AMD Radeon VII vs NVIDIA CMP 30HX Comparison

The benchmark data shows a clear winner in raw compute: the AMD Radeon VII outperforms the NVIDIA CMP 30HX in every head-to-head test, despite the two cards posting nearly identical average scores. The Radeon VII leads by 37.2% in OpenCL and 40.1% in Vulkan, while the CMP 30HX counters with lower power draw and a smaller physical footprint. Both cards sit in the 91st percentile of all GPUs, but their design philosophies diverge sharply: the Radeon VII is a 7 nm compute monster with 16 GB of HBM2, while the CMP 30HX is a 12 nm mining-oriented part with no display outputs and a minimal PCIe interface.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two cards share only two benchmark results in the dataset: Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan. The AMD Radeon VII wins both decisively. In OpenCL, the Radeon VII scores 91,947 against the CMP 30HX’s 67,007, a 37.2% advantage. In Vulkan, the margin is even larger: 85,909 versus 61,336, a 40.1% lead. These are not marginal differences; they represent a substantial performance gap in general-purpose compute workloads that use these APIs.

Despite these large head-to-head wins, the overall average benchmark scores are remarkably close. The Radeon VII averages 64,356 across all its tested benchmarks, while the CMP 30HX averages 64,172. That is a difference of just 0.3% in the Radeon VII’s favor, according to the nearestRivals data. The reason for the apparent contradiction is that the Radeon VII also has additional benchmark results—a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2,304 and a Geekbench Metal score of 77,265—which are not available for the CMP 30HX. These extra scores pull the Radeon VII’s average upward, but the head-to-head tests still show a dominant performance advantage in the two shared workloads.

In the nearestRivals list, the CMP 30HX is listed as 0.3% slower than the Radeon VII (deltaPct -0.3), while the Radeon VII is 0.3% faster than the CMP 30HX (deltaPct 0.3). Both cards also sit near other mid-range parts: the Radeon VII is 0.6% ahead of the Radeon Pro WX 9100 and 1.3% ahead of the Radeon RX 7600M, while the CMP 30HX is 1.1% ahead of the RX 7600M and 2.9% ahead of the Radeon RX 7800M. The head-to-head results, however, are unambiguous: the Radeon VII wins both shared tests by wide margins.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on fundamentally different architectures. The Radeon VII uses the Vega 20 chip with GCN 5.1, fabricated on TSMC’s 7 nm process, while the CMP 30HX uses the TU116 chip with the Turing architecture on TSMC’s 12 nm node. This node difference shows in transistor density: the Radeon VII packs 13,230 million transistors into a 331 mm² die, yielding 40.0 million transistors per square millimeter. The CMP 30HX has 6,600 million transistors on a 284 mm² die, for a density of 23.2 million per square millimeter.

Memory is another major divergence. The Radeon VII features 16 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, delivering 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth. The CMP 30HX uses 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, with 336.0 GB/s. That is a threefold difference in bandwidth, which directly impacts compute-heavy workloads. The Radeon VII’s memory clock is listed as 1000 MHz (2 Gbps effective), while the CMP 30HX runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The wider bus and HBM2 technology give the Radeon VII a massive bandwidth advantage.

Compute resources also favor the Radeon VII. It has 3,840 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, versus the CMP 30HX’s 1,408 shading units, 88 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The Radeon VII’s pixel rate is 112.0 GPixel/s and texture rate is 420.0 GTexel/s, while the CMP 30HX achieves 85.68 GPixel/s and 157.1 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput is 13.44 TFLOPS for the Radeon VII and 5.027 TFLOPS for the CMP 30HX; FP16 is 26.88 TFLOPS versus 10.05 TFLOPS, both at a 2:1 ratio.

Clock speeds are closer than the compute resource counts might suggest. The Radeon VII has a base clock of 1400 MHz and a boost of 1750 MHz; the CMP 30HX boosts slightly higher at 1785 MHz but has a lower base of 1530 MHz. Power draw, however, is starkly different: the Radeon VII has a TDP of 295 W and requires a 600 W PSU with two 8-pin connectors, while the CMP 30HX is rated at 125 W and needs only a 300 W PSU with a single 8-pin connector. The Radeon VII is also longer (280 mm vs 229 mm), taller (125 mm vs 111 mm), and thicker (40 mm vs 35 mm).

