AMD Radeon RX 5700 vs NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head data shows a decisive split: NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation takes 8 of 10 benchmark wins, while AMD Radeon RX 5700 secures only 2. The largest margin belongs to NVIDIA in DirectX 11, where the RTX 2000 Ada scores 138 versus 101 for the RX 5700, a 26.8% advantage. DirectX 12 shows a similar gap, with NVIDIA leading 71 to 54, a 23.9% delta. Vulkan is another significant win for NVIDIA, scoring 83360 against 64166, a 23% margin. These are not narrow victories; they represent clear generational and architectural superiority in modern API workloads.

The AMD card fights back in two specific tests. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the RX 5700 scores 1862 versus 1767, a 5.4% win. In DirectX 10, it leads 87 to 82, a 6.1% margin. These are the only tests where AMD comes out ahead, and both are relatively modest gains. The DirectX 10 result is particularly telling, as it suggests the older GCN-derived RDNA 1.0 architecture retains some efficiency in legacy API paths that the Ada Lovelace design no longer prioritizes.

Among the remaining tests, NVIDIA's wins are consistent but vary in scale. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 2000 Ada scores 78074 against 69603, a 10.8% lead. Passmark G3D shows NVIDIA at 16927 versus 14314, a 15.4% margin. GPU compute follows with 7834 versus 6517, a 16.8% advantage. Even the 2D test favors NVIDIA, with 1072 versus 877, an 18.2% gap. The smallest NVIDIA win is in DirectX 9, where it scores 216 against 209, only a 3.2% edge. That near-tie in a legacy API highlights how far ahead NVIDIA is in every modern workload while barely edging out AMD in the oldest one.

The average benchmark score confirms the overall picture. The RX 5700 posts an average of 22170, while the RTX 2000 Ada averages 18954. That seems contradictory given NVIDIA's head-to-head dominance, but the discrepancy comes from the Geekbench Metal test, which only appears for the AMD card (86079) and is not part of the head-to-head set. The RX 5700's percentile rank of 67 versus NVIDIA's 63 reflects this broader benchmark pool. When comparing only the shared tests, NVIDIA wins 8 out of 10, but the AMD card's extra Metal result and its higher average pull the overall percentile upward.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear conclusion: the NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation is the stronger card for modern workloads. It wins DirectX 11, DirectX 12, Vulkan, OpenCL, GPU compute, G3D, G2D, and even DirectX 9. The margins in DirectX 11 and 12 are substantial, at 26.8% and 23.9% respectively. For anyone running current games or compute applications, the RTX 2000 Ada provides measurably better performance in nearly every shared test.

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 retains two specific advantages. It wins 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 by 5.4% and DirectX 10 by 6.1%. If your workload is heavily weighted toward those specific tests, the RX 5700 has a claim. However, these are isolated wins in a benchmark suite where NVIDIA dominates eight out of ten categories. The RX 5700 also has a higher average benchmark score (22170 versus 18954) and a higher percentile rank (67 versus 63), but that is driven by the Geekbench Metal score, which is not available for the NVIDIA card. In the head-to-head tests that both cards share, NVIDIA is the clear winner.

The RTX 2000 Ada also offers advantages beyond raw performance. It has 16 GB of memory versus 8 GB, and it supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) versus the RX 5700's DirectX 12 (12_1). It includes 22 RT cores and 88 tensor cores, which the AMD card lacks entirely. The power draw is dramatically lower at 70 W versus 180 W, and the suggested PSU is 250 W versus 450 W. The RTX 2000 Ada is a compact 168 mm dual-slot card with no external power connectors, while the RX 5700 is a 268 mm dual-slot card requiring 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin connectors.

The launch MSRP tells a partial story: the RX 5700 at 349 USD, the RTX 2000 Ada at 649 USD. But the database does not rank value, and the performance and feature gaps are large enough that the price difference is not the deciding factor. The RX 5700 is end-of-life, while the RTX 2000 Ada is active and built on a newer architecture. For any new build, the RTX 2000 Ada is the defensible choice based on benchmark evidence.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from fundamentally different design eras. The AMD Radeon RX 5700 uses the Navi 10 chip on RDNA 1.0 architecture, fabricated 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 RTX 2000 Ada Generation uses the AD107 chip on Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm TSMC process. It contains 18,900 million transistors on a smaller 159 mm² die, resulting in a much higher density of 118.9M per mm². That density difference is the first clue to the architectural generational leap.

