AMD Radeon Pro W6600X vs Intel Arc A770 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data for these two cards is not directly comparable, as they were tested under different workloads. The AMD Radeon Pro W6600X has a single recorded Geekbench Metal score of 107,342, placing it in the 94th percentile of all GPUs in the database. The Intel Arc A770 has three recorded scores: a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result of 2,969, a Geekbench OpenCL score of 109,175, and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 94,284. Its average benchmark score across these tests is 68,809, which puts it in the 90th percentile of all GPUs.

Looking at the nearest rivals for the Radeon Pro W6600X, its Metal score sits 0.6% above the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo (106,750) and 5.4% above the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 (101,872). However, it trails the AMD Radeon Pro Vega II by 2.1% (109,617) and the AMD Radeon PRO W7900 by 3.1% (110,725). This places the W6600X in a tight cluster of high-end workstation cards, where a 3% swing separates it from the top of its immediate peer group.

The Arc A770's average score of 68,809 is remarkably close to its nearest rivals. It sits 0.3% behind the NVIDIA CMP 90HX (69,000), 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Instinct MI25 (68,562), 1.5% behind the AMD Radeon Pro WX 8200 (69,870), and 1.7% behind the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 (69,986). The data shows the A770's average performance is effectively a statistical tie with all four of those cards, with deltas under 2% in every direction.

The most striking individual score is the Arc A770's OpenCL result of 109,175, which actually exceeds the W6600X's Metal score of 107,342 by roughly 1.7%. Conversely, the A770's Vulkan score of 94,284 is about 12.2% lower than its own OpenCL result, showing significant API-dependent performance variation. The W6600X has no recorded OpenCL or Vulkan scores, and the A770 has no Metal score, so a direct cross-platform comparison is impossible from the available data.

Where Each One Wins

The Radeon Pro W6600X wins in raw Metal performance. Its single recorded score of 107,342 is higher than any individual score recorded for the Arc A770 except the OpenCL result. In the database's percentile rankings, the W6600X sits at the 94th percentile, four points higher than the A770's 90th percentile. This suggests that in Apple-centric Metal workloads, the W6600X is the stronger performer.

The Arc A770 wins in multi-API versatility. It has recorded results across three distinct benchmark suites: DirectX 12 via 3DMark Steel Nomad, OpenCL, and Vulkan. The W6600X has only a single Metal result, which limits its demonstrated flexibility. The A770's OpenCL score of 109,175 tops the W6600X's Metal score, indicating that in OpenCL-optimized applications, the Intel card can outperform the AMD card's best recorded result.

The A770 also wins on memory capacity. With 16 GB of GDDR6 against the W6600X's 8 GB, the Intel card has double the frame buffer. In rendering or compute tasks that exceed 8 GB of video memory, the W6600X would be unable to hold the working set, giving the A770 a decisive advantage in those specific workloads.

Architecture Differences

The Radeon Pro W6600X uses the Navi 23 chip built on RDNA 2.0 architecture, fabricated on TSMC's 7 nm process. It contains 11,060 million transistors on a 237 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 46.7 million per mm². The Intel Arc A770 uses the DG2-512 chip built on Xe-HPG architecture, also fabricated by TSMC but on a 6 nm process. It packs 21,700 million transistors onto a 406 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 53.4 million per mm².

The compute resources differ significantly. The W6600X has 2,048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operations units. The A770 has exactly double each of those: 4,096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 128 ROPs. Both cards have 32 ray tracing cores, but the A770's are paired with a substantially larger overall compute footprint.

The A770's larger chip delivers much higher theoretical throughput. Its FP32 rate is 19.66 TFLOPS against the W6600X's 10.15 TFLOPS, a difference of roughly 94%. FP16 performance scales the same way: 39.32 TFLOPS for the A770 versus 20.31 TFLOPS for the W6600X, both at a 2:1 ratio. Pixel and texture rates follow the same pattern, with the A770 at 307.2 GPixel/s and 614.4 GTexel/s versus the W6600X's 158.7 GPixel/s and 317.3 GTexel/s.

The memory architectures are also fundamentally different. The W6600X uses a 128-bit bus with 8 GB of GDDR6, delivering 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The A770 uses a 256-bit bus with 16 GB of GDDR6, delivering 512.0 GB/s, exactly double the bandwidth. Both run their memory at 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective data rate.

