AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Comparison

The Verdict

The benchmark data presents a curious case: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT are statistical near-twins in aggregate scoring, with the GTX 1660 holding a razor-thin 0.5% lead in average benchmark score (11,680 vs 11,627). Both cards sit at the 51st percentile of all GPUs. Yet the head-to-head results tell a dramatically different story. The RX 7800 XT wins 9 of 10 direct comparisons, often by massive margins, while the GTX 1660 claims a single victory — but that victory is so lopsided it pulls the overall averages into parity.

This is a textbook case of divergent workload characteristics. The RX 7800 XT is the clear choice for modern DirectX gaming and compute-heavy tasks. It dominates in DirectX 10, 11, and 12 tests, 3DMark Steel Nomad, and GPU compute. The GTX 1660, however, posts an extraordinary 161.6% advantage in Geekbench OpenCL — a result that appears anomalous given its 1,408 shading units versus 3,840 on the AMD card. The data suggests that if your primary concern is OpenCL performance specifically, the GTX 1660 is unmatched in this pairing. For virtually everything else, the RX 7800 XT is decisively superior. The GTX 1660 is an end-of-life product from 2019; the RX 7800 XT is active and current. The verdict: buy the RX 7800 XT for any modern workload, unless you have a very specific OpenCL dependency.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from entirely different eras and design philosophies. The GTX 1660 uses the TU116 chip built on TSMC's 12 nm process, packing 6,600 million transistors into a 284 mm² die for a density of 23.2M transistors per mm². The RX 7800 XT uses the Navi 32 chip on TSMC's 5 nm node, with 28,100 million transistors across 346 mm² — a density of 81.2M per mm², roughly 3.5 times denser.

Memory configurations are starkly different. The GTX 1660 has 6 GB of GDDR5 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 192.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 7800 XT offers 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, with 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth — more than triple the throughput. Clock speeds tell part of the story: the GTX 1660 boosts to 1,785 MHz, while the RX 7800 XT boosts to 2,430 MHz with a game clock of 2,124 MHz.

The compute architecture diverges sharply. The GTX 1660 is Turing-based with 1,408 shading units, 88 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. It has no dedicated ray tracing cores. The RX 7800 XT is RDNA 3.0 with 3,840 shading units, 240 TMUs, 96 ROPs, and 60 ray tracing cores. The AMD card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the NVIDIA card is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

Power requirements scale with performance. The GTX 1660 is rated at 120 W TDP with a single 8-pin connector and a 300 W suggested PSU. The RX 7800 XT requires 263 W, dual 8-pin connectors, and a 600 W PSU. Physical dimensions differ too: the GTX 1660 measures 229 mm in length and 35 mm in width, while the RX 7800 XT is longer at 267 mm and wider at 50 mm. Both are dual-slot cards with identical 111 mm height. The GTX 1660 uses PCIe 3.0 x16; the RX 7800 XT uses PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs also differ: the NVIDIA card offers 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the AMD card has 1x HDMI 2.1a and 3x DisplayPort 2.1.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The RX 7800 XT wins nearly every direct comparison, and the margins are frequently enormous. The largest gap appears in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, where the AMD card scores 4,157 versus 1,065 for the GTX 1660 — a 74.4% advantage. This is a modern DirectX 12 test, and the result reflects the generational gap in architecture.

PassMark tests reinforce the pattern. In DirectX 11, the RX 7800 XT scores 249 versus 79, a 68.3% lead. DirectX 10 shows 121 versus 61, a 49.6% advantage. DirectX 12 sees 93 versus 49, a 47.3% gap. Even DirectX 9, an aging API, shows the AMD card ahead 304 versus 177, a 41.8% margin. The RX 7800 XT also wins PassMark G3D by 51.8% (24,176 vs 11,646) and GPU compute by 63.2% (13,473 vs 4,963). In Vulkan, the AMD card leads 54,228 versus 50,137, a narrower 7.5% margin. The 2D test shows a 34.1% AMD advantage (1,177 vs 776).

The single exception is Geekbench OpenCL, where the GTX 1660 scores 47,850 against 18,290 for the RX 7800 XT. That is a 161.6% lead for the NVIDIA card — a result so large it defies the pattern of every other benchmark. This one result is primarily responsible for pulling the aggregate averages to near-parity. Without it, the RX 7800 XT would hold a commanding overall lead.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 has an average benchmark score of 11,680, which is 0.5% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT's 11,627.

Q: Why is the Geekbench OpenCL result so different from other benchmarks?

A: The GTX 1660 scores 47,850 in Geekbench OpenCL versus 18,290 for the RX 7800 XT, a 161.6% advantage. This is the only head-to-head test the NVIDIA card wins, and its magnitude is large enough to offset nine other AMD victories in the aggregate scoring.

Q: How do the two cards compare in DirectX 12 performance?

A: The RX 7800 XT is substantially faster. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 4,157 versus 1,065 for the GTX 1660, a 74.4% lead. In PassMark DirectX 12, the AMD card scores 93 versus 49, a 47.3% advantage.

Q: What are the memory specifications of each card?

A: The GTX 1660 has 6 GB of GDDR5 on a 192-bit bus with 192.1 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 7800 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 624.1 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card has ray tracing support?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT has 60 ray tracing cores. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 has no ray tracing cores listed in its specifications.

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

A: The GTX 1660 is end-of-life, released on 2019-03-13. The RX 7800 XT is active, released on 2023-09-05.

Where Each One Wins

The RX 7800 XT is the dominant performer across almost every workload category in the data. Its biggest wins come in modern DirectX 12 workloads, where it leads by 74.4% in 3DMark Steel Nomad and 47.3% in PassMark DX12. It also excels in compute-heavy tasks, with a 63.2% advantage in PassMark GPU compute. For DirectX 11 users, the AMD card is 68.3% faster. In DirectX 10, it leads by 49.6%. Even older DirectX 9 workloads show a 41.8% AMD advantage. Vulkan users see a narrower but still clear 7.5% lead for the RX 7800 XT. The 2D performance also favors AMD by 34.1%. In terms of memory capacity and bandwidth, the RX 7800 XT offers more than triple the bandwidth and nearly triple the VRAM, making it the obvious choice for high-resolution textures and large datasets.

The GTX 1660 has exactly one area of clear superiority: Geekbench OpenCL. Its score of 47,850 versus 18,290 represents a 161.6% advantage that is unmatched anywhere else in the comparison. For workloads that rely heavily on OpenCL, this card is dramatically faster. The GTX 1660 also carries a lower power requirement at 120 W versus 263 W, a smaller physical footprint at 229 mm versus 267 mm length, and a single 8-pin connector versus dual 8-pin. Its launch MSRP was 219 USD, compared to 499 USD for the RX 7800 XT. The NVIDIA card also supports DVI output, which may matter for legacy display setups.

The use-case split is stark. For gaming, content creation, or compute in modern APIs, the RX 7800 XT is the overwhelming choice — nine of ten benchmark wins, many by margins exceeding 50%. For specialized OpenCL applications, the GTX 1660 is the only rational pick. The aggregate score parity is a statistical illusion created by one outlier result; the actual benchmark distribution shows two cards with almost no overlap in their strengths.