AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP vs AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT Comparison

The Verdict

The data presents a clear generational split. The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is the stronger card for modern gaming workloads, winning two of the three head-to-head benchmarks, including the DX12 Steel Nomad test by a massive margin. The RX 580 2048SP, however, retains a decisive advantage in one specific legacy compute workload (OpenCL), where it more than doubles the newer card's score. The verdict is straightforward: pick the RX 6650 XT for current DirectX 12 games and Vulkan titles, as it delivers roughly 2.2x the performance in the Steel Nomad test and 2.1x in Vulkan. Pick the RX 580 2048SP only if your primary application relies heavily on OpenCL compute, where its 29,668 score versus 10,111 represents a 193.4% advantage. The RX 6650 XT's average benchmark score of 19,765 places it at the 65th percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 580 2048SP's average of 23,061 puts it at the 68th percentile, despite the older card winning only one of three direct comparisons.

Where Each One Wins

The RX 6650 XT wins decisively in the two benchmarks that matter most for contemporary gaming. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 1,859 versus 849, a delta of -54.3% from the RX 580's perspective, meaning the newer card is 110% faster. This is a massive gap that reflects real-world DirectX 12 gaming performance. In Geekbench Vulkan, the RX 6650 XT scores 81,306 versus 38,666, a 52.4% lead, which indicates strong performance in Vulkan-based games and applications.

The RX 580 2048SP wins in Geekbench OpenCL with a score of 29,668 versus 10,111. This is a 193.4% advantage, meaning the older card is nearly three times faster in this specific compute workload. This suggests that for OpenCL compute tasks, such as certain older rendering pipelines, physics simulations, or cryptocurrency mining algorithms, the Polaris architecture retains a significant edge. The data does not show a similar win for the RX 6650 XT in any comparable compute test; its highest compute-style score is 75,32 in Passmark GPU Compute, but there is no equivalent RX 580 score for that test in the database.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from entirely different architectural generations. The RX 580 2048SP uses the Polaris 20 chip built on GCN 4.0 architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It contains 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 24.6M per mm². The RX 6650 XT uses the Navi 23 chip built on RDNA 2.0, fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It packs 11,060 million transistors onto a 237 mm² die, nearly double the transistor count at a density of 46.7M per mm².

This architectural leap explains the performance gap. The RX 6650 XT has 32 dedicated ray tracing cores, while the RX 580 2048SP has none. The newer card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the older card only supports DirectX 12 (12_0). Vulkan support also differs: the RX 6650 XT supports Vulkan 1.4, the RX 580 2048SP supports Vulkan 1.3. Both support OpenGL 4.6.

The memory subsystem is also fundamentally different. The RX 580 2048SP has 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 6650 XT has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 280.3 GB/s. The newer card uses a narrower bus but compensates with faster memory, achieving 25% more bandwidth. The RX 6650 XT also doubles the ROP count from 32 to 64, which directly impacts pixel fill rate: 168.6 GPixel/s versus 41.09 GPixel/s. Texture rate is similarly doubled at 337.3 GTexel/s versus 164.4 GTexel/s.

FP32 compute is 10.79 TFLOPS for the RX 6650 XT versus 5.259 TFLOPS for the RX 580 2048SP, a 105% increase. The RX 6650 XT also supports FP16 at a 2:1 ratio (21.59 TFLOPS), while the RX 580 2048SP does FP16 at 1:1 (5.259 TFLOPS). The base clock of the RX 6650 XT is 2055 MHz with a boost of 2635 MHz, while the RX 580 2048SP runs at 1168 MHz base and 1284 MHz boost. The game clock for the RX 6650 XT is listed at 2410 MHz, while the RX 580 2048SP has no game clock listed.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in DirectX 12 gaming?

A: The RX 6650 XT is dramatically faster. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark, it scores 1,859 versus 849 for the RX 580 2048SP, a lead of 110%. This aligns with its DirectX 12 Ultimate support versus the RX 580's DirectX 12 (12_0) support.

Q: Does the RX 580 2048SP win any benchmark?

A: Yes, it wins Geekbench OpenCL by a wide margin. Its score of 29,668 is 193.4% higher than the RX 6650 XT's 10,111. This is the only head-to-head benchmark where the older card comes out ahead.

Q: What about Vulkan performance?

A: The RX 6650 XT leads significantly in Geekbench Vulkan with 81,306 points versus 38,666, a 52.4% advantage. It also supports the newer Vulkan 1.4 specification.

Q: How do the memory configurations compare?

A: The RX 580 2048SP has 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 224.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 6650 XT has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 280.3 GB/s bandwidth. Despite the narrower bus, the newer card has higher bandwidth.

Q: Which card has ray tracing support?

