AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT vs AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT and the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT represent two distinct generations of AMD’s Radeon RX series, with the former based on RDNA 1.0 and the latter on RDNA 2.0. Across the head-to-head benchmark suite, the RX 6650 XT secures 10 wins out of 11 tests, while the RX 5600 XT claims a single, albeit dramatic, victory. The data shows a clear generational performance shift, but the specifics of each benchmark reveal nuances beyond a simple overall win count.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most decisive victories for the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT come in the DirectX 11 and 10 legacy tests. In PassMark’s DirectX 11 benchmark, the RX 6650 XT scores 169 against the RX 5600 XT’s 96, a delta of -43.2% in favor of the newer card. Similarly, in the DirectX 10 test, the RX 6650 XT’s score of 109 is 33% higher than the RX 5600 XT’s 73. These are the largest percentage gaps in the entire comparison, indicating a substantial advantage in older API workloads that often rely heavily on driver optimization and raw geometry throughput.

The Vulkan and Metal results reinforce the RX 6650 XT’s dominance in modern, low-level APIs. In Geekbench Vulkan, the RX 6650 XT posts 81,306 points, which is 30.9% ahead of the RX 5600 XT’s 56,218. The Geekbench Metal test shows a similar trend, with the RX 6650 XT scoring 97,969 versus 80,376, an 18% advantage. These results suggest that the architectural improvements in RDNA 2.0 translate directly into better performance in APIs that expose hardware capabilities more directly.

The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, a modern and demanding workload, also favors the RX 6650 XT, but by a smaller margin. The RX 6650 XT scores 1859, while the RX 5600 XT manages 1669, a 10.2% difference. This is a more modest gap than the legacy or low-level API tests, suggesting that in pure rasterization-heavy DX12 scenarios, the older card holds up better relative to the newer one than in other workloads.

In the PassMark G3D suite, the RX 6650 XT’s score of 17,166 is 21.6% higher than the RX 5600 XT’s 13,457. This is a broad measure of overall 3D rendering performance and reflects the consistent advantage the newer card holds. The PassMark GPU Compute test also goes to the RX 6650 XT, with a score of 7,532 versus 6,296, a 16.4% delta. The DirectX 12 test shows a 16.1% lead for the RX 6650 XT (62 vs. 52), while DirectX 9 sees a much smaller 6% gap (215 vs. 202). Finally, the 2D test (PassMark G2D) shows a narrow 5.2% lead for the RX 6650 XT, with scores of 918 and 870.

The single benchmark where the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT wins is Geekbench OpenCL. Here, the RX 5600 XT scores 68,537, while the RX 6650 XT manages only 10,111. This results in a deltaPct of 577.8% in favor of the older card. This is a massive outlier, suggesting a potential driver or software compatibility issue with the OpenCL workload on the RDNA 2.0 part, rather than a reflection of real-world compute capability. It is the sole data point where the RX 5600 XT leads, and it is so anomalous that it should be treated with caution when drawing conclusions about general compute performance.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on different architectures, which explains most of the performance disparity. The RX 5600 XT uses the Navi 10 chip with the RDNA 1.0 architecture, while the RX 6650 XT uses the Navi 23 chip with the RDNA 2.0 architecture. Both are fabricated on TSMC’s 7 nm process, but the transistor counts differ slightly, with the RX 5600 XT having 10,300 million transistors on a 251 mm² die, while the RX 6650 XT has 11,060 million transistors on a smaller 237 mm² die. This gives the RX 6650 XT a higher transistor density of 46.7M / mm² compared to the RX 5600 XT’s 41.0M / mm².

The most significant architectural addition to the RX 6650 XT is the inclusion of 32 ray tracing cores, a feature entirely absent from the RX 5600 XT. This enables hardware-accelerated ray tracing on the newer card, a capability that the older card cannot offer. The RX 6650 XT also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the RX 5600 XT is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1). This means the newer card is compatible with the latest DirectX 12 features, including variable rate shading and mesh shaders, which are not available on the older architecture.

Clock speeds also show a major divergence. The RX 6650 XT has a base clock of 2055 MHz, a game clock of 2410 MHz, and a boost clock of 2635 MHz. In contrast, the RX 5600 XT operates at a base clock of 1130 MHz, a game clock of 1375 MHz, and a boost clock of 1560 MHz. This is a substantial clock speed advantage for the RX 6650 XT, which helps it overcome having fewer shading units (2048 vs. 2304) and TMUs (128 vs. 144). The RX 6650 XT also has a higher memory clock at 2190 MHz (17.5 Gbps effective) versus the RX 5600 XT’s 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective).

Memory configurations differ in capacity and bus width. The RX 5600 XT has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 6650 XT has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding 280.3 GB/s of bandwidth. Despite the wider bus on the older card, the newer card’s higher memory clock results in nearly identical bandwidth, with the RX 5600 XT holding a slim 2.7% lead in raw bandwidth.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has more shading units?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT has more shading units, with 2304, compared to the 2048 found on the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT.

Q: What is the difference in memory capacity?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory.

Q: Does the RX 6650 XT support hardware ray tracing?

A: Yes, the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT includes 32 ray tracing cores, whereas the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT has no ray tracing cores.

Q: How do their boost clocks compare?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT has a significantly higher boost clock of 2635 MHz, compared to the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT’s boost clock of 1560 MHz.

