AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark split between the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER is perfectly even at five wins apiece, but the victories cluster around very different workloads. The AMD card dominates in compute-oriented and API-specific tests. It takes Geekbench OpenCL with 48,289 against 43,875, a 10.1% margin, and Geekbench Vulkan with 54,724 versus 50,519, an 8.3% advantage. These are synthetic compute workloads that respond well to the RX 6500 XT's higher clock speeds and RDNA 2.0 architecture.

The AMD card also wins in legacy DirectX tests. It leads PassMark DirectX 10 by 20% (60 vs 50) and PassMark DirectX 11 by 23.3% (90 vs 73). The PassMark G2D test also goes AMD's way, 815 vs 749, an 8.8% edge in 2D graphics performance.

The NVIDIA card, by contrast, wins the more modern and more demanding workloads. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the GTX 1650 SUPER scores 352 against the RX 6500 XT's 235, a commanding 33.2% lead. This is the largest delta in either direction across all head-to-head tests. The NVIDIA card also wins PassMark DirectX 12 by 15.6% (45 vs 38) and PassMark DirectX 9 by 27% (148 vs 108). In overall 3D performance, the GTX 1650 SUPER edges ahead in PassMark G3D, 10,179 vs 9,608, a 5.6% margin. The compute test is nearly a tie, with NVIDIA winning PassMark GPU Compute by just 0.5% (4,477 vs 4,456).

The pattern is clear: the RX 6500 XT excels in compute throughput and older DirectX APIs, while the GTX 1650 SUPER wins in the DirectX 12 gaming workload that matters most for modern titles. The average benchmark scores reflect this tension, with AMD at 11,842 and NVIDIA at 11,047, though the AMD card sits at the 51st percentile versus the NVIDIA card's 50th.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from fundamentally different design philosophies. The AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT uses the Navi 24 chip built on RDNA 2.0 architecture, manufactured on a 6 nm process at TSMC. It packs 5,400 million transistors into a 107 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 50.5 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER uses the TU116 chip on Turing architecture, built on a 12 nm process, also at TSMC. It contains 6,600 million transistors across a much larger 284 mm² die, with a density of just 23.2 million per square millimeter.

The memory subsystems differ significantly. Both cards have 4 GB of GDDR6, but the RX 6500 XT uses a 64-bit bus with 143.9 GB/s bandwidth, while the GTX 1650 SUPER uses a 128-bit bus with 192.0 GB/s bandwidth. This bandwidth advantage helps the NVIDIA card in memory-intensive workloads.

The AMD card has 1,024 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. It also includes 16 ray tracing cores, a feature entirely absent from the GTX 1650 SUPER, which has 1,280 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs but no ray tracing hardware. The AMD card's clocks are substantially higher: 2,310 MHz base and 2,815 MHz boost, compared to 1,530 MHz base and 1,725 MHz boost for NVIDIA. The AMD card also has a game clock of 2,610 MHz, a specification NVIDIA does not list.

The feature sets diverge on PCIe interface. The RX 6500 XT uses PCIe 4.0 x4, while the GTX 1650 SUPER uses PCIe 3.0 x16. For DirectX support, the AMD card claims 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. The AMD card outputs 1x HDMI 2.1 and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the NVIDIA card provides 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a.

Power draw is similar, with the AMD card rated at 107 W and NVIDIA at 100 W. Both use a single 6-pin power connector and recommend a 300 W power supply. Both are dual-slot cards, with the NVIDIA card measuring 229 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 35 mm in width.

FAQ

Q: Which card has higher raw compute throughput?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT delivers 5.765 TFLOPS FP32 and 11.53 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1 ratio), compared to the GTX 1650 SUPER's 4.416 TFLOPS FP32 and 8.832 TFLOPS FP16. This matches the AMD card's wins in Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan.

Q: Does the GTX 1650 SUPER support ray tracing?

A: No. The NVIDIA card has no ray tracing cores listed in its specifications. The RX 6500 XT includes 16 ray tracing cores, a feature unique to the AMD card in this comparison.

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The GTX 1650 SUPER has 192.0 GB/s bandwidth from its 128-bit bus, while the RX 6500 XT has 143.9 GB/s from a 64-bit bus. Both use 4 GB of GDDR6 memory.

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

A: The NVIDIA card wins the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test by 33.2% (352 vs 235) and PassMark DirectX 12 by 15.6% (45 vs 38). This is the decisive area where NVIDIA pulls ahead.

Q: What is the transistor density difference?

A: The RX 6500 XT has 50.5 million transistors per square millimeter on its 6 nm process, while the GTX 1650 SUPER has 23.2 million per square millimeter on 12 nm. The AMD card achieves higher density in a 107 mm² die versus 284 mm² for NVIDIA.

Q: Which card has a higher pixel fill rate?

