AMD Radeon RX 5600M vs NVIDIA RTX A2000 Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 5600M and NVIDIA RTX A2000 both sit at the 85th percentile among all GPUs, making them close competitors in overall performance. Their average benchmark scores differ by only 1.2%, with the RX 5600M at 46601 and the RTX A2000 at 46043. However, the head-to-head benchmark results reveal a more nuanced picture, as the NVIDIA card wins all three shared tests, albeit with varying margins.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The RTX A2000's most decisive victory comes in the Geekbench Vulkan test, where it scores 69089 against the RX 5600M's 48843. That represents a 29.3% advantage for the NVIDIA card, the largest gap in any shared benchmark. This suggests a substantial difference in graphics API performance under Vulkan, which often reflects driver optimization and architectural efficiency rather than raw compute power alone.

The Geekbench OpenCL test also favors the RTX A2000, but by a smaller margin. The NVIDIA card scores 67695, while the AMD card manages 59589, a 12% difference. This result indicates that while the RTX A2000 leads in general-purpose compute workloads, the RX 5600M is not far behind in this particular API. The gap is meaningful but not overwhelming.

In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, the two cards are nearly tied. The RTX A2000 scores 1345, and the RX 5600M scores 1320, a difference of just 1.9%. This is the closest contest between the two, showing that in modern DirectX 12 gaming workloads, the AMD card can nearly match its NVIDIA rival. The data does not show any benchmark where the RX 5600M wins, giving the RTX A2000 a clean sweep of 3 wins to 0.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural generations and design philosophies. The RX 5600M uses AMD's RDNA 1.0 architecture on a 7 nm TSMC process, while the RTX A2000 uses NVIDIA's Ampere architecture on an 8 nm Samsung process. The AMD chip, Navi 10, packs 10,300 million transistors on a 251 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 41.0M per mm². The NVIDIA chip, GA106, contains 12,000 million transistors on a 276 mm² die, with a slightly higher density of 43.5M per mm².

The RTX A2000 features dedicated hardware for ray tracing and AI workloads, with 26 RT cores and 104 tensor cores. The RX 5600M has no such dedicated units, relying purely on its shading units for compute tasks. This is a fundamental architectural divergence that explains the RTX A2000's stronger showing in Vulkan and OpenCL tests, which may leverage these specialized cores depending on the workload.

In terms of raw shader resources, the RTX A2000 has 3328 shading units, significantly more than the RX 5600M's 2304. However, the AMD card has more texture mapping units (144 vs 104) and more raster output units (64 vs 48). This means the RX 5600M excels at pixel throughput, with a pixel rate of 80.96 GPixel/s compared to the RTX A2000's 57.60 GPixel/s, and texture rate of 182.2 GTexel/s vs 124.8 GTexel/s.

The floating-point performance tells a different story. The RTX A2000 achieves 7.987 TFLOPS in FP32, while the RX 5600M delivers 5.829 TFLOPS. For FP16, the RX 5600M reaches 11.66 TFLOPS using a 2:1 ratio, while the RTX A2000 maintains 7.987 TFLOPS at 1:1. This gives the AMD card a theoretical advantage in half-precision workloads, but the NVIDIA card leads in standard single-precision compute.

The Verdict

Looking strictly at the data, the NVIDIA RTX A2000 is the stronger performer in every shared benchmark. It wins the Vulkan test by 29.3%, the OpenCL test by 12%, and the DX12 test by 1.9%. For users prioritizing compute performance across multiple APIs, the RTX A2000 is the clear choice from these results.

The AMD Radeon RX 5600M, however, is not without merit. Its near-tie in the DX12 test, combined with higher pixel and texture rates, suggests it holds its own in certain gaming or graphics-intensive scenarios. The RX 5600M also has a higher average benchmark score than its rival, but this is partly due to the inclusion of a Geekbench Metal test (76653) that the RTX A2000 does not have.

The RTX A2000 offers features the RX 5600M lacks, namely RT cores and tensor cores. These are essential for ray tracing and AI-accelerated tasks, making the NVIDIA card more versatile for professional workstation use. The RTX A2000 also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the RX 5600M only reaches DirectX 12 (12_1).

