AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark split between the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile is not a clean sweep in either direction. The RTX 3060 Mobile takes the majority of wins, six out of ten recorded tests, but the RX 5600 XT counters with four wins that are decisive in specific workloads.

The NVIDIA card owns the modern DirectX 12 and compute-oriented tests. Its largest advantage appears in Geekbench Vulkan, where it scores 80,344 against the AMD's 56,218, a 30% gap. It also leads in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 by 8.3%, in Geekbench OpenCL by 13.8%, and in every Passmark DirectX 10, 11, and 12 test. If your workload is built around current APIs, ray tracing, or general GPU compute via Vulkan or OpenCL, the RTX 3060 Mobile is the stronger pick.

The AMD card wins where older APIs and 2D rasterization matter. Its most striking victory is in Passmark DirectX 9, where it scores 202 versus 146, a 38.4% lead. It also dominates the Passmark G2D test with 870 points versus 588, a 48% advantage. These are not headline numbers for modern gaming, but they indicate that the RX 5600 XT retains an edge in legacy DirectX 9 titles and in 2D desktop or productivity scenarios. The AMD card also wins Passmark G3D by a slim 1.7% margin (13,457 vs 13,230) and Passmark GPU Compute by 10.1% (6,296 vs 5,718).

The practical split: the RTX 3060 Mobile is the card for modern games and compute APIs. The RX 5600 XT is the card for older titles, 2D-heavy workloads, and a specific set of compute tasks where its architecture still leads.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT has an average benchmark score of 20,713, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile averages 18,159. The RX 5600 XT also sits at the 66th percentile of all GPUs, compared to the 62nd percentile for the NVIDIA card.

Q: Is the RTX 3060 Mobile faster in DirectX 12?

A: Yes. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the RTX 3060 Mobile scores 1,821 versus 1,669 for the RX 5600 XT, a delta of 8.3%. It also wins Passmark DirectX 12 (58 vs 52) and Passmark DirectX 11 (110 vs 96).

Q: Why does the RX 5600 XT win the overall average if it loses most head-to-head tests?

A: The RX 5600 XT has four wins, including two with very large margins (Passmark DirectX 9 and Passmark G2D). Its Passmark G3D score of 13,457 is also higher than the NVIDIA's 13,230. These wins, combined with a strong Passmark GPU Compute score of 6,296, push its average above the RTX 3060 Mobile's average.

Q: How do the cards compare in Vulkan performance?

A: The RTX 3060 Mobile is significantly ahead. In Geekbench Vulkan, it scores 80,344 against 56,218 for the RX 5600 XT, a 30% gap. This is the largest single-test difference in the entire comparison.

Q: Does the RTX 3060 Mobile support ray tracing?

A: Yes. It has 30 dedicated RT cores and 120 tensor cores. The RX 5600 XT has no RT cores or tensor cores listed in its specifications. The NVIDIA card also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the AMD card supports DirectX 12 (12_1).

Q: Which card is better for legacy DirectX 9 games?

A: The RX 5600 XT is far better. Its Passmark DirectX 9 score of 202 is 38.4% higher than the RTX 3060 Mobile's 146. This is the AMD card's single largest winning margin.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

Looking at the ten recorded head-to-head results, the RTX 3060 Mobile wins six, but the magnitude of each win varies widely. The most lopsided victory for NVIDIA is in Geekbench Vulkan, where it scores 80,344 versus 56,218. That is a 30% gap, the biggest difference in either direction across all tests. This is not a marginal edge; it is a clear architectural advantage in Vulkan compute and rendering workloads.

The next largest NVIDIA wins are in Geekbench OpenCL (79,483 vs 68,537, a 13.8% gap) and Passmark DirectX 10 (90 vs 73, an 18.9% gap). In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the NVIDIA card leads by 8.3% (1,821 vs 1,669). The Passmark DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 wins are narrower: 12.7% (110 vs 96) and 10.3% (58 vs 52), respectively.

The RX 5600 XT's wins are asymmetric. Its largest victory is in Passmark G2D, where it scores 870 against 588, a 48% gap. This is a 2D rasterization test, and the AMD card crushes it. The next biggest win is Passmark DirectX 9, with 202 versus 146, a 38.4% margin. These two wins alone explain why the AMD card's average score remains competitive despite losing most modern-API tests.

In the more mainstream 3D gaming tests, the two cards are nearly tied. Passmark G3D shows 13,457 for the RX 5600 XT against 13,230 for the RTX 3060 Mobile, a 1.7% delta. This is the closest result in the entire comparison. The RX 5600 XT also wins Passmark GPU Compute with 6,296 versus 5,718, a 10.1% margin.

The data shows a clear pattern: the RTX 3060 Mobile excels in Vulkan and OpenCL compute, while the RX 5600 XT holds its ground in legacy DirectX and 2D tasks, and is competitive in the overall 3D rasterization score.

