AMD Radeon RX 7600S vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 7600S and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 represent two very different approaches to mobile graphics, separated by four years of architectural evolution. The data shows a decisive overall win for the Radeon RX 7600S, which takes 9 of 10 head-to-head benchmark comparisons, but the RTX 2060 holds a notable edge in one legacy workload. The RX 7600S posts an average benchmark score of 16696 against the RTX 2060’s 15290, a gap of roughly 9.2% in the PassMark G3D test alone, yet the RTX 2060’s higher power envelope and desktop heritage make the comparison more nuanced than raw scores suggest.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 7600S dominates modern DirectX workloads. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, it scores 1888 against the RTX 2060’s 1242, a massive 52% advantage that signals far stronger performance in current-generation game engines. This lead extends to other contemporary APIs: the RX 7600S wins PassMark DirectX 11 by 27.3% (140 vs 110) and DirectX 12 by 22.6% (65 vs 53). For compute-heavy tasks, the RX 7600S also leads decisively, with a PassMark GPU Compute score of 6520 versus 5488, an 18.8% margin, and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 68012 versus 65014 (4.6% ahead). The Vulkan result is similarly favorable, with the RX 7600S scoring 73868 against 65846, a 12.2% win.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060’s single victory comes in PassMark DirectX 10, where it scores 98 against the RX 7600S’s 74, a 24.5% reversal. This is a legacy API, but it indicates that the RTX 2060 retains strength in older titles or applications that rely on DirectX 10 paths. The RTX 2060 also has a higher pixel rate (80.64 GPixel/s vs 140.8 GPixel/s for the RX 7600S, though that figure favors AMD) and a wider memory bus, but in practice, the benchmark data shows the RX 7600S winning in every other test, including DirectX 9 (211 vs 190, an 11.1% margin) and 2D performance (776 vs 745, a 4.2% edge). For users targeting modern games or GPU compute, the RX 7600S is the clear choice; for those stuck on older software stacks, the RTX 2060’s DirectX 10 edge is the only reason to look back.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is generational. The RX 7600S is built on TSMC’s 6 nm process with a die size of 204 mm² and 13,300 million transistors, yielding a transistor density of 65.2M per mm². The RTX 2060 uses a 12 nm process, a much larger 445 mm² die, and 10,800 million transistors, giving it a density of just 24.3M per mm². This explains why the RX 7600S achieves higher performance at a fraction of the power: its TDP is 75 W, while the RTX 2060 draws 160 W. The RX 7600S is also an integrated-grade part (IGP slot width, no power connectors), whereas the RTX 2060 is a dual-slot card requiring a single 8-pin connector and a 450 W suggested PSU.

Core configurations differ significantly. The RX 7600S packs 1792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with 28 ray-tracing cores. The RTX 2060 has more shading units (1920) and TMUs (120) but fewer ROPs (48), and it includes 30 RT cores plus 240 tensor cores, which the RX 7600S lacks entirely. Clock speeds favor the RX 7600S: its base is 1500 MHz with a boost of 2200 MHz and a game clock of 1865 MHz, versus the RTX 2060’s 1365 MHz base and 1680 MHz boost. Memory configurations also diverge: the RX 7600S uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus for 256.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the RTX 2060 has 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus for 336.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 7600S has the newer PCIe 4.0 x16 interface, compared to the RTX 2060’s PCIe 3.0 x16. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, but the RX 7600S’s RDNA 3.0 architecture is designed for efficiency, while the RTX 2060’s Turing architecture prioritizes raw throughput at higher power.

The Verdict

The data points to the AMD Radeon RX 7600S as the superior GPU for almost any modern use case. Its 52% lead in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 and 27.3% advantage in DirectX 11 make it the obvious pick for gaming on current titles. Compute users will appreciate the 18.8% edge in GPU Compute and 4.6% in OpenCL, while Vulkan performance is 12.2% better. The RX 7600S also achieves this with a 75 W TDP versus 160 W, making it far more suitable for thin-and-light laptops where thermals and battery life matter. The 8 GB VRAM is a practical advantage over the RTX 2060’s 6 GB, even if the RTX 2060 has higher bandwidth (336.0 GB/s vs 256.0 GB/s).

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is only worth considering for users with legacy DirectX 10 workloads, where it wins by 24.5%, or those who specifically need tensor cores for AI acceleration, a feature the RX 7600S does not have. The RTX 2060’s larger memory bus and higher bandwidth do not translate into benchmark wins, and its 12 nm process makes it inefficient by comparison. For anyone building a new system or upgrading a laptop, the RX 7600S is the data-backed recommendation. The RTX 2060’s only strengths are its niche API support and its 240 tensor cores, which the RX 7600S cannot match.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in DirectX 12 gaming?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7600S wins the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test by 52% (1888 vs 1242) and the PassMark DirectX 12 test by 22.6% (65 vs 53).

