AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT decisively outperforms the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 in the available head-to-head benchmarks, but the GTX 670 remains a relevant historical baseline due to its architectural legacy. The data shows a clear generational shift: the RX 6500 XT wins both shared tests by massive margins, driven by a decade of architectural evolution and a significantly newer process node. However, the GTX 670 holds its own in the average benchmark score comparison, indicating that raw compute in legacy APIs can still produce competitive aggregate results.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data leaves no ambiguity about the performance hierarchy between these two cards. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT scores 48,289, which is 68.2% higher than the GTX 670’s 15,341. This is not a marginal victory; it is a complete rout. The RX 6500 XT’s score is more than three times that of the older NVIDIA card, reflecting the massive improvements in compute throughput and driver efficiency that have occurred over the intervening years.

The Geekbench Vulkan result tells a similar story, with the RX 6500 XT posting 54,724 points versus the GTX 670’s 15,553. The delta here is even larger, with the AMD card leading by 71.6%. This result is particularly telling because Vulkan is a modern, low-overhead API that rewards newer hardware architectures. The GTX 670, designed for an era of DirectX 11 dominance, simply cannot compete in this workload. The RX 6500 XT’s lead in Vulkan is not just about raw shader count but about how efficiently the hardware can execute modern draw calls and manage resources.

Looking at the broader benchmark context, the GTX 670’s average benchmark score across all tests is 12,773, while the RX 6500 XT averages 11,842. This is a surprising inversion of the head-to-head results. The GTX 670’s average is 0.5% higher than the RX 6500 XT’s. This suggests that the older card performs relatively better in legacy DirectX and OpenCL workloads that are not captured in the two head-to-head tests. The data shows that while the RX 6500 XT dominates in modern API performance, the GTX 670’s 1344 shading units and 256-bit memory bus provide a foundation that still delivers respectable results in older, less demanding scenarios.

The percentile rankings reinforce this nuanced picture. The GTX 670 sits in the 52nd percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 6500 XT is in the 51st percentile. These are nearly identical positions, indicating that despite the RX 6500 XT’s massive wins in specific modern benchmarks, its overall competitive standing is only marginally different from the much older card. The RX 6500 XT’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (average score 11,960, 1% lower) and the GTX 1660 (average score 11,680, 1.4% higher), showing it is positioned firmly in the mid-range of current GPU performance. The GTX 670’s rivals, such as the AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT (12,710, 0.5% higher) and the AMD FirePro W5100 (12,847, 0.6% lower), place it in a similar performance tier, despite its age.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is vast, representing a decade of hardware evolution. The GTX 670 is built on NVIDIA’s Kepler architecture, manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It uses the GK104 chip, which contains 3,540 million transistors on a 294 mm² die. The RX 6500 XT, by contrast, uses AMD’s RDNA 2.0 architecture on a 6 nm TSMC node, with the Navi 24 chip packing 5,400 million transistors into a much smaller 107 mm² die. The transistor density figures illustrate this starkly: the RX 6500 XT achieves 50.5M transistors per mm², more than four times the GTX 670’s 12.0M / mm².

The memory subsystems are fundamentally different in design philosophy. The GTX 670 features 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 192.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 6500 XT uses 4 GB of GDDR6 on a much narrower 64-bit bus, achieving 143.9 GB/s. While the RX 6500 XT has double the capacity, it has 25% less bandwidth. This is a critical trade-off: the newer card relies on its higher clock speeds and cache efficiency to compensate for the narrower memory interface.

Compute resources also diverge significantly. The GTX 670 has 1344 shading units, 112 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 32 ROPs. The RX 6500 XT has fewer shading units at 1024, and fewer TMUs at 64, but also has 32 ROPs and introduces 16 ray tracing cores. The RX 6500 XT’s clock speeds are dramatically higher, with a base clock of 2310 MHz and a boost of 2815 MHz, compared to the GTX 670’s 915 MHz base and 980 MHz boost. This clock advantage translates directly into compute throughput: the RX 6500 XT delivers 5.765 TFLOPS of FP32 performance versus the GTX 670’s 2.634 TFLOPS. The RX 6500 XT also supports FP16 at 11.53 TFLOPS (2:1), a feature the GTX 670 lacks entirely.

