AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP vs AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX Comparison

The Verdict

The data presents an unusual comparison. The AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX occupy completely different performance tiers, yet the database records show the older card posting a higher average benchmark score and a higher percentile ranking. The RX 580 2048SP records an average benchmark score of 23,061 and sits at the 68th percentile of all GPUs. The RX 7900 XTX, despite its far newer architecture and massive specifications, records an average score of 19,410 and sits at the 64th percentile. This suggests that the benchmark suite used in the database weights certain workloads unevenly, or that the RX 580 2048SP benefits from a set of tests that favor its particular characteristics.

In direct head-to-head testing, however, the results are unambiguous. The RX 7900 XTX wins all three recorded comparisons. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 6,841 against the RX 580 2048SP's 849, a performance gap of 87.6 percent in favor of the newer card. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 7900 XTX scores 50,465 against 29,668, a 41.2 percent lead. In Geekbench Vulkan, the RX 7900 XTX scores 85,612 against 38,666, a 54.8 percent lead. These are enormous margins. The RX 580 2048SP wins zero of the three head-to-head tests.

So who should pick which? Strictly from the recorded data, the RX 7900 XTX is the clear choice for anyone running modern DX12, OpenCL, or Vulkan workloads. The head-to-head results demonstrate a dominant performance advantage. The RX 580 2048SP, however, shows a curious strength in the overall average score, driven largely by its Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan results, which are far closer to the newer card than the 3DMark test would suggest. The database also shows the RX 580 2048SP competing closely with cards like the Intel Arc B580 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080, while the RX 7900 XTX's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB and the NVIDIA TITAN Xp. This is a strange placement. The average score metric appears to be heavily influenced by the mix of tests, and the RX 7900 XTX's inclusion of Passmark results, which are not present for the RX 580 2048SP, likely drags its average down.

The honest verdict is that the RX 7900 XTX is the superior card in every direct comparison available. The RX 580 2048SP is an older, slower part that happens to record a higher aggregate score due to inconsistent test coverage. For any real-world modern workload, the data points firmly to the RX 7900 XTX.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on entirely different architectures, separated by two full generations of AMD GPU design. The RX 580 2048SP uses the Polaris 20 chip, based on GCN 4.0 architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It belongs to the Polaris (RX 500) generation. The RX 7900 XTX uses the Navi 31 chip, based on RDNA 3.0 architecture, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It belongs to the Navi III (RX 7000) generation, with the codename Plum Bonito.

The transistor counts illustrate the scale of the difference. The RX 580 2048SP packs 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 24.6 million per square millimeter. The RX 7900 XTX contains 57,700 million transistors on a 529 mm² die, yielding a density of 109.1 million per square millimeter. That is more than ten times the transistor count on roughly double the die area. The process node difference, 14 nm versus 5 nm, is the primary driver of this density improvement.

The compute resources differ dramatically. The RX 580 2048SP has 2,048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 render output units. The RX 7900 XTX has 6,144 shading units, 384 texture mapping units, and 192 render output units. The RX 7900 XTX also includes 96 ray tracing cores, a feature entirely absent from the RX 580 2048SP. The RX 580 2048SP has no ray tracing hardware at all.

Clock speeds also scale upward. The RX 580 2048SP runs at a base clock of 1,168 MHz and a boost clock of 1,284 MHz. The RX 7900 XTX runs at a base clock of 1,929 MHz, a game clock of 2,365 MHz, and a boost clock of 2,498 MHz. Even at base clocks, the newer card is running over 700 MHz higher.

The memory subsystems are equally different. The RX 580 2048SP uses 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, with memory clocked at 1,750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) and bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. The RX 7900 XTX uses 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, with memory clocked at 2,500 MHz (20 Gbps effective) and bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s. That is six times the memory capacity and over four times the bandwidth.

The API support differs as well. The RX 580 2048SP supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The RX 7900 XTX supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The newer card also supports PCIe 4.0 x16, while the older card is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head results are recorded across three tests, and the RX 7900 XTX wins all three. The largest margin comes in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. The RX 7900 XTX scores 6,841, while the RX 580 2048SP scores 849. The newer card is 87.6 percent faster. This is a massive gap, and it reflects the fundamental architectural advantages of RDNA 3.0 over GCN 4.0 in a modern DX12 workload. The RX 580 2048SP's score of 849 is barely above the threshold of being a playable result, while the RX 7900 XTX's score of 6,841 is firmly in high-end territory.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the gap narrows considerably. The RX 7900 XTX scores 50,465, and the RX 580 2048SP scores 29,668. The newer card leads by 41.2 percent. OpenCL is a compute-heavy workload, and while the RX 7900 XTX still wins, the RX 580 2048SP's GCN architecture was known for strong compute performance relative to its gaming capabilities. The result indicates that the older card's compute efficiency partially offsets its lower raw throughput.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the RX 7900 XTX scores 85,612, and the RX 580 2048SP scores 38,666. The lead is 54.8 percent. Vulkan is a low-level API that can scale well with hardware resources, and the RX 7900 XTX's 6,144 shading units and 96 ray tracing cores give it a significant advantage. The RX 580 2048SP's score of 38,666 is respectable, but it is less than half of the newer card's output.

Across all three tests, the RX 7900 XTX's smallest win is 41.2 percent in OpenCL, and its largest is 87.6 percent in 3DMark Steel Nomad. The RX 580 2048SP records no wins in any head-to-head comparison. The pattern is consistent: the newer card dominates, but the margin varies significantly by workload. The compute-oriented OpenCL test produces the closest result, while the gaming-oriented DX12 test produces the largest gap.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP records an average benchmark score of 23,061, while the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX records an average of 19,410. The RX 580 2048SP also sits at the 68th percentile of all GPUs, compared to the RX 7900 XTX's 64th percentile.

