AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU scores higher in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT records 48,289 points, which is 48.5% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN's 24,873 points.

Q: How large is the gap in Geekbench Vulkan performance?

A: The RX 6500 XT scores 54,724 versus the GTX TITAN's 10,027, a difference of 81.7% in favor of the AMD card.

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each card?

A: The GTX TITAN has an average benchmark score of 14,373, while the RX 6500 XT averages 11,842.

Q: Which card has a higher percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The GTX TITAN sits at the 56th percentile, while the RX 6500 XT is at the 51st percentile.

Q: What are the closest rivals to each card according to the database?

A: The GTX TITAN's nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (average score 14,385, 0.1% difference). The RX 6500 XT's nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (average score 11,960, 1% difference).

Q: Do both cards support DirectX 12?

A: Yes, but at different feature levels. The GTX TITAN supports DirectX 12 (11_0), while the RX 6500 XT supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2).

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs represent fundamentally different architectural eras. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN uses the GK110 chip on the Kepler architecture, built on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 7,080 million transistors into a 561 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.6 million per square millimeter. The AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT uses the Navi 24 chip with RDNA 2.0 architecture, fabricated on a 6 nm process, also at TSMC. Its 5,400 million transistors fit into a much smaller 107 mm² die, achieving a density of 50.5 million per square millimeter, roughly four times denser.

The compute configuration differs sharply. The GTX TITAN fields 2,688 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 48 render output units. The RX 6500 XT has 1,024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. Despite fewer units, the RX 6500 XT reaches higher clock speeds: a base of 2310 MHz and boost of 2815 MHz, compared to the GTX TITAN's 836 MHz base and 876 MHz boost. The AMD card also has a game clock of 2610 MHz, a feature the NVIDIA card lacks entirely.

Memory architecture is another major divergence. The GTX TITAN uses 6 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, delivering 288.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 6500 XT uses 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus, providing 143.9 GB/s. The NVIDIA card's wider bus compensates for older memory technology. The RX 6500 XT also includes 16 ray tracing cores, while the GTX TITAN has none, reflecting the RDNA 2.0 feature set.

The RX 6500 XT supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the GTX TITAN supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and Vulkan 1.2.175. Both cards support OpenGL 4.6. The RX 6500 XT has a TDP of 107 W and requires a 300 W power supply, a stark contrast to the GTX TITAN's 250 W TDP and 600 W suggested PSU. The GTX TITAN needs both a 6-pin and an 8-pin power connector, whereas the RX 6500 XT uses a single 6-pin connector.

The bus interface also differs: the GTX TITAN uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the RX 6500 XT uses PCIe 4.0 x4. Display outputs diverge as well, with the NVIDIA card offering 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.2, while the AMD card provides 1x HDMI 2.1 and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a. The GTX TITAN measures 267 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 38 mm in width; the RX 6500 XT's dimensions are not recorded in the database.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The direct comparison available in the database covers two compute workloads, and the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT dominates both. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 6500 XT scores 48,289 against the GTX TITAN's 24,873. The delta is 48.5% in favor of AMD. This is a substantial margin, indicating that the newer architecture's efficiency and higher clock speeds translate into significantly better raw compute throughput despite having fewer shading units.

The Geekbench Vulkan result is even more lopsided. The RX 6500 XT records 54,724 points, while the GTX TITAN manages 10,027. That is an 81.7% advantage for the AMD card. The GTX TITAN's Vulkan support is older (version 1.2.175), and its Kepler architecture predates modern asynchronous compute optimizations, which likely explains the massive gap.

The broader average benchmark scores tell a different story. The GTX TITAN averages 14,373 across all recorded tests, while the RX 6500 XT averages 11,842. This means the GTX TITAN holds a lead of roughly 2,531 points in the aggregate, even though it loses the two head-to-head tests. The discrepancy arises because the GTX TITAN's benchmark suite includes Geekbench Metal (8,218) and Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan, while the RX 6500 XT's suite includes a wider range of tests like Passmark DirectX 9, 10, 11, 12, G2D, G3D, and GPU compute, plus 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. The RX 6500 XT scores 9,608 in Passmark G3D and 4,456 in Passmark GPU compute, but its low scores in Passmark DirectX 9 (108), DirectX 10 (60), DirectX 11 (90), and DirectX 12 (38) pull its average down significantly.

