AMD Steam Machine GPU vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Comparison

FAQ

Q: What is the AMD Steam Machine GPU based on?

A: The AMD Steam Machine GPU uses the Navi 33 chip with RDNA 3.0 architecture, codenamed Hotpink Bonefish. It is a console GPU designed for Valve, built on a 6 nm process at TSMC with 13,300 million transistors on a 204 mm² die.

Q: How does the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 compare in memory capacity and type?

A: The RTX 5090 ships with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s bandwidth. The AMD Steam Machine GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has higher ray tracing core counts?

A: The RTX 5090 has 170 ray tracing cores, while the AMD Steam Machine GPU has 28. The RTX 5090 also includes 680 tensor cores, whereas the AMD part lists none.

Q: What is the release timeline for both products?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 was released on January 29, 2025, and has a successor in the GeForce 60 series. The AMD Steam Machine GPU is dated June 28, 2026, and has no listed predecessor or successor.

Q: What benchmark scores are recorded for the RTX 5090?

A: The RTX 5090 shows a Passmark G3D score of 39,650, a Geekbench OpenCL score of 334,370, and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 376,728. Its average benchmark score is 79,842, placing it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs.

Q: What are the power connector requirements for each card?

A: The AMD Steam Machine GPU uses no power connectors and has a 110 W TDP. The RTX 5090 requires one 16-pin connector, has a 575 W TDP, and a suggested power supply of 950 W.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs represent fundamentally different design priorities. The AMD Steam Machine GPU uses the Navi 33 chip with RDNA 3.0 architecture, fabricated on a 6 nm process at TSMC. It packs 13,300 million transistors into a 204 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 65.2 million per mm². The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 uses the GB202 chip with Blackwell 2.0 architecture, also built by TSMC but on a 5 nm process. Its die is 750 mm² and holds 92,200 million transistors, giving a density of 122.9 million per mm². The RTX 5090 has more than double the die area and nearly seven times the transistor count.

The compute pipelines diverge sharply. The AMD part has 1,792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units. The RTX 5090 has 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. Ray tracing hardware differs in scale: 28 RT cores on the AMD side versus 170 on the NVIDIA side. The RTX 5090 also includes 680 tensor cores, a feature entirely absent from the AMD Steam Machine GPU. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, but the underlying hardware capabilities are not comparable.

Memory architecture reinforces the divide. The Steam Machine GPU uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The RTX 5090 uses 32 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus, with 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, a 6.2 times difference. Clock behavior also differs: the AMD chip runs at a base of 1720 MHz, a game clock of 2250 MHz, and a boost of 2450 MHz. The RTX 5090 has a higher base of 2017 MHz and a slightly lower boost of 2407 MHz, with no game clock specified.

The RTX 5090 is a dual-slot card measuring 304 mm in length, 137 mm in height, and 40 mm in width. It uses a single 16-pin power connector and carries a 575 W TDP. The AMD Steam Machine GPU has no power connectors, a 110 W TDP, and dimensions of 156 mm by 152 mm by 162 mm. The RTX 5090 also lists a PCIe 5.0 x16 bus interface, while the AMD part has no bus interface specified. Display outputs differ as well: the AMD card has one HDMI 2.1a and one DisplayPort 2.1, while the RTX 5090 has one HDMI 2.1b and three DisplayPort 2.1b outputs.

The Verdict

The data shows two products aimed at entirely different use cases. The AMD Steam Machine GPU is a compact, low-power console part with a 110 W TDP and no external power connectors. It is built for constrained environments where space and power draw are primary concerns. Its 8 GB memory and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth suit lighter workloads and console-style gaming, but its compute resources are limited to 17.56 TFLOPS FP32.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a desktop flagship. Its 104.8 TFLOPS FP32, 32 GB memory, and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth place it in a different performance class entirely. The recorded benchmark data confirms this: the RTX 5090 reaches the 92nd percentile of all GPUs with an average score of 79,842. Its nearest rivals in the database are the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB with an average score of 79,605 (0.3% lower), the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB at 79,396 (0.6% lower), and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT at 78,940 (1.1% lower). The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scores 80,959, which is 1.4% higher than the RTX 5090.

For a buyer choosing between these two, the decision hinges on the target platform. The Steam Machine GPU is the only option for a fanless, slot-powered console build with modest resolution and detail targets. The RTX 5090 is the choice for high-refresh, high-resolution desktop gaming and compute workloads, but it demands a 950 W power supply and a dual-slot chassis. No benchmark data exists for the AMD part, so direct performance comparisons cannot be made from the database. The RTX 5090, however, has a substantial hardware advantage in every measurable resource: shading units, memory capacity, bandwidth, and ray tracing hardware.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every specification field. The AMD Steam Machine GPU uses a 6 nm process with 13,300 million transistors on a 204 mm² die. The RTX 5090 uses a 5 nm process with 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. Transistor density is 65.2M per mm² for AMD and 122.9M per mm² for NVIDIA.

