AMD Radeon RX 7600 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only directly comparable benchmark between the AMD Radeon RX 7600 and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 in the database is the Geekbench OpenCL test. The results are decisive. The RX 7600 scores 88,051 points, while the GTX 590 manages 12,830 points. That is a delta of 586.3% in favor of the AMD card, meaning the RX 7600 delivers roughly seven times the compute throughput in this workload. No other shared test exists between the two products, so this single result carries the entire head-to-head comparison.

The magnitude of the gap reflects more than just generational progress. The RX 7600 sits at the 57th percentile of all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 15,171. The GTX 590, by contrast, lands at the 52nd percentile with an average score of 12,830. While both cards sit in the lower half of the overall distribution, the RX 7600 is clearly the stronger performer in raw compute terms. Its nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM at 15,199 (0.2% higher), the AMD Radeon 680M at 15,270 (0.7% higher), and the AMD Radeon Pro 560X at 15,082 (0.6% lower). The GTX 590's closest competitors are the AMD Radeon Pro 455 at 12,831 (0% delta), the AMD FirePro W5100 at 12,847 (0.1% higher), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 at 12,773 (0.4% lower). In other words, the RX 7600 competes with modern integrated and entry-level discrete GPUs, while the GTX 590 trades blows with much older workstation and midrange parts.

Looking at the RX 7600's individual benchmark suite, the card shows a spread of results across different API generations. In Passmark DirectX 9, it scores 226 points, which is its strongest legacy API result. Passmark DirectX 10 drops to 84 points, DirectX 11 comes in at 172 points, and DirectX 12 sits at 58 points. The Geekbench Vulkan score is 34,401 points, while the OpenCL score of 88,051 points is by far the highest workload result. The Passmark G3D score is 16,634 points, and the compute-focused Passmark GPU Compute score is 8,790 points. The GTX 590 has no corresponding results in any of these other tests, so no further cross-comparison is possible from the recorded data.

The delta of 586.3% is the single largest performance gap recorded between any two rivals in this comparison set. It dwarfs the small differences seen among each card's nearest rivals, which all fall within a range of roughly 1% of one another. The RX 7600 is not just faster than the GTX 590; it is faster by a margin that places them in entirely different performance classes.

Where Each One Wins

The RX 7600 wins the only head-to-head benchmark that exists, taking the Geekbench OpenCL test with a 586.3% advantage. That makes it the clear winner in any compute-heavy workload that relies on OpenCL, which includes many scientific, rendering, and GPGPU applications. The card's average benchmark score of 15,171 also places it well above the GTX 590's 12,830 average, so on overall database standings the AMD part is ahead by roughly 18.2%.

The RX 7600 also demonstrates strength across a wider variety of benchmark types in its own suite. Its Passmark G3D score of 16,634 and Passmark GPU Compute score of 8,790 indicate solid general 3D rendering and compute performance. The Geekbench Vulkan score of 34,401 points shows capable modern API performance, which matters for current games and applications that use Vulkan. The DirectX 12 score of 58 points is low relative to its other results, but the card still supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), so it is ready for contemporary titles that use the latest features.

The GTX 590, meanwhile, has no recorded wins in any shared benchmark. Its only score in the database is the Geekbench OpenCL result of 12,830 points, which is less than 15% of the RX 7600's score in the same test. The card's percentile ranking of 52 places it just below the midpoint of all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 12,830 is close to that of the AMD Radeon Pro 455 and AMD FirePro W5100. In practical terms, the GTX 590 is competitive with early-to-mid 2010s workstation GPUs, not with modern Radeon parts.

For gaming, the RX 7600 is the only one of the two with a modern feature set. It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6, while the GTX 590 only reaches DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, with no Vulkan support listed. That means the GTX 590 cannot run Vulkan-based titles at all, and its DirectX 12 support is limited to the older 11_0 feature level. The RX 7600 also has dedicated ray tracing cores (32 of them), while the GTX 590 has none. Any workload that uses ray tracing or modern API features will simply not run on the GTX 590.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from completely different eras of GPU design. The RX 7600 uses the Navi 33 chip built on RDNA 3.0 architecture, with the codename Hotpink Bonefish. It is manufactured on a 6 nm process at TSMC, which is a massive shrink compared to the GTX 590's 40 nm process. The GTX 590 uses the GF110 chip based on Fermi 2.0 architecture, from the GeForce 500 generation. Both chips come from TSMC, but the process node difference is enormous: 6 nm versus 40 nm.

The transistor counts tell the story of that density jump. The RX 7600 packs 13,300 million transistors on a 204 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 65.2 million per square millimeter. The GTX 590 contains 3,000 million transistors on a much larger 520 mm² die, giving it a density of just 5.8 million per square millimeter. In other words, the RX 7600 fits more than four times as many transistors onto a die that is less than half the size. The RX 7600's density is more than eleven times higher per square millimeter.

