AMD Radeon Pro 5600M vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Comparison

The data presents a clear generational and architectural divide. Across nine head-to-head benchmarks, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 wins decisively, with an average benchmark score of 17,639 compared to the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M's 16,351. The RTX 4060 holds a 61st percentile ranking among all GPUs, while the Radeon Pro 5600M sits at the 59th percentile, placing both in the mid-range tier but with the NVIDIA part demonstrating superior raw performance in every measured category.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most dramatic separation occurs in compute and legacy DirectX workloads. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4060 scores 95,057 against the Radeon Pro 5600M's 47,783, a staggering 98.9% advantage. This nearly doubles the AMD part's throughput and suggests the RTX 4060's Ada Lovelace architecture handles general-purpose compute far more efficiently. The PassMark GPU Compute test reinforces this trend, with the RTX 4060 at 9,213 versus 4,031 — a 128.6% lead that indicates massive superiority in non-graphics parallel workloads.

DirectX 11 performance shows the largest percentage gap of all. The RTX 4060 posts 175 in PassMark DirectX 11, while the Radeon Pro 5600M manages only 59, a 196.6% difference. This is particularly telling because DirectX 11 remains a common baseline for many older and mid-range games. The RTX 4060's 236 in DirectX 9 doubles the Radeon Pro 5600M's 118 (exactly 100% higher), showing that even legacy API paths benefit from NVIDIA's newer architecture.

The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test is exclusive to the RTX 4060, scoring 2,302 with no comparable result for the AMD part. In Vulkan, the margin narrows considerably: the RTX 4060 scores 48,643 versus 46,425, a modest 4.8% lead. This closer result suggests that Vulkan's lower-level abstraction helps the Radeon Pro 5600M close the gap, though it still cannot overtake the NVIDIA card. The RTX 4060 also wins PassMark G3D by 110.6% (19,545 vs 9,279), DirectX 12 by 94.9% (76 vs 39), and DirectX 10 by 66.1% (103 vs 62). Even in 2D performance, the RTX 4060 leads with 1,037 versus 679 in PassMark G2D, a 52.7% advantage.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 averages 17,639 across all benchmarks, while the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M averages 16,351. This places the RTX 4060 in the 61st percentile of all GPUs and the Radeon Pro 5600M in the 59th percentile.

Q: Is there any benchmark where the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M wins?

A: No. In all nine shared head-to-head tests, the RTX 4060 wins. The AMD card's closest result is in Geekbench Vulkan, where it trails by only 4.8% (46,425 vs 48,643).

Q: How do the memory subsystems compare?

A: Both cards have 8 GB of memory, but the implementations differ fundamentally. The RTX 4060 uses GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 272.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Radeon Pro 5600M uses HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus with 394.2 GB/s bandwidth, giving the AMD card a 45% bandwidth advantage despite its lower overall performance.

Q: What explains the RTX 4060's massive OpenCL lead?

A: The 98.9% advantage in Geekbench OpenCL (95,057 vs 47,783) likely stems from the RTX 4060's 3,072 shading units versus 2,560 on the Radeon Pro 5600M, combined with its much higher boost clock. The RTX 4060 also has 96 tensor cores and 24 RT cores, which the AMD part lacks entirely.

Q: Are these cards in the same performance tier?

A: They are adjacent in percentile ranking (61st vs 59th), but the actual benchmark deltas are substantial. The RTX 4060's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (0.2% slower) and AMD Radeon 780M (0.3% faster), while the Radeon Pro 5600M's closest competitor is the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (0.1% slower).

Q: Which card has better DirectX 9 legacy performance?

A: The RTX 4060 scores 236 in PassMark DirectX 9, exactly double the Radeon Pro 5600M's 118. This 100% advantage indicates NVIDIA's drivers and architecture handle legacy APIs with significantly more efficiency.

The Verdict

The data unambiguously favors the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 for any performance-sensitive workload. It wins every benchmark by margins ranging from 4.8% to 196.6%, with an average benchmark score 7.9% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M. The RTX 4060's 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 performance dwarfs the Radeon Pro 5600M's 5.857 TFLOPS, a 158% raw compute advantage that shows up across all tests.

