AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT vs NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

Across the ten recorded head-to-head tests, the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 takes seven wins, while the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT claims three. The largest single margin belongs to the Quadro in Geekbench Vulkan, where it scores 78,844 against the Radeon's 56,218, a 28.7% advantage. That is a substantial gap and points to a strong API-level performance difference in favor of NVIDIA.

The Quadro also leads by a double-digit margin in Passmark DirectX 10, scoring 108 versus 73, a 32.4% delta. In DirectX 11, it repeats the pattern with a 128 to 96 result, a 25% lead. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test shows the Quadro ahead at 1,873 versus 1,669, a 10.9% edge. Passmark G3D follows with 15,117 against 13,457, an 11% difference. Geekbench OpenCL adds another NVIDIA win, 74,540 to 68,537, an 8.1% margin. The narrowest Quadro win is Passmark DirectX 9, 205 to 202, a 1.5% difference.

The AMD card wins three tests, but the margins are smaller. Passmark G2D sees the Radeon at 870 versus 846, a 2.8% lead. Passmark GPU Compute goes to AMD at 6,296 versus 6,176, a 1.9% edge. Passmark DirectX 12 is a perfect tie at 52 to 52, and the database awards the win to AMD on the basis of the tie. Notably, the DirectX 12 tie means neither card can separate itself under that API, which is a relevant data point for modern gaming workloads.

The average benchmark score tells a different story than the head-to-head wins. The Radeon RX 5600 XT has an average benchmark score of 20,713, while the Quadro RTX 4000 sits at 17,789. That places the Radeon in the 66th percentile of all GPUs, versus the Quadro's 61st percentile. The nearest rivals for the Radeon are the AMD Radeon R9 M390X at 20,662 (0.2% behind), the Intel Arc A750 at 20,582 (0.6% behind), the Intel Arc B570 at 20,556 (0.8% behind), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile at 20,534 (0.9% behind). The Quadro's nearest rivals are much lower: the AMD Radeon HD 7790 at 17,666 (0.7% behind), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 at 17,639 (0.9% behind), the AMD Radeon 780M at 17,588 (1.1% behind), and the AMD Radeon Pro 560 at 17,551 (1.4% behind). So while the Quadro wins more individual head-to-head tests, the Radeon sits higher in the overall performance distribution.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different architectural generations and process nodes. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT uses the RDNA 1.0 architecture on the Navi 10 chip, built on a 7 nm TSMC process. It packs 10,300 million transistors into a 251 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 41.0M per mm². The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 uses the Turing architecture on the TU104 chip, built on a 12 nm TSMC process. It contains 13,600 million transistors across a 545 mm² die, for a density of 25.0M per mm². The Radeon's smaller, denser die reflects the more advanced process node.

Both cards have identical shader and texture hardware: 2,304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The pixel rates are nearly equal at 99.84 GPixel/s for AMD and 98.88 GPixel/s for NVIDIA, and texture rates are similarly close at 224.6 GTexel/s versus 222.5 GTexel/s. The FP32 compute is also very close: the Radeon delivers 7.188 TFLOPS and the Quadro 7.119 TFLOPS. FP16 rates match the FP32 ratio on both, at 14.38 TFLOPS and 14.24 TFLOPS respectively, both at a 2:1 ratio.

The defining architectural difference is the presence of dedicated hardware in the Quadro. The RTX 4000 includes 36 ray tracing cores and 288 tensor cores, while the Radeon RX 5600 XT has none. This is a fundamental feature gap: the NVIDIA card is designed to accelerate ray-traced workloads and tensor-based operations directly, whereas the AMD card relies on shader-based compute for those tasks.

Memory configurations also diverge. The Radeon has 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Quadro has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 416.0 GB/s. The clock speeds differ as well: the Radeon runs a 1130 MHz base and 1560 MHz boost, with a 1375 MHz game clock and 1500 MHz memory clock (12 Gbps effective). The Quadro runs a 1005 MHz base and 1545 MHz boost, with a 1625 MHz memory clock (13 Gbps effective). The Quadro's memory clocks are higher, but its base and boost clocks are lower.

Interface and power specs separate them further. The Radeon uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the Quadro uses PCIe 3.0 x16. The Radeon is dual-slot, the Quadro is single-slot. Both use a single 8-pin power connector and both suggest a 450 W power supply. TDP is close: the Radeon is rated at 150 W and the Quadro at 160 W. The Quadro supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Radeon supports DirectX 12 (12_1). The Quadro also offers a USB Type-C output alongside three DisplayPort 1.4a connections, whereas the Radeon has one HDMI 2.0b and three DisplayPort 1.4a outputs.

