AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data presents a clear overall winner, but the single AMD victory is significant enough to warrant attention. Across the ten shared tests, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 takes nine wins, with the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT claiming only one.

The most decisive NVIDIA victories come in compute and modern API workloads. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the RTX 3080 scores 4407 against the RX 5600 XT's 1669, a lead of 164.1%. That is the largest gap in the entire comparison. Geekbench OpenCL shows a similar story, with the RTX 3080 producing 152423 points versus 68537, a 122.4% advantage. PassMark GPU Compute also heavily favors NVIDIA, with scores of 14397 and 6296 respectively, translating to a 128.7% difference.

The DirectX suite further reinforces NVIDIA's dominance. In PassMark DirectX 10, the RTX 3080 scores 170 against 73, a 132.9% lead. DirectX 11 shows 207 versus 96, a 115.6% margin. DirectX 12 results are closer in percentage terms but still lopsided: 100 versus 52, a 92.3% lead. Even older APIs favor the RTX 3080, as DirectX 9 shows 258 versus 202, a 27.7% advantage. The PassMark G3D score of 25086 against 13457 represents an 86.4% win, while the 2D test shows a narrower 21.1% margin (1054 versus 870).

The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT's sole victory comes in Geekbench Vulkan, where it scores 56218 against the RTX 3080's 33620. That is a 40.2% difference in AMD's favor, and it is the only test where the RX 5600 XT leads by a substantial margin. This result stands out because it contradicts the pattern seen in every other compute-oriented benchmark, where the RTX 3080 wins by wide margins.

The overall average benchmark scores reflect this split. The RTX 3080 averages 23172 points across its benchmark set, while the RX 5600 XT averages 20713. Despite the massive individual test wins, the average gap is only 11.9%, because the RTX 3080's percentile ranking (68) is only slightly above the RX 5600 XT's (66). The database places the RTX 3080 near the NVIDIA P106-100, which scores 23249, a delta of -0.3%, and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 at 23250, also -0.3%. The RX 5600 XT, meanwhile, sits close to the AMD Radeon R9 M390X (20662, delta 0.2%), the Intel Arc A750 (20582, delta 0.6%), and the Intel Arc B570 (20556, delta 0.8%).

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different manufacturing and design philosophies. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 uses the GA102 chip built on Ampere architecture, fabricated by Samsung on an 8 nm process. The die measures 628 mm² and contains 28,300 million transistors, yielding a density of 45.1 million transistors per square millimeter. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT uses the Navi 10 chip with RDNA 1.0 architecture, built by TSMC on a 7 nm process. Its die is 251 mm² with 10,300 million transistors, giving a density of 41.0 million per square millimeter. The smaller, denser AMD process node does not compensate for the massive transistor and die-size advantage held by NVIDIA.

The compute resources differ enormously. The RTX 3080 packs 8704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 render output units. It also includes 68 dedicated ray tracing cores and 272 tensor cores. The RX 5600 XT has 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with no ray tracing or tensor cores listed. This hardware disparity explains the raw throughput numbers: the RTX 3080 reaches 29.77 TFLOPS FP32 and 29.77 TFLOPS FP16 (1:1 ratio), while the RX 5600 XT delivers 7.188 TFLOPS FP32 and 14.38 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1 ratio). The pixel rate stands at 164.2 GPixel/s for NVIDIA versus 99.84 GPixel/s for AMD, and the texture rate is 465.1 GTexel/s versus 224.6 GTexel/s.

Memory configurations also diverge sharply. The RTX 3080 uses 10 GB of GDDR6X on a 320-bit bus, delivering 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 5600 XT uses 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, with 288.0 GB/s. Clock speeds show a narrower comparison: the RTX 3080 runs at a base of 1440 MHz and boost of 1710 MHz, while the RX 5600 XT has a 1130 MHz base, 1375 MHz game clock, and 1560 MHz boost. Memory clocks are 1188 MHz (19 Gbps effective) for NVIDIA and 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) for AMD.

Power and physical characteristics follow the performance gap. The RTX 3080 has a TDP of 320 W, requires a 700 W suggested PSU, and uses a single 12-pin connector. It measures 285 mm in length, 112 mm in height, and 40 mm in width, fitting a dual-slot design. The RX 5600 XT has a 150 W TDP, a 450 W suggested PSU, and a single 8-pin connector. Its length is 267 mm, also dual-slot. Both support PCIe 4.0 x16, but display outputs differ: the RTX 3080 offers 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the RX 5600 XT provides 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a.

