AMD Radeon RX 6600M vs AMD Radeon RX 6800S Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data presents a decisive, though not entirely uniform, picture. The AMD Radeon RX 6800S takes 10 of 11 head-to-head comparisons, with the AMD Radeon RX 6600M securing a single, notable victory. The largest margin of victory for the RX 6800S comes in the Passmark DirectX 12 test, where it scores 65 against the RX 6600M's 52, a 25% advantage. This is a significant gap for a modern API workload, suggesting the RX 6800S has a clear edge in titles that leverage DirectX 12's features.

The next most substantial win for the RX 6800S is in the Passmark G3D test, with a score of 15908 compared to 13929 for the RX 6600M, a 14.2% difference. This is a broad gaming metric, and the margin here reinforces the 6800S as the stronger overall gaming part. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test also shows a solid 13% lead for the RX 6800S (1689 vs. 1495), further corroborating its DirectX 12 prowess. In the Vulkan API, the RX 6800S leads by 10.2%, scoring 81272 against 73740, indicating its advantage is not limited to a single graphics API. The Geekbench OpenCL result shows an 8% lead for the RX 6800S (73202 vs. 67765), and the Passmark GPU Compute test shows an 8.8% edge (6144 vs. 5646), demonstrating a consistent performance lead in compute-heavy workloads.

Smaller, but consistent, wins for the RX 6800S appear across the legacy DirectX tests. It leads by 8.7% in Passmark DirectX 9 (200 vs. 184), by 4.6% in DirectX 10 (91 vs. 87), and by 2.2% in DirectX 11 (139 vs. 136). Even in the 2D test, the RX 6800S edges out a win, scoring 732 against 728, a marginal 0.5% lead. The only benchmark where the RX 6600M comes out ahead is Geekbench Metal, where it scores 92237 against 85256 for the RX 6800S, a 7.6% victory. This is a significant anomaly, as it runs counter to the trend in every other test. This suggests that the RX 6600M has a particular strength in the Metal API, which is primarily used in Apple's ecosystem.

The average benchmark scores reflect this overall dominance. The RX 6800S has an average score of 24063, while the RX 6600M trails with 23273, a difference of roughly 3.4%. This places the RX 6800S in the 69th percentile of all GPUs, with the RX 6600M just one percentile behind at 68. The nearest rivals for the RX 6800S are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (24170, -0.4%), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti (24236, -0.7%), the AMD Radeon RX 9070 (23877, 0.8%), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 (24277, -0.9%). The RX 6600M's closest competitors are the AMD Radeon R9 M290X (23276, 0%), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 (23250, 0.1%), the NVIDIA P106-100 (23249, 0.1%), and the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 (23315, -0.2%). The data shows the RX 6800S sits in a slightly higher performance tier than the RX 6600M.

The Verdict

From the data, the choice is clear for most users: the AMD Radeon RX 6800S is the superior graphics processor. It wins decisively in 10 out of 11 benchmarks, with the largest margins in modern APIs like DirectX 12 and Vulkan. Its 25% lead in Passmark DirectX 12 and 10.2% lead in Geekbench Vulkan indicate that it is better equipped for current and future game engines. The 14.2% advantage in the Passmark G3D test reinforces this, as it is a holistic measure of gaming performance. For any user prioritizing DirectX 12, Vulkan, or general 3D rendering performance, the RX 6800S is the unequivocal pick based on this data.

The RX 6600M's sole victory in Geekbench Metal is a specific, niche advantage. A user whose workload is heavily dependent on the Metal API—for instance, in a Hackintosh or a specific professional application that uses Metal for GPU acceleration—would find the RX 6600M to be the better performer. However, this is a narrow use case. The RX 6600M's overall average score is lower, and its nearest rivals are older or lower-tier parts, such as the AMD Radeon R9 M290X and the NVIDIA P106-100. The RX 6800S, in contrast, trades blows with the much newer and more powerful NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER and AMD Radeon RX 9070, showing it is in a higher performance bracket. For the vast majority of gaming and general compute scenarios, the benchmark results point squarely to the RX 6800S as the faster and more capable mobile GPU.

Architecture Differences

Both the AMD Radeon RX 6800S and the AMD Radeon RX 6600M are built on the same fundamental architecture, but with significant configuration differences. Both are based on the Navi 23 chip, use the RDNA 2.0 architecture, and belong to the Navi Mobile (RX 6000M) generation. They are both manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC, with identical transistor counts of 11,060 million and the same die size of 237 mm². This results in the same transistor density of 46.7M / mm². The fundamental design is the same; the performance difference comes from how the chip is configured.

