AMD Radeon 8060S vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in the database's recorded benchmarks?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 wins all three head-to-head tests. It leads by 749% in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, by 295.1% in Geekbench OpenCL, and by 368.1% in Geekbench Vulkan.

Q: How do the two compare in average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 79,842, while the AMD Radeon 8060S averages 55,757. The RTX 5090 sits at the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, while the Radeon 8060S sits at the 87th percentile.

Q: What is the difference in memory configuration?

A: The RTX 5090 has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth. The Radeon 8060S uses system shared memory, with its bus width and bandwidth listed as system dependent.

Q: Which card has a higher boost clock?

A: The AMD Radeon 8060S boosts to 2900 MHz, which is higher than the RTX 5090's 2407 MHz boost clock. However, the RTX 5090 has a higher base clock at 2017 MHz versus 1295 MHz.

Q: What are the power requirements for each?

A: The RTX 5090 has a TDP of 575 W and requires a 950 W suggested PSU with a 16-pin connector. The Radeon 8060S has a TDP of 55 W, is an IGP with no power connectors, and has no suggested PSU listed.

Q: What is the release timeline for these products?

A: The AMD Radeon 8060S was released on 2025-01-05, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 followed on 2025-01-29. Both are listed as active production.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs represent fundamentally different design philosophies. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a discrete, dual-slot add-in card built on the GB202 chip with Blackwell 2.0 architecture. It is fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC, with a die size of 750 mm² and 92,200 million transistors, yielding a transistor density of 122.9M per mm². The AMD Radeon 8060S, in contrast, is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) built on the Strix Halo chip with RDNA 3.5 architecture, fabricated on a 4 nm process at TSMC with a die size of 308 mm². Its transistor count is listed as unknown.

The compute resources differ enormously. The RTX 5090 features 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, 176 ROPs, 170 RT cores, and 680 tensor cores. The Radeon 8060S has 2,560 shading units, 160 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and 40 RT cores, with no tensor core count listed. This 8.5x difference in shading units and 4.25x difference in TMUs directly explains the massive performance gap in the recorded benchmarks.

Memory architecture is another fundamental split. The RTX 5090 uses dedicated 32 GB GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth. The Radeon 8060S relies entirely on system shared memory, with bandwidth described as system dependent. This means the AMD part's memory performance is not fixed; it varies with the host system's memory configuration, while the NVIDIA card has a dedicated, fixed bandwidth.

The clock behavior also differs. The Radeon 8060S has a lower base clock of 1295 MHz but a higher boost clock of 2900 MHz, suggesting aggressive boosting behavior. The RTX 5090 has a 2017 MHz base and 2407 MHz boost, with a memory clock of 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The AMD part's memory clock is listed as system shared, again highlighting its dependence on host memory.

Both GPUs support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, and both use a PCIe 5.0 x16 bus interface. The RTX 5090 has a 304 mm length, 137 mm height, and 40 mm width, while the Radeon 8060S has no physical dimensions listed, consistent with its IGP status. The NVIDIA card offers 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b outputs, while the AMD part's display outputs are listed as portable device dependent.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded head-to-head data shows a decisive sweep for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, with all three benchmark wins going to the discrete card. The largest margin appears in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, where the RTX 5090 scores 18,355 against the Radeon 8060S's 2,162, a delta of 749%. This is not a marginal difference; the NVIDIA card delivers roughly 8.5 times the performance in this DirectX 12 test, reflecting the massive disparity in shading units, texture units, and memory bandwidth.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 5090 scores 376,728 versus 80,483 for the Radeon 8060S, a delta of 368.1%. The Vulkan test shows the NVIDIA part at nearly 4.7 times the AMD integrated solution. This gap is consistent with the compute resource differences, though the Radeon's higher boost clock of 2900 MHz does not compensate for its far lower unit counts.

The Geekbench OpenCL result is the closest of the three, though still a decisive win for NVIDIA. The RTX 5090 posts 334,370 against 84,626, a delta of 295.1%. This 3.95x advantage in OpenCL compute aligns with the FP32 throughput figures: the RTX 5090 delivers 104.8 TFLOPS, while the Radeon 8060S delivers 14.85 TFLOPS, a ratio of about 7.05x. The smaller benchmark delta suggests that OpenCL scaling does not fully utilize the NVIDIA card's theoretical compute advantage, but the result remains unambiguous.

Looking at the broader benchmark suite, the RTX 5090 also has additional recorded scores that the Radeon 8060S does not. The NVIDIA card shows a Passmark G3D score of 39,650, a Passmark GPU Compute score of 26,756, and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 334,370. The AMD part only has three recorded benchmarks in the database: the two Geekbench tests and the 3DMark Steel Nomad test. This means the head-to-head comparison is limited to those three shared tests, where NVIDIA wins all of them.

The average benchmark scores place the RTX 5090 at 79,842, which is 43.2% higher than the Radeon 8060S's 55,757. However, the nearest rivals data provides context for each card's competitive position. The RTX 5090's closest rival is the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X, which is 1.4% ahead, while the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB is 0.3% behind. The Radeon 8060S's closest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB, which is 0.1% behind, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is 2.8% behind. This shows the RTX 5090 competing in a higher absolute performance tier, while the Radeon 8060S sits in a much lower tier despite its high percentile ranking.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every measurable specification. The process node differs: the RTX 5090 uses 5 nm, while the Radeon 8060S uses 4 nm, both at TSMC. The die size is 750 mm² for NVIDIA versus 308 mm² for AMD. Transistor count is 92,200 million for the RTX 5090, while the Radeon 8060S's transistor count is unknown.