Specification Differences

The two cards share several core specifications. Both have 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus. Both use a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface. Both support DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

The differences start with the memory clock. The RX 5600 XT runs its memory at 1500 MHz with 12 Gbps effective speed, yielding 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 3060 Mobile runs at 1750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective speed, yielding 336.0 GB/s. That is a 48 GB/s bandwidth advantage for the NVIDIA card.

Clock speeds also differ. The RX 5600 XT has a base clock of 1130 MHz and a boost clock of 1560 MHz, with a game clock of 1375 MHz. The RTX 3060 Mobile has a lower base clock of 900 MHz and a boost clock of 1425 MHz. Despite the lower clocks, the NVIDIA card delivers higher raw FP32 throughput.

The shading unit count is heavily in NVIDIA's favor. The RTX 3060 Mobile has 3,840 shading units, versus 2,304 for the RX 5600 XT. However, the AMD card has more texture mapping units (144 vs 120) and more ROPs (64 vs 48). The pixel rate reflects this: the RX 5600 XT outputs 99.84 GPixel/s versus 68.40 GPixel/s for the RTX 3060 Mobile. The texture rate is also higher on the AMD card, at 224.6 GTexel/s versus 171.0 GTexel/s.

Power consumption is a major differentiator. The RX 5600 XT is rated at 150 W TDP and requires a single 8-pin power connector with a suggested 450 W power supply. The RTX 3060 Mobile is rated at 80 W TDP and has no power connectors listed, as it is a mobile part. The physical dimensions also differ: the RX 5600 XT is a dual-slot card measuring 267 mm (10.5 inches) in length, while the RTX 3060 Mobile has no listed dimensions or slot width.

The RX 5600 XT has a launch MSRP of 279 USD. The RTX 3060 Mobile has no launch MSRP recorded in the database.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different architectural generations and foundries. The RX 5600 XT is built on AMD's Navi 10 chip using RDNA 1.0 architecture, fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. The RTX 3060 Mobile uses NVIDIA's GA106 chip with Ampere architecture, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung.

The transistor counts are close: 10,300 million for the AMD chip and 12,000 million for the NVIDIA chip. Die size is also similar, with the RX 5600 XT at 251 mm² and the RTX 3060 Mobile at 276 mm². Transistor density is 41.0M per mm² for the AMD card and 43.5M per mm² for the NVIDIA card.

The core feature set diverges sharply. The RTX 3060 Mobile includes 30 RT cores and 120 tensor cores, enabling hardware ray tracing and AI-accelerated features. The RX 5600 XT has no RT cores and no tensor cores. This explains why the NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the AMD card is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1).

FP32 compute performance favors the NVIDIA card. The RTX 3060 Mobile delivers 10.94 TFLOPS, versus 7.188 TFLOPS for the RX 5600 XT. FP16 performance is interesting: the RX 5600 XT can do 14.38 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio, while the RTX 3060 Mobile does 10.94 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio. This means the AMD card has higher peak FP16 throughput, but the NVIDIA card does not rely on a ratio for its FP16 performance.

The RX 5600 XT uses a 7 nm TSMC process, a generation ahead of the 8 nm Samsung node used by the RTX 3060 Mobile. The AMD card is also from an earlier generation, releasing in January 2020, while the RTX 3060 Mobile released in January 2021. The RX 5600 XT's predecessor is Vega, with a successor of Navi II. The RTX 3060 Mobile's predecessor is GeForce 20 Mobile, with no successor listed.

The Verdict

The choice between these two cards depends entirely on the workload. If you are building a desktop system with a focus on modern gaming, ray tracing, or compute-heavy applications using Vulkan or OpenCL, the RTX 3060 Mobile is the stronger option. It wins 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 by 8.3%, Geekbench Vulkan by 30%, and Geekbench OpenCL by 13.8%. It also has dedicated RT and tensor cores, and support for DirectX 12 Ultimate. The 336.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 10.94 TFLOPS FP32 performance are concrete advantages.

If your usage involves older games, 2D-heavy desktop work, or specific compute tasks, the RX 5600 XT is not outclassed. It wins Passmark DirectX 9 by 38.4% and Passmark G2D by 48%. Its Passmark G3D score is 1.7% higher, and its Passmark GPU Compute score is 10.1% higher. The higher pixel rate (99.84 GPixel/s) and texture rate (224.6 GTexel/s) are real advantages in fill-rate-bound scenarios. The 150 W TDP and dual-slot design mean it needs a proper power supply, while the RTX 3060 Mobile's 80 W TDP is a mobile part with no power connector requirements.

The overall average benchmark score favors the RX 5600 XT (20,713 vs 18,159), and it sits at the 66th percentile versus the 62nd. But that average is skewed by the AMD card's massive wins in legacy tests. For the modern gaming and compute landscape, the RTX 3060 Mobile is the more capable card. For a desktop machine that runs a mix of old and new software, the RX 5600 XT holds its own, but the NVIDIA card's architectural features and raw FP32 power make it the better long-term investment for current and future titles. The data is clear: pick the RTX 3060 Mobile for modern APIs, pick the RX 5600 XT for legacy compatibility and 2D performance.