AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT holds the higher average benchmark score at 48,477, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 records an average of 40,377. Despite this, the RTX 5070 wins every single head-to-head benchmark comparison in the database.

Q: How do the two cards compare in overall GPU percentile ranking?

A: The RX 6800 XT sits in the 85th percentile among all GPUs, whereas the RTX 5070 ranks in the 82nd percentile. This suggests the AMD card is positioned slightly higher in the overall distribution of recorded performance.

Q: What is the biggest performance gap in the head-to-head results?

A: The largest delta appears in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, where the RTX 5070 scores 5,077 against the RX 6800 XT's 3,689, a difference of 27.3% in favor of NVIDIA.

Q: In which test is the performance difference the smallest?

A: The closest result is in Geekbench OpenCL, where the RTX 5070 scores 172,660 and the RX 6800 XT scores 171,304. The delta is only 0.8%, making it nearly a tie.

Q: Which card has the higher memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX 5070 leads with 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth, while the RX 6800 XT provides 512.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA card also uses faster GDDR7 memory rated at 28 Gbps effective, compared to the AMD card's GDDR6 at 16 Gbps effective.

Q: What are the launch MSRP values for these cards?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT has a launch MSRP of 649 USD, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 has a launch MSRP of 549 USD.

Where Each One Wins

The head-to-head benchmark sweep is entirely one-sided: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 wins all 10 recorded comparisons. The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT does not secure a single victory in any of the paired tests, which include 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan, and the Passmark suite covering DirectX 9 through 12, G2D, G3D, and GPU compute.

Within that sweep, the RTX 5070's wins vary in magnitude. Its largest advantages appear in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 (27.3% ahead), Geekbench Vulkan (23.5% ahead), and Passmark G2D (21.1% ahead). Smaller but still decisive edges show up in Passmark DirectX 9 (17.2%), GPU compute (16.1%), and G3D (14.3%). The narrowest margin is in Geekbench OpenCL, where the RTX 5070 leads by just 0.8%.

From a use-case perspective, the RTX 5070 is the stronger choice for modern DX12 workloads, Vulkan-based applications, and general 2D interface performance. The RX 6800 XT, despite losing every head-to-head test, still posts a higher average benchmark score and a better percentile rank, which indicates its performance is more consistent across a broader set of unpaired database entries. For users prioritizing raw compute in a single application, the RTX 5070's wins in GPU compute (15,787 vs. 13,245) and DirectX 11 (277 vs. 264) make it the more versatile card in most scenarios.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from fundamentally different design generations. The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT uses the Navi 21 chip built on RDNA 2.0 architecture, fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5070 uses the GB205 chip with Blackwell 2.0 architecture, also produced by TSMC but on a 5 nm node. The manufacturing density difference is substantial: the AMD chip packs 26,800 million transistors across a 520 mm² die, yielding 51.5M transistors per mm², while the NVIDIA chip fits 31,100 million transistors into a much smaller 263 mm² die, achieving 118.3M transistors per mm².

Ray tracing hardware differs in count and design. The RX 6800 XT has 72 ray tracing cores, while the RTX 5070 has 48 RT cores. NVIDIA also includes 192 tensor cores, a feature absent from the AMD card, which reports no tensor core count. Shading unit counts also diverge: the AMD card has 4,608 shading units, 288 texture mapping units, and 128 ROPs, whereas the NVIDIA card has 6,144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 80 ROPs.

The memory subsystems reflect different strategies. AMD uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, while NVIDIA uses 12 GB of GDDR7 on a 192-bit bus. Despite the narrower bus, the NVIDIA card achieves higher bandwidth due to the faster memory clock. The RX 6800 XT's pixel rate is 288.0 GPixel/s versus 201.0 GPixel/s for the RTX 5070, but the RTX 5070's texture rate is lower at 482.3 GTexel/s compared to 648.0 GTexel/s for the AMD card.

Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. NVIDIA's card uses PCIe 5.0 x16, while AMD's uses PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs differ: the RX 6800 XT offers HDMI 2.1, two DisplayPort 1.4a ports, and one USB Type-C, while the RTX 5070 provides HDMI 2.1b and three DisplayPort 2.1b outputs.

Specification Differences

The recorded data shows clear specification gaps between the two cards. Clock speeds favor NVIDIA: the base clock is 2325 MHz versus 1825 MHz, and the boost clock is 2512 MHz versus 2250 MHz. AMD lists a game clock of 2015 MHz, a metric NVIDIA does not report. Memory clocks also differ, with the RTX 5070 running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective) against the RX 6800 XT's 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective).

Memory capacity and type diverge as noted: 16 GB GDDR6 versus 12 GB GDDR7. Bus width favors AMD at 256 bit versus 192 bit, but bandwidth favors NVIDIA at 672.0 GB/s versus 512.0 GB/s. Power requirements are lower for the RTX 5070, which has a TDP of 250 W and a suggested PSU of 600 W, while the RX 6800 XT draws 300 W and recommends a 700 W PSU. Power connectors also differ: AMD uses two 8-pin connectors, NVIDIA uses one 16-pin connector.

Physical dimensions are smaller on the NVIDIA card: 245 mm length, 115 mm height, and 40 mm width, versus 267 mm, 120 mm, and 50 mm for the AMD card. Both are dual-slot designs. The RX 6800 XT is end-of-life in production status, while the RTX 5070 is active. Release dates are separated by several years, with AMD launching in late 2020 and NVIDIA in early 2025.

Compute throughput figures favor NVIDIA in FP32, where it delivers 30.87 TFLOPS versus 20.74 TFLOPS. FP16 performance is identical to FP32 on the RTX 5070 (30.87 TFLOPS, 1:1 ratio), whereas the RX 6800 XT achieves 41.47 TFLOPS FP16 using a 2:1 ratio. The AMD card has higher pixel and texture rates, but NVIDIA has more shading units.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most striking result is in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, a modern DirectX 12 workload. The RTX 5070 scores 5,077 against 3,689 for the RX 6800 XT, a 27.3% margin. This is the largest single-test gap in the dataset and indicates a substantial advantage for NVIDIA in newer rendering paths.

Geekbench Vulkan shows a similar pattern, with the RTX 5070 at 178,923 versus 136,875, a 23.5% lead. This suggests NVIDIA's Vulkan implementation is significantly stronger. Geekbench OpenCL is much closer: 172,660 for NVIDIA versus 171,304 for AMD, a 0.8% delta that effectively represents a tie within normal benchmark variance.

Passmark results consistently favor the RTX 5070. In DirectX 9, the score is 320 versus 265, a 17.2% lead. DirectX 10 shows 180 versus 155, a 13.9% gap. DirectX 11 is tighter at 277 versus 264, only 4.7% apart. DirectX 12 yields 108 versus 100, a 7.4% difference. The G2D test shows a 21.1% advantage for NVIDIA (1,305 vs. 1,030), and G3D shows 29,137 versus 24,980, a 14.3% margin. GPU compute rounds out the sweep with 15,787 versus 13,245, a 16.1% lead.

The overall picture is unambiguous: the RTX 5070 wins all 10 head-to-head tests, with margins ranging from 0.8% to 27.3%. The RX 6800 XT's higher average benchmark score (48,477 vs. 40,377) and percentile rank (85th vs. 82nd) come from its performance across the wider unpaired database, but in direct comparison, NVIDIA's card is consistently faster. The narrowest win, OpenCL, highlights that compute workloads are competitive, but gaming and graphics-focused tests favor the newer architecture decisively.