A: Only the RX 6650 XT. It has 32 ray tracing cores. The RX 580 2048SP has no ray tracing cores listed, reflecting its older GCN 4.0 architecture.

Q: What is the average benchmark score difference?

A: The RX 580 2048SP has a higher average benchmark score of 23,061 across all recorded tests, compared to 19,765 for the RX 6650 XT. However, this average is skewed by the older card's massive OpenCL win. The RX 6650 XT sits at the 65th percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 580 2048SP sits at the 68th percentile.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The data shows three direct comparisons. The biggest win for the RX 6650 XT is in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, where it scores 1,859 versus 849. This is a delta of -54.3% from the RX 580's perspective, meaning the newer card more than doubles the older one's score. This is the most important result for gaming, as it directly measures DirectX 12 rasterization performance. The gap is so large that it cannot be explained by clock speeds alone; the architectural efficiency of RDNA 2.0 versus GCN 4.0 is the primary driver.

The second win for the RX 6650 XT is in Geekbench Vulkan, scoring 81,306 versus 38,666, a 52.4% lead. This confirms that the newer architecture also handles modern compute-based graphics APIs much better. Vulkan is used in many current game engines, so this result reinforces the RX 6650 XT's suitability for modern titles.

The RX 580 2048SP's sole win is in Geekbench OpenCL, scoring 29,668 versus 10,111. This is a 193.4% advantage, which is the largest delta in either direction across all three tests. This is an unusual result. The RX 6650 XT has higher raw compute (10.79 TFLOPS FP32 versus 5.259 TFLOPS), yet it scores far lower in this specific OpenCL workload. This suggests that the OpenCL driver path for RDNA 2.0 is significantly less optimized for this particular test, or that the GCN architecture has a hardware advantage in certain OpenCL operations that is not reflected in raw FLOP counts.

Considering the three benchmarks together, the RX 6650 XT wins two and the RX 580 2048SP wins one. However, the magnitude of the wins matters. The RX 580's OpenCL win is 193.4% higher, while the RX 6650 XT's DX12 win is 110% higher and its Vulkan win is 52.4% higher. In terms of overall gaming relevance, the RX 6650 XT is clearly the superior card. Its average benchmark score of 19,765 is lower than the RX 580's 23,061, but this is entirely due to the OpenCL outlier. The nearest rivals for the RX 580 2048SP include the Intel Arc B580 (0.2% delta) and the RTX 3080 (-0.5% delta), while the RX 6650 XT's nearest rivals include the Tesla K40m (-0.6% delta) and the Quadro K5200 (0.8% delta). These rival positions confirm that the RX 580 2048SP's average is inflated by its OpenCL performance, placing it near much more powerful cards in that specific metric.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every specification. The RX 580 2048SP uses the Polaris 20 chip on a 14 nm process, while the RX 6650 XT uses the Navi 23 chip on a 7 nm process. Transistor count is 5,700 million versus 11,060 million, and die size is 232 mm² versus 237 mm². The RX 580 2048SP has a transistor density of 24.6M per mm², while the RX 6650 XT has 46.7M per mm². Base clock is 1168 MHz versus 2055 MHz, and boost clock is 1284 MHz versus 2635 MHz. The RX 6650 XT also lists a game clock of 2410 MHz, which the RX 580 2048SP does not have. Memory is 4 GB GDDR5 versus 8 GB GDDR6, with bus widths of 256-bit versus 128-bit. Bandwidth is 224.0 GB/s versus 280.3 GB/s. Memory clock is 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) versus 2190 MHz (17.5 Gbps effective). Shading units are identical at 2048, and TMUs are identical at 128, but ROPs differ: 32 versus 64. Pixel rate is 41.09 GPixel/s versus 168.6 GPixel/s, and texture rate is 164.4 GTexel/s versus 337.3 GTexel/s. FP32 is 5.259 TFLOPS versus 10.79 TFLOPS, and FP16 is 5.259 TFLOPS (1:1) versus 21.59 TFLOPS (2:1). TDP is 150 W versus 176 W, both using a single 8-pin power connector and a suggested 450 W PSU. The RX 580 2048SP uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the RX 6650 XT uses PCIe 4.0 x8. Display outputs are 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a for the RX 580, versus 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a for the RX 6650 XT. The RX 580 2048SP has a length of 241 mm, while the RX 6650 XT's dimensions are not recorded. Release dates are 2018-10-14 for the RX 580 and 2022-05-09 for the RX 6650 XT. Both are end-of-life products. The RX 580 2048SP has no launch MSRP recorded; the RX 6650 XT has a launch MSRP of 399 USD. The RX 580 2048SP's predecessor is Arctic Islands and its successor is Vega; the RX 6650 XT's predecessor is Navi and its successor is Navi III.