Memory specifications show a 4x capacity difference: 8 GB GDDR6 versus 32 GB GDDR7. Bus width is 128-bit versus 512-bit, and bandwidth is 288.0 GB/s versus 1.79 TB/s. The AMD card has 1,792 shading units, 112 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and 28 RT cores. The RTX 5090 has 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, 176 ROPs, 170 RT cores, and 680 tensor cores.

Clock speeds differ in base and boost values. AMD runs at 1720 MHz base, 2250 MHz game, and 2450 MHz boost. NVIDIA runs at 2017 MHz base and 2407 MHz boost, with no game clock listed. Pixel rate is 156.8 GPixel/s for AMD and 423.6 GPixel/s for NVIDIA. Texture rate is 274.4 GTexel/s versus 1,636.8 GTexel/s. FP32 and FP16 performance is 17.56 TFLOPS for AMD and 104.8 TFLOPS for NVIDIA, with both showing 1:1 FP16 to FP32 ratios.

Power and physical specifications separate them further. The AMD part has a 110 W TDP, no power connectors, and dimensions of 156 mm by 152 mm by 162 mm. The RTX 5090 has a 575 W TDP, one 16-pin connector, a suggested 950 W power supply, and dimensions of 304 mm by 137 mm by 40 mm. The RTX 5090 is dual-slot and uses PCIe 5.0 x16. The AMD card has no slot width or bus interface listed. Display outputs: AMD has 1x HDMI 2.1a and 1x DisplayPort 2.1; NVIDIA has 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains no head-to-head benchmark results between the AMD Steam Machine GPU and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090. The AMD part has an empty benchmark array, a percentile rank of 50, an average score of 0, and no nearest rivals. The RTX 5090, by contrast, has ten recorded benchmark entries.

The RTX 5090's individual scores show its strengths across different test types. In Passmark G3D, it scores 39,650. In Geekbench OpenCL, it reaches 334,370, and in Geekbench Vulkan, it scores 376,728. The Passmark DirectX tests show 226 for DirectX 10, 341 for DirectX 11, 185 for DirectX 12, and 395 for DirectX 9. The GPU compute test in Passmark yields 26,756, and the G2D test scores 1,413. Its average benchmark score across all entries is 79,842.

Comparing the RTX 5090 to its nearest rivals in the database provides context. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB averages 79,605, a 0.3% delta. The Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB averages 79,396, a 0.6% delta. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT averages 78,940, a 1.1% delta. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X averages 80,959, which is 1.4% above the RTX 5090. These deltas are all small, indicating the RTX 5090 sits in a tightly clustered performance band around the 79,000 to 81,000 average score range.

For the AMD Steam Machine GPU, the lack of recorded benchmarks means no numerical comparison is possible. Its percentile rank of 50 suggests it sits at the median of all GPUs in the database, but no average score or rival data exists to verify that placement. The RTX 5090, at the 92nd percentile, clearly occupies a far higher position in the overall distribution.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 wins in every category where recorded data exists. Its compute resources are dramatically larger: 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 versus 17.56 TFLOPS for the AMD part. Memory bandwidth is 1.79 TB/s versus 288.0 GB/s. The RTX 5090 has 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores, while the AMD card has 28 RT cores and no tensor cores. The RTX 5090 also supports PCIe 5.0 x16, which the AMD card does not list.

The RTX 5090's benchmark results confirm its high-end positioning. Its 92nd percentile rank and average score of 79,842 place it among the top GPUs in the database. The Passmark G3D score of 39,650 and Geekbench Vulkan score of 376,728 indicate strong rasterization and compute performance. The nearest rivals are all within 1.4% of its average score, showing it competes at the top tier.

The AMD Steam Machine GPU wins in power efficiency and physical footprint. Its 110 W TDP requires no external power connectors, making it suitable for systems without dedicated GPU power. Its dimensions of 156 mm by 152 mm by 162 mm are compact, particularly in width compared to the RTX 5090's 40 mm thickness. The AMD card is also earlier in the release timeline, with a 2026 date versus 2025 for the RTX 5090, though both are listed as active production.

For use-case selection, the RTX 5090 is the choice for desktop gaming at high resolutions, ray tracing workloads, and compute tasks that leverage tensor cores. Its 32 GB memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth support large datasets and high-detail textures. The AMD Steam Machine GPU suits console-style enclosures, low-power builds, and systems where a 950 W power supply is not feasible. Its 8 GB memory and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for lighter gaming loads but not for the same class of workloads as the RTX 5090. The database shows no benchmark wins for the AMD part, so any performance advantage it holds would come from its power and size characteristics rather than measured speed.