AMD Radeon RX 6800M vs NVIDIA GRID M60-1Q Comparison

NVIDIA GRID M60-1Q and AMD Radeon RX 6800M occupy opposite ends of the GPU spectrum: the former is a Maxwell-era enterprise virtualization card from 2015, the latter a RDNA 2 mobile part from 2021. The data shows a single head-to-head benchmark result, but the broader benchmark suites and architectural specifications reveal two devices designed for entirely different workloads. The GRID M60-1Q holds a 76th percentile among all GPUs with an average score of 31,220, while the RX 6800M sits at the 74th percentile with an average of 28,874 across a wider range of tests.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 6800M wins the only direct comparison available: Geekbench Vulkan. It scores 94,766 against the NVIDIA GRID M60-1Q’s 31,220, a 67.1% advantage. This is not a marginal lead — it is a decisive victory that reflects the fundamental architectural gap between the two. The RX 6800M’s RDNA 2 design, with 2,560 shading units and a boost clock of 2,390 MHz, delivers 12.24 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. The GRID M60-1Q, with 2,048 shading units at a boost of 1,178 MHz, manages only 4.825 TFLOPS. In raw compute throughput, the AMD part is roughly 2.5 times more powerful, and the Vulkan score reflects that scaling.

However, the GRID M60-1Q’s strength lies in its specialization. Its nearest rivals in the database are the NVIDIA Quadro M5000 (31,206, 0% delta) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER (31,087, 0.4% delta). This clustering suggests that the GRID M60-1Q performs at a level competitive with much newer workstation and high-end consumer cards in its specific benchmark context, despite its age. The card has no display outputs, indicating it is designed for virtualized environments where rendering happens on the host and frames are streamed to clients. Its dual-slot form factor, 225 W TDP, and 1x 8-pin power connector reinforce this server-oriented purpose.

The RX 6800M, by contrast, is a portable device part — its slot width is listed as IGP, and its display outputs are "Portable Device Dependent." It is designed to be integrated into laptops, where power efficiency matters. Its 145 W TDP is significantly lower than the GRID’s 225 W, yet it delivers substantially more performance. The RX 6800M’s benchmark suite shows strengths across multiple APIs: it scores 113,721 in Geekbench Metal, 87,621 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 13,261 in Passmark G3D. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2,238 further demonstrates its modern API support, which includes DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and 40 ray tracing cores. None of these tests exist for the GRID M60-1Q, which only has a Vulkan result.

The Verdict

The data makes the choice straightforward for most use cases. For any application requiring raw graphics performance, modern API support, or ray tracing, the AMD Radeon RX 6800M is the only viable option. It wins the sole head-to-head benchmark by 67.1%, and its additional benchmarks (Metal, OpenCL, Passmark DX9-12) provide evidence of broad compatibility and capability. Its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory with 384.0 GB/s bandwidth dwarfs the GRID’s 1 GB GDDR5 at 160.4 GB/s, making it suitable for large textures and datasets.

The NVIDIA GRID M60-1Q is only the right choice for a very specific, legacy scenario: virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) deployments that require a Maxwell-based GPU with no display outputs. Its single benchmark score of 31,220 places it at the 76th percentile, which is respectable, but this is a single data point. The card’s 1 GB memory is a severe limitation for any modern workload, and its 28 nm process node (versus 7 nm for AMD) means it operates at lower clocks and higher power for far less performance. The GRID’s nearest rivals include the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, but that comparison is misleading — the GRID’s score is close, but it lacks the memory, features, and efficiency of that card.

For gamers, content creators, or anyone running modern 3D applications, the RX 6800M is the clear winner. For IT administrators maintaining a legacy VDI infrastructure with specific Maxwell requirements, the GRID M60-1Q remains functional but is end-of-life. The benchmark data shows the RX 6800M outperforms the GRID in every measurable way, and its architectural advantages (process node, memory capacity, compute units) make it the superior product in virtually all scenarios.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison is Geekbench Vulkan, where the AMD Radeon RX 6800M scores 94,766 against the NVIDIA GRID M60-1Q’s 31,220. The delta is 67.1% in favor of AMD. This is a massive margin that aligns with the compute specifications: the RX 6800M delivers 12.24 TFLOPS FP32 versus 4.825 TFLOPS for the GRID, a 2.54x difference. The RX 6800M’s 2,560 shading units at a 2,390 MHz boost clock easily outpace the GRID’s 2,048 units at 1,178 MHz. Additionally, the RX 6800M’s 40 ray tracing cores and DirectX 12 Ultimate support provide features the GRID simply lacks.