Feature support highlights the generational leap. The RX 6500 XT supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the GTX 670 is limited to DirectX 12 (11_0). The RX 6500 XT also supports Vulkan 1.4, compared to the GTX 670’s Vulkan 1.2.175. Both cards support OpenGL 4.6. The RX 6500 XT’s ray tracing cores are a major architectural addition, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing that the GTX 670 cannot perform.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 has a slightly higher average benchmark score of 12,773, compared to the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT’s 11,842. This places the GTX 670 in the 52nd percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 6500 XT is in the 51st percentile.

Q: How much faster is the RX 6500 XT in Vulkan benchmarks?

A: The RX 6500 XT scores 54,724 in Geekbench Vulkan, which is 71.6% higher than the GTX 670’s 15,553. This represents a massive advantage for the AMD card in modern API workloads.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference between the two cards?

A: The RX 6500 XT has 4 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the GTX 670 has 2 GB of GDDR5. However, the GTX 670 has a wider 256-bit bus, resulting in higher bandwidth of 192.3 GB/s versus the RX 6500 XT’s 143.9 GB/s.

Q: Does the RX 6500 XT support ray tracing?

A: Yes, the RX 6500 XT features 16 dedicated ray tracing cores built into its RDNA 2.0 architecture. The GTX 670, based on the older Kepler architecture, has no ray tracing hardware support.

Q: Which card has a higher transistor density?

A: The RX 6500 XT has a transistor density of 50.5M per mm², which is over four times higher than the GTX 670’s 12.0M per mm². This is due to the RX 6500 XT’s smaller 107 mm² die and newer 6 nm process.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The GTX 670 has a TDP of 170 W and requires a 450 W power supply, while the RX 6500 XT has a lower TDP of 107 W and only needs a 300 W power supply. The GTX 670 also uses two 6-pin power connectors, whereas the RX 6500 XT uses a single 6-pin connector.

Specification Differences

The following fields differ between the two cards, highlighting their fundamental design divergence:

• Architecture: NVIDIA Kepler (GTX 670) vs. AMD RDNA 2.0 (RX 6500 XT)
• Process Node: 28 nm (GTX 670) vs. 6 nm (RX 6500 XT)
• Transistors: 3,540 million (GTX 670) vs. 5,400 million (RX 6500 XT)
• Die Size: 294 mm² (GTX 670) vs. 107 mm² (RX 6500 XT)
• Transistor Density: 12.0M / mm² (GTX 670) vs. 50.5M / mm² (RX 6500 XT)
• Base Clock: 915 MHz (GTX 670) vs. 2310 MHz (RX 6500 XT)
• Boost Clock: 980 MHz (GTX 670) vs. 2815 MHz (RX 6500 XT)
• Game Clock: Not available (GTX 670) vs. 2610 MHz (RX 6500 XT)
• Memory Size: 2 GB (GTX 670) vs. 4 GB (RX 6500 XT)
• Memory Type: GDDR5 (GTX 670) vs. GDDR6 (RX 6500 XT)
• Memory Bus Width: 256 bit (GTX 670) vs. 64 bit (RX 6500 XT)
• Memory Bandwidth: 192.3 GB/s (GTX 670) vs. 143.9 GB/s (RX 6500 XT)
• Shading Units: 1344 (GTX 670) vs. 1024 (RX 6500 XT)
• TMUs: 112 (GTX 670) vs. 64 (RX 6500 XT)
• ROPs: 32 (GTX 670) vs. 32 (RX 6500 XT)
• Ray Tracing Cores: None (GTX 670) vs. 16 (RX 6500 XT)
• Pixel Rate: 27.44 GPixel/s (GTX 670) vs. 90.08 GPixel/s (RX 6500 XT)
• Texture Rate: 109.8 GTexel/s (GTX 670) vs. 180.2 GTexel/s (RX 6500 XT)
• FP32 Performance: 2.634 TFLOPS (GTX 670) vs. 5.765 TFLOPS (RX 6500 XT)
• FP16 Performance: Not available (GTX 670) vs. 11.53 TFLOPS (2:1) (RX 6500 XT)
• TDP: 170 W (GTX 670) vs. 107 W (RX 6500 XT)
• Power Connectors: 2x 6-pin (GTX 670) vs. 1x 6-pin (RX 6500 XT)
• Suggested PSU: 450 W (GTX 670) vs. 300 W (RX 6500 XT)
• Bus Interface: PCIe 3.0 x16 (GTX 670) vs. PCIe 4.0 x4 (RX 6500 XT)
• Display Outputs: 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, 1x DisplayPort 1.2 (GTX 670) vs. 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 1.4a (RX 6500 XT)
• DirectX Support: 12 (11_0) (GTX 670) vs. 12 Ultimate (12_2) (RX 6500 XT)
• Vulkan Support: 1.2.175 (GTX 670) vs. 1.4 (RX 6500 XT)
• Release Date: 2012-05-09 (GTX 670) vs. 2022-01-18 (RX 6500 XT)
• Launch MSRP: 399 USD (GTX 670) vs. 199 USD (RX 6500 XT)

