AMD Radeon Pro VII vs NVIDIA RTX A5500 Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The recorded benchmark data splits cleanly along API and workload lines. The NVIDIA RTX A5500 wins both head-to-head tests in the database, and it wins them by substantial margins. In Geekbench OpenCL, the A5500 scores 174637 against the Radeon Pro VII's 90148, a 93.7% advantage. In Geekbench Vulkan, the A5500 scores 155797 against 92862, a 67.8% lead. There is no recorded test where the AMD card wins.

The A5500's wins are not narrow. They are dominant across both compute APIs that the database tracks for these two cards. The OpenCL result is particularly lopsided, nearly double the AMD score. The Vulkan result, while closer in percentage terms, still leaves the AMD card trailing by more than two-thirds of its own score.

The Radeon Pro VII does have one benchmark recorded that the A5500 lacks entirely: Geekbench Metal, where it scores 108383. However, this is not a head-to-head comparison because the NVIDIA card has no Metal result in the database. The AMD card's Metal score sits between its OpenCL and Vulkan results, suggesting consistent compute performance across APIs, but it does not close the gap to the NVIDIA card's numbers.

Percentile rankings reinforce the separation. The A5500 sits at the 97th percentile among all GPUs in the database, while the Radeon Pro VII sits at the 93rd. The average benchmark score tells the same story: 165217 for the A5500 versus 97131 for the AMD card.

For use-case selection, the data points to the NVIDIA card for any workload that stresses OpenCL or Vulkan compute. The AMD card's only unique strength in the recorded data is Metal, which matters only in Apple-centric environments where NVIDIA hardware is not an option.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different design philosophies. The NVIDIA RTX A5500 uses the GA102 chip built on Samsung's 8 nm process, with 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die. The AMD Radeon Pro VII uses the Vega 20 chip built on TSMC's 7 nm process, with 13,230 million transistors on a 331 mm² die.

The transistor density is close: 45.1M per mm² for NVIDIA versus 40.0M per mm² for AMD. But the physical scale is very different. The NVIDIA die is nearly twice the size and carries more than twice the transistors.

The A5500 is an Ampere architecture part, generation "Workstation Ampere (Ax000)". The Radeon Pro VII is GCN 5.1, generation "Radeon Pro Vega (Vega II Series)". These are different generations with different feature sets.

The NVIDIA card has 10240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs. It also carries 80 ray tracing cores and 320 tensor cores. The AMD card has 3840 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores listed.

Memory architecture differs completely. The A5500 uses 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, delivering 768.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Radeon Pro VII uses 16 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, delivering 1.02 TB/s. The AMD card has more raw bandwidth, but the NVIDIA card has more capacity and a wider gap in compute throughput.

FP32 compute is heavily in NVIDIA's favor: 34.10 TFLOPS versus 13.06 TFLOPS. FP16 tells a different story: the A5500 delivers 34.10 TFLOPS at 1:1 ratio, while the AMD card delivers 26.11 TFLOPS at 2:1 ratio. The AMD card's FP16 advantage comes from a packed math path, but its FP32 rate is less than half the NVIDIA card's.

The API support differs. The A5500 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4. The Radeon Pro VII supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. Both support OpenGL 4.6.

Power and connectivity differ as well. The A5500 has a 230 W TDP with a single 8-pin connector and a suggested 550 W PSU. The Radeon Pro VII has a 250 W TDP, requires a 6-pin plus 8-pin connector, and suggests a 600 W PSU. Both are dual-slot cards. The A5500 is 267 mm long, the AMD card is 305 mm long. Display outputs: the A5500 has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a, the Radeon Pro VII has 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A5500 records an average benchmark score of 165217, versus 97131 for the AMD Radeon Pro VII. The A5500 also ranks at the 97th percentile among all GPUs, while the Radeon Pro VII ranks at the 93rd.

Q: Is the AMD card competitive in any compute API?

A: The Radeon Pro VII has a Geekbench Metal score of 108383, which is its strongest recorded result. However, the NVIDIA card has no Metal result in the database, so no direct comparison exists. In OpenCL and Vulkan, the AMD card trails by 93.7% and 67.8% respectively.

Q: What memory configurations do these cards use?

A: The A5500 uses 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus with 768.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Radeon Pro VII uses 16 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus with 1.02 TB/s bandwidth. The AMD card has higher bandwidth, but the NVIDIA card has more capacity.

Q: Do these cards support ray tracing?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A5500 includes 80 ray tracing cores and 320 tensor cores. The AMD Radeon Pro VII lists no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores in the database.

Q: How do their power requirements compare?

A: The A5500 has a 230 W TDP with a single 8-pin power connector and a suggested 550 W PSU. The Radeon Pro VII has a 250 W TDP with a 6-pin plus 8-pin configuration and a suggested 600 W PSU. Both are dual-slot cards.

Q: What is the release timeline for these cards?

