AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT vs NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data contains a single direct comparison between the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT, using the Geekbench OpenCL compute benchmark. This test is heavily weighted toward raw compute throughput, memory bandwidth, and driver scaling under a general-purpose workload. The result is decisive: the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB scores 207,124 points, while the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 85,040 points. The delta is 143.6%, meaning the A100 more than doubles the RX 6850M XT's score in this specific test. This is not a narrow margin; it is a categorical separation in compute performance.

Looking at the broader benchmark landscape, the two cards occupy very different percentile positions. The NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB sits in the 99th percentile of all GPUs in the database, meaning it outperforms 99% of recorded graphics processors. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT sits in the 92nd percentile, which is still a strong position, but it trails the A100 by seven percentile ranks. The average benchmark score for the A100 is 207,124, which matches its single OpenCL result exactly. The RX 6850M XT has an average score of 78,940 across all its recorded tests, which include 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, Geekbench Metal, OpenCL, and Vulkan. That average is heavily influenced by the lower scores from the gaming-oriented and API-specific tests, whereas the A100 only has the one OpenCL entry.

The nearest rivals for the A100 provide context for its OpenCL result. The AMD Radeon PRO W7900D scores 219,827, which is 5.8% higher than the A100, while the NVIDIA PG506-232 scores 225,124, which is 8% higher. On the lower side, the NVIDIA RTX 6000D scores 195,964 (5.7% lower), and the NVIDIA Tesla V100S PCIe 32 GB scores 194,415 (6.5% lower). This places the A100 in a tight cluster of high-end workstation and server parts, all within roughly 8% of each other. The RX 6850M XT's nearest rivals tell a different story: the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79,396 (0.6% lower), the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB scores 79,605 (0.8% lower), the GeForce RTX 5090 scores 79,842 (1.1% lower), and the GeForce RTX 5090 D scores 77,712 (1.6% higher). The RX 6850M XT is effectively neck-and-neck with these parts, all within a 2% band. This indicates that while the RX 6850M XT is competitive among mid-to-high-end GPUs, it is not in the same performance tier as the A100.

The head-to-head result shows exactly one win for the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB and zero wins for the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT. There is no benchmark in the database where the RX 6850M XT beats the A100. This is partly due to the limited overlap in test suites, but even the available data points to a consistent trend: the A100's compute architecture is designed for sustained, high-throughput workloads, while the RX 6850M XT is built for a different balance of rasterization and compute.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB is built on the GA100 chip using the Ampere architecture, produced on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It contains 54,200 million transistors on a die size of 826 mm², yielding a transistor density of 65.6 million per square millimeter. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT uses the Navi 22 chip with the RDNA 2.0 architecture, also on a 7 nm TSMC process, but with only 17,200 million transistors on a 335 mm² die, giving a density of 51.3 million per square millimeter. The A100 has roughly three times the transistor count and more than twice the die area, which explains its massive compute advantage.

The compute resources diverge sharply. The A100 has 6,912 shading units, 432 texture mapping units, and 160 render output units. It also integrates 432 tensor cores, which are specialized for matrix math used in AI and deep learning workloads. The RX 6850M XT has 2,560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. It has 40 ray tracing cores, which the A100 lacks entirely, and no tensor cores. The RX 6850M XT's ray tracing hardware is a feature for real-time graphics, while the A100's tensor cores are a feature for neural network inference and training. This is a fundamental divergence in design philosophy: one is a server compute accelerator, the other is a mobile gaming GPU.

Clock speeds also differ substantially. The A100 runs at a base clock of 1065 MHz and a boost clock of 1410 MHz. The RX 6850M XT runs at a base clock of 2321 MHz, a game clock of 2463 MHz, and a boost clock of 2581 MHz. The AMD part is clocked roughly twice as high, but that does not compensate for the A100's much larger execution resource pool. The A100's FP32 throughput is 19.49 TFLOPS, while the RX 6850M XT achieves 13.21 TFLOPS. In FP16, the A100 reaches 77.97 TFLOPS (4:1 ratio), while the RX 6850M XT reaches 26.43 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio). The A100's FP16 advantage is especially large, nearly three times the AMD part's output, which is critical for AI workloads that operate in mixed precision.

Memory architecture is another major differentiator. The A100 uses 80 GB of HBM2e on a 5120-bit bus, delivering 1.94 TB/s of bandwidth. The RX 6850M XT uses 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 432.0 GB/s. The A100 has nearly 4.5 times the memory bandwidth and almost 7 times the capacity. For large datasets, model weights, or high-resolution rendering buffers, the A100's memory subsystem is in a different league. The RX 6850M XT's memory clock is 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective), while the A100's memory clock is 1512 MHz (3 Gbps effective). The HBM2e technology relies on a much wider bus rather than high clock speeds, which is why the bandwidth figures are so skewed.

