AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER and the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT represent two very different approaches to the entry-level graphics card market, separated by over two years of architectural evolution. The data shows a clear overall winner: the GTX 1660 SUPER secures 9 out of 10 benchmark victories, with an average benchmark score of 12,986 compared to the RX 6500 XT's 11,842. However, the RX 6500 XT is not without its merits, offering a smaller die, higher clock speeds, and dedicated ray tracing hardware on a more modern process node.

The Verdict

The benchmark data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is the superior performer for nearly all workloads. Its average benchmark score of 12,986 places it 8.8% ahead of the RX 6500 XT's 11,842. The GTX 1660 SUPER wins decisively in every compute and graphics test except for one narrow 2D rasterization result. For gamers prioritizing raw frame rates in DirectX titles, the GTX 1660 SUPER delivers a 31.6% advantage in DirectX 12 and a 15.6% lead in DirectX 11. Its 6 GB of VRAM, double the RX 6500 XT's 4 GB, also provides more headroom for modern textures.

The RX 6500 XT is the pick only for users with specific constraints. It draws 107 W versus the GTX 1660 SUPER's 125 W, and its physically smaller die (107 mm² vs 284 mm²) produces less heat. It is the only card of the pair with hardware ray tracing cores (16), making it the sole option for those who want to experiment with that feature on a strict power budget. The RX 6500 XT also uses a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface, which is newer than the GTX 1660 SUPER's PCIe 3.0 x16, though the latter's wider connection may prove more robust on older platforms. Ultimately, the GTX 1660 SUPER is the better all-round choice; the RX 6500 XT is a specialized alternative for efficiency-focused builds.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER, with an average score of 12,986 compared to the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT's 11,842.

Q: How much faster is the GTX 1660 SUPER in the Passmark G3D test?

A: The GTX 1660 SUPER scores 12,699, which is 32.2% higher than the RX 6500 XT's 9,608.

Q: In which benchmark does the RX 6500 XT beat the GTX 1660 SUPER?

A: The RX 6500 XT wins the Passmark G2D (2D graphics) test, scoring 815 versus the GTX 1660 SUPER's 805, a 1.2% margin.

Q: What is the difference in FP32 compute performance?

A: The RX 6500 XT has a higher FP32 rating of 5.765 TFLOPS, while the GTX 1660 SUPER is rated at 5.027 TFLOPS.

Q: Does either card support hardware ray tracing?

A: Yes, the RX 6500 XT includes 16 ray tracing cores, while the GTX 1660 SUPER has no dedicated ray tracing hardware.

Q: What are the VRAM capacities of the two cards?

A: The GTX 1660 SUPER has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, while the RX 6500 XT has 4 GB on a 64-bit bus.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural generations. The GTX 1660 SUPER is built on NVIDIA's Turing architecture, fabricated on a 12 nm process at TSMC. It packs 6,600 million transistors onto a 284 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 23.2 million per mm². The RX 6500 XT uses AMD's RDNA 2.0 architecture, manufactured on a more advanced 6 nm node, also by TSMC. This smaller process allows AMD to fit 5,400 million transistors onto just 107 mm², achieving a significantly higher transistor density of 50.5 million per mm².

The compute layouts differ substantially. The GTX 1660 SUPER features 1,408 shading units, 88 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. The RX 6500 XT has fewer of each: 1,024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. However, the RX 6500 XT compensates with a much higher clock speed. Its boost clock reaches 2,815 MHz against the GTX 1660 SUPER's 1,785 MHz. This clock advantage helps the RX 6500 XT achieve higher theoretical fill rates: 90.08 GPixel/s pixel rate and 180.2 GTexel/s texture rate, versus 85.68 GPixel/s and 157.1 GTexel/s for the NVIDIA card. The RX 6500 XT also leads in FP32 compute with 5.765 TFLOPS versus 5.027 TFLOPS.

