs none
• Pixel rate: 159.8 GPixel/s vs 102.4 GPixel/s
• Texture rate: 532.8 GTexel/s vs 409.6 GTexel/s
• FP32 performance: 34.10 TFLOPS vs 13.11 TFLOPS
• FP16 performance: 34.10 TFLOPS (1:1) vs 26.21 TFLOPS (2:1)
• TDP: 230 W vs 300 W
• Power connectors: 1x 8-pin vs 2x 8-pin
• Suggested PSU: 550 W vs 700 W
• Bus interface: PCIe 4.0 x16 vs PCIe 3.0 x16
• Display outputs: 4x DisplayPort 1.4a vs 1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
• DirectX support: 12 Ultimate (12_2) vs 12 (12_1)
• Vulkan support: 1.4 vs 1.3
• Release date: 2022-03-21 vs 2017-06-26

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A5500 scores 174,637 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 129.5% higher than the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition's score of 76,111.

Q: Does the AMD card win any benchmark?

A: No. The database records two head-to-head benchmarks (OpenCL and Vulkan), and the RTX A5500 wins both. The wins tally is 2 for NVIDIA and 0 for AMD.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference?

A: The RTX A5500 has 24 GB of GDDR6, while the Vega Frontier Edition has 16 GB of HBM2. The NVIDIA card also has higher bandwidth at 768.0 GB/s versus 483.8 GB/s.

Q: Does the Vega Frontier Edition support ray tracing?

A: No. The Vega Frontier Edition has no RT cores. The RTX A5500 has 80 RT cores, which enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing.

Q: How does the power draw compare?

A: The RTX A5500 has a 230 W TDP with a single 8-pin connector and a 550 W suggested PSU. The Vega Frontier Edition has a 300 W TDP with dual 8-pin connectors and a 700 W suggested PSU.

Q: What is the performance percentile for each card?

A: The RTX A5500 is in the 97th percentile of all GPUs, while the Vega Frontier Edition is in the 91st percentile.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX A5500 wins in every recorded benchmark category. For OpenCL-heavy workloads, the 129.5% lead means tasks like scientific computing, financial modeling, or machine learning inference will complete in less than half the time. For Vulkan-based applications, the 116.6% lead similarly translates to substantial time savings in rendering or game development workflows. The RTX A5500 also wins on memory capacity and bandwidth, making it the clear choice for datasets that exceed 16 GB or require sustained high-throughput access. The 24 GB frame buffer is particularly useful for large 3D scenes or multi-application workflows.

The Vega Frontier Edition has no benchmark wins in this database. Its only theoretical advantage is in FP16 compute relative to its own FP32, but even then, the RTX A5500's absolute FP16 output of 34.10 TFLOPS is higher than the Vega card's 26.21 TFLOPS. The Vega card's HBM2 memory has a wider bus (2048 bit vs 384 bit), but the lower clock speed results in less bandwidth, so that does not translate to a practical win. The Vega Frontier Edition is also older, released in 2017 versus 2022, and its nearest rivals are cards like the TITAN X Pascal and RX 6650M, which are far below the RTX A5500's competitive set. For any use case where compute performance matters, the data points exclusively to the NVIDIA RTX A5500.