Specification Differences

The most obvious difference is the bus interface. The AMD Radeon Pro W6600X uses Apple MPX, while the Intel Arc A770 uses PCIe 4.0 x16. This reflects their target platforms: the W6600X is designed for Apple Mac systems with no display outputs, while the A770 offers 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 2.0 outputs for standard PC use.

Power requirements diverge sharply. The W6600X has a TDP of 120 W and a suggested PSU of 300 W, with no power connector listed because the Apple MPX slot provides power. The A770 has a TDP of 225 W, a suggested PSU of 550 W, and requires 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin power connectors. Both are dual-slot cards.

The release dates and lifecycles differ. The W6600X launched on August 2, 2021 with a launch MSRP of 699 USD. The A770 launched over a year later on October 11, 2022 with a launch MSRP of 329 USD. Both are now end-of-life products. The A770 lists a predecessor (Xe Graphics) and successor (Battlemage), while the W6600X has neither listed.

The A770 has a significantly higher transistor count, larger die, and higher density. Its clocks are also slightly different: 2100 MHz base and 2400 MHz boost, versus the W6600X's 2068 MHz base and 2479 MHz boost. The AMD card actually has a higher boost clock by 79 MHz, but the Intel card has a higher base clock by 32 MHz.

FAQ

Q: Which card has higher raw compute throughput?

A: The Intel Arc A770. Its FP32 rate is 19.66 TFLOPS versus the AMD Radeon Pro W6600X's 10.15 TFLOPS. The A770 also has double the shading units (4,096 vs 2,048), TMUs (256 vs 128), and ROPs (128 vs 64).

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The Intel Arc A770. It delivers 512.0 GB/s over a 256-bit bus, exactly double the W6600X's 256.0 GB/s over a 128-bit bus. The A770 also has 16 GB of memory versus 8 GB on the AMD card.

Q: Which card is better in Geekbench Metal performance?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro W6600X, which has a recorded Metal score of 107,342. The Intel Arc A770 has no recorded Metal score, so a direct comparison in that specific API is not possible from the database.

Q: How does the Arc A770's average score compare to its nearest rivals?

A: Its average score of 68,809 is within 1.7% of all four nearest rivals. It trails the NVIDIA CMP 90HX by 0.3%, leads the AMD Radeon Instinct MI25 by 0.4%, trails the AMD Radeon Pro WX 8200 by 1.5%, and trails the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 by 1.7%.

Q: Which card has better ray tracing hardware?

A: Both cards have 32 ray tracing cores. However, the A770's are backed by a much larger overall compute pipeline, so the practical ray tracing capability is likely higher, though no dedicated ray tracing benchmark scores are recorded for either card.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro W6600X has a TDP of 120 W and a suggested PSU of 300 W. The Intel Arc A770 has a TDP of 225 W and a suggested PSU of 550 W, requiring 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin power connectors.

The Verdict

The data presents two cards with very different design philosophies. The AMD Radeon Pro W6600X is a compact, low-power workstation card built for Apple MPX systems. It draws only 120 W, requires a 300 W PSU, and has no display outputs. Its single Metal score of 107,342 places it in the 94th percentile, and it sits within 3.1% of the much larger Radeon PRO W7900 in that specific test. For users locked into Apple's ecosystem who need strong Metal performance, this is the clear choice.

The Intel Arc A770 is the opposite: a high-power, general-purpose PC card with a 225 W TDP, a 550 W suggested PSU, and full display output support including 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 2.0. Its 16 GB memory capacity and 512.0 GB/s bandwidth are double the AMD card's, and its FP32 throughput of 19.66 TFLOPS is nearly double. The A770 demonstrates strong OpenCL performance with a score of 109,175, which exceeds the W6600X's Metal result. However, its average score across all three benchmarks is just 68,809, pulled down by the 3DMark Steel Nomad result of 2,969 and the Vulkan score of 94,284.

For users building or upgrading a standard PC, the Arc A770 is the more versatile and capable card on paper. It has more memory, more bandwidth, more compute units, and a wider API support footprint. The W6600X's 94th percentile ranking versus the A770's 90th does not outweigh the A770's 2x advantage in nearly every hardware specification. The W6600X is a niche product for a specific platform, and its performance is competitive only within that narrow context. The A770, despite its lower percentile ranking, offers a broader feature set and substantially higher theoretical performance for general PC workloads.