AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled
AMD graphics card specifications and benchmark scores
At a Glance
AMDAMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled Specifications
Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled GPU Core
Shader units and compute resources
The AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled GPU core specifications define its raw processing power for graphics and compute workloads. Shading units (also called CUDA cores, stream processors, or execution units depending on manufacturer) handle the parallel calculations required for rendering. TMUs (Texture Mapping Units) process texture data, while ROPs (Render Output Units) handle final pixel output. Higher shader counts generally translate to better GPU benchmark performance, especially in demanding games and 3D applications.
Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled Clock Speeds
GPU and memory frequencies
Clock speeds directly impact the Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled's performance in GPU benchmarks and real-world gaming. The base clock represents the minimum guaranteed frequency, while the boost clock indicates peak performance under optimal thermal conditions. Memory clock speed affects texture loading and frame buffer operations. The Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled by AMD dynamically adjusts frequencies based on workload, temperature, and power limits to maximize performance while maintaining stability.
AMD's Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled Memory
VRAM capacity and bandwidth
VRAM (Video RAM) is dedicated memory for storing textures, frame buffers, and shader data. The Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled's memory capacity determines how well it handles high-resolution textures and multiple displays. Memory bandwidth, measured in GB/s, affects how quickly data moves between the GPU and VRAM. Higher bandwidth improves performance in memory-intensive scenarios like 4K gaming. The memory bus width and type (GDDR6, GDDR6X, HBM) significantly influence overall GPU benchmark scores.
Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled by AMD Cache
On-chip cache hierarchy
On-chip cache provides ultra-fast data access for the Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled, reducing the need to fetch data from slower VRAM. L1 and L2 caches store frequently accessed data close to the compute units. AMD's Infinity Cache (L3) dramatically increases effective bandwidth, improving GPU benchmark performance without requiring wider memory buses. Larger cache sizes help maintain high frame rates in memory-bound scenarios and reduce power consumption by minimizing VRAM accesses.
Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled Theoretical Performance
Compute and fill rates
Theoretical performance metrics provide a baseline for comparing the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled against other graphics cards. FP32 (single-precision) performance, measured in TFLOPS, indicates compute capability for gaming and general GPU workloads. FP64 (double-precision) matters for scientific computing. Pixel and texture fill rates determine how quickly the GPU can render complex scenes. While real-world GPU benchmark results depend on many factors, these specifications help predict relative performance levels.
GCN 5.0 Architecture & Process
Manufacturing and design details
The AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled is built on AMD's GCN 5.0 architecture, which defines how the GPU processes graphics and compute workloads. The manufacturing process node affects power efficiency, thermal characteristics, and maximum clock speeds. Smaller process nodes pack more transistors into the same die area, enabling higher performance per watt. Understanding the architecture helps predict how the Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled will perform in GPU benchmarks compared to previous generations.
AMD's Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled Power & Thermal
TDP and power requirements
Power specifications for the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled determine PSU requirements and thermal management needs. TDP (Thermal Design Power) indicates the heat output under typical loads, guiding cooler selection. Power connector requirements ensure adequate power delivery for stable operation during demanding GPU benchmarks. The suggested PSU wattage accounts for the entire system, not just the graphics card. Efficient power delivery enables the Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled to maintain boost clocks without throttling.
Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled by AMD Physical & Connectivity
Dimensions and outputs
Physical dimensions of the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled are critical for case compatibility. Card length, height, and slot width determine whether it fits in your chassis. The PCIe interface version affects bandwidth for communication with the CPU. Display outputs define monitor connectivity options, with modern cards supporting multiple high-resolution displays simultaneously. Verify these specifications against your case and motherboard before purchasing to ensure a proper fit.
AMD API Support
Graphics and compute APIs
API support determines which games and applications can fully utilize the AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled. DirectX 12 Ultimate enables advanced features like ray tracing and variable rate shading. Vulkan provides cross-platform graphics capabilities with low-level hardware access. OpenGL remains important for professional applications and older games. CUDA (NVIDIA) and OpenCL enable GPU compute for video editing, 3D rendering, and scientific applications. Higher API versions unlock newer graphical features in GPU benchmarks and games.
Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled Product Information
Release and pricing details
The AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled is manufactured by AMD as part of their graphics card lineup. Release date and launch pricing provide context for comparing GPU benchmark results with competing products from the same era. Understanding the product lifecycle helps evaluate whether the Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled by AMD represents good value at current market prices. Predecessor and successor information aids in tracking generational improvements and planning future upgrades.
Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled Benchmark Scores
No benchmark data available for this GPU.
About AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled
The AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled is a 14 nm GCN 5.0 accelerator built on the Vega 10 chip, containing 12,500 million transistors on a 495 mm² die fabricated by GlobalFoundries. Its base clock is 1382 MHz with a boost clock of 1600 MHz, and it ships as a dual-slot unit measuring 267 mm in length and 111 mm in height. Released on 2017-07-12, it has reached end-of-life production status, sitting between the Radeon Pro Polaris and the Radeon Pro Navi in the product lineage. This SKU carries a launch MSRP of 1,489 USD.
Benchmark Performance
The benchmark database records no submitted scores for this card: the average benchmark score is 0, and the percentile standing among all GPUs is 50. That 50th-percentile figure places the Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled exactly at the median of the tracked GPU population, not a top-tier result in aggregate database standings, but also not a bottom-half part. Because no nearest-rival entries accompany the record, there are no percentage deltas to report against specific competing SKUs; the analysis below instead interprets the card's raw compute metrics.
The FP32 throughput of 13.11 TFLOPS is the headline compute figure. For a 2017 part, this is a substantial amount of single-precision work. The FP16 figure doubles to 26.21 TFLOPS, achieved at a 2:1 ratio, meaning the hardware processes half-precision data at twice the rate of full precision, an arrangement that favors workloads with FP16-friendly data, such as certain machine-learning inference tasks. The pixel rate of 102.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 409.6 GTexel/s derive directly from the 4096 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units. These figures describe a card that can feed a high-resolution display pipeline, though the 50th-percentile database standing suggests that in real-world aggregated workloads, it does not outpace the median GPU by a commanding margin.
The absence of recorded benchmark entries means the 50th percentile is the only comparative signal available. It indicates that when the database normalizes all tracked GPUs, this card lands at the midpoint, a useful anchor for expectations, but not a substitute for per-application scores. The compute ratios (FP32 to FP16 at 2:1, pixel rate to texture rate) are consistent with a GCN 5.0 design optimized for throughput rather than latency-sensitive gaming workloads.
Power and Cooling
The thermal design power is 375 W, a figure that demands serious power delivery. AMD specifies a suggested PSU of 750 W, and the card requires two 8-pin power connectors. The watercooled variant uses a dual-slot form factor, which is notable because a 375 W TDP in a dual-slot watercooled design shifts heat rejection to a liquid loop rather than relying solely on air fins. The 14 nm process from GlobalFoundries, with 12,500 million transistors on a 495 mm² die, produces a transistor density of 25.3 million per square millimeter, a figure that contextualizes the power draw: dense silicon at high clocks (1600 MHz boost) requires substantial current delivery.
The 2x 8-pin connector arrangement is typical for a 375 W board. Users should note the suggested 750 W PSU as a minimum system-level recommendation, not a card-only figure. The dual-slot design means the watercooled loop and its associated pump occupy the second slot, which differs from a conventional air-cooled dual-slot card where the second slot is mostly heatsink. The card's dimensions, 267 mm length and 111 mm height, are compact for a liquid-cooled board, which may ease case compatibility relative to longer air-cooled flagships. The 375 W TDP, combined with the watercooled implementation, indicates the card is intended for sustained compute loads rather than bursty gaming sessions; the liquid loop maintains thermal headroom over extended FP32 or FP16 runs.
Ray Tracing and Feature Set
This card has no dedicated ray tracing cores and no tensor cores, the FACT PACK lists both as null. Hardware-accelerated ray tracing is therefore not a feature of this SKU. Instead, the feature set is defined by the GCN 5.0 architecture and its API support: DirectX 12 at feature level 12_1, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. These APIs cover the modern graphics stack for the card's era. The display output configuration is 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, which supports multi-monitor setups and high-bandwidth display connections. The bus interface is PCIe 3.0 x16.
