AMD Radeon RX 560 XT vs NVIDIA RTX A6000 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a complete sweep for the NVIDIA RTX A6000 in the two shared benchmark tests, with margins that are not merely wins but overwhelming gaps. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX A6000 scores 193,937 against the AMD Radeon RX 560 XT's 31,387, a delta of 517.9%. That is more than a fivefold difference in raw compute throughput as measured by this workload. The Vulkan test tells a similar story, with the RTX A6000 posting 164,462 versus the RX 560 XT's 36,879, a 346% advantage. These are not close contests by any stretch; the data indicates the RTX A6000 is in a different performance tier entirely.

The RX 560 XT has no benchmark wins in this head-to-head set. Every recorded test favors the NVIDIA card. That said, the RX 560 XT's average benchmark score of 34,133 places it at the 79th percentile of all GPUs in the database, which is respectable for a card of its class. The RTX A6000, meanwhile, sits at the 84th percentile with an average score of 44,075. The percentile gap is much narrower than the raw score gap would suggest, because the database's percentile ranking accounts for the distribution of all GPUs, not just these two. Still, the direct comparison leaves no ambiguity: the RTX A6000 is the dominant performer in every measurable way here.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from fundamentally different design lineages. The NVIDIA RTX A6000 is built on the GA102 chip using the Ampere architecture, fabricated on Samsung's 8 nm process. It packs 28,300 million transistors into a 628 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 45.1 million per square millimeter. The AMD Radeon RX 560 XT, by contrast, uses the Ellesmere chip with the older GCN 4.0 architecture, built on GlobalFoundries' 14 nm process. It contains 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die, with a density of 24.6 million per square millimeter. The RTX A6000 therefore has roughly five times the transistor count and nearly three times the die area, which explains a great deal of its performance advantage.

Memory configurations diverge sharply. The RTX A6000 offers 48 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 768.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 560 XT has 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, with 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. That is a 12x capacity difference and a 3.4x bandwidth difference. The RTX A6000's memory clock is listed at 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective data rate, while the RX 560 XT runs at 1750 MHz with 7 Gbps effective. The RTX A6000 also features 84 RT cores and 336 tensor cores, hardware that the RX 560 XT lacks entirely, as it has null entries for both RT and tensor cores.

Compute resources follow the same pattern. The RTX A6000 has 10,752 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 112 ROPs. The RX 560 XT has 1,792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. Pixel rate for the RTX A6000 is 201.6 GPixel/s versus 39.23 GPixel/s for the RX 560 XT. Texture rate is 604.8 GTexel/s against 137.3 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput is 38.71 TFLOPS for the NVIDIA card versus 4.394 TFLOPS for the AMD card. Both GPUs offer 1:1 FP16 to FP32 ratios, but the absolute numbers are wildly different: 38.71 TFLOPS versus 4.394 TFLOPS. The API support also differs, with the RTX A6000 supporting DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the RX 560 XT is limited to DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous. The NVIDIA RTX A6000 wins every benchmark in the shared set and does so by margins ranging from 346% to 517.9%. Anyone selecting between these two strictly on performance would choose the RTX A6000 without hesitation. The RTX A6000 also has a higher average benchmark score, 44,075 versus 34,133, and a higher percentile ranking, 84 versus 79. The RTX A6000 supports newer APIs, has far more memory, and includes RT and tensor core hardware that the RX 560 XT cannot offer.

The RX 560 XT is not without its place. It sits at the 79th percentile of all GPUs, which is a solid position for a card that launched in 2019. Its nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB with a delta of -0.1% and the NVIDIA RTX A1000 with a delta of -0.2%, meaning the RX 560 XT performs essentially at parity with those workstation-oriented cards. It also edges out the AMD Radeon RX 480 by 0.4% and the AMD Radeon HD 7950 by 0.5%. For workloads that do not require the massive memory capacity or compute throughput of the RTX A6000, the RX 560 XT is a competent performer in its tier. But this comparison is not a contest; the RTX A6000 is the clear choice from the data.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every specification field. The RTX A6000 uses the GA102 chip with Ampere architecture, while the RX 560 XT uses Ellesmere with GCN 4.0. Process nodes are 8 nm for NVIDIA and 14 nm for AMD. Transistor counts are 28,300 million versus 5,700 million, and die sizes are 628 mm² versus 232 mm². Transistor density is 45.1M per mm² versus 24.6M per mm².