Q: Which card has a higher PassMark G3D score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT has a higher PassMark G3D score of 17,166, compared to the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT’s score of 13,457.

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

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT has an average benchmark score of 20,713, while the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT has an average benchmark score of 19,765, despite the newer card winning the majority of individual tests.

Specification Differences

• Architecture: RDNA 1.0 (RX 5600 XT) vs. RDNA 2.0 (RX 6650 XT)
• Chip: Navi 10 (RX 5600 XT) vs. Navi 23 (RX 6650 XT)
• Transistors: 10,300 million (RX 5600 XT) vs. 11,060 million (RX 6650 XT)
• Die Size: 251 mm² (RX 5600 XT) vs. 237 mm² (RX 6650 XT)
• Transistor Density: 41.0M / mm² (RX 5600 XT) vs. 46.7M / mm² (RX 6650 XT)
• Base Clock: 1130 MHz (RX 5600 XT) vs. 2055 MHz (RX 6650 XT)
• Boost Clock: 1560 MHz (RX 5600 XT) vs. 2635 MHz (RX 6650 XT)
• Game Clock: 1375 MHz (RX 5600 XT) vs. 2410 MHz (RX 6650 XT)
• Memory Clock: 1500 MHz / 12 Gbps effective (RX 5600 XT) vs. 2190 MHz / 17.5 Gbps effective (RX 6650 XT)
• Memory Size: 6 GB (RX 5600 XT) vs. 8 GB (RX 6650 XT)
• Memory Bus Width: 192 bit (RX 5600 XT) vs. 128 bit (RX 6650 XT)
• Memory Bandwidth: 288.0 GB/s (RX 5600 XT) vs. 280.3 GB/s (RX 6650 XT)
• Shading Units: 2304 (RX 5600 XT) vs. 2048 (RX 6650 XT)
• TMUs: 144 (RX 5600 XT) vs. 128 (RX 6650 XT)
• Ray Tracing Cores: None (RX 5600 XT) vs. 32 (RX 6650 XT)
• Pixel Rate: 99.84 GPixel/s (RX 5600 XT) vs. 168.6 GPixel/s (RX 6650 XT)
• Texture Rate: 224.6 GTexel/s (RX 5600 XT) vs. 337.3 GTexel/s (RX 6650 XT)
• FP32 Performance: 7.188 TFLOPS (RX 5600 XT) vs. 10.79 TFLOPS (RX 6650 XT)
• FP16 Performance: 14.38 TFLOPS (RX 5600 XT) vs. 21.59 TFLOPS (RX 6650 XT)
• TDP: 150 W (RX 5600 XT) vs. 176 W (RX 6650 XT)
• DirectX Support: 12 (12_1) (RX 5600 XT) vs. 12 Ultimate (12_2) (RX 6650 XT)
• Bus Interface: PCIe 4.0 x16 (RX 5600 XT) vs. PCIe 4.0 x8 (RX 6650 XT)
• Display Outputs: 1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a (RX 5600 XT) vs. 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a (RX 6650 XT)
• Release Date: 2020-01-20 (RX 5600 XT) vs. 2022-05-09 (RX 6650 XT)
• Launch MSRP: 279 USD (RX 5600 XT) vs. 399 USD (RX 6650 XT)

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT wins in nearly every measurable performance category. Its victories span across DirectX 9, 10, 11, and 12 tests, as well as Vulkan, Metal, and 3DMark Steel Nomad. It also wins the PassMark G3D and GPU Compute tests, and even the 2D test. Its advantages are most pronounced in DirectX 11 and Vulkan, where it leads by 43.2% and 30.9%, respectively. For users prioritizing modern gaming performance, ray tracing capability, and higher memory capacity (8 GB), the RX 6650 XT is the clear choice. It also offers a higher pixel rate of 168.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 337.3 GTexel/s, indicating stronger fill-rate performance.

The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT wins in exactly one benchmark: Geekbench OpenCL, with a score of 68,537 versus 10,111. This 577.8% advantage is so large that it likely points to a software or driver anomaly on the RX 6650 XT rather than a true hardware superiority. Excluding this outlier, the RX 5600 XT’s only other advantages are in specifications that do not translate to benchmark wins: it has more shading units (2304 vs. 2048), more TMUs (144 vs. 128), a wider memory bus (192-bit vs. 128-bit), and slightly higher memory bandwidth (288.0 GB/s vs. 280.3 GB/s). It also has a lower TDP of 150 W compared to the RX 6650 XT’s 176 W, and a lower launch MSRP of 279 USD versus 399 USD.

The Verdict

The data overwhelmingly favors the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT. With 10 wins out of 11 head-to-head benchmarks, it is the superior performer in virtually every workload tested. Its architectural advantages, including RDNA 2.0, ray tracing cores, higher clock speeds, and DirectX 12 Ultimate support, provide a compelling case for any user building a system for modern gaming. The RX 6650 XT also offers 8 GB of memory, which is beneficial for current game textures and resolutions.

The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT remains relevant only in the context of its single OpenCL win, which is an outlier. Its higher shading unit count and wider memory bus do not translate into performance gains in the tested suite. For a user who prioritizes raw compute performance in OpenCL-specific applications, the RX 5600 XT might be considered, but the data suggests this is a niche scenario. For all other purposes, the RX 6650 XT is the definitive choice based on benchmark results. Its higher TDP and launch MSRP are offset by the substantial performance leap across all major APIs and modern features.