AMD Radeon VII vs NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The recorded data splits this comparison cleanly along workload lines. The NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile takes the compute-oriented OpenCL test, while the AMD Radeon VII counters in the Vulkan graphics workload. This is not a case of one card dominating the other; it is a matter of each part claiming a distinct territory.

For productivity, simulation, and general GPU compute tasks that rely on OpenCL, the RTX A4500 Mobile holds the advantage. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 105307 versus 91947 for the Radeon VII represents a 14.5% lead. The mobile NVIDIA part also posts a higher average benchmark score across all recorded tests, 91134 against 66004 for the Radeon VII, and it sits in the 93rd percentile of all GPUs in the database, compared to the 90th percentile for the AMD card.

The AMD Radeon VII, however, is the stronger choice for Vulkan-based workloads, including many modern games and cross-platform graphics APIs. Its Geekbench Vulkan score of 91788 beats the RTX A4500 Mobile's 76960 by 16.2%. This is a substantial margin and suggests that in scenarios optimized for Vulkan, the older GCN architecture still has meaningful performance to offer.

The RTX A4500 Mobile also appears better positioned in terms of overall consistency. Its nearest rivals in the database are the desktop RTX A4500 (0.6% slower), the AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 (1.4% slower), the NVIDIA Quadro GP100 (4.2% faster), and the AMD Radeon PRO W7600 (4.6% faster). The Radeon VII's closest competitors are the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (1.1% slower), the Tesla P40 (1.4% faster), the AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 (2.8% faster), and the NVIDIA CMP 30HX (3.4% faster). The RTX A4500 Mobile's rivals are generally closer in score, reinforcing its higher baseline performance.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher raw compute throughput in FP32 operations?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile. It delivers 17.66 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, while the AMD Radeon VII provides 13.44 TFLOPS.

Q: How do the two cards compare in memory bandwidth?

A: The AMD Radeon VII has a significant advantage. Its HBM2 memory operates over a 4096-bit bus and provides 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth, while the RTX A4500 Mobile's GDDR6 memory uses a 256-bit bus for 512.0 GB/s.

Q: Which GPU supports hardware ray tracing and tensor operations?

A: Only the NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile. It includes 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores. The AMD Radeon VII has no RT or tensor cores listed in the database.

Q: What is the difference in power consumption between the two?

A: The RTX A4500 Mobile is rated at 140 W TDP, while the Radeon VII has a 295 W TDP. The AMD card also requires two 8-pin power connectors and a 600 W suggested PSU, whereas the NVIDIA mobile part lists no power connectors.

Q: Which GPU has the smaller manufacturing process node?

A: The AMD Radeon VII uses a 7 nm process from TSMC. The NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile uses an 8 nm process from Samsung.

Q: Are both GPUs still in production?

A: No. Both are marked as end-of-life in the database. The RTX A4500 Mobile was released on 2022-03-21, and the Radeon VII was released on 2019-02-06.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two recorded head-to-head tests show a perfect split, one win for each side, with margins that are meaningful in both directions.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile scores 105307 against 91947 for the AMD Radeon VII. The delta is 14.5% in favor of the NVIDIA part. This aligns with the FP32 compute advantage the RTX card holds, 17.66 TFLOPS versus 13.44 TFLOPS, and with its higher pixel rate of 144.0 GPixel/s compared to 112.0 GPixel/s. The RTX A4500 Mobile also has more shading units, 5888 versus 3840, though the Radeon VII counters with more texture mapping units, 240 versus 184, and a higher texture rate of 420.0 GTexel/s against 276.0 GTexel/s.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the AMD Radeon VII reverses the result. It scores 91788, which is 16.2% higher than the RTX A4500 Mobile's 76960. This is a notable outcome because the RTX card supports a newer DirectX version (12 Ultimate with feature level 12_2) and a newer Vulkan version (1.4 versus 1.3), yet the older GCN-based AMD part still wins decisively in this specific workload. The Radeon VII's massive memory bandwidth, 1.02 TB/s versus 512.0 GB/s, likely plays a role here, as Vulkan workloads can be bandwidth-sensitive.

