GPU Comparison

The RTX A3000 Mobile and Radeon VII are two very different answers to the same question: what does a high-performance GPU look like? The data shows the Radeon VII is the raw performance king, winning both shared benchmark tests by wide margins, but the RTX A3000 Mobile is the only one of the two that is realistically usable in a modern context. The Radeon VII is a 2019 desktop behemoth with a 295 W TDP and dual-slot cooler, while the RTX A3000 Mobile is an end-of-life laptop part with a 70 W TDP and no power connectors. If you need maximum compute throughput and have a desktop chassis that can handle the heat and power, the Radeon VII is the clear choice. If you need a GPU that fits in a laptop and sips power, the RTX A3000 Mobile is the only option. The benchmark data is unambiguous: the Radeon VII leads by 14% in Geekbench OpenCL and by a massive 33.3% in Geekbench Vulkan, but those wins come at a cost of 225 W of additional power draw.

The Verdict

The Radeon VII is the performance pick. In the only two directly comparable benchmarks, it beats the RTX A3000 Mobile decisively: 91947 vs 79091 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 91788 vs 61189 in Geekbench Vulkan. Its average benchmark score of 66004 places it in the 90th percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX A3000 Mobile’s average of 70140 puts it at the 91st percentile, but that 70140 figure is inflated by the fact that the A3000 only has two benchmark results, both of which are lower than the Radeon VII’s. The Radeon VII also offers more headroom for compute workloads with 16 GB of HBM2 memory and 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth, versus the A3000’s 6 GB of GDDR6 and 264.0 GB/s.

The RTX A3000 Mobile is the efficiency and compatibility pick. Its 70 W TDP is a fraction of the Radeon VII’s 295 W, and it requires no power connectors, making it suitable for mobile workstations. It also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the Radeon VII is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. The A3000 has dedicated ray tracing cores (32) and tensor cores (128), which the Radeon VII lacks entirely. For anyone building a thin-and-light workstation or needing modern API features, the A3000 is the only choice. For anyone building a desktop compute node with space and power to spare, the Radeon VII wins outright.

Where Each One Wins

The Radeon VII wins in every head-to-head benchmark recorded. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 91947 is 14% higher than the A3000’s 79091, and its Geekbench Vulkan score of 91788 is 33.3% higher than the A3000’s 61189. These are not marginal wins; the Vulkan gap is a full third of the A3000’s score. The Radeon VII also has significantly higher theoretical peak performance: 13.44 TFLOPS FP32 versus 10.08 TFLOPS, and 26.88 TFLOPS FP16 versus 10.08 TFLOPS. Its texture rate of 420.0 GTexel/s is more than double the A3000’s 157.4 GTexel/s, and its pixel rate of 112.0 GPixel/s exceeds the A3000’s 78.72 GPixel/s. This makes the Radeon VII the winner for any workload that scales with raw shader throughput, memory bandwidth, or fill rate.

The RTX A3000 Mobile wins on features and power. It has a 70 W TDP versus the Radeon VII’s 295 W, meaning it can be deployed in laptops and compact systems. It supports the latest DirectX 12 Ultimate feature set, including ray tracing, which the Radeon VII cannot do. It also has a higher transistor density at 44.4M / mm² versus 40.0M / mm², showing a more efficient design. The A3000’s 128 tensor cores provide AI acceleration that the Radeon VII lacks. For any workload that requires portability, modern API support, or AI features, the A3000 is the only one of the two that qualifies.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on fundamentally different architectures from different foundries. The RTX A3000 Mobile uses NVIDIA’s Ampere architecture, built on an 8 nm process at Samsung, with a GA104 chip containing 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die. The Radeon VII uses AMD’s GCN 5.1 architecture, built on a 7 nm process at TSMC, with a Vega 20 chip containing 13,230 million transistors on a 331 mm² die. The A3000 is the newer design, released in April 2021, while the Radeon VII launched in February 2019.

The memory subsystems are completely different. The A3000 uses 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, yielding 264.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Radeon VII uses 16 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, yielding 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth, nearly four times the A3000’s bandwidth. The Radeon VII also has more texture mapping units (240 vs 128) but the same number of raster output pipelines (64). The A3000 has more shading units (4096 vs 3840) but fewer TMUs, which explains why its texture rate is lower.

The A3000’s clock speeds are much lower: 600 MHz base and 1230 MHz boost, versus the Radeon VII’s 1400 MHz base and 1750 MHz boost. However, the A3000 compensates with dedicated hardware: 32 ray tracing cores and 128 tensor cores, neither of which exist on the Radeon VII. The A3000 also supports a newer API set, including DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the Radeon VII is capped at DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. The A3000 uses a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface, while the Radeon VII uses PCIe 3.0 x16.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in raw compute?

A: The Radeon VII wins both available head-to-head benchmarks. It scores 91947 in Geekbench OpenCL versus the A3000’s 79091, and 91788 in Geekbench Vulkan versus 61189. Its FP32 throughput of 13.44 TFLOPS also exceeds the A3000’s 10.08 TFLOPS.