Where Each One Wins

The data shows a clear split by workload type. The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 dominates in API-level synthetic tests and in the newer 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark. It wins Geekbench Vulkan, Geekbench OpenCL, Passmark DirectX 10, Passmark DirectX 11, Passmark DirectX 9, Passmark G3D, and 3DMark Steel Nomad. These tests tend to stress raw geometry, rasterization, and compute dispatch patterns that favor the Turing architecture's dedicated RT and tensor cores, even when those cores are not directly exercised. The 28.7% Vulkan lead and the 25% DirectX 11 lead are the standout margins here.

The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT wins in Passmark G2D, Passmark GPU Compute, and ties in Passmark DirectX 12. The G2D win at 2.8% suggests a small advantage in 2D raster operations. The GPU Compute win at 1.9% indicates that for general-purpose compute workloads measured by Passmark, the Radeon's higher FP32 throughput and denser transistor layout provide a slight edge. The DirectX 12 tie is notable: at 52 to 52, both cards deliver identical performance under that API, which suggests that when the workload maps to DX12's lower-level abstractions, the architectural differences wash out.

For a gamer, the Radeon's higher overall percentile ranking (66th versus 61st) and its wins in compute and 2D tests suggest it holds up well in traditional rasterized gaming and light compute tasks. For a workstation user, the Quadro's wins in every API-specific 3D test, plus its dedicated ray tracing and tensor cores, make it the stronger choice for professional visualization, ray-traced rendering, and AI-assisted workloads. The Quadro's 8 GB memory capacity versus the Radeon's 6 GB also supports larger datasets, though the Radeon's bandwidth deficit (288 GB/s versus 416 GB/s) is significant in memory-bound scenarios.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT has an average benchmark score of 20,713, while the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 has 17,789. The Radeon also ranks in the 66th percentile of all GPUs, versus the Quadro's 61st percentile.

Q: Does the Quadro RTX 4000 support ray tracing?

A: Yes. The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 includes 36 ray tracing cores and 288 tensor cores. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT has no ray tracing or tensor cores.

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 has 416.0 GB/s of bandwidth from its 8 GB GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT has 288.0 GB/s from 6 GB GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus.

Q: How do the two cards compare in Geekbench Vulkan?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 scores 78,844, which is 28.7% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT's 56,218. This is the largest single head-to-head margin in the data.

Q: What are the process nodes for each card?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT is built on a 7 nm TSMC process, while the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 uses a 12 nm TSMC process. The Radeon's die is 251 mm² with 10,300 million transistors; the Quadro's is 545 mm² with 13,600 million transistors.

Q: Which card has a higher boost clock?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT has a boost clock of 1560 MHz, slightly higher than the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000's 1545 MHz. The Radeon's base clock is also higher at 1130 MHz versus 1005 MHz.

The Verdict

The choice between these two cards depends entirely on the workload profile. The data shows the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 wins 7 out of 10 head-to-head tests, including all of the API-specific 3D benchmarks with meaningful margins. Its 28.7% lead in Geekbench Vulkan and 25% lead in Passmark DirectX 11 are decisive. It also has dedicated ray tracing and tensor cores, 8 GB of memory, and a higher memory bandwidth of 416 GB/s. For professionals running DirectX 11 or Vulkan-based applications, or workloads that leverage ray tracing and tensor compute, the Quadro is the clear pick from the data.

The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT is not without its strengths. It has a higher average benchmark score overall (20,713 versus 17,789) and a better percentile ranking (66th versus 61st). It wins in Passmark GPU Compute and Passmark G2D, and ties in DirectX 12. Its 7 nm process node delivers a much smaller die and higher transistor density, and its FP32 compute is marginally higher at 7.188 TFLOPS versus 7.119 TFLOPS. For users focused on general compute, 2D performance, or DirectX 12 workloads, the Radeon holds its own.

The deciding factor is the presence of dedicated hardware. The Quadro's 36 ray tracing cores and 288 tensor cores are features the Radeon simply does not have. If the workload touches ray tracing or tensor-based operations, the Quadro is the only option in this comparison. If the workload is purely traditional rasterization and general compute, the Radeon's higher average score and compute wins make it a competitive alternative, despite losing the majority of individual tests. The Quadro's launch MSRP is 899 USD, while the Radeon's launch MSRP is 279 USD, though pricing is not a factor in the performance analysis. The data ultimately favors the Quadro for broader 3D API coverage and specialized hardware, while the Radeon offers a higher overall benchmark standing for general compute and 2D tasks.