AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM vs NVIDIA RTX A6000 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data leaves no ambiguity about the performance hierarchy between these two GPUs. In the two recorded head-to-head tests, the NVIDIA RTX A6000 wins both outright, and the margins are substantial.

Starting with Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX A6000 scores 193,937 against the RX 5600 OEM's 62,427. That is a delta of -67.8% from the AMD card's perspective, meaning the RX 5600 OEM delivers roughly one-third of the A6000's compute throughput in this workload. The OpenCL test is heavily weighted toward raw shading power and memory bandwidth, both areas where the A6000's larger silicon and 48 GB frame buffer dominate.

The Vulkan result tells a similar story. The RTX A6000 posts 164,462, while the RX 5600 OEM manages 53,743. The delta here is -67.3%, nearly identical to the OpenCL gap. Vulkan tends to expose driver overhead and architectural efficiency; the data shows NVIDIA's Ampere implementation handles this API with far greater headroom. The RX 5600 OEM's RDNA 1.0 architecture is not sluggish, but it is outclassed by a GPU designed for professional workloads with substantially more compute units.

It is notably the RX 5600 OEM's average benchmark score across all recorded tests sits at 58,085, which places it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs in the database. The RTX A6000's average score is actually lower at 44,075, despite winning both head-to-head tests, because its Passmark results (DirectX 9, 10, 11, 12, G2D, G3D, and compute) drag down the aggregate. The A6000's percentile rank is 84th, slightly below the RX 5600 OEM, but that is an artifact of the different test suites each card was subjected to, not a reflection of real-world capability. The direct comparisons are the only fair apples-to-apples metric, and they show a decisive NVIDIA victory.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two cards is generational and philosophical. The RX 5600 OEM uses AMD's Navi 10 chip built on RDNA 1.0, a 7 nm design fabricated by TSMC. It packs 10,300 million transistors onto a 251 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 41.0 million per square millimeter. The RTX A6000 uses NVIDIA's GA102 chip under the Ampere architecture, fabricated by Samsung on an 8 nm process. That die is far larger at 628 mm² and holds 28,300 million transistors, with a density of 45.1 million per square millimeter. The A6000's die is roughly 2.5 times larger physically, and the transistor count is nearly three times higher.

Core counts follow the same pattern. The RX 5600 OEM has 2,048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operations pipelines. The RTX A6000 brings 10,752 shading units, 336 TMUs, and 112 ROPs. That is more than five times the shading units and nearly three times the ROPs. The A6000 also includes 84 dedicated ray tracing cores and 336 tensor cores, features the RX 5600 OEM lacks entirely. RDNA 1.0 shipped without hardware ray tracing acceleration, so any ray-traced workload falls back to compute shaders on the AMD card.

Clock speeds differ as well. The RX 5600 OEM has a base clock of 1130 MHz, a game clock of 1375 MHz, and a boost clock of 1560 MHz. The RTX A6000 runs a base clock of 1410 MHz and boosts to 1800 MHz, with no game clock listed. Despite the much larger die, the A6000 sustains higher clocks, proof of the Ampere architecture's power delivery and thermal design.

Memory is another chasm. The RX 5600 OEM has 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX A6000 has 48 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, delivering 768.0 GB/s. That is eight times the capacity and more than double the bandwidth. For any workload that exceeds 6 GB of frame buffer, the RX 5600 OEM simply cannot participate, regardless of compute speed.

The API support also reflects their different generations. The RX 5600 OEM supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RTX A6000 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), which includes features like mesh shaders and variable rate shading, plus the same OpenGL and Vulkan versions. The process node difference (7 nm versus 8 nm) means the AMD card is denser per square millimeter, but the sheer scale of the NVIDIA chip overwhelms that advantage.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins in raw compute benchmarks?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A6000 wins both recorded head-to-head tests. In Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 193,937 versus 62,427 for the RX 5600 OEM, a -67.8% delta. In Geekbench Vulkan, it scores 164,462 versus 53,743, a -67.3% delta.

Q: Does the RX 5600 OEM have any hardware features the RTX A6000 lacks?

A: No. The RX 5600 OEM has 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, but no ray tracing or tensor cores. The RTX A6000 has 10,752 shading units, 336 TMUs, 112 ROPs, 84 RT cores, and 336 tensor cores. The AMD card's only advantages are a smaller die and lower power draw.

Q: How do their memory configurations compare?

A: The RX 5600 OEM has 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX A6000 has 48 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus with 768.0 GB/s bandwidth. The A6000 offers eight times the capacity and more than double the bandwidth.

Q: What is the difference in their production status and release timing?

A: Both are end-of-life products. The RX 5600 OEM was released on 2020-01-20, and the RTX A6000 followed on 2020-10-04. The AMD card's predecessor is Vega and its successor is Navi II; the NVIDIA card's predecessor is Quadro Turing and its successor is Workstation Ada.

Q: Which card has better percentile ranking in the database?

