AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded database contains two direct benchmark comparisons between the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 and the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT, and the results are decisively one-sided. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT scores 48,289 against the GTX 680's 16,906, a margin of 65% in favor of the newer card. The gap widens further in Geekbench Vulkan, where the RX 6500 XT posts 54,724 compared to 17,646 for the GTX 680, a 67.8% advantage. These are not marginal improvements; the AMD part more than triples the NVIDIA card's output in both compute-oriented workloads.

The absence of other head-to-head entries means the GTX 680 has no recorded wins in this comparison, while the RX 6500 XT claims both. However, the broader benchmark averages tell a more nuanced story. The GTX 680 carries an average benchmark score of 14,150 across all recorded tests, sitting at the 55th percentile of all GPUs. The RX 6500 XT, despite its dominant head-to-head showings, has an average of 11,842, placing it at the 51st percentile. This discrepancy suggests that the GTX 680's legacy drivers and older API support allow it to remain competitive in certain legacy workloads, while the RX 6500 XT excels specifically in modern compute APIs.

The nearest rivals for each card frame their relative positions. The GTX 680's closest competitor in the database is the NVIDIA Tesla K10, which averages 14,029, a mere 0.9% behind the GTX 680. The GeForce GTX 1070 Ti sits 0.9% ahead at 14,277, and the Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics and AMD Radeon Vega 11 are 1.2% and 1.4% ahead respectively. The RX 6500 XT's rival list shows it trailing the GeForce GTX 1080 by 1% (11,960 vs 11,842), the GTX 960A by 1.3% (11,998), while it leads the GTX 1660 by 1.4% (11,680) and the RX 7800 XT by 1.9% (11,627). These deltas indicate that the RX 6500 XT is not universally faster than its peers, but rather occupies a specific performance niche where its architectural strengths shine.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins in OpenCL compute performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT dominates, scoring 48,289 in Geekbench OpenCL versus the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680's 16,906, a 65% advantage.

Q: Is the older GTX 680 competitive in Vulkan workloads?

A: No. The RX 6500 XT scores 54,724 in Geekbench Vulkan compared to 17,646 for the GTX 680, representing a 67.8% deficit for the NVIDIA card.

Q: Why does the GTX 680 have a higher average benchmark score than the RX 6500 XT?

A: The GTX 680 averages 14,150 across all tests versus 11,842 for the RX 6500 XT. This likely reflects the GTX 680's strength in legacy or non-compute benchmarks, while the RX 6500 XT's head-to-head results only cover OpenCL and Vulkan.

Q: What is the percentile ranking difference between the two?

A: The GTX 680 sits at the 55th percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 6500 XT is at the 51st percentile, a modest gap in overall standing despite the RX 6500 XT's clear wins in modern compute APIs.

Q: How does each card compare to its nearest rival?

A: The GTX 680 is 0.9% ahead of the Tesla K10 and 0.9% behind the GTX 1070 Ti. The RX 6500 XT is 1% behind the GTX 1080, 1.3% behind the GTX 960A, and 1.4% and 1.9% ahead of the GTX 1660 and RX 7800 XT respectively.

Q: Which card supports newer DirectX features?

A: The RX 6500 XT supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the GTX 680 only reaches DirectX 12 (11_0), indicating a significant generational gap in feature support.

Architecture Differences

The two cards represent fundamentally different eras of GPU design. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 uses the GK104 chip built on Kepler architecture, manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 3,540 million transistors into a 294 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.0 million per mm². In contrast, the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT employs the Navi 24 chip based on RDNA 2.0, fabricated on a 6 nm process, also at TSMC. This newer node allows 5,400 million transistors in just 107 mm², achieving a density of 50.5 million per mm², over four times the GTX 680's density.

The memory subsystems diverge sharply. The GTX 680 uses 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 192.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 6500 XT offers 4 GB of GDDR6 but on a narrow 64-bit bus, resulting in 143.9 GB/s, actually lower than the older card. This bandwidth disparity is a critical architectural trade-off; the RX 6500 XT compensates with much higher clock speeds and a different compute layout.

