AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT vs AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX represent two distinct generations of AMD’s Radeon lineup, with the former built on RDNA 2.0 and the latter on RDNA 3.0. Benchmark data shows a decisive performance gap, with the RX 7900 XTX winning all ten head-to-head comparisons. However, the aggregate scores and percentile rankings tell a more nuanced story, placing both cards in a similar overall tier despite their generational and architectural differences.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The RX 7900 XTX dominates the RX 6650 XT across every measured workload, but the margin varies wildly depending on the test. The largest gap appears in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, where the RX 7900 XTX scores 6841 against the RX 6650 XT’s 1859. That translates to a 72.8% deficit for the older card, making this the single biggest competitive gap in the entire benchmark suite. A similar story unfolds in Geekbench OpenCL, where the RX 7900 XTX posts 50465 versus 10111, an 80% difference—the largest proportional lead in any test.

The Passmark GPU Compute benchmark reinforces the trend, with the RX 7900 XTX achieving 17689 points compared to 7532, a 57.4% advantage. This suggests the newer card’s massive compute resources translate directly into raw throughput gains. In Passmark G3D, the RX 7900 XTX scores 31238 against 17166, a 45% lead, while Passmark DirectX 11 shows a 52.5% gap (356 vs. 169). The DirectX 12 result is similarly lopsided, with the RX 7900 XTX at 131 versus 62, a 52.7% difference.

Not every test is a blowout. The Geekbench Vulkan result shows the RX 7900 XTX ahead by only 5%, scoring 85612 versus 81306. This is the narrowest margin in the entire dataset, indicating that the RX 6650 XT’s Vulkan performance is relatively strong compared to its DX12 or OpenCL showing. The Passmark G2D test also produces a relatively modest 27.5% gap (1267 vs. 918), suggesting that 2D workloads do not fully leverage the RX 7900 XTX’s extra hardware. Legacy DirectX tests follow a similar pattern: DirectX 9 shows a 34.8% gap (330 vs. 215), and DirectX 10 shows a 34.3% gap (166 vs. 109).

Despite the RX 7900 XTX’s clean sweep, the average benchmark scores tell a different story. The RX 6650 XT has an average score of 19765, while the RX 7900 XTX averages 19410. This puts the RX 6650 XT slightly ahead in aggregate, with its nearest rivals including the NVIDIA Tesla K40m (19885, -0.6%), AMD FirePro D300 (19637, +0.7%), and AMD FirePro W7000 (19905, -0.7%). The RX 7900 XTX, by contrast, sits near the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB (19334, +0.4%) and NVIDIA Quadro K5200 (19602, -1%). Both cards land in the 64th-65th percentile of all GPUs, indicating that the head-to-head deltas reflect workload-specific strengths rather than a fundamental difference in overall tier placement.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are separated by a full architecture generation. The RX 6650 XT uses the Navi 23 chip on RDNA 2.0, while the RX 7900 XTX uses the Navi 31 chip on RDNA 3.0, codenamed "Plum Bonito." The process node shrinks from 7 nm to 5 nm, both fabricated by TSMC, enabling a dramatic increase in transistor count. The RX 6650 XT packs 11,060 million transistors on a 237 mm² die, yielding a density of 46.7M / mm². The RX 7900 XTX more than quintuples that transistor count to 57,700 million on a 529 mm² die, with a density of 109.1M / mm².

The memory subsystem also diverges sharply. The RX 6650 XT offers 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 280.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 7900 XTX triples capacity to 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, boosting bandwidth to 960.0 GB/s—a 3.4x improvement. Effective memory speed rises from 17.5 Gbps to 20 Gbps, and the memory clock increases from 2190 MHz to 2500 MHz.

Compute resources scale even more aggressively. The RX 6650 XT has 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and 32 ray tracing cores. The RX 7900 XTX triples the shading units to 6144, triples TMUs to 384, triples ROPs to 192, and triples ray tracing cores to 96. Pixel rate jumps from 168.6 GPixel/s to 479.6 GPixel/s, and texture rate from 337.3 GTexel/s to 959.2 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput rises from 10.79 TFLOPS to 61.39 TFLOPS, while FP16 doubles correspondingly from 21.59 TFLOPS to 122.8 TFLOPS (both at 2:1 ratio).

