AMD Radeon RX 5700 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 and AMD Radeon RX 5700 are both end-of-life graphics cards, but they represent very different performance tiers. Across the ten head-to-head benchmarks, the RTX 2080 secures nine victories, while the RX 5700 manages a single win. The data reveals a consistent pattern: the RTX 2080 dominates in raw compute and legacy API workloads, while the RX 5700 shows a narrow edge in a modern DirectX 12 test.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most lopsided result in this comparison is the Geekbench Vulkan test. The RTX 2080 scores 107797 against the RX 5700’s 64166, a 68% advantage. This is the single largest delta in the entire head-to-head set, showing a massive gap in Vulkan compute and graphics throughput. The RTX 2080’s superiority extends to OpenCL as well, where it scores 91313 versus 69603, a 31.2% lead. These two results alone establish the RTX 2080 as the clear choice for compute-heavy or Vulkan-based workloads.

The Passmark suite reinforces this narrative. In Passmark G3D, the RTX 2080 posts 18720 points, which is 30.8% higher than the RX 5700’s 14314. The RTX 2080 also wins the GPU Compute test with 7872 points against 6517, a 20.8% margin. Legacy DirectX performance is similarly one-sided: the RTX 2080 leads by 56.3% in DirectX 10 (136 vs 87), 56.4% in DirectX 11 (158 vs 101), and 33.3% in DirectX 12 (72 vs 54). Even in the older DirectX 9 API, the RTX 2080 wins, though by a narrower 6.7% margin (223 vs 209). The 2D test is close too, with the RTX 2080 ahead by just 3.4% (907 vs 877).

The RX 5700’s sole victory comes in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark. There, it scores 1862 against the RTX 2080’s 1752, a 5.9% advantage. This is a meaningful result because it suggests that in a specific modern DirectX 12 workload, the RX 5700’s architecture can outperform the older Turing design. However, this single win does not offset the RTX 2080’s broader dominance, which is reflected in the overall average benchmark scores: the RTX 2080 averages 22895 across all tests, while the RX 5700 averages 22170, a difference of roughly 3.3%.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in Vulkan benchmarks?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 is significantly faster, scoring 107797 in Geekbench Vulkan compared to the AMD Radeon RX 5700’s 64166, a 68% lead.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon RX 5700 win any benchmark against the RTX 2080?

A: Yes, it wins the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, scoring 1862 versus the RTX 2080’s 1752, a 5.9% advantage.

Q: How do the two cards compare in Passmark G3D?

A: The RTX 2080 scores 18720, which is 30.8% higher than the RX 5700’s 14314.

Q: What is the difference in overall average benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 2080 has an average benchmark score of 22895, while the RX 5700 averages 22170.

Q: Which card has a higher percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The RTX 2080 ranks in the 68th percentile, while the RX 5700 ranks in the 67th percentile, a difference of one percentile point.

Q: In which API does the RTX 2080 have its smallest winning margin?

A: The smallest margin is in the Passmark DirectX 9 test, where the RTX 2080 wins by 6.7% (223 vs 209).

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on fundamentally different architectures. The RTX 2080 uses the TU104 chip based on NVIDIA’s Turing architecture, manufactured on a 12 nm process at TSMC. The RX 5700 uses the Navi 10 chip based on AMD’s RDNA 1.0 architecture, manufactured on a 7 nm process, also at TSMC. The process node difference is significant: the RX 5700’s 7 nm node allows for a much higher transistor density of 41.0M / mm², compared to the RTX 2080’s 25.0M / mm². However, the RTX 2080 has a larger absolute transistor count of 13,600 million versus 10,300 million, and a much larger die size of 545 mm² versus 251 mm².

The RTX 2080 is equipped with dedicated hardware features that the RX 5700 lacks entirely. It includes 46 ray tracing cores and 368 tensor cores, while the RX 5700 has null values for both of these. Consequently, the RTX 2080 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), whereas the RX 5700 is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1). Both cards support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4, but the presence of RT and tensor cores makes the RTX 2080 a more future-proof option for ray-traced or AI-accelerated workloads, even if the benchmark data here does not explicitly test those features.