Q: Does the RX 7900 XTX win every head-to-head benchmark?

A: Yes. The RX 7900 XTX wins all three recorded head-to-head tests: 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 (6,841 vs 849), Geekbench OpenCL (50,465 vs 29,668), and Geekbench Vulkan (85,612 vs 38,666).

Q: How much memory does each card have?

A: The RX 580 2048SP has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus. The RX 7900 XTX has 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus. Memory bandwidth is 224.0 GB/s for the older card and 960.0 GB/s for the newer card.

Q: Does the RX 580 2048SP support ray tracing?

A: No. The RX 580 2048SP has no ray tracing cores. The RX 7900 XTX includes 96 ray tracing cores.

Q: What is the transistor count difference?

A: The RX 580 2048SP contains 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die. The RX 7900 XTX contains 57,700 million transistors on a 529 mm² die. The newer card uses a 5 nm TSMC process, while the older card uses a 14 nm GlobalFoundries process.

Q: Which card has a higher boost clock?

A: The RX 7900 XTX has a boost clock of 2,498 MHz. The RX 580 2048SP has a boost clock of 1,284 MHz. The newer card also has a higher base clock (1,929 MHz vs 1,168 MHz).

Where Each One Wins

The RX 7900 XTX wins in every head-to-head benchmark recorded in the database. It is the clear choice for 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, where it leads by 87.6 percent. It is also the winner in Geekbench OpenCL (41.2 percent lead) and Geekbench Vulkan (54.8 percent lead). For anyone running modern DX12 games, compute workloads through OpenCL, or Vulkan applications, the RX 7900 XTX is the superior card. Its 6,144 shading units, 96 ray tracing cores, 24 GB of GDDR6 memory, and 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth provide a decisive hardware advantage.

The RX 580 2048SP does not win any recorded head-to-head test, but it does show a competitive average benchmark score. Its average of 23,061 is higher than the RX 7900 XTX's 19,410, and it ranks at the 68th percentile versus the newer card's 64th. The database's nearest rivals for the RX 580 2048SP include the Intel Arc B580 (average score 23,021, a 0.2 percent difference), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (average score 23,172, a 0.5 percent difference), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (average score 22,895, a 0.7 percent difference). These are all modern or recent midrange to high-end cards, and the RX 580 2048SP is competitive with them in the aggregate metric.

The RX 7900 XTX's nearest rivals, by contrast, include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB (average score 19,334, a 0.4 percent difference), the NVIDIA Quadro K5200 (average score 19,602, a 1 percent difference), and the AMD FirePro D300 (average score 19,637, a 1.2 percent difference). These are much older and slower cards, which suggests that the RX 7900 XTX's average score is being suppressed by the specific test mix in the database, particularly the Passmark tests that are only recorded for the RX 7900 XTX.

In terms of use cases, the RX 580 2048SP is best suited for legacy workloads or scenarios where its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory is sufficient. Its GCN 4.0 architecture, while old, still delivers respectable OpenCL and Vulkan scores. The RX 7900 XTX is the obvious pick for any modern workload that can utilize its ray tracing cores, large memory pool, and high bandwidth. The head-to-head data is unambiguous on this point.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every specification field. The RX 580 2048SP uses the Polaris 20 chip with GCN 4.0 architecture, while the RX 7900 XTX uses the Navi 31 chip with RDNA 3.0 architecture. The process node is 14 nm for the older card and 5 nm for the newer card. Transistor counts are 5,700 million versus 57,700 million, and die sizes are 232 mm² versus 529 mm². Transistor density is 24.6 million per mm² versus 109.1 million per mm².

Clock speeds differ substantially. The RX 580 2048SP has a base clock of 1,168 MHz and a boost clock of 1,284 MHz, with no game clock recorded. The RX 7900 XTX has a base clock of 1,929 MHz, a game clock of 2,365 MHz, and a boost clock of 2,498 MHz. Memory clocks are 1,750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) for the older card and 2,500 MHz (20 Gbps effective) for the newer card.

Memory configuration is another major difference. The RX 580 2048SP has 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 224.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 7900 XTX has 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus with 960.0 GB/s bandwidth. The compute resources scale accordingly: 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs for the older card, versus 6,144 shading units, 384 TMUs, and 192 ROPs for the newer card. The RX 7900 XTX also has 96 ray tracing cores, which the RX 580 2048SP lacks.

Pixel and texture rates reflect the compute differences. The RX 580 2048SP records a pixel rate of 41.09 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 164.4 GTexel/s. The RX 7900 XTX records a pixel rate of 479.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 959.2 GTexel/s. Floating point performance is 5.259 TFLOPS (FP32) and 5.259 TFLOPS (FP16, 1:1) for the older card, versus 61.39 TFLOPS (FP32) and 122.8 TFLOPS (FP16, 2:1) for the newer card.

Power and physical specifications also differ. The RX 580 2048SP has a TDP of 150 W, requires one 8-pin power connector, and suggests a 450 W PSU. The RX 7900 XTX has a TDP of 355 W, requires two 8-pin power connectors, and suggests a 750 W PSU. Both are dual-slot cards, but the RX 580 2048SP is 241 mm (9.5 inches) long, while the RX 7900 XTX is 287 mm (11.3 inches) long, with a height of 110 mm (4.3 inches) and a width of 51 mm (2 inches). The RX 580 2048SP uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the RX 7900 XTX uses PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs are 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a for the older card, versus 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, and 1x USB Type-C for the newer card. The RX 580 2048SP supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The RX 7900 XTX supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RX 580 2048SP launched on 2018-10-14, and the RX 7900 XTX launched on 2022-11-02. The RX 7900 XTX had a launch MSRP of 999 USD.