NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 SE vs NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The data in this comparison is unusual because the two cards do not share a single common benchmark. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 SE is recorded with a Geekbench OpenCL score of 7,171, while the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server is recorded with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5,996. Because no head-to-head benchmarks exist, the "wins" are defined by which card is better positioned within its own benchmark category and against its own nearest rivals.

The GTX 560 SE wins in the legacy compute and OpenCL space. Its score of 7,171 places it in the 39th percentile of all GPUs in the database. Against its nearest rivals, it is essentially tied with the Intel Iris Pro Graphics P580, which scores 7,170, a delta of 0%. It sits marginally ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 by 0.2%, with that card scoring 7,157. The GTX 560 SE also edges out the AMD Radeon Vega 8 Mobile, which scores 7,203, meaning the GTX 560 SE trails by only 0.4%. Against the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750, the GTX 560 SE is 0.7% behind, as that card scores 7,222. This cluster of results indicates that the GTX 560 SE, despite its age, remains competitive in raw OpenCL throughput with a range of integrated and entry-level discrete GPUs from much later generations.

The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server wins in the modern DX12 rasterization space. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5,996 places it in the 34th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals form a similarly tight cluster. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770M scores 6,000, which is 0.1% higher than the RTX PRO 6000. The AMD Radeon RX 6400 also scores 6,001, also 0.1% ahead. On the other side, the AMD FirePro W4100 scores 5,987, which is 0.2% behind, and the NVIDIA Quadro K4000M scores 5,986, also 0.2% behind. This shows that the RTX PRO 6000, in this specific benchmark, performs at a level comparable to mid-range mobile and entry-level desktop GPUs from previous architectures, despite its massive hardware specifications.

The use-case split is clear. The GTX 560 SE is the card for older OpenCL workloads, where its 288 shading units and 192-bit memory bus still deliver competitive results. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server is the card for modern DX12 titles and professional server workloads, where its architecture supports features the GTX 560 SE cannot offer, such as DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, ray tracing cores, and tensor cores. The data shows that each card wins in its respective benchmark environment, but the RTX PRO 6000's wins are in a more demanding and contemporary test.

The Verdict

The verdict depends entirely on the workload. If the target application is an OpenCL compute task, the GTX 560 SE is the better choice based on recorded data. Its score of 7,171 is higher than the RTX PRO 6000's only recorded score, though the tests are not directly comparable. The GTX 560 SE also holds a 39th percentile rank, which is higher than the RTX PRO 6000's 34th percentile rank. Within its nearest rival group, the GTX 560 SE is effectively at parity with several other GPUs, with deltas ranging from -0.7% to +0.2%. This indicates a stable, predictable performance level for legacy compute.

If the target application is a modern DX12 workload, the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server is the only viable option. The GTX 560 SE supports DirectX 12 (11_0), which is a limited implementation. The RTX PRO 6000 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6. The RTX PRO 6000 also carries 188 ray tracing cores and 752 tensor cores, which are entirely absent from the GTX 560 SE. For server deployment, the RTX PRO 6000 offers 96 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, compared to the GTX 560 SE's 1,024 MB of GDDR5 on a 192-bit bus. The memory bandwidth difference is enormous: 1.79 TB/s versus 91.87 GB/s.

The data does not support a single universal winner. The GTX 560 SE wins on percentile rank and on its OpenCL benchmark score. The RTX PRO 6000 wins on every architectural and specification front except for the raw OpenCL score. For anyone choosing between these two, the decision must be driven by the software environment. There is no scenario where the GTX 560 SE outperforms the RTX PRO 6000 in a DX12 workload, and there is no recorded scenario where the RTX PRO 6000 competes in an OpenCL test. The RTX PRO 6000 is the modern, active product, while the GTX 560 SE is end-of-life. The database records the GTX 560 SE as released in 2012, while the RTX PRO 6000 is recorded as released in 2025.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

There are no head-to-head benchmark entries in the database for these two cards. The wins tally is 0 for both the GTX 560 SE and the RTX PRO 6000. This absence of direct comparison data means that all analysis must rely on the individual benchmark scores and the nearest rival deltas.

The GTX 560 SE's best evidence is its Geekbench OpenCL score of 7,171. This score is 0.2% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970's 7,157, which is notable because the GTX 970 is a much newer and larger GPU. The GTX 560 SE is also only 0.4% behind the AMD Radeon Vega 8 Mobile and 0.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750. These deltas are all within a 1% band, indicating that the GTX 560 SE delivers competitive OpenCL performance relative to a wide range of GPUs.

The RTX PRO 6000's best evidence is its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5,996. This score is 0.1% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770M and the AMD Radeon RX 6400, both of which score just over 6,000. It is 0.2% ahead of the AMD FirePro W4100 and the NVIDIA Quadro K4000M. The tight clustering again shows that the RTX PRO 6000's performance in this benchmark is comparable to a specific tier of GPUs, despite its much larger hardware resources.