The percentile rankings reflect this mixed picture. The GTX TITAN sits at the 56th percentile among all GPUs, while the RX 6500 XT sits at the 51st percentile. The nearest rivals confirm the positioning: the GTX TITAN trades places with the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (14,385 average, 0.1% difference) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M (14,404, 0.2% difference). The RX 6500 XT sits near the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (11,960, 1% difference) and the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT (11,627, 1.9% difference).

The Verdict

The data presents a clear split between two very different GPUs. The AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT wins decisively in the two recorded head-to-head tests, particularly in Vulkan where it leads by 81.7%. Its modern RDNA 2.0 architecture, higher clocks, and ray tracing support make it the choice for users prioritizing current API performance and compute workloads in OpenCL and Vulkan.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN, despite being nearly a decade older, holds a higher average benchmark score (14,373 versus 11,842) and a higher percentile ranking (56th versus 51st). This suggests that across a broader set of legacy and mixed workloads, the GTX TITAN remains competitive. Its 6 GB memory capacity and 384-bit bus provide substantial bandwidth, and its 2,688 shading units offer raw parallel throughput that older software can exploit effectively.

Users targeting modern games or applications that leverage DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, or ray tracing should choose the RX 6500 XT. Its 107 W TDP and 300 W suggested PSU also make it far easier to integrate into a system. Users running legacy DirectX 9 through DirectX 11 workloads, or those who need the higher aggregate benchmark performance, may find the GTX TITAN better suited. The GTX TITAN's support for DirectX 12 (11_0) and its larger memory bus could matter in specific scenarios.

The launch MSRP for the GTX TITAN was 999 USD, while the RX 6500 XT launched at 199 USD. Both cards are end-of-life, so current availability and pricing vary.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN | AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT |

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

| Architecture | Kepler | RDNA 2.0 |

| Process Node | 28 nm | 6 nm |

| Transistors | 7,080 million | 5,400 million |

| Die Size | 561 mm² | 107 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 12.6M / mm² | 50.5M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 836 MHz | 2310 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 876 MHz | 2815 MHz |

| Game Clock | Not specified | 2610 MHz |

| Memory Size | 6 GB | 4 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus Width | 384 bit | 64 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 288.4 GB/s | 143.9 GB/s |

| Memory Clock | 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective) | 2248 MHz (18 Gbps effective) |

| Shading Units | 2688 | 1024 |

| TMUs | 224 | 64 |

| ROPs | 48 | 32 |

| RT Cores | None | 16 |

| Pixel Rate | 49.06 GPixel/s | 90.08 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 196.2 GTexel/s | 180.2 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 4.709 TFLOPS | 5.765 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | Not specified | 11.53 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 250 W | 107 W |

| Power Connectors | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin | 1x 6-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 600 W | 300 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x4 |

| Display Outputs | 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, 1x DisplayPort 1.2 | 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 1.4a |

| DirectX | 12 (11_0) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| Vulkan | 1.2.175 | 1.4 |

| Release Date | 2013-02-18 | 2022-01-18 |

| Predecessor | GeForce 600 | Navi |

| Successor | GeForce 900 | Navi III |

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT wins in raw compute benchmarks recorded in the database. It leads by 48.5% in Geekbench OpenCL and by 81.7% in Geekbench Vulkan. Its FP32 throughput of 5.765 TFLOPS exceeds the GTX TITAN's 4.709 TFLOPS, and its FP16 capability of 11.53 TFLOPS gives it a clear advantage in half-precision workloads. The RX 6500 XT also achieves a higher pixel rate (90.08 GPixel/s versus 49.06 GPixel/s) despite having fewer ROPs, thanks to its much higher clocks. Its ray tracing cores provide hardware acceleration that the GTX TITAN cannot offer at all.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN wins in aggregate benchmark performance. Its average score of 14,373 places it above the RX 6500 XT's 11,842, and its 56th percentile ranking beats the RX 6500 XT's 51st. The GTX TITAN's texture rate of 196.2 GTexel/s edges out the RX 6500 XT's 180.2 GTexel/s, and its memory bandwidth of 288.4 GB/s is roughly double the RX 6500 XT's 143.9 GB/s. For workloads that depend on large memory transfers or legacy API paths, the GTX TITAN's wider 384-bit bus and 6 GB capacity provide advantages. Its Geekbench Metal score of 8,218 also gives it a presence in Apple ecosystem benchmarks, a test the RX 6500 XT does not have recorded.