AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data splits this matchup into two distinct stories: modern API efficiency versus legacy rasterization throughput. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT scores 2348 against the GTX 1080 Ti’s 2231, a 5.2% victory that reflects the newer architecture’s better handling of contemporary workloads. The gap widens dramatically in compute-oriented tests. Geekbench OpenCL shows the RX 7600 XT at 92426, a massive 36.1% lead over the GTX 1080 Ti’s 67929. Vulkan performance follows the same trend, with the AMD card scoring 48366 versus 40511 for the NVIDIA card, a 19.4% advantage.

However, the GTX 1080 Ti fights back in traditional DirectX benchmarks. In Passmark DirectX 10, the NVIDIA card scores 118 against the RX 7600 XT’s 85, a 28% margin that is the largest in either direction across all tests. The DX9 results are nearly identical, with the GTX 1080 Ti edging ahead 231 to 228 (1.3%), and DX12 shows a similarly narrow 1.5% win for NVIDIA (66 vs 65). The most consequential NVIDIA victory comes in the overall 3D graphics score: Passmark G3D puts the GTX 1080 Ti at 18600 versus 17132 for the RX 7600 XT, a 7.9% deficit for the AMD card. Compute performance also favors the older card, with Passmark GPU Compute showing 9632 for NVIDIA versus 8987 for AMD (6.7% difference).

The RX 7600 XT counters with a strong Passmark DirectX 11 result, winning 167 to 151 (10.6%), and it takes the 2D graphics test 1030 to 939 (9.7%). The head-to-head tally ends evenly at five wins apiece, but the magnitudes differ sharply. AMD’s wins include the two largest margins (36.1% in OpenCL, 19.4% in Vulkan) and the modern DX12 title, while NVIDIA’s wins are mostly narrow except for the DX10 blowout. The average benchmark scores tell a different story: the RX 7600 XT averages 17083, while the GTX 1080 Ti averages 15548 — a notable overall advantage for AMD despite losing the G3D test. The percentile rankings confirm this, with the RX 7600 XT sitting at the 60th percentile of all GPUs versus 58th for the GTX 1080 Ti.

The Verdict

The data points to the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT as the better overall purchase for modern workloads, but the GTX 1080 Ti retains a clear niche. The RX 7600 XT wins the two most relevant future-facing tests — 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 and Geekbench Vulkan — by 5.2% and 19.4% respectively, and its OpenCL advantage of 36.1% is decisive for compute-heavy tasks. Its average benchmark score of 17083 is 9.9% higher than the GTX 1080 Ti’s 15548, and its 60th percentile ranking versus 58th confirms a broad but modest edge.

The GTX 1080 Ti, however, is not obsolete. Its Passmark G3D score of 18600 beats the RX 7600 XT by 7.9%, and it wins the legacy DirectX 10 test by a staggering 28%. For users running older games or applications that rely on DX10 or DX9 paths, the NVIDIA card delivers better raw rasterization. It also leads in Passmark GPU Compute by 6.7%, which is surprising given the RX 7600 XT’s FP32 throughput of 22.57 TFLOPS versus 11.34 TFLOPS for the GTX 1080 Ti. The practical recommendation: choose the RX 7600 XT for new games, Vulkan titles, and compute workloads. Choose the GTX 1080 Ti if your software stack is anchored to DX10-era code or if you prioritize the higher G3D aggregate score.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from fundamentally different eras. The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT uses the Navi 33 chip built on RDNA 3.0 architecture, manufactured on TSMC’s 6 nm process. It packs 13,300 million transistors into a 204 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 65.2M per mm². The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti uses the GP102 chip on the older Pascal architecture, fabricated on a 16 nm process. It contains 11,800 million transistors spread across a much larger 471 mm² die, giving a density of just 25.1M per mm².

The RX 7600 XT has fewer shading units (2048 versus 3584) and fewer texture mapping units (128 versus 224), but it compensates with dramatically higher clock speeds. Its base clock is 1980 MHz and boost reaches 2755 MHz, while the GTX 1080 Ti runs at 1481 MHz base and 1582 MHz boost. This clock advantage drives the RX 7600 XT’s FP32 performance to 22.57 TFLOPS, nearly double the GTX 1080 Ti’s 11.34 TFLOPS. The AMD card also supports FP16 at a 1:1 ratio (22.57 TFLOPS), while the NVIDIA card’s FP16 is a paltry 177.2 GFLOPS at a 1:64 ratio.