The defining architectural split is ray tracing. The RX 6500 XT is part of the RDNA 2.0 family and integrates 16 dedicated ray tracing cores, enabling DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) API support. The GTX 1660 SUPER has no RT cores and is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1). Both cards support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4, but the RX 6500 XT's feature set is forward-looking. Another key difference is memory architecture: the GTX 1660 SUPER relies on a wide 192-bit bus with 6 GB of GDDR6, while the RX 6500 XT uses a narrow 64-bit bus with 4 GB. This gives the GTX 1660 SUPER a memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s, over double the RX 6500 XT's 143.9 GB/s.

Specification Differences

The core specifications show a clear divergence in design philosophy. The GTX 1660 SUPER has a base clock of 1,530 MHz and a boost clock of 1,785 MHz, while the RX 6500 XT runs at a base of 2,310 MHz and boosts to 2,815 MHz, with a game clock of 2,610 MHz. Memory clocks also differ: the GTX 1660 SUPER's memory runs at 1,750 MHz (14 Gbps effective), whereas the RX 6500 XT's memory runs at 2,248 MHz (18 Gbps effective). Despite the faster memory clock, the RX 6500 XT's narrower bus limits its bandwidth to 143.9 GB/s.

Power and physical requirements vary. The GTX 1660 SUPER has a TDP of 125 W and requires a single 8-pin power connector, while the RX 6500 XT has a lower TDP of 107 W and uses a single 6-pin connector. Both cards are dual-slot designs and recommend a 300 W power supply. The GTX 1660 SUPER measures 229 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 35 mm in width; the RX 6500 XT's dimensions are not listed. The bus interface differs: the GTX 1660 SUPER uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the RX 6500 XT uses PCIe 4.0 x4.

Display outputs are nearly identical, with both cards offering one HDMI 2.0/2.1 port and one DisplayPort 1.4a. The GTX 1660 SUPER adds a DVI port. The GTX 1660 SUPER launched with an MSRP of 229 USD, while the RX 6500 XT launched at 199 USD. Both products are now end-of-life, with the GTX 1660 SUPER released on 2019-10-28 and the RX 6500 XT on 2022-01-18. Their lineage also differs: the GTX 1660 SUPER follows the GeForce 10 series and precedes GeForce 20, while the RX 6500 XT follows Navi and precedes Navi III.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test produces the largest performance gap between the two cards. The GTX 1660 SUPER scores 1,278, which is a massive 443.8% higher than the RX 6500 XT's 235. This result is anomalous compared to the rest of the data, but it underscores the NVIDIA card's dominance in modern API workloads. In the standard Passmark G3D test, the GTX 1660 SUPER scores 12,699 versus 9,608, a 32.2% advantage. This aligns with its overall average score being 8.8% higher when all benchmarks are aggregated.

The GTX 1660 SUPER also wins all the legacy DirectX tests. In Passmark DirectX 9, it scores 189 against 108, a 75% lead. The DirectX 12 test shows a 31.6% gap (50 vs 38), and the DirectX 11 test shows a 15.6% gap (104 vs 90). Even in DirectX 10, the GTX 1660 SUPER leads with 65 points versus 60, an 8.3% margin. Compute performance favors the NVIDIA card as well: Passmark GPU Compute scores 5,076 for the GTX 1660 SUPER versus 4,456 for the RX 6500 XT, a 13.9% difference.

In API-agnostic tests, the GTX 1660 SUPER maintains its lead. Geekbench OpenCL shows 52,490 for the NVIDIA card versus 48,289 for AMD, an 8.7% advantage. The Geekbench Vulkan test is closer: 57,102 versus 54,724, a 4.3% margin. The only benchmark the RX 6500 XT wins is Passmark G2D, where it scores 815 versus 805, a 1.2% edge. This single win is notable but does little to offset the nine victories for the GTX 1660 SUPER, which also holds a higher percentile rank among all GPUs (53rd versus 51st). The nearest rivals list confirms the GTX 1660 SUPER sits close to the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile and RX 580, while the RX 6500 XT trades blows with the GTX 1080 and GTX 1660.