The compute resources differ significantly. The RX 5700 has 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The RTX 2000 Ada has 2816 shading units, 88 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. NVIDIA has more shaders but fewer texture and pixel units. The FP32 throughput tells a clear story: NVIDIA reaches 12.00 TFLOPS versus AMD's 7.949 TFLOPS. FP16 is where the architectures diverge sharply. AMD achieves 15.90 TFLOPS using a 2:1 ratio, while NVIDIA delivers 12.00 TFLOPS at 1:1. That means NVIDIA's FP16 is not a doubled rate; it is a native rate, which matters for compute workloads that rely on FP16 precision.

The memory subsystems are also fundamentally different. The RX 5700 uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 2000 Ada uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 256.0 GB/s. NVIDIA has double the capacity but roughly 43% less bandwidth. The pixel rate favors AMD at 110.4 GPixel/s versus 102.2 GPixel/s, but the texture rate favors AMD as well at 248.4 GTexel/s versus 187.4 GTexel/s. These are legacy measures of rasterization throughput, and they explain why AMD wins in DirectX 10 and 3DMark Steel Nomad.

The RTX 2000 Ada includes dedicated ray tracing and AI hardware: 22 RT cores and 88 tensor cores. The RX 5700 has none. This is a structural advantage, not a software feature. Any application that uses ray tracing or tensor operations will run on NVIDIA hardware natively, while the AMD card must rely on compute shaders. The API support reflects this: NVIDIA supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), which includes features like mesh shaders and variable rate shading, while AMD only reaches DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

The physical and power profiles are starkly different. The RX 5700 is rated at 180 W TDP, requires a 450 W PSU, and needs 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin connectors. The RTX 2000 Ada is rated at 70 W TDP, requires a 250 W PSU, and has no external power connectors at all. The NVIDIA card is also much smaller: 168 mm length and 69 mm height versus 268 mm length and 111 mm height. The width is listed for the AMD card at 36 mm, while the NVIDIA width is not recorded. The bus interface differs too: PCIe 4.0 x16 for AMD versus PCIe 4.0 x8 for NVIDIA.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins in Vulkan performance?

A: The NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation wins decisively, scoring 83360 in Geekbench Vulkan versus 64166 for the AMD Radeon RX 5700, a 23% advantage.

Q: Does the AMD card win any modern API tests?

A: Yes, the RX 5700 wins 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 with 1862 versus 1767, a 5.4% margin. It also wins DirectX 10 with 87 versus 82, a 6.1% margin.

Q: How much faster is NVIDIA in DirectX 12?

A: The RTX 2000 Ada scores 71 in Passmark DirectX 12 versus 54 for the RX 5700, a 23.9% advantage.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference?

A: The RTX 2000 Ada has 16 GB of GDDR6, while the RX 5700 has 8 GB of GDDR6. The AMD card has a wider 256-bit bus and higher bandwidth at 448.0 GB/s versus 256.0 GB/s.

Q: Does the NVIDIA card support ray tracing?

A: Yes, the RTX 2000 Ada has 22 RT cores and 88 tensor cores. The RX 5700 has no dedicated ray tracing or tensor hardware.

Q: Which card is more power efficient?

A: The RTX 2000 Ada is rated at 70 W TDP with a 250 W suggested PSU and no external power connectors. The RX 5700 is rated at 180 W TDP with a 450 W suggested PSU and requires 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin connectors.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 wins in two specific benchmark categories. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test is a modern DirectX 12 workload, and the RX 5700 takes it by 5.4%. This suggests that in certain DX12 scenes, the RDNA 1.0 architecture with its higher pixel rate (110.4 GPixel/s) and texture rate (248.4 GTexel/s) can outperform the Ada Lovelace design. The DirectX 10 win is more straightforward: the RX 5700 scores 87 versus 82, a 6.1% margin. This is a legacy API test where AMD's older design retains efficiency. The RX 5700 also has a higher average benchmark score (22170 versus 18954) and a higher percentile rank (67 versus 63), though that is driven by the Geekbench Metal score, which only the AMD card produced.

The NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation wins everywhere else. The biggest margins are in DirectX 11 (26.8% ahead), DirectX 12 (23.9% ahead), and Vulkan (23% ahead). These are the APIs used by most modern games and professional applications. The compute workloads also favor NVIDIA: Geekbench OpenCL is 10.8% ahead, and Passmark GPU Compute is 16.8% ahead. The G3D test, which represents general 3D rendering, is 15.4% ahead. Even 2D performance favors NVIDIA by 18.2%. The only close NVIDIA win is DirectX 9, where it leads by just 3.2%. That near-tie suggests the NVIDIA card is not optimized for legacy APIs, but it still manages to edge out the AMD card.

For use-case planning, the split is clear. If you are running modern DirectX 12 games, Vulkan titles, or any compute-heavy workload, the RTX 2000 Ada is the right choice. If you are working with legacy DirectX 10 applications or a specific DX12 benchmark like Steel Nomad, the RX 5700 has a measurable edge. The RTX 2000 Ada also offers 16 GB of memory, which is critical for large datasets or high-resolution textures, and it does so at a fraction of the power draw. The RX 5700's higher memory bandwidth (448.0 GB/s versus 256.0 GB/s) could help in bandwidth-bound scenarios, but the benchmark data does not show a corresponding win in any memory-sensitive test.

Specification Differences

The specification sheets reveal a generational gap in nearly every category. The process node differs: AMD uses 7 nm, NVIDIA uses 5 nm, both from TSMC. The transistor count is nearly double on the NVIDIA chip: 18,900 million versus 10,300 million, packed into a smaller die (159 mm² versus 251 mm²). The clock speeds favor NVIDIA: base 1620 MHz versus 1465 MHz, boost 2130 MHz versus 1725 MHz. The AMD card has a game clock of 1625 MHz, which NVIDIA does not list.

Memory capacity doubles on the NVIDIA card: 16 GB versus 8 GB, both GDDR6. The bus width reverses: AMD uses 256 bit, NVIDIA uses 128 bit. Bandwidth follows the bus: AMD at 448.0 GB/s, NVIDIA at 256.0 GB/s. The memory clock is listed as 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) for AMD and 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) for NVIDIA.

Compute units differ in count and type. AMD has 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. NVIDIA has 2816 shading units, 88 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. NVIDIA adds 22 RT cores and 88 tensor cores; AMD has none. The pixel rate favors AMD (110.4 GPixel/s versus 102.2 GPixel/s), as does the texture rate (248.4 GTexel/s versus 187.4 GTexel/s). FP32 favors NVIDIA at 12.00 TFLOPS versus 7.949 TFLOPS. FP16 is the biggest architectural split: AMD reaches 15.90 TFLOPS via 2:1, NVIDIA delivers 12.00 TFLOPS at 1:1.

Power and physical specs are the most dramatic differences. AMD is rated at 180 W, NVIDIA at 70 W. The suggested PSU is 450 W for AMD, 250 W for NVIDIA. AMD requires 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin connectors; NVIDIA requires none. The AMD card is 268 mm long, 111 mm tall, and 36 mm wide. The NVIDIA card is 168 mm long and 69 mm tall, with no recorded width. Both are dual-slot. The bus interface differs: PCIe 4.0 x16 for AMD, PCIe 4.0 x8 for NVIDIA. Display outputs also differ: AMD has 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while NVIDIA has 4x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a.

API support is close but not identical. Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. DirectX support differs: AMD reaches 12 (12_1), NVIDIA reaches 12 Ultimate (12_2). The production status is end-of-life for AMD and active for NVIDIA. The release dates are 2019-07-06 for AMD and 2024-02-11 for NVIDIA. The launch MSRP is 349 USD for the RX 5700 and 649 USD for the RTX 2000 Ada.