AMD Radeon VII vs NVIDIA RTX A2000 Comparison

# Where Each One Wins

The benchmark records show a clear split, but it is not a balanced one. The AMD Radeon VII takes every recorded test in this comparison. Across the three head-to-head benchmarks, the Radeon VII wins all three, with zero wins for the RTX A2000. The largest margin comes in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, where the Radeon VII scores 2304 against 1345 for the RTX A2000, a 71.3% advantage. That is a decisive gap in a modern DX12 workload, suggesting the Radeon VII is in a different performance tier for graphics-heavy tasks.

In compute-oriented Geekbench tests, the lead narrows but remains substantial. In OpenCL, the Radeon VII posts 91947 versus 67695, a 35.8% lead. In Vulkan, it scores 91788 against 69089, a 32.9% advantage. These are still large margins, but the pattern is telling: the RTX A2000 closes some of the gap when moving from rasterization to general compute, though it never overtakes.

The average benchmark score reinforces this hierarchy. The Radeon VII averages 66004 across all recorded tests, while the RTX A2000 averages 46043. The Radeon VII sits at the 90th percentile among all GPUs in the database, while the RTX A2000 sits at the 85th. For a builder choosing between these two, the data says the Radeon VII is the faster card in every measured scenario.

# Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different design philosophies and different foundries. The AMD Radeon VII uses the Vega 20 chip built on GCN 5.1 architecture, fabricated on TSMC's 7 nm process. It packs 13,230 million transistors into a 331 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 40.0M per mm². The NVIDIA RTX A2000 uses the GA106 chip on Ampere architecture, fabricated on Samsung's 8 nm process. It contains 12,000 million transistors on a 276 mm² die, with a slightly higher density of 43.5M per mm².

Memory is where the two diverge sharply. The Radeon VII carries 16 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, delivering 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth. The RTX A2000 has 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, providing 288.0 GB/s. That is a 3.5x difference in raw memory bandwidth, which explains much of the Radeon VII's advantage in bandwidth-sensitive workloads. The Radeon VII also runs its memory at 1000 MHz (2 Gbps effective), while the RTX A2000 runs at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective), but the vastly wider bus on the Radeon VII wins out.

Compute resources differ as well. The Radeon VII has 3840 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The RTX A2000 has 3328 shading units, 104 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The Radeon VII also carries dedicated hardware that the RTX A2000 lacks: the NVIDIA card has 26 RT cores and 104 tensor cores, which the AMD card does not have at all. This matters for ray tracing and AI acceleration, though the benchmark data here does not test those features directly.

Clock speeds tell a story of power versus efficiency. The Radeon VII runs at a 1400 MHz base and 1750 MHz boost, producing 13.44 TFLOPS FP32 and 26.88 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1). The RTX A2000 runs at a much lower 562 MHz base and 1200 MHz boost, producing 7.987 TFLOPS FP32 and 7.987 TFLOPS FP16 (1:1). The Radeon VII has a 68% advantage in FP32 throughput and a 237% advantage in FP16, though the RTX A2000's FP16 rate is not a fair comparison since it is 1:1 rather than 2:1.

Power consumption and physical size differ enormously. The Radeon VII has a 295 W TDP, requires 2x 8-pin power connectors, and a 600 W suggested PSU. It is 280 mm long, 125 mm tall, and 40 mm wide. The RTX A2000 has a 70 W TDP, requires no power connectors, and a 250 W suggested PSU. It is 167 mm long and 69 mm tall, with no recorded width. The RTX A2000 is a low-profile workstation card, while the Radeon VII is a full-size enthusiast card.

Interface and outputs also differ. The Radeon VII uses PCIe 3.0 x16 and offers 1x HDMI 2.0b plus 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The RTX A2000 uses PCIe 4.0 x16 and offers 4x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a. API support favors the RTX A2000 on paper: it supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the Radeon VII supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. Both support OpenGL 4.6.

# FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in the recorded benchmarks?

A: The AMD Radeon VII wins all three head-to-head tests. It leads by 71.3% in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 35.8% in Geekbench OpenCL, and 32.9% in Geekbench Vulkan. Its average benchmark score is 66004 versus 46043 for the RTX A2000.

Q: Does the RTX A2000 have any advantage in features?

A: Yes. The RTX A2000 has 26 RT cores and 104 tensor cores, which the Radeon VII does not have. It also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the Radeon VII supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. The RTX A2000 uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the Radeon VII uses PCIe 3.0 x16.

Q: How do power requirements compare?

A: The Radeon VII has a 295 W TDP and needs 2x 8-pin power connectors with a 600 W suggested PSU. The RTX A2000 has a 70 W TDP, needs no power connectors, and has a 250 W suggested PSU. The physical size also differs: the Radeon VII is 280 mm long, while the RTX A2000 is 167 mm long.

