AMD Radeon VII vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Comparison

AMD Radeon VII and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 represent two distinct eras of GPU design, separated by nearly four years of architectural evolution. The data shows a decisive performance gap, with the RTX 4090 dominating every shared benchmark, though the Radeon VII’s legacy as a 7nm pioneer and its unique HBM2 memory subsystem still warrant examination. The following analysis relies exclusively on the benchmark scores, architectural specifications, and rival comparisons provided.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head results are unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 wins all three shared tests, and in each case, the margin is enormous. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, the RTX 4090 scores 9,223 points against the Radeon VII’s 2,304 points. That is a delta of -75% for the AMD card, meaning the RTX 4090 delivers four times the performance in this modern DirectX 12 workload. The gap is not merely a lead; it is a generational chasm.

Compute benchmarks tell a similar story, though the Radeon VII’s high FP16 throughput keeps it from being completely embarrassed. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4090 posts 255,416 points, while the Radeon VII manages 91,947 points — a -64% delta. The Vulkan test shows the RTX 4090 scoring 271,631 versus 91,788 for the Radeon VII, a -66.2% delta. In raw numbers, the RTX 4090 is roughly 2.8x faster in OpenCL and nearly 3x faster in Vulkan. The Radeon VII’s 26.88 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1) peak is dwarfed by the RTX 4090’s 82.58 TFLOPS FP16 (1:1), which explains why the gap, while large, is slightly smaller than the 4x difference seen in the DX12 rasterization test.

The average benchmark scores further contextualize this mismatch. The Radeon VII has an average score of 66,004 across all its recorded benchmarks, while the RTX 4090 averages 60,347. This is a crucial nuance: the RTX 4090’s average is dragged down by a series of PassMark tests (DirectX 9, 10, 11, 12, G2D) where it scores between 150 and 1,299 points. These legacy API tests likely do not scale with the card’s modern architecture, whereas the Radeon VII’s GCN 5.1 design may handle them more evenly. Nevertheless, in every modern, compute-heavy or DX12 benchmark, the RTX 4090 is the clear victor.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 4090 wins decisively in every head-to-head benchmark category, but the Radeon VII shows relative strength in specific legacy or compute-oriented contexts. The Radeon VII’s Geekbench scores — 91,947 OpenCL and 91,788 Vulkan — are close to its average of 66,004, suggesting consistent performance across these API workloads. In comparison to its nearest rivals, the Radeon VII sits at the 90th percentile of all GPUs, outperforming the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (avg score 66,733) by 1.1% and the NVIDIA Tesla P40 (65,095) by 1.4%. It also leads the AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 (64,212) by 2.8% and the NVIDIA CMP 30HX (63,842) by 3.4%. These are narrow margins, indicating that the Radeon VII is competitive within its own generation’s professional and compute segment.

The RTX 4090, despite its lower average score of 60,347, is in the 88th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc Pro A60 (60,326, delta 0%), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (60,140, delta 0.3%), and the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (61,896, delta -2.5%). The RTX 4090 also trails the AMD Radeon PRO V710 (58,657) by 2.9%. These rival deltas are all within 3%, which is remarkable given the RTX 4090’s massive lead in the head-to-head tests. This suggests that the average benchmark score, heavily weighted by PassMark legacy tests, does not reflect the RTX 4090’s true modern performance ceiling. For users running DX12, Vulkan, or OpenCL workloads, the RTX 4090 is the obvious pick. For those relying on older DirectX 9/10/11 APIs, the Radeon VII’s more balanced profile might avoid the extreme low scores the RTX 4090 posts in those tests.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two cards is stark, rooted in a seven-year process node gap. The Radeon VII uses a 7nm TSMC process with the Vega 20 chip, while the RTX 4090 uses a 5nm TSMC process with the AD102 chip. The transistor counts tell the story: the Radeon VII packs 13,230 million transistors on a 331 mm² die, yielding a density of 40.0 million transistors per mm². The RTX 4090 contains 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die, achieving 125.3 million transistors per mm². That is over three times the transistor density, enabled by the smaller process node.

Core configurations are similarly lopsided. The Radeon VII has 3,840 shading units, 240 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 64 raster operating units (ROPs). The RTX 4090 boasts 16,384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. More importantly, the RTX 4090 introduces dedicated hardware that the Radeon VII lacks entirely: 128 RT cores for ray tracing and 512 tensor cores for AI acceleration. The Radeon VII has no RT or tensor core equivalents, relying purely on its GCN 5.1 shader array. This explains the RTX 4090’s dominance in modern workloads that use ray tracing or DLSS-style tensor operations.