The absence of RT and tensor cores means any ray tracing workloads must fall back to compute shaders running on the 4096 shading units, which is inefficient compared to dedicated hardware. The FP16 2:1 ratio partially compensates for the lack of tensor cores in machine-learning contexts, since half-precision compute is available at 26.21 TFLOPS, but without tensor-specific hardware, matrix operations rely on general-purpose shader execution. The DirectX 12_1 feature level indicates support for conservative rasterization and other 12_1 features, but not the higher feature levels that accompany newer architectures. Vulkan 1.3 support is present, which is a strong API foundation for cross-platform workloads.
FAQ
Q: What is the launch MSRP of this card?
A: The launch MSRP is 1,489 USD.
Q: How much memory does the card have, and what type?
A: It has 16 GB of HBM2 memory on a 2048-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 483.8 GB/s.
Q: Does it support hardware ray tracing?
A: No. The card has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores; ray tracing would rely on compute shaders.
Q: What power supply is recommended?
A: AMD suggests a 750 W PSU, and the card uses two 8-pin power connectors.
Q: Which graphics APIs are supported?
A: DirectX 12 (feature level 12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3.
Q: When was this card released, and is it still in production?
A: It was released on 2017-07-12, and its production status is end-of-life.
Q: What are the display outputs?
A: 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a.
Q: What is the FP32 compute throughput?
A: 13.11 TFLOPS, with FP16 at 26.21 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio).
Who Should Consider It
The 50th-percentile database standing indicates this card is a median performer in the overall GPU population, not a leader, not a laggard. Given the 16 GB HBM2 memory and 483.8 GB/s bandwidth, the card is better suited to memory-capacity-hungry workloads than to raw frame-rate chasing. The 13.11 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 26.21 TFLOPS FP16 throughput make it a candidate for compute tasks that fit within its API and driver ecosystem. The watercooled design and 375 W TDP suggest sustained operation is expected; users who run long compute jobs, rendering, simulation, or FP16 inference, are the intended audience. For gaming at high resolutions, the 50th-percentile standing implies it will match the median GPU, but the absence of RT cores and the dual-slot watercooled form factor make it an unconventional gaming choice. The 16 GB capacity is a differentiator for large datasets, but the card's 2017 release and end-of-life status mean driver optimizations are no longer a focus. Users who need a dual-slot, liquid-cooled compute card with 16 GB of HBM2 and a 2048-bit bus should consider it; users who want modern ray tracing or tensor acceleration should not, as those features are absent.
Memory Subsystem
The memory subsystem is one of the card's defining characteristics. It packs 16 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit memory bus, delivering a bandwidth of 483.8 GB/s. The memory clock is 945 MHz, translating to 1890 Mbps effective. The 2048-bit bus is exceptionally wide, a direct consequence of HBM2's stacked design, which achieves high bandwidth without the large PCB footprint of GDDR5-era wide buses. The 483.8 GB/s figure positions the card well for memory-bound workloads such as high-resolution rendering, large compute buffers, and multi-monitor output. The 16 GB capacity, combined with the wide bus, means the card can hold large working sets in VRAM without spilling to system memory. For the era of its 2017 release, 16 GB was a large allocation, and it remains relevant for datasets that fit within that envelope. The bandwidth-to-capacity ratio (483.8 GB/s over 16 GB) indicates a balanced design: neither starved for capacity nor throttled by bus width. The HBM2 type also contributes to the dual-slot form factor, since the memory stacks reduce the number of discrete memory chips needed. In practice, the 2048-bit bus and 483.8 GB/s bandwidth support the card's 102.4 GPixel/s pixel rate and 409.6 GTexel/s texture rate, ensuring that texture fetches and pixel writes are not memory-bound in typical workloads. The effective memory clock of 1890 Mbps is modest by later standards, but the bus width compensates, yielding the 483.8 GB/s aggregate figure.
The NVIDIA Equivalent of Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Watercooled
Looking for a similar graphics card from NVIDIA? The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 offers comparable performance and features in the NVIDIA lineup.
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