AMD Radeon RX 560 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB Comparison

AMD Radeon RX 560 XT and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB are two end-of-life graphics cards that still appear in budget system builds, and the benchmark data shows a genuine split decision. The RX 560 XT wins in Vulkan performance, while the GTX 1060 5 GB takes the OpenCL crown, with each card claiming exactly one head-to-head victory. The average benchmark scores place them within 1.3% of each other, making this a closer contest than the specification sheets suggest.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The Geekbench Vulkan result is the RX 560 XT’s strongest showing. It scores 36,879 against the GTX 1060 5 GB’s 33,991, an 8.5% advantage that flips the expected narrative based on raw specs. This is a meaningful margin in modern API workloads, where the RX 560 XT’s GCN 4.0 architecture appears to handle draw calls and asynchronous compute more efficiently. The delta is large enough that Vulkan-based titles—particularly those using newer rendering paths—should favor the AMD card in practice.

OpenCL tells the opposite story. The GTX 1060 5 GB posts 33,397 versus the RX 560 XT’s 31,387, a 6% lead that inverts the Vulkan result almost exactly. This matters for compute tasks like GPU-accelerated video encoding, physics simulations, or OpenCL-based rendering plugins, where the NVIDIA card’s higher clock speed and different scheduling characteristics win out. The symmetry of these two results—roughly 8% one way in Vulkan, 6% the other way in OpenCL—suggests the cards are trading blows based on API optimization rather than any fundamental performance gap.

Looking at the broader benchmark landscape, the RX 560 XT’s average score of 34,133 puts it just 0.1% behind the NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB and 0.2% behind the RTX A1000, while sitting 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 480. The GTX 1060 5 GB’s average of 33,694 places it 0.2% ahead of the RTX A5000 but 0.5% behind the AMD Radeon RX 7700S and 0.8% behind the AMD Radeon HD 7950. Both cards occupy the same performance tier, with the RX 560 XT holding a 1.3% average score advantage overall—a margin that could vanish in any given application.

Architecture Differences

The RX 560 XT is built on GlobalFoundries’ 14 nm process using the Ellesmere chip with GCN 4.0 architecture, part of the Polaris RX 500 generation. It packs 5,700 million transistors into a 232 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 24.6M per mm². The GTX 1060 5 GB uses TSMC’s 16 nm process with the GP106 chip under Pascal architecture, part of the GeForce 10 series. It contains 4,400 million transistors on a 200 mm² die, for a density of 22.0M per mm². The AMD chip is physically larger and denser, but the NVIDIA chip runs at substantially higher clocks.

Clock speeds reveal a major strategic divergence. The RX 560 XT operates at a 1074 MHz base and 1226 MHz boost, while the GTX 1060 5 GB runs at 1506 MHz base and 1709 MHz boost—roughly 40% higher base and 39% higher boost clocks. This clock advantage lets NVIDIA compensate for fewer execution resources. The GTX 1060 5 GB has 1,280 shading units, 80 texture mapping units, and 40 ROPs, against the RX 560 XT’s 1,792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The AMD card has 40% more shaders and TMUs, but 20% fewer ROPs.

Memory configurations differ sharply. The RX 560 XT uses 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GTX 1060 5 GB has 5 GB of GDDR5 on a narrower 160-bit bus, yielding 160.2 GB/s. That 64 GB/s bandwidth deficit—about 28.5% less—is a real handicap for the NVIDIA card in memory-heavy workloads, though the larger 5 GB capacity helps with texture-heavy scenes that exceed 4 GB. The RX 560 XT’s memory runs at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective), while the GTX 1060 5 GB’s runs at 2002 MHz (8 Gbps effective), but the wider bus wins out for bandwidth.

Compute throughput is nearly identical. The RX 560 XT delivers 4.394 TFLOPS FP32 and matches that at FP16 with a 1:1 ratio. The GTX 1060 5 GB produces 4.375 TFLOPS FP32—a 0.4% difference—but its FP16 performance collapses to 68.36 GFLOPS at a 1:64 ratio. Pixel fill rate favors NVIDIA at 68.36 GPixel/s versus 39.23 GPixel/s, while texture fill rate is essentially tied at 137.3 GTexel/s for AMD and 136.7 GTexel/s for NVIDIA. Power draw favors the GTX 1060 5 GB as well: 120 W TDP versus 150 W, with a 300 W suggested PSU versus 450 W.