Q: Does the RTX 2060 have any benchmark where it beats the RX 7600S?

A: Yes, in PassMark DirectX 10, the RTX 2060 scores 98 versus the RX 7600S’s 74, a 24.5% advantage. This is its only win in the 10 head-to-head tests.

Q: How do their memory bandwidths compare?

A: The RTX 2060 has higher bandwidth at 336.0 GB/s on a 192-bit bus, while the RX 7600S has 256.0 GB/s on a 128-bit bus. The RX 7600S has more VRAM (8 GB vs 6 GB).

Q: Which GPU is more power-efficient?

A: The RX 7600S has a TDP of 75 W and requires no power connectors, while the RTX 2060 has a TDP of 160 W and needs a single 8-pin connector plus a 450 W suggested PSU.

Q: What is the performance gap in compute workloads?

A: The RX 7600S leads in PassMark GPU Compute by 18.8% (6520 vs 5488) and in Geekbench OpenCL by 4.6% (68012 vs 65014).

Q: Which GPU has ray tracing and tensor cores?

A: Both have ray tracing cores (28 on the RX 7600S, 30 on the RTX 2060), but only the RTX 2060 has 240 tensor cores. The RX 7600S has no tensor cores.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The largest win for the AMD Radeon RX 7600S is in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, where it scores 1888 against the RTX 2060’s 1242, a 52% delta that dwarfs every other comparison. This is a synthetic test, but the margin is so large that it likely reflects real-world differences in modern game engines. The next biggest gap is in PassMark DirectX 11, with the RX 7600S at 140 versus 110, a 27.3% advantage. In compute, the RX 7600S’s PassMark GPU Compute score of 6520 beats the RTX 2060’s 5488 by 18.8%, and its Geekbench Vulkan score of 73868 is 12.2% higher than 65846. The RX 7600S also wins PassMark DirectX 12 (65 vs 53, 22.6%), DirectX 9 (211 vs 190, 11.1%), G3D (15408 vs 14111, 9.2%), G2D (776 vs 745, 4.2%), and OpenCL (68012 vs 65014, 4.6%).

The RTX 2060’s sole victory is PassMark DirectX 10, where it scores 98 versus 74, a 24.5% margin. This is the only test where the RTX 2060’s older architecture appears to have an advantage, possibly due to driver optimizations or a different execution path. Notably, the RTX 2060’s higher texture rate (201.6 GTexel/s vs 246.4 GTexel/s for the RX 7600S) and pixel rate (80.64 GPixel/s vs 140.8 GPixel/s) do not translate into wins in any modern benchmark. The RX 7600S’s FP32 throughput of 15.77 TFLOPS is more than double the RTX 2060’s 6.451 TFLOPS, which explains its dominance in compute and DirectX 12 workloads.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every specification. The RX 7600S uses a 6 nm process with 13,300 million transistors on a 204 mm² die, while the RTX 2060 uses 12 nm with 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die. Transistor density is 65.2M per mm² for the RX 7600S versus 24.3M for the RTX 2060. Clock speeds favor the RX 7600S: base 1500 MHz and boost 2200 MHz, compared to 1365 MHz base and 1680 MHz boost. The RX 7600S has a game clock of 1865 MHz, which the RTX 2060 lacks entirely. Memory speed is 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) for the RX 7600S versus 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) for the RTX 2060. The RX 7600S has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, while the RTX 2060 has 6 GB on a 192-bit bus. Shading units are 1792 for the RX 7600S and 1920 for the RTX 2060; TMUs are 112 vs 120; ROPs are 64 vs 48. The RX 7600S has 28 RT cores, the RTX 2060 has 30 RT cores plus 240 tensor cores. Power draw is 75 W for the RX 7600S versus 160 W for the RTX 2060, with the former being an IGP with no power connectors and the latter a dual-slot card with one 8-pin connector and a 450 W suggested PSU. The RX 7600S uses PCIe 4.0 x16, the RTX 2060 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. The RX 7600S is portable-device dependent for display outputs, while the RTX 2060 has 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, 2x DisplayPort 1.4a, and 1x USB Type-C. The RX 7600S is still in active production and released in 2023, while the RTX 2060 is end-of-life, released in 2019 with a launch MSRP of 349 USD.