AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most striking result in the database is the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT's dominance in Apple-oriented compute workloads. In Geekbench Metal, the AMD card scores 51,272 against the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti's 30,624, a 67.4% lead. That is the single largest delta between the two cards in any test, and it reflects AMD's strong integration with Metal-based applications. The AMD card also wins Geekbench Vulkan with 56,593 versus 40,511, a 39.7% advantage. These two wins are the only head-to-head victories for the Radeon Pro 5700 XT, but they are substantial ones.

The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, however, wins the remaining eight benchmarks, and often by wide margins. In PassMark G3D, the NVIDIA card scores 18,600 versus 12,547, a 32.5% lead. The gap is even larger in PassMark GPU Compute, where the GTX 1080 Ti posts 9,632 against 5,787, a 39.9% advantage. DirectX 11 results show the biggest relative difference: NVIDIA leads 151 to 85, a 43.7% margin. DirectX 10 follows with 118 versus 76, a 35.6% lead, and DirectX 9 shows 231 versus 153, a 33.8% gap. Even in DirectX 12, where both cards support the 12_1 feature level, the GTX 1080 Ti wins 66 to 59, a 10.6% margin. In PassMark G2D, the NVIDIA card leads 939 to 810, a 13.7% difference.

Geekbench OpenCL is the only test where the NVIDIA card wins by a single-digit margin, scoring 67,929 versus 59,467, a 12.5% lead. That result is notable because it sits between the AMD card's strong Metal and Vulkan showings and NVIDIA's sweep of the DirectX and PassMark suites. Overall, the head-to-head tally is 8 wins for NVIDIA and 2 for AMD, but the AMD wins are concentrated in the APIs where it matters most for macOS and Vulkan-focused workloads.

The Verdict

The data points to two very different use cases. The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT is the clear choice for Metal-based environments. Its 67.4% lead in Geekbench Metal is not a small edge; it is a generational difference in that specific API. If the workload is centered on macOS applications that leverage Metal, the AMD card is the one to get. The Vulkan result also favors AMD by 39.7%, which matters for cross-platform engines that use Vulkan as their primary graphics API.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is the stronger card for traditional rasterization and compute-heavy tasks. It wins every DirectX benchmark in the database, with leads ranging from 10.6% in DirectX 12 to 43.7% in DirectX 11. Its PassMark G3D score of 18,600 is particularly strong, and its PassMark GPU Compute result of 9,632 is nearly double the AMD card's 5,787. For Windows gaming, DirectX 11/12 titles, or OpenCL compute, the GTX 1080 Ti is the better performer.

The average benchmark scores in the database reflect this split: the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT averages 18,685 across all recorded tests, while the GTX 1080 Ti averages 15,548. However, those averages are skewed by the inclusion of the AMD card's very high Metal and Vulkan scores. The percentile rankings tell a similar story: the AMD card sits at the 63rd percentile of all GPUs, while the GTX 1080 Ti sits at the 58th. The AMD card's higher percentile is driven almost entirely by its API-specific strengths, while the NVIDIA card's lower percentile masks its consistent wins across the more traditional DirectX and compute benchmarks.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different process nodes and architectures. The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT uses the Navi 10 chip built on RDNA 1.0 architecture at TSMC's 7 nm node. It packs 10,300 million transistors on a 251 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 41.0 million per mm². The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti uses the GP102 chip on the Pascal architecture at TSMC's 16 nm node. It has 11,800 million transistors on a much larger 471 mm² die, resulting in a lower density of 25.1 million per mm². The process advantage is clear: AMD fits nearly the same transistor count on a die that is about half the size.

The memory subsystems differ as well. The AMD card has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA card has 11 GB of GDDR5X memory on a 352-bit bus, yielding 484.4 GB/s of bandwidth. Despite the smaller capacity, the GTX 1080 Ti has 26% more memory bandwidth. The clock speeds also favor NVIDIA: the GTX 1080 Ti has a base clock of 1481 MHz and a boost clock of 1582 MHz, while the Radeon Pro 5700 XT has a base of 1243 MHz and a boost of 1499 MHz. The NVIDIA card's memory runs at 1376 MHz (11 Gbps effective), while the AMD card's memory runs at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective), but the NVIDIA card's wider bus compensates.