A: The RX 6500 XT has a pixel rate of 90.08 GPixel/s, compared to 55.20 GPixel/s for the GTX 1650 SUPER. The AMD card also leads in texture rate at 180.2 GTexel/s versus 138.0 GTexel/s.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER |

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

| Process node | 6 nm | 12 nm |

| Transistors | 5,400 million | 6,600 million |

| Die size | 107 mm² | 284 mm² |

| Transistor density | 50.5M / mm² | 23.2M / mm² |

| Base clock | 2310 MHz | 1530 MHz |

| Boost clock | 2815 MHz | 1725 MHz |

| Game clock | 2610 MHz | — |

| Memory bus width | 64 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory bandwidth | 143.9 GB/s | 192.0 GB/s |

| Shading units | 1024 | 1280 |

| TMUs | 64 | 80 |

| RT cores | 16 | — |

| Pixel rate | 90.08 GPixel/s | 55.20 GPixel/s |

| Texture rate | 180.2 GTexel/s | 138.0 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 5.765 TFLOPS | 4.416 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 11.53 TFLOPS (2:1) | 8.832 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 107 W | 100 W |

| Bus interface | PCIe 4.0 x4 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| DirectX | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | 12 (12_1) |

| Display outputs | 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x DP 1.4a | 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, 1x DP 1.4a |

| Release date | 2022-01-18 | 2019-11-21 |

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The largest victory belongs to the NVIDIA card in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. The GTX 1650 SUPER scores 352 against the RX 6500 XT's 235, a 33.2% gap. This is a modern DirectX 12 workload, and the NVIDIA card's wider memory bus and higher shading unit count appear to matter more than the AMD card's clock speed advantage. The RX 6500 XT's PCIe 4.0 x4 interface may also constrain performance in this test.

The AMD card's biggest win comes in PassMark DirectX 11, where it scores 90 against 73, a 23.3% margin. This is followed by a 20% win in PassMark DirectX 10 (60 vs 50). The RX 6500 XT also takes Geekbench OpenCL by 10.1% (48,289 vs 43,875) and Geekbench Vulkan by 8.3% (54,724 vs 50,519). These compute-oriented benchmarks reward the AMD card's higher FP32 throughput and faster clocks.

The NVIDIA card wins PassMark DirectX 9 by 27% (148 vs 108), which is notable given that the AMD card wins the newer DirectX 10 and 11 tests. This suggests the Turing architecture retains strong legacy API performance. In PassMark DirectX 12, NVIDIA wins by 15.6% (45 vs 38), a smaller margin than the 3DMark test but in the same direction.

The overall 3D performance picture is close. PassMark G3D goes to NVIDIA, 10,179 vs 9,608, a 5.6% edge. The PassMark G2D test goes to AMD, 815 vs 749, an 8.8% margin. PassMark GPU Compute is essentially a tie, with NVIDIA winning by 0.5% (4,477 vs 4,456). The average benchmark scores show AMD at 11,842 and NVIDIA at 11,047, but the nearest rivals lists tell different stories. The RX 6500 XT sits within 1.9% of the GTX 1660 and RX 7800 XT, while the GTX 1650 SUPER is within 1.5% of the MX350 and effectively tied with the RX 550.

The Verdict

The data supports a clear recommendation based on workload. For modern DirectX 12 gaming, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER is the stronger choice. It leads by 33.2% in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 and by 15.6% in PassMark DirectX 12, and it holds a 5.6% edge in overall 3D performance. The NVIDIA card's 192.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 1,280 shading units appear decisive in these scenarios.

For compute workloads and older DirectX APIs, the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT is superior. It wins Geekbench OpenCL by 10.1% and Geekbench Vulkan by 8.3%, and it dominates legacy API tests with a 20% lead in DirectX 10 and a 23.3% lead in DirectX 11. Its 5.765 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 90.08 GPixel/s pixel rate make it the compute-oriented pick.

The ray tracing cores in the RX 6500 XT are a notable feature absent from the GTX 1650 SUPER, though the data does not include a ray tracing benchmark to quantify the benefit. The AMD card's newer 6 nm process and higher transistor density suggest better efficiency, but the TDP figures are close at 107 W versus 100 W.

The GTX 1650 SUPER's narrower wins in passmark_gpu_compute (0.5%) and passmark_g3d (5.6%) indicate that in many mixed workloads, the cards perform similarly. The AMD card's average benchmark score of 11,842 is 7.2% higher than NVIDIA's 11,047, but the NVIDIA card's percentile ranking of 50th versus AMD's 51st shows both sit near the middle of the GPU distribution.

Choose the GTX 1650 SUPER for DirectX 12 gaming and modern titles. Choose the RX 6500 XT for compute-heavy tasks, legacy DirectX applications, or if ray tracing hardware is desired. The data does not support a universal winner; the choice depends entirely on the intended workload.