Clock speeds show a mixed picture. The RTX 5090 has a higher base clock (2017 MHz versus 1295 MHz), but the Radeon 8060S has a higher boost clock (2900 MHz versus 2407 MHz). The NVIDIA card has a dedicated memory clock of 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective), while the AMD part's memory clock is system shared.

Memory configuration is a major differentiator: 32 GB GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth versus system shared memory with system dependent bandwidth. The bus interface is the same for both (PCIe 5.0 x16), but the power requirements are drastically different. The RTX 5090 has a 575 W TDP, requires a 950 W suggested PSU, and uses a 16-pin connector. The Radeon 8060S has a 55 W TDP, no power connectors, and no suggested PSU.

The compute unit counts differ as follows: shading units 21,760 versus 2,560, TMUs 680 versus 160, ROPs 176 versus 64, RT cores 170 versus 40, and tensor cores 680 versus none listed. Pixel rate is 423.6 GPixel/s for NVIDIA versus 185.6 GPixel/s for AMD. Texture rate is 1,636.8 GTexel/s versus 464.0 GTexel/s. FP32 and FP16 are both 104.8 TFLOPS for the RTX 5090 and 14.85 TFLOPS for the Radeon 8060S.

Physical specifications also differ. The RTX 5090 is a dual-slot card measuring 304 mm by 137 mm by 40 mm, while the Radeon 8060S is an IGP with no dimensions listed. Display outputs are 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b for NVIDIA, versus portable device dependent for AMD. The RTX 5090 has a launch MSRP of 1,999 USD, while the Radeon 8060S has no launch MSRP listed. The NVIDIA card's predecessor is the GeForce 40 series and successor is GeForce 60, while the AMD part's predecessor is Polaris Mobile with no successor listed.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear verdict: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is in a completely different performance class than the AMD Radeon 8060S. The RTX 5090 wins all three head-to-head benchmarks with deltas ranging from 295.1% to 749%. Its average benchmark score of 79,842 versus 55,757 for the Radeon 8060S represents a 43.2% overall advantage, despite the fact that the RTX 5090's nearest rivals include workstation cards like the Tesla P100 and Radeon Pro Vega 64X.

The Radeon 8060S, despite its lower absolute performance, is not a weak product in context. Its 87th percentile ranking among all GPUs is respectable, and its nearest rivals include the GeForce RTX 4080, which it leads by 2.8%. However, the RTX 5090's 92nd percentile ranking and its position among workstation-class competitors indicate a fundamentally higher performance tier.

The power envelope tells the story of two different use cases. The RTX 5090 draws 575 W and requires a 950 W PSU, making it suitable only for desktop systems with substantial power delivery. The Radeon 8060S draws 55 W and is an IGP, meaning it is designed for portable devices. These are not competing products in the traditional sense; they serve different markets entirely.

For users who need maximum performance in DirectX 12, Vulkan, or OpenCL workloads, the RTX 5090 is the clear choice, delivering 749%, 368.1%, and 295.1% higher scores respectively. For users who need integrated graphics in a portable device with a 55 W power budget, the Radeon 8060S is the only viable option among these two. The decision is not about which is better in absolute terms, but which fits the intended system and workload.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 wins in every recorded benchmark category. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 18,355 against 2,162, a 749% advantage. This test represents modern DirectX 12 gaming workloads, and the NVIDIA card's 32 GB GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth provide a massive advantage in memory-intensive scenarios. The RTX 5090 also wins in Geekbench Vulkan with a 368.1% delta, indicating strong Vulkan API performance, and in Geekbench OpenCL with a 295.1% delta, showing compute capability that aligns with its 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 throughput.

The RTX 5090's additional benchmark records, which the Radeon 8060S does not have, further illustrate its strengths. Its Passmark G3D score of 39,650 and Passmark GPU Compute score of 26,756 are consistent with a high-end discrete GPU. The NVIDIA card's pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s are 2.3x and 3.5x the AMD part's respective rates, which translates directly to fill-rate-bound workloads.

The AMD Radeon 8060S does not win any recorded benchmark against the RTX 5090, but it has its own strengths in context. Its 55 W TDP makes it suitable for portable devices where power efficiency is paramount. Its higher boost clock of 2900 MHz suggests it can reach competitive clock speeds when thermally allowed, and its 4 nm process node is more advanced than the RTX 5090's 5 nm node. The Radeon 8060S's 87th percentile ranking and its 2.8% lead over the GeForce RTX 4080 indicate it is a capable integrated solution.

For use-case guidance: the RTX 5090 is for desktop systems with a 950 W PSU or better, where maximum frame rates and compute throughput are the priorities. The Radeon 8060S is for portable devices with system shared memory, where the 55 W power budget and IGP form factor are the constraints. The RTX 5090's 32 GB GDDR7 memory suits large workloads like high-resolution textures and large datasets, while the Radeon 8060S's system shared memory is flexible but bandwidth-limited by the host system. The RTX 5090's dedicated tensor cores support AI workloads, while the Radeon 8060S has no tensor core count listed. In every measured metric, the RTX 5090 dominates; the Radeon 8060S wins only in power efficiency and physical size, both of which stem from its IGP design.