AMD Radeon Pro WX Vega M GL

The AMD Radeon Pro WX Vega M GL is a mobile-class integrated graphics processor built on the 14 nm process node at GlobalFoundries, featuring the GCN 4.0 architecture and the Polaris 22 chip. It was released in April 2018 and is now marked as end-of-life, with its performance profile placing it in the lower tier of the GPU landscape. The data indicates this is a part designed for compact, power-limited portable devices, as reflected in its integrated form factor and modest benchmark scores.

Benchmark Performance

The benchmark results for the Radeon Pro WX Vega M GL paint a picture of a part that is competitive with older desktop mid-range cards but lags modern entry-level offerings. The aggregate Passmark G3D score is 4814, which places the GPU at the 3rd percentile of all GPUs, indicating that it sits well below the median performance level of the current market. The average benchmark score across all tests is 957, a figure that serves as a baseline for comparing against its nearest rivals.

DirectX 11 performance, often a proxy for general gaming and legacy application compatibility, yields a Passmark score of 34, while the more modern DirectX 12 test produces a lower score of 25. Interestingly, the DirectX 9 score is significantly higher at 72, and the DirectX 10 score is 26. This distribution suggests the architecture is more efficient in older API workloads, which is typical for GCN-based designs. The GPU compute score of 1371 highlights a moderate capability for non-graphics workloads, while the G2D score of 359 indicates adequate 2D desktop acceleration.

When positioned against its nearest rivals, the data shows a tight cluster of performance. The card is essentially tied with the AMD Radeon R9 390, as the delta is a mere 0.2% higher. This is a notable finding, as the R9 390 was a high-end desktop part in its day, though the comparison is on average benchmark score rather than peak performance. Against the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 6 GB, the Radeon Pro WX Vega M GL is 4.6% slower, a small margin that underscores the age gap between the two architectures. Similarly, it is 4.6% behind the NVIDIA GeForce 410M, a result that seems anomalous given the latter's low-end positioning, but the average scores (1003 vs 957) confirm the delta. The most favorable comparison is against the AMD Radeon HD 7850, where this chip leads by 7.4%, demonstrating that it holds a clear advantage over that older generation.

Power and Cooling

The power profile of the Radeon Pro WX Vega M GL is defined by a 65 W TDP, a figure that is moderate for a discrete GPU but notably constrained for a part with this level of compute capability. This power envelope is enabled by the 14 nm process and the integrated design, which allows the GPU to be placed directly on the package with the host processor. The slot width is listed as "IGP," confirming that this is not a removable card but rather an integrated graphics processor soldered onto the motherboard or system-on-chip.

There are no power connectors required, as the bus interface is also "IGP," meaning power is delivered through the motherboard traces rather than a separate PCIe power cable. Consequently, the fact pack does not list a suggested PSU rating, as this component is not user-serviceable or upgradeable in a traditional desktop sense. The lack of a discrete power connector and the absence of a PSU recommendation indicate that cooling is handled by the laptop or portable device's own thermal solution, which must be designed to dissipate the 65 W of heat generated by the GPU. This is a significant thermal load for a thin-and-light form factor, and the data suggests that sustained performance may be limited by the cooling solution of the host device.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The Radeon Pro WX Vega M GL does not include dedicated ray tracing cores or tensor cores, as those fields are marked null in the specification. This is consistent with the GCN 4.0 architecture, which predates the hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI acceleration features introduced in later GPU generations. Instead, the chip relies on its 1280 shading units, 80 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output units to handle rendering tasks.

The API support is comprehensive for the era of its release. DirectX 12 is supported at the feature level 12_0, which provides access to modern rendering features like bindless resources and asynchronous compute, but it lacks the higher-tier features of DirectX 12 Ultimate. OpenGL 4.6 is fully supported, ensuring compatibility with professional and legacy applications, and Vulkan 1.3 is also available, offering a modern low-overhead graphics and compute API for cross-platform development. The pixel rate is 32.35 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 80.88 GTexel/s, metrics that define the fill-rate capabilities of the part. The FP32 performance is rated at 2.588 TFLOPS, with FP16 performance also at 2.588 TFLOPS on a 1:1 ratio, indicating there is no dedicated half-precision acceleration.

How It Compares

AMD Radeon R9 390: The comparison here is remarkably close, with the Radeon Pro WX Vega M GL holding a 0.2% lead in average benchmark score. This is a surprising result given that the R9 390 was a high-end desktop card with a much larger power budget. The data suggests that in the specific benchmark suite used, the newer integrated part matches the older discrete card's average performance, though the R9 390 likely has different peak characteristics.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 6 GB: This is a modern entry-level discrete GPU, and the Radeon Pro WX Vega M GL trails it by 4.6%. The delta is modest, but it represents a generational gap where the newer NVIDIA part offers better performance per watt and feature support. The RTX 3050 also brings hardware ray tracing and DLSS, features absent from the AMD part, making the comparison about more than just raw score.

NVIDIA GeForce 410M: The 4.6% deficit against this ancient entry-level mobile GPU is the most perplexing result in the data. The GeForce 410M is a Fermi-based part from 2011, and the fact that it posts a higher average score (1003 vs 957) suggests either a benchmarking anomaly or that the average score includes tests where the 410M excels. Still, the delta is within the margin of error for such a suite, and the two should be considered roughly equivalent in overall average performance.

AMD Radeon HD 7850: This is the clearest victory for the Radeon Pro WX Vega M GL, as it leads the HD 7850 by 7.4%. The HD 7850 was a mid-range desktop card from the GCN 1.0 era, and the newer GCN 4.0 part shows a distinct improvement in average benchmark score. This indicates that the integrated Vega M design has successfully closed the gap with older discrete solutions.

Memory Subsystem

The memory subsystem of the Radeon Pro WX Vega M GL is one of its more distinctive features, utilizing 4 GB of HBM2 memory. This is a high-bandwidth memory type that is typically reserved for server and high-end workstation parts, making its inclusion in a mobile integrated GPU noteworthy. The memory operates at a bus width of 1024 bits, which is exceptionally wide, and the effective memory clock is 1400 Mbps. Combined, these specifications yield a memory bandwidth of 179.2 GB/s.

This bandwidth figure is substantial for a 65 W part and is a key advantage over GDDR5-based solutions that typically use narrower buses. For high-resolution workloads, such as 1440p or 4K rendering, the available bandwidth often becomes a bottleneck. The data here indicates that the Radeon Pro WX Vega M GL is well-equipped to handle such scenarios, as the 179.2 GB/s throughput can feed the 1280 shading units more effectively than a comparable GDDR5 memory interface. However, the 4 GB capacity is a limiting factor at very high resolutions with large texture sets, as it may force the system to swap data in and out of system memory. Overall, the memory subsystem is a well-balanced component that mitigates the performance limitations of the GPU core in bandwidth-sensitive tasks.