AMD Radeon Pro W5700 vs AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT Comparison

The AMD Radeon Pro W5700 and the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT are two very different 8 GB GPUs from the same manufacturer, separated by two generations of architecture. Benchmark results show the RX 6600 XT winning 8 out of 10 head-to-head tests, but the Pro W5700 claims a narrow victory in Metal performance and a decisive one in legacy DirectX 9. The data suggests these are not direct competitors but rather tools for different jobs: the Pro W5700 leans on its professional pedigree in specific compute and legacy APIs, while the RX 6600 XT dominates modern DirectX workloads and general compute with significantly higher clock speeds.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is the clear winner in modern graphics APIs and compute-heavy workloads. Its largest victories come in the PassMark DirectX 11 test, where it scores 163 against the Pro W5700's 104, a 36.2% advantage. It also leads by 19.3% in DirectX 10 (109 vs 88) and by 11.5% in DirectX 12 (61 vs 54). In the broader 3D performance metric, the RX 6600 XT scores 16461 on PassMark G3D, which is 11.8% higher than the Pro W5700's 14520. Compute performance follows the same trend, with the RX 6600 XT achieving a PassMark GPU Compute score of 7520, beating the Pro W5700's 6495 by 13.6%. The RX 6600 XT also wins in OpenCL (80503 vs 74613, a 7.3% lead) and Vulkan (72417 vs 70706, a 2.4% lead).

The AMD Radeon Pro W5700 holds two specific wins. The first is in Geekbench Metal, where it scores 89557 against 88720 for the RX 6600 XT, a slim 0.9% edge. The second is a significant 16% victory in PassMark DirectX 9, scoring 225 versus the RX 6600 XT's 194. The Pro W5700 also comes closer in 2D performance, trailing only 1.4% in PassMark G2D (899 vs 912), which is its tightest loss after the Metal test.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous for gamers and general users: the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is the superior card. It wins the majority of benchmarks, including the most relevant modern APIs like DirectX 11, DirectX 12, and Vulkan. Its higher clock speeds — a base of 1968 MHz and boost of 2589 MHz versus the Pro W5700's 1400 MHz base and 1880 MHz boost — translate directly into a 36.2% lead in DirectX 11, the most extreme difference in the entire comparison. For anyone running current games or applications that use DirectX 10 or newer, the RX 6600 XT is the straightforward pick.

The AMD Radeon Pro W5700 is the choice only for a narrow set of workloads. Its 0.9% win in Geekbench Metal suggests it holds a slight edge in Apple's Metal API, which could matter for macOS-specific professional applications. Its 16% lead in DirectX 9 is relevant only for legacy software that has not been updated in years. The Pro W5700 also has a wider 256-bit memory bus and higher memory bandwidth (448.0 GB/s vs 256.0 GB/s), which could benefit certain professional compute tasks, but the benchmark data does not show this translating into wins in the tested compute workloads — it loses PassMark GPU Compute by 13.6%. Unless the specific application relies on Metal or DirectX 9, the RX 6600 XT is the higher-performing product.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most decisive benchmark is PassMark DirectX 11, where the RX 6600 XT scores 163 versus the Pro W5700's 104, a 36.2% margin. This is the largest gap in any test and reflects the RX 6600 XT's much higher boost clock of 2589 MHz. DirectX 10 shows a similar pattern, with the RX 6600 XT winning 109 to 88, a 19.3% lead. In DirectX 12, the RX 6600 XT wins 61 to 54, an 11.5% advantage, though both scores are low in absolute terms.

In compute and general-purpose benchmarks, the RX 6600 XT continues its dominance. PassMark GPU Compute shows a 13.6% win (7520 vs 6495), and PassMark G3D shows an 11.8% win (16461 vs 14520). In Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 6600 XT leads by 7.3% (80503 vs 74613), and in Vulkan it leads by 2.4% (72417 vs 70706). The only modern benchmark where the Pro W5700 takes the lead is Geekbench Metal, where it wins 89557 to 88720, a marginal 0.9% difference.