The GRID M60-1Q’s best showing is its proximity to the NVIDIA Quadro M5000 in the database, with a delta of 0% (31,220 vs. 31,206). It also trails the NVIDIA TITAN RTX by only 1.4% (31,676) and the RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell by 1% (31,532). These are extremely close margins, suggesting that in Vulkan compute tasks, the GRID’s Maxwell architecture performs surprisingly well despite its age. However, this is likely due to the benchmark’s specific nature — Vulkan is a low-level API that can be optimized for specific hardware, and the GRID’s 64 ROPs and 128 TMUs help in certain rasterization tasks.

The RX 6800M’s nearest rivals tell a different story. It sits within 1% of the AMD Radeon RX 570 (28,766, 0.4% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 470 (28,996, -0.4% delta), but also within 1% of the Intel Arc A370M (29,175, -1% delta). This indicates that the RX 6800M’s average score of 28,874 is pulled down by its diverse benchmark suite, which includes older API tests like Passmark DirectX 9 (147) and DirectX 10 (101) where it scores poorly. In contrast, the GRID’s single Vulkan score of 31,220 is its entire average, which inflates its percentile ranking relative to its true capabilities.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher memory bandwidth?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6800M has 384.0 GB/s bandwidth from its 12 GB GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus. The NVIDIA GRID M60-1Q has 160.4 GB/s from 1 GB GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus.

Q: Does the GRID M60-1Q support ray tracing?

A: No. The GRID M60-1Q has no ray tracing cores listed. The RX 6800M has 40 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2).

Q: What is the performance gap in Vulkan?

A: The RX 6800M scores 94,766 in Geekbench Vulkan versus the GRID M60-1Q’s 31,220, a 67.1% advantage for AMD.

Q: Which card is more power efficient?

A: The RX 6800M has a 145 W TDP and delivers 12.24 TFLOPS, while the GRID M60-1Q has a 225 W TDP and delivers 4.825 TFLOPS. The AMD card produces more than 2.5x the compute per watt.

Q: Can the GRID M60-1Q be used in a desktop PC?

A: It has no display outputs, so it cannot drive a monitor directly. It is designed for virtualized environments where frames are streamed. It requires a 550 W suggested PSU and a PCIe 3.0 x16 slot.

Q: Which card has better API support?

A: The RX 6800M supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and has Vulkan 1.4 and OpenGL 4.6. The GRID M60-1Q supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and the same OpenGL and Vulkan versions.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are separated by six years of process and design evolution. The NVIDIA GRID M60-1Q uses the GM204 chip on a 28 nm TSMC process, with 5,200 million transistors on a 398 mm² die. The AMD Radeon RX 6800M uses the Navi 22 chip on a 7 nm TSMC process, packing 17,200 million transistors into a smaller 335 mm² die. This leads to a dramatic difference in transistor density: 13.1M per mm² for NVIDIA versus 51.3M per mm² for AMD.

Clock speeds reflect the process advantage. The GRID M60-1Q runs at a 557 MHz base and 1,178 MHz boost, while the RX 6800M runs at 2,116 MHz base and 2,390 MHz boost, with a 2,300 MHz game clock. The AMD card also has 2,560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, versus the GRID’s 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The RX 6800M’s FP32 throughput is 12.24 TFLOPS, and it supports FP16 at 24.47 TFLOPS (2:1), while the GRID has no FP16 listing.

Memory architecture is another major divergence. The GRID has 1 GB of GDDR5 at 5 Gbps effective on a 256-bit bus, yielding 160.4 GB/s. The RX 6800M has 12 GB of GDDR6 at 16 Gbps effective on a 192-bit bus, yielding 384.0 GB/s. The AMD card’s larger capacity and higher bandwidth make it suitable for modern games and compute workloads.

Power and form factor differ entirely. The GRID is a dual-slot card with a 225 W TDP, a 1x 8-pin connector, and a 550 W suggested PSU. It is 267 mm long. The RX 6800M is an IGP (integrated graphics processor) with a 145 W TDP and no power connectors, designed for portable devices. The GRID has no display outputs, while the RX 6800M’s outputs are dependent on the host device.

The GRID is based on Maxwell 2.0 architecture, which supports DirectX 12 (12_1) but lacks ray tracing and mesh shaders. The RX 6800M uses RDNA 2.0 with DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), 40 ray tracing cores, and a 2:1 FP16 ratio. Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4, but the AMD card’s newer architecture provides hardware-accelerated ray tracing and Variable Rate Shading capabilities that Maxwell cannot offer. The GRID’s release date of August 2015 and end-of-life status contrast with the RX 6800M’s May 2021 release, though both are now listed as end-of-life. The RX 6800M’s predecessor is Polaris Mobile, while the GRID has no listed predecessor or successor, reflecting its niche enterprise positioning.