Clock speeds tell a counterintuitive story. The RX 6650 XT actually has a higher base clock (2055 MHz vs. 1929 MHz) and a higher boost clock (2635 MHz vs. 2498 MHz). The game clock is also higher on the older card (2410 MHz vs. 2365 MHz). This means the RX 7900 XTX’s performance advantage comes entirely from its wider architecture, not faster clocks. The power envelope grows correspondingly, with TDP rising from 176 W to 355 W, and the power connector count from 1x 8-pin to 2x 8-pin. The suggested PSU jumps from 450 W to 750 W. Both cards are dual-slot, but the RX 7900 XTX is physically larger at 287 mm x 110 mm x 51 mm (the RX 6650 XT’s dimensions are not listed). The bus interface also widens from PCIe 4.0 x8 to PCIe 4.0 x16.

The Verdict

The data makes the performance hierarchy unambiguous: the RX 7900 XTX is the superior card in every tested workload, with leads ranging from 5% in Vulkan to 80% in OpenCL. Users seeking maximum frame rates in DX12, compute-heavy tasks, or high-bandwidth workloads should choose the RX 7900 XTX. Its 24 GB memory capacity and 960 GB/s bandwidth also make it the clear choice for large textures or multi-GPU compute scenarios.

However, the RX 6650 XT is not without merit. Its higher boost clock (2635 MHz vs. 2498 MHz) suggests better per-clock efficiency in some scenarios, and its 176 W TDP makes it a far lighter power burden. The aggregate benchmark average actually favors the RX 6650 XT (19765 vs. 19410), and both cards sit at nearly identical percentile rankings (65th vs. 64th). This indicates that in a broader database context, the RX 6650 XT holds its own against a wide range of GPUs, even if it loses every direct comparison to its bigger sibling.

The choice ultimately depends on workload priority. For raw performance in modern APIs and compute, the RX 7900 XTX is the definitive winner. For users prioritizing power efficiency or those whose workloads align with the RX 6650 XT’s stronger Vulkan showing (only 5% behind), the older card remains a viable option—though its end-of-life status and smaller memory pool limit its future-proofing.

Specification Differences

| Specification | RX 6650 XT | RX 7900 XTX |

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

| Chip | Navi 23 | Navi 31 |

| Architecture | RDNA 2.0 | RDNA 3.0 |

| Process Node | 7 nm | 5 nm |

| Transistors | 11,060 million | 57,700 million |

| Die Size | 237 mm² | 529 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 46.7M / mm² | 109.1M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 2055 MHz | 1929 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 2635 MHz | 2498 MHz |

| Game Clock | 2410 MHz | 2365 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 2190 MHz / 17.5 Gbps | 2500 MHz / 20 Gbps |

| Memory Size | 8 GB | 24 GB |

| Memory Bus | 128 bit | 384 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 280.3 GB/s | 960.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 2048 | 6144 |

| TMUs | 128 | 384 |

| ROPs | 64 | 192 |

| Ray Tracing Cores | 32 | 96 |

| Pixel Rate | 168.6 GPixel/s | 479.6 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 337.3 GTexel/s | 959.2 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 10.79 TFLOPS | 61.39 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 21.59 TFLOPS (2:1) | 122.8 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 176 W | 355 W |

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

| Suggested PSU | 450 W | 750 W |

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

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

| Dimensions | Not listed | 287 mm x 110 mm x 51 mm |

| Release Date | 2022-05-09 | 2022-11-02 |

FAQ

Q: Which card wins in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX wins decisively with a score of 6841 against the RX 6650 XT’s 1859, a 72.8% advantage.

Q: Is the RX 6650 XT ever ahead of the RX 7900 XTX?

A: No. The head-to-head data shows the RX 7900 XTX winning all 10 benchmark comparisons. The closest margin is in Geekbench Vulkan, where the RX 7900 XTX leads by only 5% (85612 vs. 81306).

Q: How do their average benchmark scores compare?

A: The RX 6650 XT has a higher average benchmark score of 19765, while the RX 7900 XTX averages 19410. Both cards sit at nearly identical percentiles (65th and 64th, respectively).

Q: What is the memory capacity difference?

A: The RX 6650 XT has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, while the RX 7900 XTX has 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus. Memory bandwidth scales from 280.3 GB/s to 960.0 GB/s.

Q: Which card has a higher boost clock?

A: The RX 6650 XT has a higher boost clock at 2635 MHz, compared to the RX 7900 XTX’s 2498 MHz. The base clock is also higher on the RX 6650 XT (2055 MHz vs. 1929 MHz).

Q: What is the TDP difference between the two cards?

A: The RX 6650 XT has a TDP of 176 W, while the RX 7900 XTX has a TDP of 355 W. The suggested PSU requirement increases from 450 W to 750 W accordingly.