Q: Can the RTX A3000 Mobile be used in a desktop?

A: The data does not specify a desktop form factor. It is labeled as a mobile GPU with a 70 W TDP and no power connectors, and its display outputs are listed as "Portable Device Dependent," indicating it is designed for laptops.

Q: Does the Radeon VII support ray tracing?

A: No. The Radeon VII has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores. Its DirectX support is limited to 12 (12_1), which does not include the ray tracing features of DirectX 12 Ultimate. The RTX A3000 Mobile, by contrast, has 32 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2).

Q: Which GPU has more memory?

A: The Radeon VII has 16 GB of HBM2 memory with a 4096-bit bus and 1.02 TB/s bandwidth. The RTX A3000 Mobile has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 192-bit bus and 264.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: How do their power requirements compare?

A: The RTX A3000 Mobile has a 70 W TDP and requires no external power connectors. The Radeon VII has a 295 W TDP, requires two 8-pin power connectors, and AMD recommends a 600 W power supply.

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The RTX A3000 Mobile has a higher average benchmark score of 70140, versus the Radeon VII’s 66004. However, this is based on only two benchmarks for the A3000, both of which it loses, while the Radeon VII’s average includes four results.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only two directly comparable benchmark results both favor the Radeon VII, and the margin is substantial. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Radeon VII scores 91947 against the A3000’s 79091, a 14% advantage. This is consistent with the Radeon VII’s higher theoretical FP32 throughput of 13.44 TFLOPS versus 10.08 TFLOPS. The Radeon VII’s memory bandwidth advantage, 1.02 TB/s versus 264.0 GB/s, likely contributes to this lead in compute-heavy workloads.

The Geekbench Vulkan result is even more lopsided. The Radeon VII scores 91788, while the A3000 manages only 61189, a 33.3% gap. This is a massive difference that cannot be explained by clock speeds alone, since the Radeon VII boosts to 1750 MHz versus the A3000’s 1230 MHz. The A3000’s lower memory bandwidth and smaller 6 GB frame buffer may also be bottlenecks in Vulkan workloads that leverage large data sets. Notably, the Radeon VII’s Vulkan score of 91788 is nearly identical to its OpenCL score of 91947, suggesting the architecture performs consistently across APIs. The A3000, by contrast, drops from 79091 in OpenCL to 61189 in Vulkan, a 23% performance loss when switching APIs, indicating its driver or hardware is less optimized for Vulkan.

The Radeon VII also wins on raw specifications that drive benchmark scores. Its pixel rate of 112.0 GPixel/s is 42% higher than the A3000’s 78.72 GPixel/s. Its texture rate of 420.0 GTexel/s is 167% higher than the A3000’s 157.4 GTexel/s. These fill rate advantages, combined with higher clocks and more memory bandwidth, explain why the Radeon VII dominates the compute benchmarks despite having fewer shading units (3840 vs 4096). The A3000’s only counterargument is its 128 tensor cores and 32 ray tracing cores, but those do not appear in the standard Geekbench OpenCL or Vulkan tests, so they do not contribute to its scores in these comparisons.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every measurable specification. The process node differs: the A3000 uses 8 nm at Samsung, the Radeon VII uses 7 nm at TSMC. Transistor counts differ: 17,400 million for the A3000 versus 13,230 million for the Radeon VII, with the A3000 achieving a higher density of 44.4M / mm² versus 40.0M / mm². Clock speeds differ dramatically: the A3000 runs at 600 MHz base and 1230 MHz boost, while the Radeon VII runs at 1400 MHz base and 1750 MHz boost. Memory differs completely: the A3000 has 6 GB GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus at 264.0 GB/s, the Radeon VII has 16 GB HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus at 1.02 TB/s.

The compute units differ: the A3000 has 4096 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs; the Radeon VII has 3840 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The A3000 has 32 ray tracing cores and 128 tensor cores; the Radeon VII has none. Peak performance differs: the A3000 delivers 10.08 TFLOPS FP32 and 10.08 TFLOPS FP16 (1:1 ratio), while the Radeon VII delivers 13.44 TFLOPS FP32 and 26.88 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1 ratio). Power draw differs by a factor of four: 70 W for the A3000 versus 295 W for the Radeon VII. The A3000 has no power connectors; the Radeon VII requires two 8-pin connectors and a 600 W power supply. Bus interfaces differ: PCIe 4.0 x16 for the A3000, PCIe 3.0 x16 for the Radeon VII. The A3000’s display outputs are portable-device dependent, while the Radeon VII has 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The Radeon VII is also a physical dual-slot card measuring 280 mm by 125 mm by 40 mm, while the A3000’s dimensions are not listed. API support differs: the A3000 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, the Radeon VII supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. The A3000 was released in April 2021; the Radeon VII in February 2019, with a launch MSRP of 699 USD.