AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT vs NVIDIA Quadro P6000 Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The recorded benchmark data splits these two cards into very different roles. The NVIDIA Quadro P6000, a Pascal-generation workstation part, holds wins in none of the head-to-head tests recorded in the database. The AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT, built on RDNA 2.0, wins both shared tests outright. That is a clear sweep, but the margin tells a more interesting story than the simple count.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the Radeon RX 6950 XT scores 205998 against the Quadro P6000's 66382. That is a delta of negative 67.8 percent from the AMD card's perspective, meaning the AMD card is roughly three times faster in raw compute throughput as measured by that workload. The Vulkan test narrows the gap somewhat: the RX 6950 XT posts 165212 versus 73590, a 55.5 percent delta. Even the smaller margin is still a dominant victory.

The use-case split is therefore straightforward: the RX 6950 XT is the compute and graphics winner in every measured category. The Quadro P6000 does not have a single benchmark in the database where it beats the AMD card. That does not mean the Quadro is without a role, but the data cannot support a claim of superiority in any tested workload.

The percentile rankings reinforce this. The Quadro P6000 sits at the 90th percentile against all GPUs in the database, while the RX 6950 XT sits at the 88th percentile. The Quadro's higher percentile despite lower raw scores suggests its average benchmark score, 69986, benefits from consistency across a broader set of tests not shared here. The RX 6950 XT's average benchmark score is 58392, dragged down by the many Passmark tests in its list that are not present for the Quadro. The database records the Quadro with only two benchmark entries, both compute-oriented, while the AMD card carries eleven entries spanning DirectX 9 through 12, Metal, OpenCL, Vulkan, and 2D tests. The AMD card's workload coverage is wider, and within the overlapping tests it wins decisively.

The Verdict

The data points to a simple buyer's guide. If the workload is OpenCL or Vulkan compute, the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT is the clear pick. Its scores are 55 to 68 percent higher than the Quadro P6000 in those exact tests. There is no recorded benchmark where the Quadro wins.

The Quadro P6000 should be chosen only if the specific software environment requires NVIDIA's Pascal architecture, its 24 GB of GDDR5X memory, or its professional display outputs (one DVI and four DisplayPort 1.4a). The database shows no performance advantage for the Quadro in any shared test, so any decision in its favor must rest on compatibility, memory capacity, or output configuration rather than measured speed.

For users who need maximum compute throughput in OpenCL or Vulkan, the RX 6950 XT is the only defensible choice from these two. It also offers DirectX 12 Ultimate support, 80 ray tracing cores, and a PCIe 4.0 interface, all of which are absent from the Quadro P6000. The Quadro's Pascal architecture lacks dedicated ray tracing hardware entirely, and its DirectX support stops at 12 (12_1) rather than 12 Ultimate.

The verdict, strictly from the data: the RX 6950 XT wins every head-to-head benchmark, has a higher FP32 throughput (23.65 TFLOPS versus 12.63 TFLOPS), higher texture and pixel rates, and a newer architecture. The Quadro P6000 retains advantages only in memory size (24 GB versus 16 GB) and transistor density (25.1M per mm² versus 51.5M per mm², which actually favors the AMD chip on density). The AMD card is faster in every measured performance metric.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records two shared tests between these GPUs. Both go to the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT.

Geekbench OpenCL: the RX 6950 XT scores 205998, the Quadro P6000 scores 66382. The delta is negative 67.8 percent, which means the AMD card outperforms the Quadro by a factor of 3.1. This is the largest margin in the head-to-head set. The OpenCL test exercises general-purpose compute, and the RX 6950 XT's 5120 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 128 render output units vastly outnumber the Quadro's 3840, 240, and 96 respectively. The AMD card's FP32 rating of 23.65 TFLOPS against the Quadro's 12.63 TFLOPS explains the scale of the victory.

Geekbench Vulkan: the RX 6950 XT scores 165212, the Quadro P6000 scores 73590. The delta is negative 55.5 percent, meaning the AMD card is 2.2 times faster. The margin narrows compared to OpenCL, but the outcome does not change. Vulkan harnesses the graphics pipeline more directly, and the RX 6950 XT's newer RDNA 2.0 architecture with 80 ray tracing cores likely contributes to the advantage. The Quadro's Pascal architecture predates dedicated ray tracing hardware, so it relies on compute shaders for such effects.

The AMD card also holds wins in tests not shared with the Quadro. Its Passmark G3D score is 28070, and its Geekbench Metal score is 222653. These numbers have no Quadro counterpart in the database, so they cannot be compared directly, but they show the RX 6950 XT's breadth across different API ecosystems. The Quadro P6000's only recorded benchmarks are the two shared tests, so its average benchmark score of 69986 comes from a narrow sample.

The biggest win for the AMD card is the OpenCL margin: 67.8 percent. The biggest win for the Quadro, if one can call it that, is simply not losing by more. In Vulkan the delta shrinks to 55.5 percent, but that is still a landslide. The data shows no scenario where the Quadro comes within single digits of the AMD card.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in OpenCL compute?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT scores 205998 in Geekbench OpenCL, compared to 66382 for the NVIDIA Quadro P6000. The AMD card leads by 67.8 percent.