The Verdict

The data points to two different buyers. The RX 560 XT is the pick for Vulkan-focused gaming and any workload that can leverage FP16 compute, given its 8.5% Vulkan lead and 1:1 FP16 ratio. The GTX 1060 5 GB is better for OpenCL compute tasks and for scenarios where the extra 1 GB of memory prevents texture thrashing, despite its 6% OpenCL win and 28.5% lower memory bandwidth. The 1.3% average score advantage for the RX 560 XT is statistically negligible, so the decision should hinge on which API dominates the user’s application mix.

Power efficiency leans NVIDIA. The GTX 1060 5 GB delivers comparable average performance at 120 W versus 150 W, and its 300 W suggested PSU makes it viable in systems with weaker power supplies. The RX 560 XT requires a 450 W PSU, which could rule out small form factor or pre-built upgrades. Neither card supports ray tracing or tensor cores, so those features are absent from both.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins in Vulkan benchmarks?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 560 XT wins with a Geekbench Vulkan score of 36,879 versus 33,991 for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB, an 8.5% advantage.

Q: Which card wins in OpenCL benchmarks?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB wins with a Geekbench OpenCL score of 33,397 versus 31,387 for the AMD Radeon RX 560 XT, a 6% advantage.

Q: How much memory does each card have?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 560 XT has 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 224.0 GB/s bandwidth. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB has 5 GB of GDDR5 on a 160-bit bus with 160.2 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: What are the power requirements?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 560 XT has a 150 W TDP and requires a 450 W suggested PSU. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB has a 120 W TDP and requires a 300 W suggested PSU. Both use a single 6-pin power connector.

Q: Which card has higher clock speeds?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB runs at 1506 MHz base and 1709 MHz boost, compared to the AMD Radeon RX 560 XT’s 1074 MHz base and 1226 MHz boost.

Q: Do either of these cards support ray tracing?

A: No. Neither the AMD Radeon RX 560 XT nor the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB has ray tracing cores or tensor cores listed in their specifications.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 560 XT wins in Vulkan API workloads, delivering an 8.5% higher Geekbench Vulkan score. Its 224.0 GB/s memory bandwidth—40% higher than the NVIDIA card—makes it better suited for bandwidth-sensitive rendering at high resolutions or with heavy texture filtering. The 1:1 FP16 compute ratio (4.394 TFLOPS) gives it an edge in applications that use half-precision math, such as certain machine learning inference or image processing tasks. Its 1,792 shading units and 112 TMUs provide more raw ALU throughput for shader-heavy scenes, even if the clock speed deficit narrows the practical gap.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB wins in OpenCL workloads with a 6% higher score, making it the better choice for compute tasks that rely on that API. Its 5 GB memory capacity exceeds the AMD card by 1 GB, which matters for games or applications that exceed 4 GB of VRAM usage. The higher pixel fill rate of 68.36 GPixel/s versus 39.23 GPixel/s gives it an advantage in fill-rate-limited scenarios like high-AA rendering or multi-monitor setups. Its 120 W TDP and 300 W suggested PSU make it easier to install in power-constrained systems, and the 1,506 MHz base clock—40% higher than the AMD card—helps in single-threaded or latency-sensitive workloads.

Specification Differences

| Field | AMD Radeon RX 560 XT | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB |

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

| Process Node | 14 nm (GlobalFoundries) | 16 nm (TSMC) |

| Chip | Ellesmere | GP106 |

| Architecture | GCN 4.0 | Pascal |

| Transistors | 5,700 million | 4,400 million |

| Die Size | 232 mm² | 200 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 24.6M / mm² | 22.0M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1074 MHz | 1506 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1226 MHz | 1709 MHz |

| Memory Size | 4 GB | 5 GB |

| Memory Bus | 256 bit | 160 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 224.0 GB/s | 160.2 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 1792 | 1280 |

| TMUs | 112 | 80 |

| ROPs | 32 | 40 |

| Pixel Rate | 39.23 GPixel/s | 68.36 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 137.3 GTexel/s | 136.7 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 4.394 TFLOPS | 4.375 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 4.394 TFLOPS (1:1) | 68.36 GFLOPS (1:64) |

| TDP | 150 W | 120 W |

| Suggested PSU | 450 W | 300 W |

| DirectX Support | 12 (12_0) | 12 (12_1) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.3 | 1.4 |

| Display Outputs | 1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a | 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |

| Card Length | 241 mm (9.5 inches) | 250 mm (9.8 inches) |

| Release Date | 2019-03-12 | 2017-12-25 |

| Benchmark Percentile | 79 | 78 |

| Average Benchmark Score | 34133 | 33694 |