Interface and output differences are equally significant. The Radeon VII uses PCIe 3.0 x16 and has display outputs: one HDMI 2.0b and three DisplayPort 1.4a. The CMP 30HX uses a PCIe 1.0 x4 interface and has no display outputs at all. Both support DirectX 12 (12_1) and OpenGL 4.6, but the CMP 30HX supports Vulkan 1.4 while the Radeon VII is limited to Vulkan 1.3.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the AMD Radeon VII is the faster GPU in every benchmark where both cards were tested. Its OpenCL and Vulkan scores are 37.2% and 40.1% higher, respectively, and its raw compute specifications—13.44 TFLOPS FP32, 16 GB of HBM2, 1.02 TB/s bandwidth—overwhelm the CMP 30HX’s 5.027 TFLOPS and 6 GB GDDR6. For any workload that relies on OpenCL or Vulkan, the Radeon VII is the clear choice.

The CMP 30HX, however, is not without merit. Its 125 W TDP and 300 W PSU requirement make it far more power-efficient, and its smaller dimensions (229 mm vs 280 mm length) allow for denser installations. The lack of display outputs means it is designed exclusively for compute tasks that do not require a monitor, which could be an advantage in headless systems. But the performance gap in shared benchmarks is too large to ignore. The CMP 30HX’s only technical advantage is a newer Vulkan version (1.4 vs 1.3) and a slightly higher boost clock (1785 MHz vs 1750 MHz), neither of which translates into a benchmark win.

Given the head-to-head results, the Radeon VII is the superior GPU for general-purpose compute. The CMP 30HX may be acceptable for power-constrained or space-constrained deployments, but it delivers far less performance per benchmark point. The data shows no scenario where the CMP 30HX wins a shared test.

Specification Differences

The following fields differ between the two cards:

• Process Node: 7 nm (Radeon VII) vs 12 nm (CMP 30HX)
• Transistors: 13,230 million vs 6,600 million
• Die Size: 331 mm² vs 284 mm²
• Transistor Density: 40.0M / mm² vs 23.2M / mm²
• Base Clock: 1400 MHz vs 1530 MHz
• Boost Clock: 1750 MHz vs 1785 MHz
• Memory Clock: 1000 MHz / 2 Gbps effective vs 1750 MHz / 14 Gbps effective
• Memory Size: 16 GB vs 6 GB
• Memory Type: HBM2 vs GDDR6
• Memory Bus Width: 4096 bit vs 192 bit
• Memory Bandwidth: 1.02 TB/s vs 336.0 GB/s
• Shading Units: 3840 vs 1408
• TMUs: 240 vs 88
• ROPs: 64 vs 48
• Pixel Rate: 112.0 GPixel/s vs 85.68 GPixel/s
• Texture Rate: 420.0 GTexel/s vs 157.1 GTexel/s
• FP32: 13.44 TFLOPS vs 5.027 TFLOPS
• FP16: 26.88 TFLOPS vs 10.05 TFLOPS
• TDP: 295 W vs 125 W
• Power Connectors: 2x 8-pin vs 1x 8-pin
• Suggested PSU: 600 W vs 300 W
• Bus Interface: PCIe 3.0 x16 vs PCIe 1.0 x4
• Display Outputs: 1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a vs No outputs
• Vulkan Version: 1.3 vs 1.4
• Dimensions (L×H×W): 280×125×40 mm vs 229×111×35 mm
• Release Date: 2019-02-06 vs 2021-02-24
• Launch MSRP: 699 USD vs 799 USD

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher FP32 compute performance?

A: The AMD Radeon VII has 13.44 TFLOPS, while the NVIDIA CMP 30HX has 5.027 TFLOPS.

Q: How much memory bandwidth does each card offer?

A: The Radeon VII delivers 1.02 TB/s from its 16 GB HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus; the CMP 30HX offers 336.0 GB/s from 6 GB GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus.

Q: Which card consumes less power?

A: The CMP 30HX has a 125 W TDP and requires a 300 W PSU, whereas the Radeon VII has a 295 W TDP and needs a 600 W PSU.

Q: Can the CMP 30HX be used with a monitor?

A: No. The CMP 30HX has no display outputs, while the Radeon VII includes one HDMI 2.0b and three DisplayPort 1.4a connections.

Q: What are the head-to-head benchmark results?

A: In Geekbench OpenCL, the Radeon VII scores 91,947 against 67,007 (a 37.2% lead). In Geekbench Vulkan, it scores 85,909 against 61,336 (a 40.1% lead).

Q: Which card was released later?

A: The CMP 30HX was released on 2021-02-24, while the Radeon VII was released on 2019-02-06.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon VII wins in every benchmark category where both cards