AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head data reveals a split decision, with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile taking 5 of 9 tests and the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT winning 4. The most dramatic result is in Geekbench OpenCL, where the RTX 4060 Mobile scores 89420 versus 10111 for the RX 6650 XT, a staggering 784.4% advantage. That is not a close race; it is a category difference. The RTX 4060 Mobile also leads in Geekbench Vulkan, scoring 89569 against 81306, a 10.2% edge that shows consistent API-level superiority in compute workloads.

DirectX 12 results favor NVIDIA as well, with the RTX 4060 Mobile scoring 73 versus 62, a 17.7% win. This suggests the Ada Lovelace architecture handles modern graphics APIs more efficiently. The DirectX 9 test is nearly a tie, with the RTX 4060 Mobile at 216 and the RX 6650 XT at 215, a 0.5% margin that is within noise. In Passmark G3D, the overall 3D graphics score, the RTX 4060 Mobile posts 17469 against 17166, a 1.8% lead. That slim margin in the primary gaming-oriented metric indicates the two cards are broadly comparable in rasterized performance, despite their architectural differences.

AMD fights back in several legacy and compute tests. The RX 6650 XT wins Passmark DirectX 10 with 109 versus 107, a 1.8% edge, and DirectX 11 with 169 versus 157, a more substantial 7.1% lead. The 2D graphics test is AMD's biggest win: 918 versus 730, a 20.5% advantage that reflects different driver and memory subsystem behaviors in 2D workloads. In GPU compute, the RX 6650 XT scores 7532 against 6816, a 9.5% win, showing that AMD's compute units can outperform NVIDIA's in certain parallel workloads despite the OpenCL result.

The average benchmark scores tell a similar story. The RTX 4060 Mobile has an average score of 22729, while the RX 6650 XT averages 19765. That is a 15% overall gap, but the per-test distribution matters more. The RTX 4060 Mobile's percentile rank is 67 versus 65 for the RX 6650 XT, meaning both sit in the upper two-thirds of all GPUs in the database. The nearest rivals for the RTX 4060 Mobile include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (22895 average, -0.7% delta), the Intel Arc B580 (23021, -1.3%), and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (22549, +0.8%). For the RX 6650 XT, the nearest rivals are older professional cards: the NVIDIA Tesla K40m (19885, -0.6%), AMD FirePro D300 (19637, +0.7%), and NVIDIA Quadro K5200 (19602, +0.8%). This comparison suggests the RTX 4060 Mobile competes with modern mid-range desktop parts, while the RX 6650 XT sits in a different performance tier.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile averages 22729, compared to 19765 for the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT, a difference of roughly 15% in favor of NVIDIA.

Q: In which test does the RTX 4060 Mobile show its largest advantage?

A: The Geekbench OpenCL test, where it scores 89420 versus 10111, a 784.4% delta. This is by far the biggest margin in any recorded test.

Q: Does the RX 6650 XT win any modern DirectX tests?

A: No. The RX 6650 XT wins DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 tests, but loses DirectX 12 by 17.7% (73 versus 62). The DirectX 12 loss is significant for modern gaming.

Q: How do the two compare in overall 3D graphics performance?

A: In Passmark G3D, the RTX 4060 Mobile scores 17469 versus 17166 for the RX 6650 XT, a 1.8% lead. This is the closest major metric between the two.

Q: What is the percentile ranking for each GPU?

A: The RTX 4060 Mobile ranks in the 67th percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 6650 XT ranks in the 65th percentile. Both are above average, but NVIDIA holds a slight overall edge.

Q: Which GPU wins in compute-heavy workloads?

A: It depends on the API. The RTX 4060 Mobile wins Geekbench OpenCL by 784.4% and Vulkan by 10.2%, but the RX 6650 XT wins Passmark GPU Compute by 9.5% (7532 versus 6816). The OpenCL result is anomalously large and may reflect driver-specific optimizations.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different design philosophies. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile uses the AD107 chip built on TSMC's 5 nm process, packing 18,900 million transistors into a 159 mm² die. That yields a transistor density of 118.9 million per square millimeter, an extraordinarily high figure. The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT uses the Navi 23 chip on TSMC's 7 nm process, with 11,060 million transistors on a 237 mm² die, for a density of 46.7 million per square millimeter. The 5 nm node allows NVIDIA to cram nearly twice the transistor density into a smaller package, which explains the RTX 4060 Mobile's lower TDP of 115 W versus 176 W for the RX 6650 XT.

The compute configuration differs sharply. The RTX 4060 Mobile has 3072 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 render output units, plus 24 ray tracing cores and 96 tensor cores. The RX 6650 XT has fewer shading units at 2048, but more TMUs at 128 and more ROPs at 64, plus 32 ray accelerators. NVIDIA's tensor cores are a key differentiator, as AMD's chip has no equivalent tensor core array. This makes the RTX 4060 Mobile better suited for AI-accelerated workloads, though the database does not record specific tensor core benchmarks.

Clock speeds tell a different story. The RX 6650 XT runs at a base clock of 2055 MHz and boosts to 2635 MHz, with a game clock of 2410 MHz. The RTX 4060 Mobile has a base clock of 1545 MHz and a boost of 1890 MHz. Despite the lower clocks, the RTX 4060 Mobile achieves higher FP32 throughput at 11.61 TFLOPS versus 10.79 TFLOPS for the RX 6650 XT, thanks to its larger shader count. The RX 6650 XT does flip the FP16 comparison: it delivers 21.59 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio) versus 11.61 TFLOPS (1:1) for the RTX 4060 Mobile, meaning AMD's card can do twice the FP16 work per clock.