Clock speeds differ substantially. The RTX A6000 has a base clock of 1410 MHz and a boost clock of 1800 MHz. The RX 560 XT operates at 1074 MHz base and 1226 MHz boost. Memory clocks are 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) for the RTX A6000 and 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) for the RX 560 XT. Memory capacity is 48 GB of GDDR6 versus 4 GB of GDDR5, with bus widths of 384 bit versus 256 bit. Bandwidth is 768.0 GB/s versus 224.0 GB/s.

Shading units number 10,752 versus 1,792. TMUs are 336 versus 112. ROPs are 112 versus 32. The RTX A6000 has 84 RT cores and 336 tensor cores; the RX 560 XT has none. Pixel rates are 201.6 GPixel/s versus 39.23 GPixel/s. Texture rates are 604.8 GTexel/s versus 137.3 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 38.71 TFLOPS versus 4.394 TFLOPS. TDP is 300 W versus 150 W, with the RTX A6000 requiring an 8-pin EPS connector and a 700 W suggested PSU, while the RX 560 XT uses a single 6-pin connector and a 450 W suggested PSU. The RTX A6000 is longer at 267 mm versus 241 mm. The RTX A6000 uses PCIe 4.0 x16 while the RX 560 XT uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs are 4x DisplayPort 1.4a for the RTX A6000 versus 1x HDMI 2.0b plus 3x DisplayPort 1.4a for the RX 560 XT. API support differs as noted, with the RTX A6000 supporting DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, and the RX 560 XT supporting DirectX 12 and Vulkan 1.3.

FAQ

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A6000 delivers 768.0 GB/s across a 384-bit bus, while the AMD Radeon RX 560 XT provides 224.0 GB/s over a 256-bit bus.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon RX 560 XT support ray tracing?

A: No. The RX 560 XT has no RT cores or tensor cores. The NVIDIA RTX A6000 includes 84 RT cores and 336 tensor cores.

Q: How do the two cards compare in Geekbench Vulkan?

A: The RTX A6000 scores 164,462 versus 36,879 for the RX 560 XT, a 346% advantage for the NVIDIA card.

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each card?

A: The RTX A6000 has an average benchmark score of 44,075, while the RX 560 XT averages 34,133. The RTX A6000 sits at the 84th percentile of all GPUs, and the RX 560 XT at the 79th.

Q: Which card is closer to its nearest rivals in the database?

A: The RX 560 XT is extremely close to its nearest rivals: it is 0.1% behind the NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB and 0.2% behind the NVIDIA RTX A1000, while edging the AMD Radeon RX 480 by 0.4% and the AMD Radeon HD 7950 by 0.5%. The RTX A6000 is 0.9% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile and 1.8% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro M6000, but 1.6% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The RTX A6000 has a 300 W TDP and requires an 8-pin EPS connector with a 700 W suggested PSU. The RX 560 XT has a 150 W TDP, uses a single 6-pin connector, and has a 450 W suggested PSU.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA RTX A6000 wins in every direct benchmark comparison, so the question becomes one of workload fit. For compute-heavy tasks such as large dataset processing, machine learning inference, or rendering workloads that can use 48 GB of GDDR6 memory, the RTX A6000 is the obvious choice. Its 38.71 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, 84 RT cores, and 336 tensor cores make it suited for tasks that leverage these features. The 768.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth and 12x capacity advantage over the RX 560 XT mean it can handle datasets that would simply not fit in the AMD card's 4 GB frame buffer. The RTX A6000 also supports newer APIs, including DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, which may be relevant for applications that use those features.

The AMD Radeon RX 560 XT wins in scenarios where its lower power draw and smaller physical footprint matter more than raw performance. At 150 W TDP with a 450 W suggested PSU, it is far less demanding than the RTX A6000's 300 W and 700 W requirements. The RX 560 XT is also shorter at 241 mm versus 267 mm. Its nearest rival comparisons show it performs essentially at parity with the NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB and RTX A1000, making it a reasonable option in that performance neighborhood. For users whose workloads are light enough to run within 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and 4.394 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput, the RX 560 XT provides adequate performance while keeping system power requirements modest. The database also shows the RX 560 XT performs slightly better than the AMD Radeon RX 480 by 0.4% and the AMD Radeon HD 7950 by 0.5%, positioning it as a capable entry-level option in its generation. However, for any workload that stresses the GPU beyond basic graphics, the RTX A6000's overwhelming benchmark margins make it the superior choice.