AMD Radeon RX 560X vs AMD Radeon RX 6700S Comparison

The Verdict

The AMD Radeon RX 6700S is the decisive winner in this comparison, outperforming the AMD Radeon RX 560X by a wide margin in every benchmark where both were measured. The RX 6700S delivers more than triple the compute performance in OpenCL and nearly quadruple in Vulkan, making it the clear choice for anyone who needs modern GPU acceleration. The RX 560X, by contrast, is an older entry-level part that remains relevant only for basic display output or legacy workloads where its lower power draw and compact size are acceptable trade-offs. For gaming, content creation, or any GPU-accelerated task, the data points squarely to the RX 6700S. For simple office use or as a fallback GPU in a system where maximum performance is not required, the RX 560X still functions, but it is not competitive on any performance metric recorded in the database.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from completely different eras of AMD's design philosophy. The RX 6700S is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture, using the Navi 23 chip fabricated on TSMC's 7 nm process. The RX 560X uses the older GCN 4.0 architecture with the Polaris 21 chip, manufactured by GlobalFoundries on a 14 nm process. This generational gap explains most of the performance difference. The RX 6700S packs 11,060 million transistors into a 237 mm² die, while the RX 560X has only 3,000 million transistors on a 123 mm² die. Transistor density tells the same story: 46.7 million transistors per square millimeter for the RX 6700S versus 24.4 million for the RX 560X.

The RX 6700S supports hardware ray tracing with 28 dedicated ray accelerators, a feature entirely absent from the RX 560X, which has no ray tracing cores at all. The RX 6700S also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the RX 560X is limited to DirectX 12 (12_0). Both support OpenGL 4.6, but the RX 6700S supports Vulkan 1.4 compared to Vulkan 1.3 on the RX 560X. The RX 6700S is a mobile part with an IGP slot width and no power connectors, while the RX 560X is a dual-slot card with a 170 mm (6.7 inches) length and a suggested 250 W power supply. The RX 6700S uses PCIe 4.0 x8, while the RX 560X uses the older PCIe 3.0 x8 interface.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records two direct comparisons between these GPUs, and the RX 6700S wins both by staggering margins. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 6700S scores 70,965 against the RX 560X's 17,020, a 317% advantage. In Geekbench Vulkan, the RX 6700S scores 76,150 versus 20,231, a 276.4% lead. These are not incremental improvements; they represent a completely different performance class.

While the RX 560X lacks benchmark results for most modern tests, the RX 6700S has a much broader dataset. In 3DMark Steel Nomad (DX12), the RX 6700S scores 1,451. In Geekbench Metal, it reaches 72,864. PassMark results show 15,066 in G3D, 739 in G2D, 5,990 in GPU compute, 195 in DX9, 134 in DX11, 87 in DX10, and 58 in DX12. The RX 560X only has Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan scores, which are far below the RX 6700S in both cases. The average benchmark score for the RX 6700S is 22,154, placing it in the 67th percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 560X averages 18,626, sitting in the 62nd percentile.

The nearest rivals for the RX 6700S are telling. It sits within 0.1% of the AMD Radeon RX 5700 (average score 22,170), 1.3% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile (22,435), 1.4% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB (21,856), and 1.7% behind the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (22,549). For the RX 560X, its closest competitors include the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT (0.3% faster), AMD FirePro D500 (0.5% slower), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (0.9% faster), and NVIDIA Tesla K80 (1.3% faster). These comparisons show that the RX 6700S competes with GPUs from a much higher tier than the RX 560X, despite both being end-of-life products.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every measurable specification. The RX 6700S has a base clock of 1700 MHz and a boost clock of 2000 MHz, with a game clock of 1890 MHz. The RX 560X runs at 1175 MHz base and 1275 MHz boost, with no game clock listed. Memory speed differs as well: the RX 6700S uses 1750 MHz memory with 14 Gbps effective data rate, while the RX 560X also uses 1750 MHz memory but only achieves 7 Gbps effective. The RX 6700S has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 560X has 4 GB of GDDR5 on the same 128-bit bus, but only 112.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

Compute resources are heavily skewed toward the RX 6700S. It has 1,792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units. The RX 560X has 1,024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and only 16 ROPs. The pixel rate for the RX 6700S is 128.0 GPixel/s versus 20.40 GPixel/s for the RX 560X. Texture rate is 224.0 GTexel/s versus 81.60 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 7.168 TFLOPS versus 2.611 TFLOPS. The RX 6700S also supports FP16 at 14.34 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio, while the RX 560X only manages 2.611 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio.

Power consumption is surprisingly close given the performance gap. The RX 6700S has a TDP of 80 W, only 5 W higher than the RX 560X's 75 W. This makes the RX 6700S exceptionally efficient per watt. The RX 560X lists a suggested power supply of 250 W, while the RX 6700S has no suggested PSU listed. Both use no external power connectors. The RX 560X offers display outputs of 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the RX 6700S has portable device dependent outputs. The RX 6700S was released on January 3, 2022, while the RX 560X came out on April 10, 2018. The RX 6700S succeeds the Polaris Mobile generation, while the RX 560X succeeds Polaris and is succeeded by Vega.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in OpenCL workloads?

A: The RX 6700S scores 70,965 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 317% higher than the RX 560X's 17,020.

Q: Does the RX 6700S support ray tracing?

A: Yes, the RX 6700S has 28 dedicated ray accelerators, while the RX 560X has no ray tracing hardware at all.

Q: How much memory does each GPU have?

A: The RX 6700S has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory with 224.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 560X has 4 GB of GDDR5 with 112.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU is more power efficient?

A: The RX 6700S has an 80 W TDP and delivers 7.168 TFLOPS FP32, while the RX 560X has a 75 W TDP and delivers only 2.611 TFLOPS. The RX 6700S offers far more performance per watt.

Q: What is the DirectX support difference?

A: The RX 6700S supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the RX 560X is limited to DirectX 12 (12_0). The RX 6700S also supports Vulkan 1.4 versus Vulkan 1.3 on the RX 560X.

Q: How do these GPUs compare to their nearest rivals?

A: The RX 6700S is within 0.1% of the RX 5700 and 1.4% ahead of the GTX 1060 6 GB. The RX 560X is 0.3% behind the Radeon Pro 5700 XT and 0.5% ahead of the FirePro D500.

Where Each One Wins

The RX 6700S wins in every recorded benchmark category. Its dominant Vulkan performance (76,150 versus 20,231) makes it the clear choice for Vulkan-based games and compute applications. Its OpenCL lead (70,965 versus 17,020) covers a wide range of productivity tools, rendering software, and GPU compute tasks. The RX 6700S also brings modern API support including DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, and hardware ray tracing, which the RX 560X cannot match.

The RX 560X has only one practical advantage: its 75 W TDP is slightly lower than the RX 6700S's 80 W, and its dual-slot card format with a 170 mm length makes it a straightforward drop-in for older systems with PCIe 3.0 slots. Its suggested 250 W power supply requirement also means it can run in systems with smaller PSUs. However, the RX 6700S matches that efficiency class while delivering roughly three times the compute throughput.

For gaming at modern resolutions, the RX 6700S's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and higher bandwidth prevent the type of VRAM bottlenecks that would cripple the 4 GB RX 560X in newer titles. For professional workloads, the RX 6700S's FP32 and FP16 throughput (7.168 and 14.34 TFLOPS respectively) dwarf the RX 560X's 2.611 TFLOPS in both precisions. In any scenario where GPU performance matters, the RX 6700S is the only rational choice. The RX 560X remains a functional GPU for basic display tasks, but the benchmark data offers no reason to prefer it over its successor.