However, the Radeon Pro 5600M is not without merit. Its 50 W TDP versus the RTX 4060's 115 W makes it dramatically more power-efficient, and its IGP (integrated graphics processor) form factor with no power connectors suits mobile or compact designs. The 394.2 GB/s memory bandwidth from HBM2 is also superior to the RTX 4060's 272.0 GB/s, which could benefit specific memory-bound applications despite the overall performance deficit.

For gamers and general users, the RTX 4060 is the obvious choice — it offers better DirectX 12, Vulkan, and legacy API performance, plus hardware ray tracing and tensor cores that the Radeon Pro 5600M lacks. For professionals needing extreme power efficiency in a portable form factor, the Radeon Pro 5600M's 50 W envelope and HBM2 bandwidth might justify its selection, but only if workloads tolerate its significantly lower compute throughput.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs diverge sharply on almost every specification. The RTX 4060 uses a 5 nm process at TSMC with 18,900 million transistors on a 159 mm² die, while the Radeon Pro 5600M uses a 7 nm process with no transistor count or die size listed. Clock speeds favor NVIDIA heavily: the RTX 4060 runs at 1830 MHz base and 2460 MHz boost, versus the AMD part's 822 MHz base and 1144 MHz boost. Memory differs fundamentally — the RTX 4060 has GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus at 17 Gbps effective, while the Radeon Pro 5600M has HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus at 1540 Mbps effective.

Compute resources also favor the RTX 4060: 3,072 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 48 ROPs versus 2,560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The RTX 4060 adds 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores, neither of which the Radeon Pro 5600M has. The RTX 4060's pixel rate is 118.1 GPixel/s and texture rate is 236.2 GTexel/s, compared to 73.22 GPixel/s and 183.0 GTexel/s for the AMD card. Power and physical specs differ completely: the RTX 4060 is a dual-slot card with a 1x 12-pin connector and 300 W suggested PSU, while the Radeon Pro 5600M is an IGP with no power connectors. The RTX 4060 uses PCIe 4.0 x8 and has 1x HDMI 2.1 plus 3x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, while the Radeon Pro 5600M uses PCIe 4.0 x16 with portable-device-dependent outputs.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gulf between these two is generational. The RTX 4060 is built on Ada Lovelace architecture, the GeForce 40-series successor to Ampere, fabricated on TSMC's 5 nm process. It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, along with hardware ray tracing and tensor cores for AI workloads. The Radeon Pro 5600M uses RDNA 1.0 architecture, AMD's first-generation RDNA design, on a 7 nm TSMC process. It supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3, but lacks dedicated RT or tensor hardware.

The RTX 4060's transistor density of 118.9M per mm² reflects its advanced process node, while the Radeon Pro 5600M's density is not listed. The NVIDIA card's FP16 performance matches FP32 at 15.11 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio), whereas the AMD card achieves 11.71 TFLOPS FP16 via a 2:1 ratio — meaning its FP16 is double its FP32. This suggests the Ada Lovelace architecture prioritizes flexible precision, while RDNA 1.0 uses a more traditional split. The Radeon Pro 5600M's RDNA 1.0 is also a mobile-focused design, given its IGP form factor and Mac generation designation, whereas the RTX 4060 is a discrete desktop card.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 wins across every benchmark category, but the margin varies by workload type. In compute-heavy tasks, it dominates: 98.9% in OpenCL and 128.6% in GPU Compute. For older DirectX titles, it leads by 100% in DirectX 9 and 196.6% in DirectX 11. Modern APIs show a narrower gap — only 4.8% in Vulkan — suggesting the Radeon Pro 5600M's architecture is comparatively stronger in newer, lower-level rendering paths. The RTX 4060 also wins 2D performance by 52.7%, which could benefit desktop and UI-heavy workflows.

The AMD Radeon Pro 5600M's hypothetical wins are not in benchmarks but in physical characteristics. Its 50 W TDP is less than half the RTX 4060's 115 W, making it suitable for systems with stringent power budgets. Its HBM2 memory provides 394.2 GB/s bandwidth — 45% more than the RTX 4060 — which could be advantageous for specific memory-intensive professional applications. Its IGP form factor means no additional slot width, power connectors, or PSU requirements, making it ideal for compact or integrated designs. The Radeon Pro 5600M's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, placing it in a different competitive context than the RTX 4060's rivals like the AMD Radeon HD 7790 and Radeon 780M.