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The Radeon VII has 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth from 16 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus. The RTX A2000 has 288.0 GB/s from 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus. The Radeon VII has roughly 3.5x the memory bandwidth.

Q: What are the release dates and production statuses?

A: The Radeon VII was released on February 6, 2019. The RTX A2000 was released on August 9, 2021. Both are marked as end-of-life in the database.

# Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon VII | NVIDIA RTX A2000 |

|---|---|---|

| Chip | Vega 20 | GA106 |

| Architecture | GCN 5.1 | Ampere |

| Process Node | 7 nm (TSMC) | 8 nm (Samsung) |

| Transistors | 13,230 million | 12,000 million |

| Die Size | 331 mm² | 276 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 40.0M / mm² | 43.5M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1400 MHz | 562 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1750 MHz | 1200 MHz |

| Memory Size | 16 GB HBM2 | 6 GB GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus | 4096 bit | 192 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 1.02 TB/s | 288.0 GB/s |

| Memory Clock | 1000 MHz (2 Gbps effective) | 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) |

| Shading Units | 3840 | 3328 |

| TMUs | 240 | 104 |

| ROPs | 64 | 48 |

| RT Cores | None | 26 |

| Tensor Cores | None | 104 |

| Pixel Rate | 112.0 GPixel/s | 57.60 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 420.0 GTexel/s | 124.8 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 13.44 TFLOPS | 7.987 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 26.88 TFLOPS (2:1) | 7.987 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 295 W | 70 W |

| Power Connectors | 2x 8-pin | None |

| Suggested PSU | 600 W | 250 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | 1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a | 4x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a |

| DirectX | 12 (12_1) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| Vulkan | 1.3 | 1.4 |

| Length | 280 mm (11 inches) | 167 mm (6.6 inches) |

| Height | 125 mm (4.9 inches) | 69 mm (2.7 inches) |

| Width | 40 mm (1.6 inches) | Not recorded |

# Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The single biggest win for the Radeon VII is in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. The AMD card scores 2304, the RTX A2000 scores 1345, and the delta is 71.3% in favor of AMD. This is a modern DX12 benchmark, and the gap is enormous. The Radeon VII's combination of 13.44 TFLOPS FP32 and 1.02 TB/s memory bandwidth appears to overwhelm the RTX A2000's 7.987 TFLOPS and 288.0 GB/s.

Geekbench OpenCL shows a closer but still one-sided contest. The Radeon VII scores 91947, while the RTX A2000 scores 67695. The 35.8% delta is substantial, but the RTX A2000 manages to keep the margin below the Steel Nomad gap. This suggests that in raw compute workloads, the RTX A2000's Ampere architecture is relatively more efficient per unit of shader throughput, though it still loses badly.

Geekbench Vulkan tells a similar story. The Radeon VII scores 91788, the RTX A2000 scores 69089, a 32.9% delta. The RTX A2000's Vulkan result is actually its best relative showing, coming closest to the Radeon VII among all three tests. The 1:1 FP16 support on the RTX A2000 may help here, but it is not enough to close the gap.

Looking at the rival context, the Radeon VII sits among cards like the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (66733 avg, -1.1% from the Radeon VII), the NVIDIA Tesla P40 (65095 avg, +1.4% from the Radeon VII), and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 (64212 avg, +2.8%). The RTX A2000, by contrast, sits near the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation (45972 avg, +0.2% from the RTX A2000), the Intel Arc A730M (45592 avg, +1%), and the AMD Radeon RX 5600M (46601 avg, -1.2%). These rival positions confirm that the Radeon VII competes in a higher performance bracket overall.

# The Verdict

The data points to a straightforward conclusion: if raw performance is the only criterion, the AMD Radeon VII is the clear winner. It wins every recorded benchmark, holds a 71.3% lead in the most demanding graphics test, and has 43% higher average benchmark score (66004 versus 46043). Its 90th percentile ranking versus the RTX A2000's 85th places it firmly above in overall capability.

However, the RTX A2000 has structural advantages that the benchmark scores do not capture. It has RT cores and tensor cores, making it the only one of the two that can accelerate ray tracing and AI workloads through dedicated hardware. It supports newer API versions, including DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4. It runs on PCIe 4.0. It draws only 70 W with no power connectors, versus 295 W with 2x 8-pin connectors on the Radeon VII. It is also dramatically smaller, at 167 mm length versus 280 mm.

The Radeon VII is the card for someone who needs maximum throughput in traditional rasterization and compute, has the power supply and case space to accommodate it, and does not require ray tracing or tensor acceleration. The RTX A2000 is the card for someone who needs a compact, low-power workstation GPU with modern API support and dedicated RT/tensor hardware, and who can accept significantly lower raw performance. The Radeon VII is also end-of-life, as is the RTX A2000, so neither offers a future upgrade path. Given the performance gap, the Radeon VII is the sensible pick for pure speed, but the RTX A2000's feature set and power profile make it the practical choice for constrained builds or workloads that leverage its specialized cores.