Q: Does the Quadro P6000 win any benchmark against the RX 6950 XT?

A: No. The database records two head-to-head tests, Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan, and the AMD card wins both. The Quadro has zero wins in the head-to-head set.

Q: What is the Vulkan performance difference?

A: The RX 6950 XT scores 165212 in Geekbench Vulkan, while the Quadro P6000 scores 73590. The AMD card is 55.5 percent faster.

Q: Which card has more memory?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro P6000 has 24 GB of GDDR5X on a 384-bit bus. The AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus. Despite the smaller capacity, the AMD card achieves higher bandwidth at 576.0 GB/s versus 432.8 GB/s.

Q: How do their overall database percentiles compare?

A: The Quadro P6000 sits at the 90th percentile against all GPUs, while the RX 6950 XT sits at the 88th percentile. The Quadro's higher percentile reflects its average benchmark score of 69986, but that average comes from only two tests. The RX 6950 XT's average of 58392 spans eleven tests including DirectX, Metal, and Passmark workloads.

Q: Which card supports ray tracing?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT includes 80 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate. The NVIDIA Quadro P6000 has no ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 (12_1) only.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural generations and manufacturing processes. The NVIDIA Quadro P6000 uses the GP102 chip built on Pascal architecture, fabricated by TSMC on a 16 nm process. The AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT uses the Navi 21 chip on RDNA 2.0 architecture, also fabricated by TSMC but on a 7 nm process. The process node difference is substantial: 16 nm versus 7 nm.

Transistor counts reflect the generational leap. The Quadro P6000 packs 11,800 million transistors on a 471 mm² die, yielding a density of 25.1 million transistors per square millimeter. The RX 6950 XT carries 26,800 million transistors on a 520 mm² die, achieving 51.5 million per square millimeter. The AMD chip more than doubles the transistor density, which explains how it fits nearly double the FP32 throughput into a similar physical footprint.

The shading architecture differs fundamentally. The Quadro P6000 uses 3840 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 96 render output units. The RX 6950 XT uses 5120 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 128 ROPs. The AMD card has 33 percent more shading units, 33 percent more TMUs, and 33 percent more ROPs. Those ratios align closely with the observed benchmark deltas.

Ray tracing is the biggest architectural divergence. The RX 6950 XT includes 80 dedicated ray tracing cores, a feature entirely absent from the Quadro P6000. Pascal predates hardware ray tracing, so the Quadro must handle such workloads through compute shaders. The AMD card also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, which includes ray tracing and mesh shaders, while the Quadro stops at DirectX 12 (12_1).

The FP16 capability shows another generational gap. The RX 6950 XT delivers 47.31 TFLOPS of FP16 at a 2:1 ratio to its FP32 rate. The Quadro P6000 delivers only 197.4 GFLOPS of FP16 at a 1:64 ratio, a severe penalty for half-precision workloads. Any application using FP16 math will see a massive advantage on the AMD card.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every specification field in the database. The manufacturing process favors the AMD card: 7 nm versus 16 nm. The transistor count favors AMD: 26,800 million versus 11,800 million. The die size is similar (520 mm² versus 471 mm²), but the density difference is stark: 51.5M per mm² versus 25.1M per mm².

Clock speeds favor the AMD card across the board. The RX 6950 XT has a base clock of 1860 MHz, a game clock of 2100 MHz, and a boost clock of 2310 MHz. The Quadro P6000 has a base of 1506 MHz and a boost of 1645 MHz, with no game clock listed. The memory clock also diverges: the AMD card runs at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective), while the Quadro runs at 1127 MHz (9 Gbps effective).

Memory configuration splits the two. The Quadro P6000 uses 24 GB of GDDR5X on a 384-bit bus, delivering 432.8 GB/s. The RX 6950 XT uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, but delivers 576.0 GB/s. The AMD card achieves higher bandwidth with a narrower bus thanks to faster memory, while the Quadro relies on a wider bus and slower memory.

Compute rates strongly favor AMD. The RX 6950 XT delivers 23.65 TFLOPS FP32, 47.31 TFLOPS FP16, a pixel rate of 295.7 GPixel/s, and a texture rate of 739.2 GTexel/s. The Quadro P6000 delivers 12.63 TFLOPS FP32, 197.4 GFLOPS FP16, 157.9 GPixel/s, and 394.8 GTexel/s. Every rate is roughly double on the AMD card.

Power and physical specs differ as well. The Quadro P6000 has a 250 W TDP, a dual-slot width, one 8-pin power connector, and a suggested 600 W PSU. The RX 6950 XT has a 335 W TDP, a triple-slot width, two 8-pin connectors, and a suggested 700 W PSU. The AMD card is physically taller (120 mm versus 111 mm) and thicker (50 mm width versus no listed width for the Quadro), but both are 267 mm long.

The bus interface differs: the Quadro uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the RX 6950 XT uses PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs also differ: the Quadro offers 1x DVI and 4x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the AMD card offers 1x HDMI 2.1 and 2x DisplayPort 1.4a. Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4, but DirectX support favors AMD with 12 Ultimate versus 12 (12_1). The launch MSRP for the Quadro P6000 is 5,999 USD, while the RX 6950 XT launched at 1,099 USD.