The Pro W5700's other win is in PassMark DirectX 9, where it scores 225 against 194, a 16% margin. This is notable because the Pro W5700's architecture is older, yet it outperforms the newer card in this legacy API. The 2D test is nearly a tie, with the RX 6600 XT winning 912 to 899, just 1.4% ahead.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro W5700 has a higher average benchmark score of 25726, compared to the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT's 24442. However, the RX 6600 XT wins more individual head-to-head tests (8 out of 10).

Q: How do the two cards compare in DirectX 11 performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT outperforms the Pro W5700 by 36.2% in PassMark DirectX 11, scoring 163 versus 104.

Q: Is the AMD Radeon Pro W5700 better in any modern API?

A: Yes, the Pro W5700 wins in Geekbench Metal with a score of 89557, which is 0.9% higher than the RX 6600 XT's 88720.

Q: Which card has better raw compute performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT has higher compute performance, winning PassMark GPU Compute by 13.6% (7520 vs 6495) and Geekbench OpenCL by 7.3% (80503 vs 74613).

Q: What is the most significant architectural difference affecting performance?

A: The RX 6600 XT uses RDNA 2.0 architecture with a boost clock of 2589 MHz, while the Pro W5700 uses RDNA 1.0 with a boost clock of 1880 MHz. This clock advantage is the likely driver of the RX 6600 XT's large wins in DirectX 11 and 10.

Q: Does the Pro W5700 have any advantage in memory bandwidth?

A: Yes, the Pro W5700 has a 256-bit memory bus and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the RX 6600 XT has a 128-bit bus and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth. Despite this, the RX 6600 XT wins all compute and 3D benchmarks except Metal and DirectX 9.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on different generations of AMD's RDNA architecture. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700 uses the Navi 10 chip with RDNA 1.0, while the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT uses the Navi 23 chip with RDNA 2.0. Both are manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process, but the RX 6600 XT packs more transistors: 11,060 million versus 10,300 million. The die sizes are similar, with the Pro W5700 at 251 mm² and the RX 6600 XT slightly smaller at 237 mm², giving the RX 6600 XT a higher transistor density of 46.7M / mm² compared to 41.0M / mm².

The RX 6600 XT features 32 ray tracing cores, which the Pro W5700 lacks entirely. This is a significant generational feature addition that enables hardware-accelerated ray tracing. The RX 6600 XT also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Pro W5700 is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1). Both cards support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

In terms of compute resources, the Pro W5700 has more shading units (2304 vs 2048) and more texture mapping units (144 vs 128), but both have 64 ROPs. The RX 6600 XT compensates with much higher clock speeds, resulting in higher pixel rate (165.7 GPixel/s vs 120.3 GPixel/s), texture rate (331.4 GTexel/s vs 270.7 GTexel/s), and FP32 performance (10.60 TFLOPS vs 8.663 TFLOPS). The RX 6600 XT also leads in FP16 with 21.21 TFLOPS versus 17.33 TFLOPS.

Specification Differences

The most glaring difference is power consumption. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700 has a TDP of 205 W and requires a 550 W power supply, while the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT has a TDP of 160 W and only needs a 450 W PSU. The Pro W5700 also requires two power connectors (1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin), whereas the RX 6600 XT uses a single 8-pin connector. This makes the RX 6600 XT significantly more power-efficient.

Memory configuration differs substantially. The Pro W5700 uses a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the RX 6600 XT uses a 128-bit bus with 256.0 GB/s bandwidth. Both have 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, but the RX 6600 XT runs its memory at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) versus the Pro W5700's 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective).

Physical dimensions and connectivity also differ. The Pro W5700 is longer at 267 mm (10.5 inches) and taller at 111 mm (4.4 inches), while the RX 6600 XT is 190 mm (7.5 inches) long and 110 mm (4.3 inches) tall, with a width of 40 mm (1.6 inches). Both are dual-slot cards. The Pro W5700 offers 5x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a and 1x USB Type-C outputs, while the RX 6600 XT provides 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The bus interface also differs: the Pro W5700 uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the RX 6600 XT uses PCIe 4.0 x8.