A: The Radeon Pro VII was released on May 12, 2020, with a launch MSRP of 1,899 USD. The RTX A5500 was released on March 21, 2022. Both are marked as end-of-life in the database.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every major specification. The table below covers only the fields where the two parts diverge.

| Specification | NVIDIA RTX A5500 | AMD Radeon Pro VII |

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

| Architecture | Ampere | GCN 5.1 |

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

| Transistors | 28,300 million | 13,230 million |

| Die size | 628 mm² | 331 mm² |

| Transistor density | 45.1M / mm² | 40.0M / mm² |

| Base clock | 1080 MHz | 1400 MHz |

| Boost clock | 1665 MHz | 1700 MHz |

| Memory clock | 2000 MHz, 16 Gbps effective | 1000 MHz, 2 Gbps effective |

| Memory size | 24 GB | 16 GB |

| Memory type | GDDR6 | HBM2 |

| Memory bus | 384 bit | 4096 bit |

| Memory bandwidth | 768.0 GB/s | 1.02 TB/s |

| Shading units | 10240 | 3840 |

| TMUs | 320 | 240 |

| ROPs | 96 | 64 |

| RT cores | 80 | None |

| Tensor cores | 320 | None |

| Pixel rate | 159.8 GPixel/s | 108.8 GPixel/s |

| Texture rate | 532.8 GTexel/s | 408.0 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 34.10 TFLOPS | 13.06 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 34.10 TFLOPS (1:1) | 26.11 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 230 W | 250 W |

| Power connectors | 1x 8-pin | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 550 W | 600 W |

| Display outputs | 4x DisplayPort 1.4a | 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a |

| Length | 267 mm (10.5 inches) | 305 mm (12 inches) |

| Height | 112 mm (4.4 inches) | 111 mm (4.4 inches) |

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

| Vulkan | 1.4 | 1.3 |

| Release date | 2022-03-21 | 2020-05-12 |

| Predecessor | Quadro Turing | Radeon Pro Polaris |

| Successor | Workstation Ada | Radeon Pro Navi |

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records two head-to-head tests between these cards, and the NVIDIA RTX A5500 wins both.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the A5500 scores 174637. The Radeon Pro VII scores 90148. The delta is 93.7%, meaning the NVIDIA card nearly doubles the AMD card's output. This is the largest margin in the comparison. OpenCL is a general-purpose compute API, and this result tracks the FP32 throughput difference: 34.10 TFLOPS versus 13.06 TFLOPS.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the A5500 scores 155797. The Radeon Pro VII scores 92862. The delta is 67.8%. Vulkan is a lower-level graphics and compute API, and while the AMD card improves its relative position here compared to OpenCL, it still trails by a wide margin.

The Radeon Pro VII's best recorded result is its Metal score of 108383. That number is higher than its OpenCL and Vulkan scores, but it is still far below the A5500's OpenCL and Vulkan numbers. Since there is no NVIDIA Metal result, this cannot be a head-to-head comparison.

The nearest rivals from the database add context. The A5500's closest competitor is the AMD Radeon PRO W7800 with an average score of 164894, a 0.2% difference. The NVIDIA RTX 4500 Ada Generation scores 166094, 0.5% above the A5500. The NVIDIA A100 PCIe 40 GB scores 162504, 1.7% below. The AMD Radeon Pro W6900X scores 168574, 2% above. These are all close scores, which means the A5500 sits in a tight pack at the top of the workstation range.

The Radeon Pro VII's nearest rivals are different. The AMD Radeon RX 7900M scores 97487, 0.4% above the Pro VII. The AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 scores 92466, 5% below. The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 scores 101872, 4.7% above. The NVIDIA RTX A4500 scores 91671, 6% below. The AMD card sits in a lower tier, roughly 40% below the A5500's average score.

The Verdict

The data directs a clear choice. The NVIDIA RTX A5500 wins every head-to-head benchmark in the database, holds a 97th percentile rank, and delivers an average score of 165217. The AMD Radeon Pro VII ranks at the 93rd percentile with an average score of 97131.

For users running OpenCL or Vulkan workloads, the A5500 is the only rational pick. It leads by 93.7% and 67.8% respectively. Those are not marginal wins; they represent a different performance class. The FP32 compute gap, 34.10 TFLOPS versus 13.06 TFLOPS, explains the OpenCL result. The presence of 80 ray tracing cores and 320 tensor cores gives the NVIDIA card capabilities the AMD card simply does not have.

The Radeon Pro VII has one niche: Metal environments. Its Metal score of 108383 is its strongest result, and NVIDIA has no Metal data in the database. For macOS-specific compute, the AMD card is the relevant option. It also offers higher memory bandwidth at 1.02 TB/s compared to 768.0 GB/s, which could matter for bandwidth-bound HBM2 workloads.

For anything else, the A5500 wins on compute throughput, memory capacity, API level, and benchmark results. The AMD card is older, released in 2020 versus 2022, and its architecture lacks ray tracing and tensor cores. The A5500 is the higher-performing workstation card in every recorded metric.