Looking at the broader average benchmark scores, the RTX A4500 Mobile's 91134 average is far above the Radeon VII's 66004. The gap here is larger than either individual head-to-head delta, which suggests that the RTX card performs more consistently across a wider range of tests, while the Radeon VII's average is dragged down by tests outside these two head-to-head comparisons. The percentile positions confirm this: 93rd for the RTX A4500 Mobile versus 90th for the Radeon VII.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs diverge sharply on almost every major specification. The most striking difference is memory. Both have 16 GB, but the AMD Radeon VII uses HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, giving it 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile uses GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, providing 512.0 GB/s, exactly half the bandwidth.

Clock speeds also favor the AMD part. The Radeon VII runs at a 1400 MHz base and 1750 MHz boost, while the RTX A4500 Mobile is at 930 MHz base and 1500 MHz boost. The memory clocks are even more divergent: the Radeon VII lists 1000 MHz with 2 Gbps effective, while the RTX card lists 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective. The RTX memory is faster per pin, but the Radeon's wider bus more than compensates.

Shader configurations differ fundamentally. The RTX A4500 Mobile has 5888 shading units, 184 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The Radeon VII has 3840 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The NVIDIA part also adds 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores, which the AMD card lacks entirely.

Power and physical specifications are also starkly different. The RTX A4500 Mobile is a 140 W part with no power connectors listed, designed for portable devices. The Radeon VII is a 295 W dual-slot card measuring 280 mm in length, 125 mm in height, and 40 mm in width, requiring two 8-pin connectors and a 600 W suggested PSU.

Bus interface and display outputs differ as well. The RTX card uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the Radeon VII uses PCIe 3.0 x16. The Radeon VII has fixed outputs: 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The RTX A4500 Mobile's outputs are listed as portable device dependent, reflecting its mobile nature.

Architecture Differences

The architecture gap between these two is generational and fundamental. The NVIDIA RTX A4500 Mobile is built on the Ampere architecture with the GA104 chip, manufactured on an 8 nm process at Samsung. The AMD Radeon VII uses the GCN 5.1 architecture with the Vega 20 chip, built on a 7 nm process at TSMC. The process nodes are close, 8 nm versus 7 nm, but the underlying designs are from different eras.

Transistor counts and die sizes tell an interesting story. The RTX A4500 Mobile packs 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die, for a density of 44.4 million transistors per mm². The Radeon VII has 13,230 million transistors on a 331 mm² die, at 40.0 million per mm². The NVIDIA chip is larger and denser, reflecting its newer architecture and the inclusion of dedicated RT and tensor hardware.

The Radeon VII's GCN 5.1 architecture is a compute-oriented design with a focus on raw FP32 throughput and massive memory bandwidth. Its FP16 performance is rated at 26.88 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio compared to FP32, meaning it can do twice the FP16 work. The RTX A4500 Mobile's FP16 is 17.66 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio, meaning it does FP16 at the same rate as FP32. In pure FP16 throughput, the Radeon VII is actually higher, but the RTX card's tensor cores provide dedicated hardware for AI workloads that the AMD part cannot match.

API support differs as well. The RTX A4500 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate with feature level 12_2, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The Radeon VII supports DirectX 12 with feature level 12_1, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The RTX card is one feature level ahead in DirectX and one minor version ahead in Vulkan, which is consistent with its newer release date.

The generation labels in the database place the RTX A4500 Mobile in the Ampere-MW (Ax000) generation with a predecessor of Quadro Turing-M and a successor of Ada-MW. The Radeon VII is in the Vega II generation, with a predecessor of Vega and a successor of Navi. These are different product lineages entirely, and the architecture differences reflect that: one is a mobile workstation GPU with dedicated ray tracing and AI acceleration, the other is a desktop flagship from AMD's Vega era with a focus on bandwidth and compute density.