AMD Radeon RX Vega 5 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 vs AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 4000/5000)

AMD Radeon RX Vega 5

The AMD Radeon RX Vega 5 is an integrated GPU for notebooks. It is used for the Ryzen 3 4000 APUs, which were launched in early 2020. The GPU is based on the Vega architecture (5th generation GCN) and has 5 CUs (= 320 shaders) clocked at up to 1400 MHz. The performance depends on the configured TDP (12-25 W at launch), the clocks, the cooling, and the memory configuration). The GPU should benefit from fast dual-channel DDR4-3200 RAM (contrary to DDR4-2133 single-channel, which is also possible).

The Vega architecture offers some improvements over the Polaris generation and now supports DirectX 12 Feature Level 12_1. More information is available in our dedicated article about the Raven Ridge architecture.

The performance should be slightly below or on par with the older Radeon RX Vega 6 (6 CUs but lower clock speeds). Therefore, only a few modern games like Fifa 20 or F1 2019 should be able to run in lowest detail settings.

Thanks to the 7nm process and clever power-saving features, the power consumption is comparatively low (according to AMD), so the graphics card can also be used for slim and light notebooks.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 is a high-end desktop graphics card based on the AD102 chip using the Ada Lovelace architecture. The 4090 offers 16,384 of the 18,432 cores and 24 GB GDDR6X graphics memory with a 384 bit memory bus and clocked at 21 Gbits. The card offers an excellent raytracing performance thanks to the 128 dedicated raytracing cores. For AI calculations (and DLSS 3 in games), the RTX 4090 has 512 Tensor cores.

The gaming performance is very well suited for 4k gaming in maximum detail settings. Even Raytracing effects can be used without DLSS in most games. Compared to the competition, the RTX 4090 is the fastest graphics card in 2022, with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX and the RTX 4080 in the second place.

The AD102 chp is manufactured in the modern 5nm process at TSMC (4N with EUV) and specified with a TGP (Total Graphics Power) of 450 Watt. Nvidia is recommending a 850 Watt power supply for the RTX4090.

AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 4000/5000)

The AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 is an integrated GPU for notebooks. It is used for the Ryzen 7 APUs of the Renoir generation (Ryzen 4000 Mobile) and Cezanne (Ryzen 5000 Mobile). The GPU is based on the Vega architecture (5th generation GCN) and has 8 CUs (= 512 of the 704 shaders) clocked at up to 1,750 MHz (Ryzen 7 4800U) or 2,100 MHz (Ryzen 9 5980HX). The performance depends on the configured TDP (12-25 W at launch), the clocks, the cooling, and the memory configuration). The GPU should benefit from fast dual-channel DDR4-3200 RAM (contrary to DDR4-2133 single-channel, which is also possible). Compared to the similar Radeon RX Vega 8 in the Raven Ridge generation (Ryzen 2000 Mobile), the GPU is clocked significantly higher (1.750 versus 1.100 MHz Boost, +59%).

The Vega architecture offers some improvements over the Polaris generation and now supports DirectX 12 Feature Level 12_1. More information is available in our dedicated article about the Raven Ridge architecture.

The performance is clearly faster than the old RX Vega 8 thanks to the higher clock speed and faster main memory (if used). Still it is positioned in the entry level (compared to dedicated graphics cards) and only suited for low demanding games.

Thanks to the modern 7nm process and clever power-saving features, the power consumption is comparatively low (according to AMD), so the graphics card can also be used for slim and light notebooks.