The RX 6500 XT features 16 dedicated ray tracing cores, a capability entirely absent from the GTX 680. It also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the GTX 680 is limited to DirectX 12 (11_0), meaning the latter cannot access hardware-accelerated ray tracing or the full feature set of modern games. The RX 6500 XT's Vulkan support is version 1.4, compared to 1.2.175 for the GTX 680, and it offers half-precision FP16 throughput at 11.53 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio), whereas the GTX 680 has no recorded FP16 capability.

Specification Differences

The clock speeds reveal the generational leap. The GTX 680 runs at a base of 1006 MHz with a boost of 1058 MHz, while the RX 6500 XT starts at 2310 MHz and boosts to 2815 MHz, with a game clock of 2610 MHz. Memory clocks differ similarly: the GTX 680 operates at 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective), the RX 6500 XT at 2248 MHz (18 Gbps effective).

The compute units are configured differently. The GTX 680 has 1536 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 raster operations pipelines. The RX 6500 XT has fewer shading units at 1024, but only 64 TMUs and the same 32 ROPs. Despite fewer shaders, the RX 6500 XT achieves higher throughput: 5.765 TFLOPS FP32 versus 3.250 TFLOPS, and pixel rates of 90.08 GPixel/s versus 33.86 GPixel/s. Texture rates also favor AMD at 180.2 GTexel/s versus 135.4 GTexel/s.

Power consumption differs substantially. The GTX 680 has a TDP of 195 W with dual 6-pin power connectors and a suggested 450 W power supply. The RX 6500 XT draws only 107 W, needs a single 6-pin connector, and suggests a 300 W PSU. The bus interface also differs: PCIe 3.0 x16 for NVIDIA versus PCIe 4.0 x4 for AMD. Display outputs show the GTX 680 has 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.2, while the RX 6500 XT offers 1x HDMI 2.1 and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a. Physical dimensions are recorded only for the GTX 680 at 256 mm length, 111 mm height, and 38 mm width.

The Verdict

The data paints a clear picture for modern compute workloads: the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT is the superior choice for OpenCL and Vulkan applications, outperforming the GTX 680 by 65% and 67.8% respectively. Its higher clock speeds, ray tracing support, and newer architecture give it decisive advantages in these tests. However, the GTX 680's higher average benchmark score (14,150 vs 11,842) and better percentile rank (55th vs 51st) suggest it remains competitive in legacy or non-compute scenarios, possibly due to mature driver optimizations for older APIs.

For users prioritizing modern gaming features like DirectX 12 Ultimate and ray tracing, the RX 6500 XT is the only viable option. Its lower TDP of 107 W versus 195 W also makes it more efficient in terms of power draw. Yet the GTX 680's 256-bit memory bus provides higher bandwidth (192.3 GB/s vs 143.9 GB/s), which could benefit certain bandwidth-sensitive tasks. The RX 6500 XT's higher transistor density (50.5M / mm² vs 12.0M / mm²) indicates a more efficient design, but its narrow 64-bit bus is a potential bottleneck in memory-heavy workloads.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT wins decisively in compute benchmarks. Its OpenCL score of 48,289 and Vulkan score of 54,724 are more than triple the GTX 680's 16,906 and 17,646. This makes it the clear choice for GPU compute tasks, modern API development, and any workload leveraging DirectX 12 Ultimate features. Its 16 ray tracing cores and Vulkan 1.4 support position it for future software. The RX 6500 XT also wins on efficiency, with a 107 W TDP versus 195 W, and on pixel fill rate at 90.08 GPixel/s.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680, despite losing both head-to-head tests, holds advantages in specific areas. Its average benchmark score of 14,150 exceeds the RX 6500 XT's 11,842, suggesting better performance across a broader set of legacy benchmarks. The GTX 680's higher memory bandwidth (192.3 GB/s) and wider 256-bit bus could benefit older games or applications optimized for that configuration. Its 1536 shading units, while slower per clock, may respond better to certain driver-optimized workloads. The GTX 680 also has a longer physical footprint at 256 mm, but that is irrelevant to performance. For users running older software without modern API support, the GTX 680's 55th percentile standing indicates it remains a functional, if dated, option.