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5600M has an average benchmark score of 46601, while the NVIDIA RTX A2000 scores 46043, a difference of 1.2%.

Q: How large is the performance gap in the Vulkan benchmark?

A: The RTX A2000 leads by 29.3% in Geekbench Vulkan, scoring 69089 versus 48843 for the RX 5600M.

Q: Do both GPUs have the same memory configuration?

A: Yes, both have 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, with 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth and 12 Gbps effective memory speed.

Q: Which GPU has dedicated ray tracing hardware?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A2000 has 26 RT cores. The AMD Radeon RX 5600M has no RT cores listed.

Q: What is the power consumption difference?

A: The RX 5600M has a TDP of 150 W, while the RTX A2000 has a TDP of 70 W, making the NVIDIA card significantly more power-efficient.

Q: Which GPU is smaller in physical size?

A: The RTX A2000 is 167 mm long and 69 mm high, while the RX 5600M has no listed dimensions; it uses an IGP form factor.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX A2000 wins decisively in Vulkan and OpenCL compute workloads. The 29.3% Vulkan advantage and 12% OpenCL lead indicate that NVIDIA's architecture and drivers are better optimized for these APIs. The presence of 104 tensor cores also gives the RTX A2000 a clear edge in AI-accelerated tasks, even though no specific AI benchmarks were listed in the data.

The RX 5600M wins in theoretical pixel and texture throughput. Its pixel rate of 80.96 GPixel/s exceeds the RTX A2000's 57.60 GPixel/s by roughly 40%, and its texture rate of 182.2 GTexel/s is about 46% higher. These metrics suggest the AMD card may perform better in fill-rate-limited scenarios, such as high-resolution rendering with heavy post-processing effects.

The DX12 test shows the RX 5600M nearly matching the RTX A2000, with only a 1.9% deficit. This indicates that in modern gaming workloads using DirectX 12, the AMD card is highly competitive. For users focused exclusively on gaming, the RX 5600M offers comparable performance to the RTX A2000 while also having a higher FP16 throughput of 11.66 TFLOPS, which could benefit certain applications.

The RTX A2000 wins on power efficiency. Its 70 W TDP is less than half of the RX 5600M's 150 W, making it far more suitable for compact workstations or systems with limited thermal headroom. The NVIDIA card also has a suggested PSU of 250 W, while the RX 5600M has no suggested PSU listed.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in several key specifications. The RX 5600M uses a 7 nm process from TSMC, while the RTX A2000 uses an 8 nm process from Samsung. The AMD chip has 10,300 million transistors on a 251 mm² die, while the NVIDIA chip has 12,000 million on a 276 mm² die.

The RX 5600M has a base clock of 1035 MHz and a boost clock of 1265 MHz, with a game clock of 1190 MHz. The RTX A2000 has a much lower base clock of 562 MHz but a boost clock of 1200 MHz. The AMD card has 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, while the NVIDIA card has 3328 shading units, 104 TMUs, and 48 ROPs.

The RTX A2000 features 26 RT cores and 104 tensor cores, which the RX 5600M lacks entirely. In terms of compute, the RTX A2000 delivers 7.987 TFLOPS FP32 and 7.987 TFLOPS FP16 (1:1), while the RX 5600M delivers 5.829 TFLOPS FP32 and 11.66 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1). The pixel rate is 80.96 GPixel/s for AMD and 57.60 GPixel/s for NVIDIA, while texture rates are 182.2 and 124.8 GTexel/s respectively.

The RTX A2000 has a TDP of 70 W and a suggested PSU of 250 W, while the RX 5600M has a TDP of 150 W. The NVIDIA card is dual-slot, while the AMD card is IGP. Display outputs differ, with the RTX A2000 offering 4x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a, while the RX 5600M's outputs are portable device dependent. The RTX A2000 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the RX 5600M only supports DirectX 12 (12_1). The RTX A2000 has a launch MSRP of 449 USD.