AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Comparison

# NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 vs AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT

The database record for these two GPUs shows a clear split. NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 2060, a Turing architecture part, leads in one benchmark. AMD's Radeon RX 7900 XT, built on RDNA 3.0, wins in nine of the ten recorded tests. The average benchmark score for the RTX 2060 is 15,290, placing it at the 58th percentile among all GPUs. The RX 7900 XT averages 13,745, which sits at the 55th percentile. Despite the lower average, the AMD card dominates head-to-head results, with its wins concentrated in DirectX and OpenGL workloads.

Where Each One Wins

The split is decisive. The GeForce RTX 2060 claims only a single victory, in the Geekbench OpenCL test. There, the NVIDIA card posts a score of 65,014 against the RX 7900 XT's 12,756. That is a 409.7% advantage. The remaining nine tests all go to the Radeon RX 7900 XT.

The AMD card's victories include large margins in synthetic workloads like 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, where it scores 5,623 versus the RTX 2060's 1,242, a 77.9% difference. In Passmark G3D, the RX 7900 XT scores 29,009, which is 51.4% higher than the RTX 2060's 14,111. The pattern holds in DirectX 10, 11, 12, and 9 tests, as well as the GPU compute test.

Architecture Differences

The RTX 2060 uses the TU106 chip on a 12 nm process at TSMC. It packs 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die, for a density of 24.3 million per mm². The RX 7900 XT uses the Navi 31 chip, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, with 57,700 million transistors on a 529 mm² die, giving a density of 109.1 million per mm².

Memory configurations differ sharply. The RTX 2060 has 6 GB of GDDR6 across a 192-bit bus, delivering 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 7900 XT has 20 GB of GDDR6 on a 400-bit bus, reaching 800.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA card has 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, along with 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores. The AMD card has 5376 shading units, 336 TMUs, and 192 ROPs.

The RTX 2060 runs at a base of 1365 MHz and boosts to 1680 MHz. Memory runs at 1750 MHz, or 14 Gbps effective. The RX 7900 XT starts at 1387 MHz, boosts to 2394 MHz, with a game clock of 2025 MHz. Memory runs at 2500 MHz, or 20 Gbps effective. Pixel rate is 80.64 GPixel/s for NVIDIA and 459.6 GPixel/s for AMD. Texture rate is 201.6 GTexel/s versus 804.4 GTexel/s.

In FP32, the RTX 2060 delivers 6.451 TFLOPS. The RX 7900 XT delivers 51.48 TFLOPS. FP16 rates are 12.90 TFLOPS (2:1) and 103.0 TFLOPS (2:1), respectively.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The largest NVIDIA win is in Geekbench OpenCL, 65,014 to 12,756. That 409.7% advantage is the single biggest spread in the data. In Geekbench Vulkan, the AMD card wins 71,068 to 65,846, a 7.3% margin.

DirectX results favor AMD consistently. In DirectX 10, the RX 7900 XT scores 158 against 98, a 38% lead. In DirectX 11, the gap widens: 340 versus 110, or 67.6%. In DirectX 12, the AMD scores 110 against 53, a 51.8% advantage. DirectX 9 shows 322 to 190, a 41% gap.

In PassMark G2D, the AMD card wins 1,232 to 745, a 39.5% lead. In GPU compute, the RX 7900 XT scores 16,828 versus 5,488, a 67.4% margin.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 | AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT |

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

| Chip | TU106 | Navi 1X |

| Architecture | Turing | RDNA 3.0 |

| Process | 12 nm | 5 nm |

| Transistors | 10,800 million | 57,700 million |

| Die size | 445 mm² | 529 mm² |

| Transistor density | 24.3M / mm² | 109.1M / mm² |

| Base clock | 1365 MHz | 1387 MHz |

| Boost clock | 1680 MHz | 2025 MHz |

| Memory | 30 GB GDDR6 | 40 GB GDDR6 |

| Bus width | 192 bit | 400 bit |

| Bandwidth | 336.0 GB/s | 800.0 GB/s |

| Shading units | 1920 | 5376 |

| TMUs | 120 | 336 |

| ROPs | 48 | 192 |

| RT cores | 30 | 84 |

| Tensor cores | 240 | Not specified |

| Pixel rate | 80.64 GPixel/s | 459.6 GPixel/s |

| Texture rate | 201.6 GTexel/s | 804.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 6.451 TFLOPS | 51.48 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 12.90 TFLOPS (2:1) | 103.0 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 160 W | 300 W |

| Slot width | Dual-slot | Dual-slot |

| Power connectors | 1x 8-pin | 2x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 450 W | 700 W |

| Bus interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |

| Display outputs | 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, 2x DisplayPort 1.4a, 1x USB Type-C | 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, 1x USB Type-C |

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 has a higher average score in the database: 15,290 versus 13,745 for the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT.

Q: Where does the AMD RX 7900 XT win?

The RX 7900 XT wins in nine of ten head-to-head tests. Its largest margins come in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 (77.9%), PassMark G3D (51.4%), and PassMark GPU compute (67.4%).

Q: What is the one test the RTX 2060 wins?

The RTX 2060 wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with 65,014 versus 12,756, a 409.7% advantage.

Q: How do their memory bandwidths compare?

The RX 7900 XT has 800.0 GB/s, more than double the RTX 2060's 336.0 GB/s.

Q: What are the production statuses?

The RTX 2060 is end-of-life. The RX 7900 XT is also end-of-life.

The Verdict

The data points in one direction. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT takes nine of the ten head-to-head tests, often by wide margins, and leads in raw compute throughput and memory bandwidth. The GeForce RTX 2060 keeps a single specialist victory in Geekbench OpenCL, but elsewhere it is consistently behind, and its older Turing hardware lacks the shading units, texture units, and memory bandwidth of the Navi 1X part. For users who can accept the higher 300 W power demand of the AMD board, the RX 7900 XT is the stronger GPU by the recorded metrics. The RTX 2060 remains the pick only if a specific OpenCL workload is the main priority.