Pixel and texture rates follow the same pattern. The A100 has a pixel rate of 225.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 609.1 GTexel/s. The RX 6850M XT has a pixel rate of 165.2 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 413.0 GTexel/s. The A100 leads in both, though the gap is smaller than in compute throughput, indicating that the AMD part is relatively more balanced for graphics-style work.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous for compute-heavy tasks. The NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB wins the only head-to-head benchmark by 143.6%, and its 99th percentile ranking places it among the top GPUs ever recorded. The RX 6850M XT, despite a respectable 92nd percentile, is not a competitor in the same workload class. Users who need raw OpenCL compute, large memory capacity, or tensor core acceleration should choose the A100. Users who need ray tracing support, a mobile form factor, or compatibility with gaming APIs such as DirectX 12 Ultimate should choose the RX 6850M XT. The A100 has no display outputs, while the RX 6850M XT has portable-device-dependent outputs. The A100 is dual-slot with an 8-pin EPS connector and a 300 W TDP; the RX 6850M XT is an integrated GPU (IGP) with no power connectors and a 165 W TDP. The A100 is end-of-life, and the RX 6850M XT is also end-of-life, so neither is a future-proof purchase, but the A100's successor is Server Ada, while the RX 6850M XT has no successor listed.

Specification Differences

• Shading Units: 6,912 (A100) vs 2,560 (RX 6850M XT)
• Texture Mapping Units: 432 (A100) vs 160 (RX 6850M XT)
• Render Output Units: 160 (A100) vs 64 (RX 6850M XT)
• Tensor Cores: 432 (A100) vs none (RX 6850M XT)
• Ray Tracing Cores: none (A100) vs 40 (RX 6850M XT)
• FP32 Performance: 19.49 TFLOPS (A100) vs 13.21 TFLOPS (RX 6850M XT)
• FP16 Performance: 77.97 TFLOPS (A100) vs 26.43 TFLOPS (RX 6850M XT)
• Memory Size: 80 GB HBM2e (A100) vs 12 GB GDDR6 (RX 6850M XT)
• Memory Bus Width: 5120 bit (A100) vs 192 bit (RX 6850M XT)
• Memory Bandwidth: 1.94 TB/s (A100) vs 432.0 GB/s (RX 6850M XT)
• Base Clock: 1065 MHz (A100) vs 2321 MHz (RX 6850M XT)
• Boost Clock: 1410 MHz (A100) vs 2581 MHz (RX 6850M XT)
• TDP: 300 W (A100) vs 165 W (RX 6850M XT)
• Slot Width: Dual-slot (A100) vs IGP (RX 6850M XT)
• Power Connectors: 8-pin EPS (A100) vs none (RX 6850M XT)
• Display Outputs: none (A100) vs portable device dependent (RX 6850M XT)
• DirectX Support: none listed (A100) vs 12 Ultimate (RX 6850M XT)
• Vulkan Support: none listed (A100) vs 1.4 (RX 6850M XT)
• OpenGL Support: none listed (A100) vs 4.6 (RX 6850M XT)
• Transistor Count: 54,200 million (A100) vs 17,200 million (RX 6850M XT)
• Die Size: 826 mm² (A100) vs 335 mm² (RX 6850M XT)

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher FP32 performance?

A: The NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB reaches 19.49 TFLOPS, while the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT reaches 13.21 TFLOPS, a difference of about 47% in favor of the A100.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT support ray tracing?

A: Yes, it has 40 ray tracing cores. The NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB has no ray tracing cores.

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB delivers 1.94 TB/s over a 5120-bit HBM2e bus. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT delivers 432.0 GB/s over a 192-bit GDDR6 bus.

Q: What is the percentile ranking of each GPU?

A: The NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB is in the 99th percentile of all GPUs, and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT is in the 92nd percentile.

Q: Which GPU has tensor cores?

A: Only the NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB has 432 tensor cores. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT has none.

Q: What are the power requirements?

A: The NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB has a 300 W TDP and uses an 8-pin EPS connector. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT has a 165 W TDP and uses no power connectors, as it is an integrated GPU.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA A100 PCIe 80 GB wins in every scenario involving general-purpose compute, based on the recorded data. The Geekbench OpenCL result of 207,124 versus 85,040 is a clear indicator. The A100 also wins on memory capacity and bandwidth, making it the choice for large model loading, high-resolution data processing, or any workload that saturates memory. Its 432 tensor cores give it a decisive edge in AI inference and training tasks, even though no direct benchmark for that is present in the database. The A100's 99th percentile standing further confirms its dominance in the compute space.

The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT wins in scenarios requiring ray tracing, as it is the only one of the two with dedicated ray tracing cores (40 of them). It also wins in API compatibility for graphics: it supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, while the A100 lists no graphics APIs. The RX 6850M XT is also the only one with display outputs (portable device dependent), so it can drive a screen, whereas the A100 has no outputs. Its lower TDP of 165 W versus 300 W makes it more suitable for power-constrained or mobile environments, and its much higher boost clock of 2581 MHz versus 1410 MHz suggests better responsiveness in latency-sensitive graphics tasks. For gaming or real-time rendering on a portable device, the RX 6850M XT is the only functional option; for server-side compute, the A100 is the only serious choice.