Memory configurations diverge sharply. The RX 7600 XT offers 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GTX 1080 Ti counters with 11 GB of GDDR5X on a 352-bit bus, achieving 484.4 GB/s — 68% more bandwidth. The AMD card’s memory runs at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective), while NVIDIA’s runs at 1376 MHz (11 Gbps effective). The RX 7600 XT includes 32 ray tracing cores, a feature entirely absent from the GTX 1080 Ti. The AMD card also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the GTX 1080 Ti is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT wins with a score of 2348 versus 2231 for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, a 5.2% advantage.

Q: How large is the compute performance gap between these two cards?

A: In Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 7600 XT scores 92426 versus 67929 for the GTX 1080 Ti, a 36.1% lead for AMD. However, in Passmark GPU Compute, the GTX 1080 Ti leads 9632 to 8987, a 6.7% margin for NVIDIA.

Q: Which card has more memory and what are the bandwidth implications?

A: The RX 7600 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6, but its 128-bit bus yields 288.0 GB/s bandwidth. The GTX 1080 Ti has 11 GB of GDDR5X on a 352-bit bus, delivering 484.4 GB/s — significantly higher bandwidth despite less capacity.

Q: Does the GTX 1080 Ti support ray tracing?

A: No. The GTX 1080 Ti has no ray tracing cores, while the RX 7600 XT includes 32 RT cores as part of its RDNA 3.0 architecture.

Q: What are the production statuses of these two cards?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is listed as "Active" in production, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is marked "End-of-life."

Q: Which card performs better in DirectX 10 legacy workloads?

A: The GTX 1080 Ti dominates, scoring 118 in Passmark DirectX 10 versus 85 for the RX 7600 XT, a 28% difference — the largest margin in any benchmark between these two cards.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT wins in modern and compute-focused scenarios. It takes the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test by 5.2%, indicating better performance in current DirectX 12 games. Its Vulkan advantage of 19.4% makes it the clear choice for Vulkan-based titles and applications. The 36.1% OpenCL lead positions it strongly for general-purpose GPU compute, and its 10.6% DirectX 11 win covers a large library of existing games. The 9.7% advantage in 2D graphics performance is a minor but consistent plus. With 16 GB of VRAM and a 60th percentile ranking, it is better equipped for high-resolution textures and modern game requirements.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti wins in legacy rasterization and specific aggregate metrics. Its 28% DirectX 10 victory is decisive for older software, and it narrowly edges out the RX 7600 XT in DirectX 9 (1.3%) and DirectX 12 (1.5%). The 7.9% lead in Passmark G3D indicates stronger overall traditional 3D performance, and the 6.7% win in Passmark GPU Compute shows it remains competitive in certain compute workloads. Its 484.4 GB/s memory bandwidth is 68% higher than the RX 7600 XT, which can benefit bandwidth-sensitive applications. The 58th percentile ranking and 11 GB of VRAM still handle many modern titles, but the card’s End-of-life status and lack of ray tracing hardware limit its future-proofing.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti |

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

| Architecture | RDNA 3.0 | Pascal |

| Process Node | 6 nm | 16 nm |

| Transistors | 13,300 million | 11,800 million |

| Die Size | 204 mm² | 471 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 65.2M / mm² | 25.1M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1980 MHz | 1481 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 2755 MHz | 1582 MHz |

| Memory Size | 16 GB | 11 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR5X |

| Memory Bus | 128 bit | 352 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 288.0 GB/s | 484.4 GB/s |

| Memory Clock | 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) | 1376 MHz (11 Gbps effective) |

| Shading Units | 2048 | 3584 |

| TMUs | 128 | 224 |

| ROPs | 64 | 88 |

| Ray Tracing Cores | 32 | None |

| Pixel Rate | 176.3 GPixel/s | 139.2 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 352.6 GTexel/s | 354.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 22.57 TFLOPS | 11.34 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 22.57 TFLOPS (1:1) | 177.2 GFLOPS (1:64) |

| TDP | 190 W | 250 W |

| Power Connectors | 1x 8-pin | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 450 W | 600 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 4.0 x8 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | 1x HDMI 2.1a, 3x DisplayPort 2.1 | 1x HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |

| DirectX Support | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | 12 (12_1) |

| Length | 204 mm (8 inches) | 267 mm (10.5 inches) |

| Height | 115 mm (4.5 inches) | 112 mm (4.4 inches) |

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

| Release Date | 2024-01-23 | 2017-03-09 |

| Launch MSRP | 329 USD | 699 USD |