A: The RX 5600 OEM sits at the 87th percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX A6000 sits at the 84th percentile. However, this is based on different test sets. The RX 5600 OEM only has two recorded benchmarks, while the RTX A6000 has nine, including several older DirectX tests that lower its average.

Q: What power supply is recommended for each card?

A: The RX 5600 OEM has a TDP of 125 W and a suggested PSU of 300 W, using a single 8-pin connector. The RTX A6000 has a TDP of 300 W and a suggested PSU of 700 W, using an 8-pin EPS connector.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification. The RX 5600 OEM uses a 7 nm TSMC process; the RTX A6000 uses an 8 nm Samsung process. Transistor counts are 10,300 million versus 28,300 million, and die sizes are 251 mm² versus 628 mm². Transistor density is 41.0M per mm² versus 45.1M per mm².

Clock speeds: the RX 5600 OEM has a 1130 MHz base and 1560 MHz boost, with a 1375 MHz game clock. The RTX A6000 has a 1410 MHz base and 1800 MHz boost, with no game clock listed. Memory clocks are 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) for the AMD card and 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) for the NVIDIA card.

Memory capacity is 6 GB versus 48 GB, bus width is 192-bit versus 384-bit, and bandwidth is 288.0 GB/s versus 768.0 GB/s. Shading units are 2,048 versus 10,752, TMUs are 128 versus 336, and ROPs are 64 versus 112. The RTX A6000 has 84 RT cores and 336 tensor cores; the RX 5600 OEM has none.

Pixel rate is 99.84 GPixel/s for the AMD card versus 201.6 GPixel/s for the NVIDIA card. Texture rate is 199.7 GTexel/s versus 604.8 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 6.390 TFLOPS versus 38.71 TFLOPS. FP16 is 12.78 TFLOPS (2:1) versus 38.71 TFLOPS (1:1). TDP is 125 W versus 300 W. Display outputs are 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a versus 4x DisplayPort 1.4a. The RTX A6000 has recorded dimensions of 267 mm length and 112 mm height; the RX 5600 OEM has no dimensions listed.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX A6000 wins every benchmark category where both cards were tested. In Geekbench OpenCL, it leads by 131,510 points. In Geekbench Vulkan, it leads by 110,719 points. The only workloads where the RX 5600 OEM could be considered preferable are those that benefit from its lower power draw and smaller physical footprint, but the database contains no direct measurements of those factors.

For gaming at 1080p or 1440p with modest settings, the RX 5600 OEM's 6.390 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth are sufficient for many titles, and its 125 W TDP makes it easier to cool and power. However, its 6 GB frame buffer is a hard ceiling for modern games with high-resolution textures. The RTX A6000, with 38.71 TFLOPS and 768.0 GB/s, is overkill for gaming but can handle any resolution or texture pack without hitting memory limits.

For professional workloads, the choice is obvious. The RTX A6000's 48 GB frame buffer allows loading entire 3D scenes, large language models, or scientific datasets into GPU memory. Its 84 RT cores accelerate ray-traced rendering, and its 336 tensor cores accelerate AI inference and training. The RX 5600 OEM has none of these specialized units. The A6000 also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, enabling features like mesh shaders that the RX 5600 OEM's DirectX 12 (12_1) cannot use.

The RX 5600 OEM's only realistic niche is as a low-power, entry-level GPU for older game titles or light compute tasks. Its 87th percentile ranking shows it is above average in the broader GPU population, but that ranking is derived from just two tests. In the head-to-head data, it loses both contests by more than two-thirds.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA RTX A6000 is the superior GPU in every measured category. It wins both head-to-head benchmarks by margins exceeding 67%, and its hardware specifications dwarf the RX 5600 OEM across the board. The A6000 has more shading units, more memory bandwidth, more memory capacity, hardware ray tracing, tensor cores, and higher clock speeds. It supports a newer DirectX feature level and is designed for professional workloads.

Who should pick the RX 5600 OEM? A builder looking for a low-power card with a 125 W TDP and a 300 W PSU requirement, running older games or undemanding applications, and who does not need more than 6 GB of memory. It is also a smaller card with no recorded length or height constraints, which may fit in compact cases where the A6000's 267 mm length and 112 mm height would not.

Who should pick the RTX A6000? Anyone whose workloads exceed 6 GB of memory, anyone doing ray-traced rendering, anyone running AI models that benefit from tensor cores, and anyone who needs the 768.0 GB/s bandwidth for data-heavy tasks. The A6000's 300 W TDP and 700 W PSU recommendation are higher, but the performance headroom justifies the power draw for professional use.

The launch MSRP for the RTX A6000 is 4,649 USD, which reflects its workstation positioning. The RX 5600 OEM has no recorded launch MSRP, but its specifications place it firmly in the consumer segment. The verdict from the data is simple: the RTX A6000 is a professional-grade compute card with flagship-level specifications, while the RX 5600 OEM is a mid-range consumer GPU from an older generation. There is no benchmark result where the AMD card comes out ahead.