The memory subsystems also reflect different design philosophies. The RX 7600 uses 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, with memory clocked at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) for a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The GTX 590 has 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus, with memory at 854 MHz (3.4 Gbps effective) for a bandwidth of 164.0 GB/s. The RX 7600 has nearly double the bandwidth despite a much narrower bus, thanks to the far higher memory clock speed. The RX 7600 also has four times the memory capacity, which is critical for modern games and applications that require more than 1.5 GB of VRAM.

The compute resources differ sharply. The RX 7600 has 2,048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units. It also has 32 ray tracing cores. The GTX 590 has 512 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, with no ray tracing cores at all. The pixel rate of the RX 7600 is 169.9 GPixel/s versus 19.46 GPixel/s for the GTX 590, a gap of roughly 8.7 times. The texture rate is 339.8 GTexel/s versus 38.91 GTexel/s, a gap of about 8.7 times as well. The FP32 compute is 21.75 TFLOPS for the RX 7600 versus 1,244.2 GFLOPS (about 1.24 TFLOPS) for the GTX 590, a difference of roughly 17.5 times. The RX 7600 also lists FP16 performance at 21.75 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio), while the GTX 590 has no FP16 figure recorded.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every specification field in the database. The RX 7600 is built on a 6 nm process, while the GTX 590 uses 40 nm. The RX 7600 has 13,300 million transistors on a 204 mm² die; the GTX 590 has 3,000 million on 520 mm². Transistor density is 65.2M per mm² for AMD versus 5.8M per mm² for NVIDIA.

Clock speeds are only recorded for the RX 7600. It has a base clock of 1720 MHz, a boost clock of 2655 MHz, and a game clock of 2250 MHz. The GTX 590 has no base, boost, or game clock listed. Memory clocks differ as well: the RX 7600 runs at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective), while the GTX 590 runs at 854 MHz (3.4 Gbps effective).

Memory configuration is starkly different. The RX 7600 has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GTX 590 has 1536 MB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus with 164.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 7600 has 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and 32 ray tracing cores. The GTX 590 has 512 shading units, 64 TMUs, 48 ROPs, and no ray tracing cores. Pixel rate is 169.9 GPixel/s versus 19.46 GPixel/s, texture rate is 339.8 GTexel/s versus 38.91 GTexel/s, and FP32 compute is 21.75 TFLOPS versus 1,244.2 GFLOPS.

The power requirements are also very different. The RX 7600 has a TDP of 165 W, uses a single 8-pin power connector, and recommends a 450 W power supply. The GTX 590 has a TDP of 365 W, requires two 8-pin connectors, and recommends a 750 W power supply. The RX 7600 is a dual-slot card measuring 204 mm (8 inches) in length and 115 mm (4.5 inches) in height. The GTX 590 is also dual-slot but is longer at 279 mm (11 inches), with a height of 111 mm (4.4 inches) and a width of 40 mm (1.6 inches).

The bus interface differs: PCIe 4.0 x8 for the RX 7600 versus PCIe 2.0 x16 for the GTX 590. Display outputs are different as well: the RX 7600 offers 1x HDMI 2.1a and 3x DisplayPort 2.1, while the GTX 590 offers 3x DVI and 1x mini-DisplayPort. API support shows the RX 7600 with DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, while the GTX 590 has DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and no Vulkan support. The RX 7600 is still in active production and was released on 2023-05-24; the GTX 590 is end-of-life and was released on 2011-03-23. The RX 7600's launch MSRP is 269 USD; the GTX 590's launch MSRP is 699 USD.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the AMD Radeon RX 7600 than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 in the shared benchmark?

A: In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the RX 7600 scores 88,051 points versus 12,830 points for the GTX 590, a delta of 586.3% in favor of the AMD card.

Q: Which GPU has more memory and bandwidth?

A: The RX 7600 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GTX 590 has 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus with 164.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: Does the GTX 590 support ray tracing?

A: No. The GTX 590 has no ray tracing cores listed, while the RX 7600 has 32 ray tracing cores.

Q: Which card has the higher transistor density?

A: The RX 7600 has a transistor density of 65.2M per mm², compared to 5.8M per mm² for the GTX 590. The RX 7600 packs 13,300 million transistors on a 204 mm² die, while the GTX 590 has 3,000 million on a 520 mm² die.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The RX 7600 has a TDP of 165 W, uses a single 8-pin power connector, and recommends a 450 W power supply. The GTX 590 has a TDP of 365 W, requires two 8-pin connectors, and recommends a 750 W power supply.

Q: Which card supports more modern APIs?

A: The RX 7600 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The GTX 590 supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, but has no Vulkan support listed.