AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data presents a clear overall winner: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 takes 8 of the 10 head-to-head tests, with the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT claiming only 2. However, the margins tell a more nuanced story than the win count alone. The RTX 4060's victories are often decisive, while the RX 6650 XT's wins are either narrow or isolated to specific API paths.

The largest single gap appears in the Geekbench OpenCL test, where the RTX 4060 scores 95,057 against the RX 6650 XT's 10,111, a delta of 89.4% in NVIDIA's favor. This is an outlier result that dwarfs every other difference in the comparison. In more conventional gaming-oriented workloads, the gap narrows considerably. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the RTX 4060 posts 2,302 versus 1,859, a 19.2% lead. PassMark G3D shows a 12.2% advantage for NVIDIA (19,545 versus 17,166), while PassMark GPU Compute gives the RTX 4060 an 18.2% edge (9,213 versus 7,532).

The RTX 4060 also wins across the legacy DirectX tests. PassMark DirectX 12 shows 76 versus 62, an 18.4% lead. PassMark DirectX 9 favors NVIDIA at 236 versus 215, an 8.9% margin. Even PassMark DirectX 11, a closer contest, goes to the RTX 4060 at 175 versus 169, a 3.4% difference. The 2D workload test, PassMark G2D, also favors NVIDIA: 1,037 versus 918, an 11.5% gap.

The RX 6650 XT's two wins are notable for their context. In Geekbench Vulkan, the AMD card scores 81,306 versus 48,643, a commanding 67.1% advantage. This is the single largest victory for either side in the entire comparison. The other AMD win comes in PassMark DirectX 10, where the RX 6650 XT edges ahead 109 to 103, a 5.8% margin. The overall benchmark averages reflect this split: the RX 6650 XT holds a higher average score of 19,765 against the RTX 4060's 17,639, a consequence of the Vulkan result heavily inflating AMD's aggregate. The percentile ranks tell a similar story: the RX 6650 XT sits at the 65th percentile among all GPUs, while the RTX 4060 sits at the 61st.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on fundamentally different architectures and process technologies. The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT uses the Navi 23 chip based on RDNA 2.0, manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 uses the AD107 chip based on Ada Lovelace, manufactured on a 5 nm process, also at TSMC. This process advantage helps NVIDIA pack significantly more transistors into a smaller die: the RTX 4060 contains 18,900 million transistors on a 159 mm² die, giving a density of 118.9 million transistors per square millimeter. The RX 6650 XT, by contrast, has 11,060 million transistors on a 237 mm² die, a density of 46.7 million per square millimeter.

The compute configuration diverges sharply. The RX 6650 XT fields 2,048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, supported by 32 ray tracing cores and no tensor cores. The RTX 4060 counters with 3,072 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, plus 24 ray tracing cores and 96 tensor cores. Despite having fewer TMUs and ROPs, the RTX 4060 achieves higher raw FP32 throughput: 15.11 TFLOPS versus 10.79 TFLOPS. The FP16 comparison is more complex: the RX 6650 XT lists 21.59 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio, while the RTX 4060 lists 15.11 TFLOPS at 1:1.

Memory configurations are similar in capacity and bus width but differ in bandwidth. Both cards use 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus. The RX 6650 XT reaches 280.3 GB/s with memory clocked at 17.5 Gbps effective, while the RTX 4060 reaches 272.0 GB/s at 17 Gbps effective. The RX 6650 XT's slightly higher memory bandwidth is one of its few hardware advantages.

Clock speeds favor AMD in absolute terms. The RX 6650 XT has a base clock of 2055 MHz, a boost of 2635 MHz, and a game clock of 2410 MHz. The RTX 4060 runs a base of 1830 MHz and a boost of 2460 MHz. Pixel rate and texture rate both favor AMD on paper: 168.6 GPixel/s and 337.3 GTexel/s for the RX 6650 XT against 118.1 GPixel/s and 236.2 GTexel/s for the RTX 4060.

Power draw is a major differentiator. The RX 6650 XT has a TDP of 176 W and requires a 450 W suggested PSU with a single 8-pin connector. The RTX 4060 draws only 115 W, needs a 300 W suggested PSU, and uses a single 12-pin connector. Both cards are dual-slot designs with identical display outputs: 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RTX 4060 is physically smaller at 240 mm in length versus unspecified dimensions for the RX 6650 XT, though the RTX 4060's height is 111 mm and width 40 mm.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 4060 is the stronger choice for modern DirectX 12 workloads. Its 19.2% lead in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 and 18.4% lead in PassMark DirectX 12 indicate a clear advantage in current-generation gaming APIs. The same card also dominates compute-heavy tasks: the 18.2% margin in PassMark GPU Compute and the extraordinary 89.4% gap in GeekBench OpenCL show that the Ada Lovelace architecture handles general-purpose compute far more efficiently than RDNA 2.0.