Memory subsystems also diverge fundamentally. The Radeon VII uses 16 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, delivering 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 4090 uses 24 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus, achieving 1.01 TB/s. Despite the different memory types and bus widths, the bandwidth is nearly identical — proof of the Radeon VII’s wide HBM2 interface. However, the RTX 4090’s memory runs at 21 Gbps effective, versus 2 Gbps effective for the Radeon VII, and the GDDR6X implementation is far more power-efficient per bit. Clock speeds also favor NVIDIA: the RTX 4090 has a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost of 2520 MHz, compared to the Radeon VII’s 1400 MHz base and 1750 MHz boost.

Pixel and texture rates reflect the raw throughput advantage. The RTX 4090 achieves 443.5 GPixel/s and 1,290.2 GTexel/s, while the Radeon VII hits 112.0 GPixel/s and 420.0 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 82.58 TFLOPS for the RTX 4090 versus 13.44 TFLOPS for the Radeon VII. The RTX 4090 also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, whereas the Radeon VII is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. Power requirements scale with performance: the RTX 4090 has a 450 W TDP with a single 16-pin connector and an 850 W suggested PSU, while the Radeon VII has a 295 W TDP, dual 8-pin connectors, and a 600 W suggested PSU. Physically, the RTX 4090 is a triple-slot card measuring 304 mm x 137 mm x 61 mm, versus the Radeon VII’s dual-slot 280 mm x 125 mm x 40 mm profile.

FAQ

Q: Which card has higher memory bandwidth?

A: The Radeon VII and RTX 4090 are nearly tied. The Radeon VII delivers 1.02 TB/s over a 4096-bit HBM2 bus, while the RTX 4090 delivers 1.01 TB/s over a 384-bit GDDR6X bus.

Q: Does the Radeon VII support ray tracing?

A: No. The Radeon VII has no RT cores listed in its specifications. The RTX 4090 includes 128 dedicated RT cores.

Q: What is the transistor density difference?

A: The RTX 4090 has a transistor density of 125.3M per mm² on a 5nm process, while the Radeon VII has 40.0M per mm² on a 7nm process. That is over a three-fold increase in density for the NVIDIA card.

Q: Which card is better for older DirectX 9/10/11 applications?

A: Based on the PassMark scores, the Radeon VII does not have recorded scores for those tests, while the RTX 4090 scores 397 in DirectX 9, 224 in DirectX 10, and 326 in DirectX 11. Without Radeon VII data, a direct comparison is impossible, but the RTX 4090’s low scores in these legacy APIs suggest it is not optimized for them.

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

A: The Radeon VII averages 66,004, placing it in the 90th percentile. The RTX 4090 averages 60,347, placing it in the 88th percentile. However, this average is skewed by the RTX 4090’s very low PassMark legacy scores.

Q: How do the cards compare to their nearest rivals?

A: The Radeon VII is 1.1% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla T4 and 1.4% ahead of the Tesla P40. The RTX 4090 is effectively tied with the Intel Arc Pro A60 (0% delta) and is 2.5% behind the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M.

The Verdict

The benchmark data is unequivocal: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the superior modern GPU, winning all three head-to-head tests by margins of -64% to -75%. Its 82.58 TFLOPS FP32, 128 RT cores, and 512 tensor cores make it the clear choice for any current DX12, Vulkan, ray-traced, or AI-accelerated workload. The 24 GB GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth provide ample capacity for high-resolution textures and large datasets. The RTX 4090’s 5nm process and 125.3M transistors per mm² represent a generational leap that the Radeon VII cannot match.

The AMD Radeon VII, however, holds a niche claim. Its 1.02 TB/s bandwidth on a 4096-bit HBM2 bus is remarkable for its era, and its average benchmark score of 66,004 places it at the 90th percentile, above its immediate rivals. It is a capable compute card for OpenCL and Vulkan workloads, as shown by its 91,947 and 91,788 Geekbench scores, which are far closer to the RTX 4090’s numbers than the DX12 test suggests. For users running legacy applications or needing a dual-slot 280 mm card with a 295 W TDP, the Radeon VII offers a compact, end-of-life option.

But the verdict is straightforward: pick the RTX 4090 for any modern gaming, rendering, or compute task. Its performance advantages are not incremental — they are transformational. The Radeon VII is a historical artifact, a 7nm pioneer whose HBM2 design was ahead of its time, but whose GCN 5.1 architecture lacks the dedicated hardware and raw throughput required to compete with Ada Lovelace. The data shows one winner, and it is not close.