The compute resources are split differently. The GTX 1080 Ti has 3,584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 88 raster operation units. The Radeon Pro 5700 XT has 2,560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. This explains the NVIDIA card's higher pixel rate (139.2 GPixel/s versus 95.94 GPixel/s) and texture rate (354.4 GTexel/s versus 239.8 GTexel/s). The FP32 performance also favors NVIDIA: 11.34 TFLOPS versus 7.675 TFLOPS. However, the AMD card has a massive FP16 advantage: 15.35 TFLOPS at 2:1 ratio, versus the NVIDIA card's 177.2 GFLOPS at 1:64 ratio. Neither card has dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in Metal benchmarks?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT scores 51,272 in Geekbench Metal, which is 67.4% ahead of the GTX 1080 Ti's 30,624. This is the largest performance gap between the two cards in any recorded test.

Q: Does the GTX 1080 Ti win in DirectX workloads?

A: Yes, it wins every DirectX test. The leads are 35.6% in DirectX 10, 43.7% in DirectX 11, 10.6% in DirectX 12, and 33.8% in DirectX 9. The DirectX 11 margin of 151 versus 85 is the largest single-test gap in the entire comparison.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The GTX 1080 Ti has 484.4 GB/s of bandwidth from its 352-bit GDDR5X bus, while the Radeon Pro 5700 XT has 384.0 GB/s from its 256-bit GDDR6 bus. The NVIDIA card has roughly 26% more bandwidth.

Q: How do the cards compare in OpenCL?

A: The GTX 1080 Ti scores 67,929 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 12.5% ahead of the Radeon Pro 5700 XT's 59,467. This is the narrowest NVIDIA win in the head-to-head results.

Q: Which card has more memory?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6, while the GTX 1080 Ti has 11 GB of GDDR5X. The AMD card has 5 GB more memory capacity, but the NVIDIA card has higher bandwidth.

Q: What is the power draw difference?

A: The Radeon Pro 5700 XT has a 130 W TDP with no power connectors and a suggested 300 W PSU. The GTX 1080 Ti has a 250 W TDP with one 6-pin and one 8-pin connector, and suggests a 600 W PSU. The NVIDIA card draws nearly twice the power.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT wins in Metal and Vulkan environments. Its Geekbench Metal score of 51,272 is the standout result, and the 39.7% Vulkan lead over the GTX 1080 Ti makes it the better pick for Vulkan-based game engines or compute frameworks. The 16 GB memory capacity is also an advantage for large datasets, even if the bandwidth is lower. The card's 7 nm process and RDNA 1.0 architecture deliver these API-specific wins at a 130 W TDP, which is remarkable efficiency compared to the GTX 1080 Ti's 250 W.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti wins everywhere else. Its DirectX 11 performance is 43.7% ahead, which is the biggest margin in the traditional graphics suite. The PassMark G3D score of 18,600 versus 12,547 indicates a substantial rasterization advantage, and the GPU Compute result of 9,632 versus 5,787 shows it is the stronger compute card for OpenCL-style workloads. The 484.4 GB/s bandwidth and higher pixel and texture rates feed into these wins. The GTX 1080 Ti also has physical display outputs (1x HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a), while the Radeon Pro 5700 XT has no outputs at all, which matters for anyone needing a direct display connection.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti |

|---|---|---|

| Process node | 7 nm | 16 nm |

| Transistors | 10,300 million | 11,800 million |

| Die size | 251 mm² | 471 mm² |

| Transistor density | 41.0M / mm² | 25.1M / mm² |

| Base clock | 1243 MHz | 1481 MHz |

| Boost clock | 1499 MHz | 1582 MHz |

| Memory clock | 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) | 1376 MHz (11 Gbps effective) |

| Memory size | 16 GB | 11 GB |

| Memory type | GDDR6 | GDDR5X |

| Memory bus | 256 bit | 352 bit |

| Memory bandwidth | 384.0 GB/s | 484.4 GB/s |

| Shading units | 2560 | 3584 |

| TMUs | 160 | 224 |

| ROPs | 64 | 88 |

| Pixel rate | 95.94 GPixel/s | 139.2 GPixel/s |

| Texture rate | 239.8 GTexel/s | 354.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 7.675 TFLOPS | 11.34 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 15.35 TFLOPS (2:1) | 177.2 GFLOPS (1:64) |

| TDP | 130 W | 250 W |

| Slot width | IGP | Dual-slot |

| Power connectors | None | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 300 W | 600 W |

| Bus interface | PCIe 4.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| Display outputs | No outputs | 1x HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |

The GTX 1080 Ti launched with a 699 USD MSRP in March 2017, while the Radeon Pro 5700 XT has no recorded launch MSRP in the database. The AMD card is an integrated (IGP) form factor with no power connectors, designed for Mac Pro systems, whereas the GTX 1080 Ti is a dual-slot card measuring 267 mm in length, 112 mm in height, and 40 mm in width. Both cards support DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, and both are end-of-life products.