Memory configurations are similar in capacity but differ in bandwidth. Both have 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus. The RX 6650 XT runs memory at 2190 MHz (17.5 Gbps effective) for 280.3 GB/s bandwidth, while the RTX 4060 Mobile runs at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) for 256.0 GB/s. That 8.7% bandwidth advantage for AMD may contribute to its wins in DirectX 11 and 2D tests. The RTX 4060 Mobile compensates with higher pixel rate efficiency: 90.72 GPixel/s versus 168.6 GPixel/s for the RX 6650 XT, which seems counterintuitive until you account for the different ROP counts and clock speeds.

The RTX 4060 Mobile is an integrated mobile part (IGP slot width) with no power connectors, while the RX 6650 XT is a dual-slot desktop card requiring a single 8-pin connector and a 450 W suggested PSU. Both use PCIe 4.0 x8 interfaces. The RTX 4060 Mobile was released in January 2023, while the RX 6650 XT came out in May 2022. The RX 6650 XT is marked as end-of-life with a 399 USD launch MSRP, while the RTX 4060 Mobile remains active with no recorded launch MSRP.

The Verdict

The recorded data points to a clear but nuanced conclusion. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile is the stronger overall GPU, evidenced by its higher average benchmark score (22729 versus 19765), better percentile rank (67 versus 65), and wins in the most demanding modern tests: DirectX 12, Geekbench Vulkan, and the comprehensive Passmark G3D. The 784.4% OpenCL margin is anomalous but cannot be ignored; it suggests NVIDIA's driver stack has a massive advantage in OpenCL compute on this platform.

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT, however, wins in exactly the places you would expect from a higher-clocked, higher-bandwidth desktop card. Its 20.5% win in 2D graphics, 9.5% win in GPU compute, and 7.1% win in DirectX 11 show that AMD's RDNA 2 architecture remains competitive in legacy and compute scenarios. The RX 6650 XT also has a higher boost clock (2635 MHz versus 1890 MHz) and more bandwidth (280.3 GB/s versus 256.0 GB/s), which explains its wins in bandwidth-sensitive tests.

For users prioritizing modern gaming and API-level performance, the data favors the RTX 4060 Mobile. For users running older DirectX titles or compute workloads that favor AMD's architecture, the RX 6650 XT is the better choice. The RTX 4060 Mobile's tensor cores and 5 nm efficiency make it a more future-proof part, while the RX 6650 XT's end-of-life status and higher power draw (176 W versus 115 W) suggest it is a mature, less efficient design. The nearest rival data reinforces this: the RTX 4060 Mobile competes with modern desktop GPUs like the RX 7700 XT and RTX 2080, while the RX 6650 XT sits alongside legacy professional cards like the Tesla K40m and Quadro K5200.

Specification Differences

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

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

| Process Node | 5 nm | 7 nm |

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

| Die Size | 159 mm² | 237 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 118.9M / mm² | 46.7M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1545 MHz | 2055 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1890 MHz | 2635 MHz |

| Game Clock | N/A | 2410 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) | 2190 MHz (17.5 Gbps effective) |

| Memory Bandwidth | 256.0 GB/s | 280.3 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 3072 | 2048 |

| TMUs | 96 | 128 |

| ROPs | 48 | 64 |

| Ray Tracing Cores | 24 | 32 |

| Tensor Cores | 96 | None |

| Pixel Rate | 90.72 GPixel/s | 168.6 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 181.4 GTexel/s | 337.3 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 11.61 TFLOPS | 10.79 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 11.61 TFLOPS (1:1) | 21.59 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 115 W | 176 W |

| Slot Width | IGP | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | None | 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | N/A | 450 W |

| Display Outputs | Portable Device Dependent | 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |

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

| Release Date | 2023-01-02 | 2022-05-09 |

| Launch MSRP | N/A | 399 USD |

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile is the clear winner in modern compute and API-forward workloads. Its DirectX 12 victory (73 versus 62) positions it for current game engines that leverage DX12 features. The Geekbench Vulkan win (89569 versus 81306) shows strong cross-platform graphics API performance. The 784.4% OpenCL margin, while extreme, indicates NVIDIA's compute stack is far more mature in that specific API. The Passmark G3D win (17469 versus 17166), though slim, means the RTX 4060 Mobile is the better choice for overall 3D rendering tasks. Its 115 W TDP and IGP form factor also make it the only viable option for thin-and-light laptops, whereas the RX 6650 XT requires a dual-slot desktop chassis with external power.

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT wins in legacy and specific compute scenarios. Its DirectX 11 advantage (169 versus 157) matters for older game libraries and productivity software that have not migrated to DX12. The DirectX 10 win (109 versus 107) is marginal but consistent. The 2D graphics performance (918 versus 730) is a 20.5% blowout, making the RX 6650 XT preferable for desktop environments, video playback, and other 2D-intensive tasks. The Passmark GPU Compute win (7532 versus 6816) indicates AMD's architecture handles general-purpose compute better in that specific benchmark, despite the OpenCL reversal. The RX 6650 XT also offers higher memory bandwidth (280.3 GB/s) and a higher boost clock, which can matter in texture-heavy or bandwidth-bound scenarios.

The tiebreaker is the average benchmark score and percentile ranking. The RTX 4060 Mobile's 22729 average and 67th percentile versus the RX 6650 XT's 19765 and 65th percentile show a consistent overall advantage. The nearest rival data reinforces this: the RTX 4060 Mobile is bracketed by the RTX 2080 (-0.7%) and RX 7700 XT (+0.8%), both modern parts, while the RX 6650 XT is bracketed by decade-old professional cards. If the workload is modern gaming, AI, or API-diverse compute, choose the RTX 4060 Mobile. If the workload is legacy DirectX, 2D-heavy desktop use, or specific compute benchmarks, the RX 6650 XT holds its ground.