AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Comparison

The benchmark data is unambiguous: the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT is a generational leap ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780, winning every head-to-head test by margins that range from decisive to astronomical. The RX 5600 XT holds an average benchmark score of 20,713 compared to 19,164 for the GTX 780, placing it at the 66th percentile of all GPUs versus the 64th percentile for the older card.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most striking result appears in the Geekbench Metal test, where the RX 5600 XT scores 80,376 against a mere 10,114 for the GTX 780. That is a 694.7% advantage, an enormous gap that reflects not just raw compute but also architectural efficiency and driver maturity in Apple’s Metal API. The GTX 780, built for an era before Metal existed, simply cannot compete in this workload.

The Geekbench OpenCL result tells a similar story, though with a smaller margin. The RX 5600 XT posts 68,537 points versus 22,863 for the GTX 780, a 199.8% lead. This test exercises general-purpose GPU compute, and the data shows the RDNA 1.0 architecture delivering over three times the performance of Kepler in this metric.

Vulkan performance, the third and final head-to-head test, shows the RX 5600 XT winning 56,218 to 24,514, a 129.3% advantage. This is the closest of the three matchups, yet still represents a doubling of performance. The GTX 780 supports Vulkan 1.2.175, so it runs the workload, but the RX 5600 XT’s newer architecture and Vulkan 1.4 support extract far more throughput from the same API.

Across all three benchmarks, the RX 5600 XT wins 3-0. There is no test in the dataset where the GTX 780 takes the lead. The closest relative comparison comes from the average scores: the RX 5600 XT’s nearest rival is the AMD Radeon R9 M390X at a 0.2% delta, while the GTX 780 sits within 0.1% of the NVIDIA TITAN Xp. The RX 5600 XT outperforms the GTX 780 by roughly 8% on average, which understates the true gap because the average includes the lopsided Metal result.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from completely different eras of GPU design. The RX 5600 XT uses the Navi 10 chip built on RDNA 1.0 architecture, fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. The GTX 780 uses the GK110 chip with Kepler architecture, manufactured on a 28 nm process, also at TSMC. The process node difference is enormous: 7 nm versus 28 nm, which directly explains the transistor density numbers. The RX 5600 XT packs 10,300 million transistors into a 251 mm² die, yielding 41.0M transistors per mm². The GTX 780 contains 7,080 million transistors spread across a much larger 561 mm² die, giving just 12.6M transistors per mm².

Memory configurations differ substantially. The RX 5600 XT ships with 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GTX 780 has 3 GB of GDDR5 on a wider 384-bit bus, achieving 288.4 GB/s. The bandwidth is nearly identical, but the RX 5600 XT has double the capacity and newer memory technology.

Both cards share the same shading unit count at 2,304, but the rest of the compute pipeline diverges. The RX 5600 XT has 144 texture mapping units and 64 raster operation pipelines, while the GTX 780 has 192 TMUs and 48 ROPs. The RX 5600 XT compensates for fewer TMUs with much higher clocks: 1130 MHz base and 1560 MHz boost versus 863 MHz base and 902 MHz boost on the GTX 780. This clock advantage drives the pixel rate to 99.84 GPixel/s on the RX 5600 XT versus 43.30 GPixel/s on the GTX 780, and the texture rate to 224.6 GTexel/s versus 173.2 GTexel/s.

Compute throughput tells the performance story most clearly. The RX 5600 XT delivers 7.188 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, while the GTX 780 manages 4.156 TFLOPS. The RX 5600 XT also supports FP16 at 14.38 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio; the GTX 780 has no FP16 capability listed. The RX 5600 XT’s boost clock of 1560 MHz is 658 MHz higher than the GTX 780’s boost clock of 902 MHz, a 73% clock advantage that drives most of the performance gap.

Where Each One Wins

The RX 5600 XT wins everywhere in the benchmark data. It dominates in Metal, OpenCL, and Vulkan workloads, and its average score across all tests is higher. The GTX 780 has no benchmark victory in the dataset.