The most striking difference is in the compute unit configuration. The RX 6800S has 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 32 ray tracing cores. The RX 6600M, in contrast, is cut down with 1792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 28 ray tracing cores. Both have 64 render output units (ROPs). This means the RX 6800S has a 14.3% advantage in shading units and TMUs, which directly translates to higher raw compute throughput. The RX 6600M, however, compensates with higher clock speeds. Its base clock is 2068 MHz, boosting to 2416 MHz, with a game clock of 2177 MHz. The RX 6800S has a lower base clock of 1800 MHz, a boost of 2100 MHz, and a game clock of 1975 MHz.

The result of this clock-versus-core trade-off is a near-tie in theoretical floating-point performance. The RX 6800S is rated for 8.602 TFLOPS of FP32, while the RX 6600M is rated slightly higher at 8.659 TFLOPS. A similar pattern holds for texture fill rate, with the RX 6600M having a slight edge at 270.6 GTexel/s versus 268.8 GTexel/s for the RX 6800S. However, the RX 6800S has a higher pixel rate at 134.4 GPixel/s compared to 154.6 GPixel/s for the RX 6600M. This is an interesting inversion where the RX 6600M has a higher theoretical fill rate, yet the RX 6800S wins in real-world tests, indicating that the extra shading units and ray tracing cores provide a tangible benefit beyond raw clock speed. Memory configuration also differs. Both have 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, but the RX 6800S uses faster memory at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective), yielding a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. The RX 6600M's memory runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) for a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. Both are rated at a 100 W TDP and use a PCIe 4.0 x8 interface.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in DirectX 12 games?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6800S is significantly faster. It scores 65 in Passmark DirectX 12 compared to 52 for the RX 6600M, a 25% advantage, and also leads 1689 to 1495 in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, a 13% difference.

Q: Is there any benchmark where the RX 6600M wins?

A: Yes, the RX 6600M wins the Geekbench Metal test, scoring 92237 against the RX 6800S's 85256, a 7.6% advantage. This is its only victory in the head-to-head comparison.

Q: Which GPU has higher theoretical compute power?

A: The RX 6600M has a slightly higher FP32 rating at 8.659 TFLOPS, compared to 8.602 TFLOPS for the RX 6800S. The RX 6800S compensates with more shading units (2048 vs. 1792) and higher memory bandwidth (256.0 GB/s vs. 224.0 GB/s).

Q: How do these GPUs compare to their nearest rivals?

A: The RX 6800S has an average score of 24063, placing it near the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (24170, -0.4%) and AMD Radeon RX 9070 (23877, 0.8%). The RX 6600M's average of 23273 is on par with the AMD Radeon R9 M290X (23276, 0%) and NVIDIA P106-100 (23249, 0.1%).

Q: Are these GPUs identical in architecture?

A: Yes, both use the Navi 23 chip, RDNA 2.0 architecture, and a 7 nm process with 11,060 million transistors. The key differences are in the number of active compute units (2048 vs. 1792 shading units) and the clock speeds, with the RX 6600M running at higher clocks.

Q: Which GPU is better for general compute workloads?

A: The RX 6800S leads in compute tests. It scores 6144 in Passmark GPU Compute (8.8% ahead of the RX 6600M's 5646) and 73202 in Geekbench OpenCL (8% ahead of the RX 6600M's 67765).

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 6800S is the winner in nearly every scenario. Its strengths are most pronounced in modern graphics APIs. The 25% lead in Passmark DirectX 12 and the 13% lead in 3DMark Steel Nomad make it the clear choice for users running the latest DirectX 12 games. Its 10.2% advantage in Geekbench Vulkan also makes it the better option for Vulkan-based titles and applications. The 8.8% lead in Passmark GPU Compute and 8% in OpenCL mean it is also the better choice for general-purpose GPU compute tasks like rendering or machine learning inference. Its win in the Passmark G3D test (14.2% ahead) confirms it as the superior all-around gaming GPU.

The AMD Radeon RX 6600M has a single, clear area of victory: the Metal API. Its 7.6% lead in Geekbench Metal is the only metric where it outperforms the RX 6800S. This makes it the preferable option for users whose primary workload is on an operating system or in an application that uses the Metal API exclusively. In every other measurable category—DirectX 9, 10, 11, and 12, Vulkan, OpenCL, and even 2D performance—the RX 6800S is ahead. The RX 6600M's higher boost clock and theoretical FP32 rating do not translate into wins in the benchmark suite, suggesting that the RX 6800S's additional compute units, ray tracing cores, and higher memory bandwidth are more impactful in practice. For a user who wants the fastest mobile GPU for gaming and compute, the data is unambiguous: the RX 6800S is the winner. The RX 6600M is only the right choice for a niche, Metal-centric workflow.