The RX 6650 XT wins decisively in Vulkan, posting a 67.1% higher score than the RTX 4060 in GeekBench Vulkan. For users running Vulkan-based games or applications, the AMD card is the stronger performer by a wide margin. Its narrow 5.8% win in PassMark DirectX 10 is a smaller factor, given the age of that API, but it does indicate that the card retains competence in legacy workloads.

The power consumption data also favors NVIDIA for efficiency-focused builds. The RTX 4060's 115 W TDP is 61 W lower than the RX 6650 XT's 176 W, and its suggested PSU requirement of 300 W is 150 W lower. This makes the RTX 4060 the better option for small form factor systems or builds with modest power supplies, assuming its performance profile fits the user's workload.

The Verdict

The data supports different picks depending on the user's priorities. For DirectX 12 gaming and compute-heavy applications, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is the clear choice. It leads in the most modern benchmark (3DMark Steel Nomad DX12) by 19.2%, wins PassMark G3D by 12.2%, and dominates PassMark GPU Compute by 18.2%. Its 115 W TDP and 300 W suggested PSU also make it the more efficient card. The RTX 4060 was released on 2023-05-17 with a launch MSRP of 299 USD.

For Vulkan-centric workloads, the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is the better performer. Its 67.1% advantage in GeekBench Vulkan is the largest margin in any test, and its higher average benchmark score of 19,765 (versus 17,639) reflects that strength. The RX 6650 XT also holds a slight edge in memory bandwidth at 280.3 GB/s versus 272.0 GB/s. It was released on 2022-05-09 with a launch MSRP of 399 USD. Both cards are end-of-life products. The choice ultimately rests on API preference: NVIDIA for DX12 and compute, AMD for Vulkan.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins more head-to-head benchmarks?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 wins 8 of the 10 head-to-head tests. The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT wins 2.

Q: What is the largest performance gap between the two cards?

A: The largest gap is in GeekBench OpenCL, where the RTX 4060 scores 95,057 versus 10,111 for the RX 6650 XT, a delta of 89.4%. The largest AMD win is 67.1% in GeekBench Vulkan.

Q: Which card has higher raw FP32 compute?

A: The RTX 4060 has 15.11 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, compared to 10.79 TFLOPS for the RX 6650 XT.

Q: How do the power requirements compare?

A: The RX 6650 XT has a 176 W TDP with a 450 W suggested PSU, while the RTX 4060 has a 115 W TDP with a 300 W suggested PSU.

Q: Do both cards have the same amount of memory?

A: Yes, both have 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus. The RX 6650 XT has slightly higher bandwidth at 280.3 GB/s versus 272.0 GB/s.

Q: Which card has tensor cores?

A: Only the RTX 4060 has tensor cores, with 96 of them. The RX 6650 XT has none.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 |

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

| Architecture | RDNA 2.0 | Ada Lovelace |

| Process node | 7 nm | 5 nm |

| Transistors | 11,060 million | 18,900 million |

| Die size | 237 mm² | 159 mm² |

| Transistor density | 46.7M / mm² | 118.9M / mm² |

| Base clock | 2055 MHz | 1830 MHz |

| Boost clock | 2635 MHz | 2460 MHz |

| Memory clock | 17.5 Gbps effective | 17 Gbps effective |

| Memory bandwidth | 280.3 GB/s | 272.0 GB/s |

| Shading units | 2048 | 3072 |

| TMUs | 128 | 96 |

| ROPs | 64 | 48 |

| Ray tracing cores | 32 | 24 |

| Tensor cores | None | 96 |

| Pixel rate | 168.6 GPixel/s | 118.1 GPixel/s |

| Texture rate | 337.3 GTexel/s | 236.2 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 10.79 TFLOPS | 15.11 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 21.59 TFLOPS (2:1) | 15.11 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 176 W | 115 W |

| Power connector | 1x 8-pin | 1x 12-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 450 W | 300 W |

| Release date | 2022-05-09 | 2023-05-17 |

| Launch MSRP | 399 USD | 299 USD |

| Average benchmark score | 19,765 | 17,639 |

| GPU percentile | 65 | 61 |