For compute-intensive tasks, the RX 5600 XT is the clear choice. Its FP32 throughput of 7.188 TFLOPS, nearly double the GTX 780’s 4.156 TFLOPS, gives it a massive edge in OpenCL and Vulkan compute workloads. The 199.8% OpenCL lead and 129.3% Vulkan lead are consistent with this raw compute advantage.

For modern API compatibility, the RX 5600 XT again wins. It supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, while the GTX 780 supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175. The higher DirectX feature level and newer Vulkan version mean the RX 5600 XT can run newer rendering paths that the GTX 780 cannot.

The GTX 780 does have one theoretical advantage: its 384-bit memory bus and 192 TMUs suggest it could excel in texture-heavy workloads at lower resolutions. But the benchmark data shows no such win. Its 173.2 GTexel/s texture rate is lower than the RX 5600 XT’s 224.6 GTexel/s, so even in texture-bound scenarios, the newer card wins.

The Verdict

The data supports only one conclusion: the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT is the superior GPU in every measured category. Its 3-0 head-to-head record, higher average score of 20,713 versus 19,164, and 66th versus 64th percentile ranking all point in the same direction.

For anyone running Metal-based workloads, the choice is obvious. The 694.7% performance lead in Geekbench Metal is so large that the GTX 780 cannot be considered viable for that use case. For OpenCL or Vulkan compute, the RX 5600 XT’s 199.8% and 129.3% leads respectively make it the only rational option.

The GTX 780’s only salvaging feature is its bandwidth parity at 288.4 GB/s versus 288.0 GB/s, but that similarity cannot overcome the massive clock and compute advantages of the RX 5600 XT. The GTX 780 also draws 250 W of power versus 150 W for the RX 5600 XT, and requires a 600 W suggested PSU versus 450 W, making the RX 5600 XT more efficient as well as faster.

The RX 5600 XT launched at 279 USD MSRP; the GTX 780 launched at 649 USD MSRP. The newer card is faster in every benchmark, uses less power, and had a lower launch price.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins in Geekbench Metal performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT wins decisively, scoring 80,376 versus 10,114 for the GTX 780, a 694.7% advantage.

Q: How do the two cards compare in OpenCL compute?

A: The RX 5600 XT scores 68,537 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 199.8% higher than the GTX 780’s 22,863.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference?

A: The RX 5600 XT has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the GTX 780 has 3 GB of GDDR5.

Q: Which GPU has a higher boost clock?

A: The RX 5600 XT boosts to 1560 MHz, compared to 902 MHz for the GTX 780.

Q: What is the transistor count for each chip?

A: The RX 5600 XT’s Navi 10 chip contains 10,300 million transistors, while the GTX 780’s GK110 chip contains 7,080 million transistors.

Q: Do both cards support Vulkan?

A: Yes, but with different versions. The RX 5600 XT supports Vulkan 1.4, while the GTX 780 supports Vulkan 1.2.175.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 |

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

| Architecture | RDNA 1.0 | Kepler |

| Process Node | 7 nm | 28 nm |

| Transistors | 10,300 million | 7,080 million |

| Die Size | 251 mm² | 561 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 41.0M / mm² | 12.6M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1130 MHz | 863 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1560 MHz | 902 MHz |

| Memory Size | 6 GB | 3 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus Width | 192 bit | 384 bit |

| Memory Speed | 12 Gbps effective | 6 Gbps effective |

| TMUs | 144 | 192 |

| ROPs | 64 | 48 |

| Pixel Rate | 99.84 GPixel/s | 43.30 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 224.6 GTexel/s | 173.2 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 7.188 TFLOPS | 4.156 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 14.38 TFLOPS (2:1) | Not listed |

| TDP | 150 W | 250 W |

| Power Connectors | 1x 8-pin | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 450 W | 600 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 4.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| DirectX Support | 12 (12_1) | 12 (11_0) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.4 | 1.2.175 |

| Display Outputs | 1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a | 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, 1x DisplayPort 1.2 |

| Length | 267 mm (10.5 inches) | 267 mm (10.5 inches) |

| Height | Not listed | 111 mm (4.4 inches) |

| Width | Not listed | 38 mm (1.5 inches) |

| Average Benchmark Score | 20,713 | 19,164 |

| Percentile vs All GPUs | 66 | 64 |