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT wins decisively in all modern compute and graphics workloads. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 48,289 and Vulkan score of 54,724 are both more than triple the GTX 670’s corresponding scores. The RX 6500 XT’s higher pixel rate of 90.08 GPixel/s and texture rate of 180.2 GTexel/s give it a significant edge in fill-rate-bound scenarios. Its 16 ray tracing cores enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing, which is entirely absent on the GTX 670. The RX 6500 XT also offers double the memory capacity at 4 GB, which is crucial for modern game textures and higher resolutions. Additionally, its lower TDP of 107 W and single 6-pin power connector make it easier to integrate into systems with modest power supplies.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 retains an edge in specific legacy workloads and memory bandwidth. Its higher average benchmark score of 12,773 versus 11,842 indicates that it performs relatively better in older APIs and compute tasks that do not leverage modern features. The GTX 670’s 256-bit memory bus provides 192.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is 33.6% higher than the RX 6500 XT’s 143.9 GB/s. This could translate to better performance in bandwidth-sensitive applications that are not optimized for the RX 6500 XT’s cache hierarchy. The GTX 670 also has more shading units (1344 vs. 1024) and TMUs (112 vs. 64), which may help in shader-heavy workloads that scale with raw unit counts rather than clock speed.

The Verdict

Based strictly on the data, the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT is the superior GPU for virtually all modern usage scenarios. Its performance in the two available head-to-head benchmarks is categorically dominant, with leads of 68.2% in OpenCL and 71.6% in Vulkan. The RX 6500 XT’s newer 6 nm process, higher clock speeds, and support for DirectX 12 Ultimate and ray tracing make it the only viable choice for contemporary gaming and compute applications. Its 4 GB of GDDR6 memory also provides a practical advantage over the GTX 670’s 2 GB, which is insufficient for many current titles.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 should only be considered by users with specific legacy software requirements. Its higher average benchmark score suggests it can still hold its own in older DirectX 11 and OpenCL workloads, and its superior memory bandwidth may benefit certain bandwidth-bound tasks. However, its lack of modern API support, absence of ray tracing, and higher power consumption make it fundamentally obsolete for new workloads. The GTX 670’s launch MSRP of 399 USD was appropriate for its era, but the RX 6500 XT’s launch MSRP of 199 USD reflects its position as a more accessible modern part.

For any user building a system today or upgrading from an older GPU, the RX 6500 XT is the clear recommendation. The data shows it is faster in every measurable modern benchmark, more power-efficient, and feature-rich. The GTX 670 remains a historical footnote, a capable card for its time, but the benchmark results indicate it is outclassed by the RX 6500 XT in every meaningful way.