The biggest win for the GTX 560 SE is its percentile rank. At 39%, it sits above the RTX PRO 6000's 34%. The biggest win for the RTX PRO 6000 is its architectural capability, which the GTX 560 SE cannot match. The RTX PRO 6000 has a 5 nm process node versus 40 nm, 92,200 million transistors versus 1,950 million, and a 750 mm² die versus 332 mm². The transistor density is 122.9M per mm² versus 5.9M per mm². These are not benchmark scores, but they explain why the RTX PRO 6000 can support features that the GTX 560 SE cannot.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher benchmark score?

A: The GTX 560 SE has a recorded Geekbench OpenCL score of 7,171, while the RTX PRO 6000 has a recorded 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5,996. These are different tests, so they are not directly comparable.

Q: Which card has better percentile ranking?

A: The GTX 560 SE ranks in the 39th percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX PRO 6000 ranks in the 34th percentile.

Q: Does the RTX PRO 6000 support ray tracing?

A: Yes, the RTX PRO 6000 is equipped with 188 ray tracing cores and 752 tensor cores. The GTX 560 SE has no ray tracing or tensor cores.

Q: What are the memory specifications for each card?

A: The GTX 560 SE has 1,024 MB of GDDR5 memory on a 192-bit bus with 91.87 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX PRO 6000 has 96 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card is currently in production?

A: The GTX 560 SE is marked as end-of-life, while the RTX PRO 6000 is marked as active.

Q: What is the API support difference?

A: The GTX 560 SE supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, with no Vulkan support listed. The RTX PRO 6000 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from entirely different architectural eras. The GTX 560 SE is built on the Fermi 2.0 architecture using the GF114 chip, produced on a 40 nm process at TSMC. It contains 1,950 million transistors on a 332 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 5.9 million per mm². The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using the GB202 chip, produced on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It contains 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 122.9 million per mm².

The compute resources differ by orders of magnitude. The GTX 560 SE has 288 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster operation pipelines. The RTX PRO 6000 has 24,064 shading units, 752 texture mapping units, and 192 raster operation pipelines. The RTX PRO 6000 also includes 188 ray tracing cores and 752 tensor cores, which are absent from the GTX 560 SE. The pixel rate for the GTX 560 SE is 8.832 GPixel/s, while the RTX PRO 6000 achieves 502.5 GPixel/s. The texture rate is 35.33 GTexel/s versus 1,968.0 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is 847.9 GFLOPS versus 126.0 TFLOPS. The RTX PRO 6000 also has FP16 performance of 126.0 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio, while the GTX 560 SE lists no FP16 capability.

The memory architecture is also fundamentally different. The GTX 560 SE uses GDDR5 with a 192-bit bus, while the RTX PRO 6000 uses GDDR7 with a 512-bit bus. The memory clock for the GTX 560 SE is 957 MHz, translating to 3.8 Gbps effective. The RTX PRO 6000 runs at 1,750 MHz, translating to 28 Gbps effective. The resulting bandwidth is 91.87 GB/s versus 1.79 TB/s. The RTX PRO 6000's memory capacity is 96 GB, which is 96 times larger than the GTX 560 SE's 1,024 MB.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every recorded specification field. The process node is 40 nm for the GTX 560 SE and 5 nm for the RTX PRO 6000. The transistor count is 1,950 million versus 92,200 million. The die size is 332 mm² versus 750 mm². The GTX 560 SE has no base or boost clock listed, while the RTX PRO 6000 has a base clock of 1,590 MHz and a boost clock of 2,617 MHz. The memory configuration differs in size, type, bus width, and speed as described above.

The power requirements are also different. The GTX 560 SE has a TDP of 150 W and uses two 6-pin power connectors, with a suggested PSU of 450 W. The RTX PRO 6000 has a TDP of 600 W and uses a single 16-pin connector, with a suggested PSU of 1,000 W. The bus interface is PCIe 2.0 x16 for the GTX 560 SE and PCIe 5.0 x16 for the RTX PRO 6000. The display outputs are 2x DVI and 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a for the GTX 560 SE, versus 4x DisplayPort 2.1b for the RTX PRO 6000.

The physical dimensions vary as well. The GTX 560 SE is 210 mm long and 8.3 inches, with no height or width listed. The RTX PRO 6000 is 267 mm long and 10.5 inches, 111 mm high and 4.4 inches, and 40 mm wide and 1.6 inches. Both are dual-slot cards. The release dates are 2012 for the GTX 560 SE and 2025 for the RTX PRO 6000. The GTX 560 SE is end-of-life, while the RTX PRO 6000 is active. The GTX 560 SE's predecessor is the GeForce 400 and its successor is the GeForce 600. The RTX PRO 6000's predecessor is Server Hopper and its successor is Server Rubin. Both cards have no launch MSRP recorded in the database.