API support shows a generation gap. The RTX 3080 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RX 5600 XT supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The DirectX feature-level difference is one reason the RTX 3080 performs relatively better in newer API workloads.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3080 dominates in almost every measurable category, but the nature of its wins varies. In pure compute throughput, OpenCL and GPU Compute benchmarks show leads exceeding 120%. These are workloads that leverage massive shader counts and high memory bandwidth, areas where the RTX 3080's 8704 shading units and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth provide a decisive edge. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result, with a 164.1% lead, indicates that modern game engines with DirectX 12 Ultimate features run substantially faster on the NVIDIA card.

For DirectX 9, 10, and 11 workloads, the RTX 3080 wins by margins ranging from 27.7% to 132.9%. The older DirectX 9 result is the closest NVIDIA win, suggesting that legacy titles do not fully utilize the RTX 3080's hardware. Still, the absolute scores favor NVIDIA across all these API levels.

The RX 5600 XT wins in Geekbench Vulkan by 40.2%. This is a specific API workload where AMD's RDNA architecture appears to have an advantage in driver efficiency or command processing. The Vulkan score of 56218 is notably higher than the RTX 3080's 33620, and this is the only benchmark where the RX 5600 XT exceeds the RTX 3080 by a wide margin. Users running Vulkan-based applications, such as certain emulators or Linux-native games, may see relatively better performance on the AMD card, though the absolute performance in other APIs remains far behind.

The 2D test shows the smallest NVIDIA lead at 21.1%, which indicates that desktop and 2D acceleration workloads are less dependent on the massive compute differences. For everyday productivity tasks, the gap narrows considerably.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins in DirectX 12 workloads?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 wins PassMark DirectX 12 with a score of 100 against the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT's 52, a 92.3% lead. The RTX 3080 also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the RX 5600 XT supports DirectX 12 (12_1).

Q: Is there any test where the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT beats the RTX 3080?

A: Yes, in Geekbench Vulkan the RX 5600 XT scores 56218 versus the RTX 3080's 33620, a 40.2% difference in AMD's favor. This is the only shared benchmark where AMD wins.

Q: How do the memory bandwidths compare?

A: The RTX 3080 has 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth from 10 GB of GDDR6X on a 320-bit bus. The RX 5600 XT has 288.0 GB/s from 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus.

Q: What are the average benchmark scores for each card?

A: The RTX 3080 averages 23172 points, while the RX 5600 XT averages 20713 points. The RTX 3080 ranks in the 68th percentile of all GPUs, and the RX 5600 XT ranks in the 66th.

Q: Which card has ray tracing hardware?

A: The RTX 3080 includes 68 ray tracing cores and 272 tensor cores. The RX 5600 XT has no ray tracing or tensor cores listed in the database.

Q: What is the power requirement difference?

A: The RTX 3080 has a 320 W TDP and a suggested PSU of 700 W, using a 12-pin connector. The RX 5600 XT has a 150 W TDP and a suggested PSU of 450 W, using an 8-pin connector.

The Verdict

The data points to a straightforward conclusion for most users. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 wins nine of ten head-to-head benchmarks, with leads exceeding 100% in multiple tests. Its average score of 23172 places it slightly below the NVIDIA P106-100 and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16, but still well above the RX 5600 XT's average of 20713. The RTX 3080 offers 4 GB more memory, more than double the bandwidth, and nearly four times the FP32 throughput. For any workload that stresses modern DirectX 12, OpenCL, or GPU compute, the RTX 3080 is the clear choice.

The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT finds its niche in Vulkan-based applications. Its 40.2% lead in Geekbench Vulkan is the only bright spot, but it is a meaningful one for users who prioritize that specific API. The card also requires less power, with a 150 W TDP versus 320 W, and a smaller physical footprint at 267 mm length versus 285 mm. For users with constrained power budgets or smaller cases, the RX 5600 XT is the more practical option, provided their workloads align with its Vulkan strength.

Given the benchmark results, the RTX 3080 is the superior performer for gaming, compute, and general GPU acceleration. The RX 5600 XT should be considered only when Vulkan performance is the primary requirement or when power and size constraints outweigh raw performance. The database's percentile rankings, 68 versus 66, show that both cards sit in similar overall tiers, but the head-to-head data reveals a gap that percentile scores alone do not capture.