AMD Radeon Pro Vega II

AMD Radeon Pro Vega II is an end-of-life workstation graphics solution built on TSMC's 7 nm process, featuring the Vega 20 chip with GCN 5.1 architecture and 13,230 million transistors on a 331 mm² die. Its benchmark profile places it in the 96th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 109,967 across Geekbench Metal, OpenCL, and Vulkan tests.

Benchmark Performance

The Radeon Pro Vega II's average benchmark score of 109,967 positions it as a solid mid-to-high performer in the workstation segment, though the data reveals a nuanced competitive picture. In Geekbench Metal, the card achieves 130,183, while OpenCL and Vulkan scores land at 99,405 and 100,312 respectively — indicating a notable strength in Apple's Metal API, which aligns with its Radeon Pro Mac generation targeting.

Against its nearest rivals, the Vega II sits in a tight cluster. The AMD Radeon Pro W6600X posts an average score of 107,342, which is 2.4% lower — a marginal gap that suggests near-parity in general compute workloads. Meanwhile, the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile leads the Vega II by 3.5% with a score of 113,944, and the dual-chip AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo is 4.3% ahead at 114,878. The strongest competitor in this group is the NVIDIA RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation, which outperforms the Vega II by 6.1% with a score of 117,088.

These deltas are relatively small, indicating that the Radeon Pro Vega II remains competitive in raw throughput despite being an older architecture. The 2.4% edge over the W6600X is within typical run-to-run variance, so benchmark results indicate these two cards are effectively interchangeable in many compute scenarios. However, the 6.1% deficit to the RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation is more substantial, suggesting that newer workstation cards have a measurable performance advantage.

The FP32 compute rate of 14.09 TFLOPS and FP16 rate of 28.18 TFLOPS (2:1) provide context for these scores. The pixel rate of 110.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 440.3 GTexel/s are consistent with a card designed for high-resolution rendering tasks rather than pure gaming throughput.

Memory Subsystem

The Radeon Pro Vega II comes equipped with 32 GB of HBM2 memory on a 4096-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 825.3 GB/s. This is an exceptionally wide memory interface, and the effective memory speed is listed at 1612 Mbps (with a memory clock of 806 MHz).

For high-resolution workloads, this memory configuration is a defining feature. The 32 GB capacity is substantial for large datasets, complex 3D scenes, or multi-display setups, where frame buffers can easily exceed 8 or 16 GB. The 4096-bit bus width is among the widest available in the workstation market, and the resulting 825.3 GB/s bandwidth ensures that texture streaming, geometry processing, and compute operations are not bottlenecked by memory throughput.

In practice, the combination of 32 GB capacity and 825.3 GB/s bandwidth means the card can handle 4K and 8K rendering with large texture sets without spilling to system memory. The bandwidth figure is particularly relevant for memory-intensive compute tasks like neural network training or scientific simulations, where data movement often dominates execution time. Compared to the rival cards in the nearestRivals list, the Vega II's memory subsystem is likely its strongest differentiator — though the FACT PACK does not provide rival memory specifications, the 4096-bit bus is a clear architectural advantage that is not commonly found in the W6600X, RTX A5500 Mobile, or RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The Radeon Pro Vega II does not include dedicated ray tracing cores or tensor cores, as indicated by the null values in the FACT PACK. Instead, it relies on 4096 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units for all rendering and compute work. This means ray tracing workloads must be handled through compute shaders or general-purpose pipelines rather than through fixed-function hardware acceleration.

On the API front, the card supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The DirectX 12_1 feature level includes support for conservative rasterization and rasterizer-ordered views, but it lacks the DirectX Raytracing (DXR) tier typically associated with hardware-accelerated ray tracing on newer GPUs. Vulkan 1.3 support is current and includes the latest compute and graphics features, but again, without dedicated RT cores, ray tracing performance will lag behind cards that have them.

The absence of tensor cores also means no hardware-accelerated AI inference or training acceleration, which is a significant consideration for modern workstation workloads that increasingly rely on machine learning. The FP16 performance of 28.18 TFLOPS (2:1) does provide some compute headroom for mixed-precision workloads, but it is not a substitute for dedicated tensor hardware.

Display connectivity includes 1x HDMI 2.0b and 4x Thunderbolt ports, which is a distinctive feature set for Mac-oriented workstations. The Apple MPX bus interface further indicates this card is designed for Apple's Mac Pro ecosystem rather than standard PCIe systems. The card is quad-slot in width and has a TDP of 475 W with a suggested PSU of 850 W — figures that place it in the high-power workstation category.

FAQ

Q: How does the Radeon Pro Vega II compare to the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile?

A: The RTX A5500 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 113,944, which is 3.5% higher than the Vega II's 109,967. This indicates the NVIDIA card has a modest performance advantage in general compute workloads.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth of the Radeon Pro Vega II?

A: The card features 32 GB of HBM2 memory on a 4096-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 825.3 GB/s. The effective memory speed is 1612 Mbps.

Q: Does the Radeon Pro Vega II support hardware ray tracing?

A: No. The FACT PACK lists no ray tracing cores or tensor cores for this card. Ray tracing would need to be handled via compute shaders, which is less efficient than dedicated hardware.

Q: What is the card's performance percentile among all GPUs?

A: The Radeon Pro Vega II sits in the 96th percentile of all GPUs, based on its average benchmark score of 109,967.

Q: Which API versions are supported?

A: The card supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the Radeon Pro Vega II?

A: The launch MSRP is 2,199 USD.

Q: How does the Vega II compare to the AMD Radeon Pro W6600X?

A: The Vega II scores 2.4% higher than the W6600X, with average scores of 109,967 and 107,342 respectively. This is a small margin, indicating similar performance.

Who Should Consider It

The Radeon Pro Vega II is best suited for professionals working in Apple's Mac Pro ecosystem who require large memory capacity and high memory bandwidth for GPU-accelerated rendering or compute. The 32 GB HBM2 memory and 825.3 GB/s bandwidth make it particularly well-suited for 4K or 8K video editing, complex 3D scene rendering, and scientific computing where datasets exceed what typical 8–16 GB cards can handle.

Given its 96th percentile standing and average score of 109,967, the card is competitive for its era but not at the top of the current workstation hierarchy. The data shows it outperforms the Radeon Pro W6600X by 2.4%, making it a viable choice for those who need more memory than the W6600X likely offers. However, the 6.1% gap behind the RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation means users prioritizing raw compute speed over memory capacity might prefer newer NVIDIA options.

For gaming or real-time ray tracing, this card is not recommended — the lack of RT cores and tensor cores, combined with the 475 W TDP and quad-slot footprint, makes it a poor fit for consumer use cases. The DirectX 12_1 support and Vulkan 1.3 are adequate for professional visualization, but the absence of dedicated ray tracing hardware is a clear limitation.

The card's end-of-life status and 2019 release date mean it should be considered only if available at substantial discounts or if the specific 32 GB memory configuration is a hard requirement. The 4x Thunderbolt outputs and Apple MPX interface make it an excellent match for multi-display Mac Pro setups, but for standard PC workstations, the proprietary bus interface could be a compatibility barrier. In short, the Radeon Pro Vega II is a specialized tool for memory-hungry, Metal-optimized workflows in Apple environments, where its 825.3 GB/s bandwidth and 32 GB capacity remain compelling even against newer rivals.