AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE vs AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT Comparison

FAQ

Q: How does the AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE compare to the RX 6800 XT in OpenCL performance?

A: The RX 6800 XT is substantially ahead. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 6800 XT scores 171,304, while the RX 6600 LE scores 69,229, a difference of 59.6% in favor of the larger card.

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The RX 6600 LE has a higher average benchmark score at 70,829, compared to 48,477 for the RX 6800 XT. This is because the RX 6600 LE's recorded benchmark suite is limited to two Geekbench tests, while the RX 6800 XT's average includes a much wider range of tests, including several Passmark workloads.

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

A: The RX 6600 LE has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 6800 XT doubles that with 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 512.0 GB/s.

Q: Are these cards on the same architecture?

A: Yes, both are built on RDNA 2.0 architecture and belong to the Navi II (RX 6000) generation. They also share the same 7 nm process node from TSMC, but they use different physical chips: Navi 23 for the RX 6600 LE and Navi 21 for the RX 6800 XT.

Q: What is the production status of each card?

A: The RX 6600 LE is listed as Active production, while the RX 6800 XT is marked as End-of-life. The RX 6600 LE was released on 2023-12-07, and the RX 6800 XT was released on 2020-10-27.

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

A: The RX 6600 LE ranks in the 91st percentile, while the RX 6800 XT ranks in the 85th percentile. This ranking is based on the average benchmark score, which, as noted, is skewed by the different test sets.

Architecture Differences

Both cards share the RDNA 2.0 architecture and are built on TSMC's 7 nm process, so the fundamental instruction set and feature support are identical. The API support is also the same: DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

The key differences lie in the silicon itself. The RX 6600 LE uses the Navi 23 chip, which contains 11,060 million transistors on a 237 mm² die. The RX 6800 XT uses the Navi 21 chip, a much larger design with 26,800 million transistors on a 520 mm² die. The transistor density is slightly higher on the Navi 21 at 51.5M per mm² versus 46.7M per mm² on the Navi 23.

Execution resources scale accordingly. The RX 6600 LE has 1,792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, 64 ROPs, and 28 ray tracing cores. The RX 6800 XT has 4,608 shading units (2.6 times as many), 288 TMUs, 128 ROPs, and 72 ray tracing cores. This massive difference in compute units drives the performance gap in raw throughput.

Clock behavior is interesting. The RX 6600 LE has a lower base clock at 1626 MHz, but a higher boost clock at 2495 MHz compared to the RX 6800 XT's 1825 MHz base and 2250 MHz boost. The game clock is closer: 2045 MHz for the RX 6600 LE and 2015 MHz for the RX 6800 XT. Despite the higher boost clock on the smaller card, the sheer number of shaders on the RX 6800 XT makes it much faster in aggregate.

The memory subsystem also differs fundamentally. The RX 6600 LE runs its memory at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) with a 128-bit bus, while the RX 6800 XT runs at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) on a 256-bit bus. This results in 224.0 GB/s versus 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth, a 2.29 times advantage for the RX 6800 XT.

The PCIe interface differs as well: the RX 6600 LE uses PCIe 4.0 x8, while the RX 6800 XT uses PCIe 4.0 x16. This matters for data transfer between the CPU and GPU, though the practical impact depends on the workload.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded head-to-head data covers two Geekbench tests, and the RX 6800 XT wins both. There are no benchmark wins recorded for the RX 6600 LE in this direct comparison.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 6800 XT scores 171,304 against the RX 6600 LE's 69,229. The delta is 59.6% in favor of the RX 6800 XT. This is a massive margin, reflecting the 2.57 times difference in shading units and the 2.29 times difference in memory bandwidth.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the gap narrows somewhat but remains decisive. The RX 6800 XT scores 136,875, while the RX 6600 LE scores 72,428. The delta here is 47.1% in favor of the RX 6800 XT. Vulkan workloads can be more sensitive to driver scheduling and command buffer overhead, which may explain why the larger card's advantage shrinks relative to OpenCL.

It is notably the RX 6600 LE's nearest rivals in the database are the NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile (average score 70,140, delta 1%), the AMD Radeon RX 6650M (average score 71,768, delta -1.3%), the AMD Radeon Pro WX 8200 (average score 69,870, delta 1.4%), and the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 (average score 69,986, delta 1.2%). This places the RX 6600 LE in the same performance tier as mobile workstation GPUs and older professional cards, at least in the tests used for its average.

The RX 6800 XT's nearest rivals tell a different story. Its nearest neighbor is the NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile (average score 47,743, delta 1.5%), but the card is actually 2.5% behind the Intel Arc A550M (average score 49,737) and 3% behind both the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (average score 49,957) and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 (average score 50,001). This suggests that the RX 6800 XT's average benchmark score is dragged down by its diverse test set, which includes several Passmark tests where it scores relatively low.