The RX 5700’s architecture is more efficient in terms of power. Its 7 nm process and RDNA 1.0 design result in a 180 W TDP, compared to the RTX 2080’s 215 W TDP. The RX 5700 also has a lower suggested PSU requirement of 450 W versus 550 W. This efficiency is reflected in its higher transistor density, but the RTX 2080 compensates with a higher raw throughput, as evidenced by its FP32 performance of 10.07 TFLOPS versus the RX 5700’s 7.949 TFLOPS.

Specification Differences

The most obvious difference is in the shading units: the RTX 2080 has 2944, while the RX 5700 has 2304. This gap extends to texture mapping units, with the RTX 2080 featuring 184 TMUs against the RX 5700’s 144. Both cards have 64 ROPs. The clock speeds are similar, with the RTX 2080 boosting to 1710 MHz and the RX 5700 boosting to 1725 MHz, but the RTX 2080 has a higher base clock of 1515 MHz versus 1465 MHz. The RX 5700 also has a defined game clock of 1625 MHz, a field the RTX 2080 leaves null.

Memory configurations are identical: both use 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, yielding the same 448.0 GB/s bandwidth and a memory clock of 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The pixel rates are nearly identical, with the RX 5700 at 110.4 GPixel/s and the RTX 2080 at 109.4 GPixel/s. However, the texture rates diverge, with the RTX 2080 achieving 314.6 GTexel/s versus the RX 5700’s 248.4 GTexel/s. FP16 performance follows a similar pattern, with the RTX 2080 at 20.14 TFLOPS (2:1) and the RX 5700 at 15.90 TFLOPS (2:1).

The bus interface differs, with the RTX 2080 using PCIe 3.0 x16 and the RX 5700 using PCIe 4.0 x16. Physical dimensions are close: the RTX 2080 is 267 mm long, 116 mm tall, and 35 mm wide, while the RX 5700 is 268 mm long, 111 mm tall, and 36 mm wide. Both are dual-slot cards and require the same power connectors (1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin). Display outputs are similar, but the RTX 2080 adds a USB Type-C port alongside its 1x HDMI 2.0 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the RX 5700 offers 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The RTX 2080 was released on 2018-09-19, while the RX 5700 followed on 2019-07-06.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 2080 is the clear winner in most scenarios. It takes 9 of the 10 head-to-head benchmarks, with decisive victories in compute-oriented tests. For users running OpenCL workloads, the 31.2% lead in Geekbench OpenCL is substantial. For Vulkan-based applications, the 68% advantage in Geekbench Vulkan is overwhelming. The RTX 2080 also dominates in DirectX 10 and DirectX 11, making it the better choice for older game titles or applications that rely on these legacy APIs. Its 30.8% lead in Passmark G3D indicates superior overall 3D rendering performance in that suite.

The RX 5700 wins in exactly one scenario: the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test. This suggests that in a specific, modern DirectX 12 workload, the RX 5700’s RDNA 1.0 architecture is more efficient than the Turing architecture. This could be relevant for users who primarily play very recent games that are heavily optimized for DirectX 12. The RX 5700 also has a lower TDP of 180 W versus 215 W, making it a more power-efficient choice for systems with smaller power supplies.

The percentile rankings are nearly identical, with the RTX 2080 at 68 and the RX 5700 at 67. This indicates that on a global scale, the two cards are close in overall standing, despite the RTX 2080’s large per-test wins. The average benchmark score difference of 725 points (22895 vs 22170) further underscores that the RTX 2080 is the faster card overall, but the RX 5700 is not far behind in aggregate terms.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 is the superior card for most users. It wins 9 out of 10 benchmarks, with particularly strong showings in Vulkan, OpenCL, and legacy DirectX APIs. Its 68% lead in Geekbench Vulkan and 31.2% lead in Geekbench OpenCL make it the clear choice for compute-heavy tasks. The 30.8% advantage in Passmark G3D confirms its dominance in traditional 3D rendering. The RTX 2080’s dedicated ray tracing and tensor cores also provide hardware features that the RX 5700 simply does not have, even if those features are not directly benchmarked here.

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 is the pick only for a very specific niche: users who prioritize performance in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark, where it wins by 5.9%. Its lower TDP of 180 W and PCIe 4.0 support are notable advantages, but they do not translate into benchmark wins outside of that single test. For a general-purpose GPU, the RTX 2080’s higher average score of 22895 versus 22170, combined with its broad benchmark dominance, makes it the definitive recommendation. The RTX 2080 is the faster card, and the data supports that conclusion across nearly every workload tested.