The Verdict

The data presents a clear split. In raw compute performance, as measured by Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan, the RX 6800 XT is overwhelmingly faster. The 59.6% lead in OpenCL and 47.1% lead in Vulkan are not subtle margins; they represent a fundamentally different performance class.

However, the RX 6600 LE holds a higher percentile ranking (91st versus 85th) and a higher average benchmark score (70,829 versus 48,477). This is a statistical artifact of the benchmark sets. The RX 6600 LE's average comes from only two Geekbench tests, both of which are compute-heavy and play to its strengths. The RX 6800 XT's average includes Passmark DirectX tests (scoring 155, 264, 100, and 265 across DX10, DX11, DX12, and DX9), Passmark G2D (1,030), Passmark G3D (24,980), and Passmark GPU compute (13,245), which pull the average down.

For a buyer choosing between these two cards, the intended workload is the deciding factor. If the priority is compute performance in OpenCL or Vulkan, the RX 6800 XT is the clear choice. If the priority is a card that is still in active production, uses less power, and has a higher aggregate benchmark ranking, the RX 6600 LE makes sense. The RX 6800 XT is end-of-life, which may matter for availability and long-term support.

The RX 6800 XT also carries a launch MSRP of 649 USD, while the RX 6600 LE has no recorded launch MSRP in the database.

Specification Differences

The following fields differ between the two cards:

| Specification | AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE | AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT |

|---|---|---|

| Chip | Navi 23 | Navi 21 |

| Transistors | 11,060 million | 26,800 million |

| Die Size | 237 mm² | 520 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 46.7M / mm² | 51.5M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1626 MHz | 1825 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 2495 MHz | 2250 MHz |

| Game Clock | 2045 MHz | 2015 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) | 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) |

| Memory Size | 8 GB | 16 GB |

| Memory Bus Width | 128 bit | 256 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 224.0 GB/s | 512.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 1792 | 4608 |

| TMUs | 112 | 288 |

| ROPs | 64 | 128 |

| RT Cores | 28 | 72 |

| Pixel Rate | 159.7 GPixel/s | 288.0 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 279.4 GTexel/s | 648.0 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 8.942 TFLOPS | 20.74 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 17.88 TFLOPS (2:1) | 41.47 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 132 W | 300 W |

| Power Connectors | 1x 8-pin | 2x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 300 W | 700 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 4.0 x8 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a | 1x HDMI 2.1, 2x DisplayPort 1.4a, 1x USB Type-C |

| Length | 190 mm (7.5 inches) | 267 mm (10.5 inches) |

| Height | 110 mm (4.3 inches) | 120 mm (4.7 inches) |

| Width | 40 mm (1.6 inches) | 50 mm (2 inches) |

| Production Status | Active | End-of-life |

| Release Date | 2023-12-07 | 2020-10-27 |

| Launch MSRP | None recorded | 649 USD |

Where Each One Wins

The RX 6800 XT wins in every recorded head-to-head benchmark. Its OpenCL score of 171,304 is 59.6% higher than the RX 6600 LE's 69,229. Its Vulkan score of 136,875 is 47.1% higher than the RX 6600 LE's 72,428. This is the card for compute-heavy tasks that leverage OpenCL or Vulkan, such as rendering, simulation, or machine learning inference. It also has double the memory (16 GB versus 8 GB) and more than double the bandwidth, which matters for large working sets.

The RX 6600 LE wins in the aggregate ranking. Its 91st percentile versus the RX 6800 XT's 85th percentile, and its higher average benchmark score, reflect a more consistent profile across the limited tests recorded for it. It is also the only card still in active production, which matters for system builders who need current stock. Its power requirements are far lower: 132 W TDP with a 300 W suggested PSU, versus 300 W TDP with a 700 W suggested PSU. The RX 6600 LE is also physically smaller (190 mm versus 267 mm length) and uses a single 8-pin connector instead of two.

For gamers, the choice depends on resolution and refresh rate targets. The RX 6800 XT's raw throughput and memory bandwidth make it the stronger candidate for high-resolution, high-detail gaming. The RX 6600 LE's higher boost clock (2495 MHz versus 2250 MHz) helps in lighter titles, but its compute deficit is too large to overcome in demanding scenes.

For workstation users, the RX 6800 XT's 16 GB frame buffer is a decisive advantage for GPU-accelerated workloads that exceed 8 GB. The RX 6600 LE's 8 GB allocation is workable for many tasks but will hit limits sooner.

In short: the RX 6800 XT is the performance pick, and the RX 6600 LE is the efficiency and availability pick. The benchmark data does not support any other conclusion.