AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER are two end-of-life graphics cards from different architectural generations, and the benchmark data in the database shows a clear, though not complete, shift in performance leadership. The RX 6700 XT, built on AMD’s RDNA 2.0 architecture, posts a higher average benchmark score and wins a majority of the head-to-head tests, while the RTX 2080 SUPER retains decisive victories in specific compute and API-level workloads. The recorded data provides a detailed look at how a modern 7 nm design compares to a larger, older 12 nm chip across a range of synthetic tests.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two cards is substantial, starting with the manufacturing process. The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is built on a 7 nm process at TSMC, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER uses a 12 nm process, also from TSMC. This process advantage is reflected in the transistor density: the RX 6700 XT packs 51.3 million transistors per square millimeter, more than double the 25.0 million per square millimeter of the RTX 2080 SUPER. The RX 6700 XT’s chip, codenamed Navi 22, contains 17,200 million transistors on a 335 mm² die. In contrast, the RTX 2080 SUPER’s TU104 chip has 13,600 million transistors spread across a much larger 545 mm² die.

The clock speeds also tell a story of architectural efficiency. The RX 6700 XT runs a base clock of 2321 MHz and a boost clock of 2581 MHz, with a game clock of 2424 MHz. The RTX 2080 SUPER operates at a lower 1650 MHz base and 1815 MHz boost. This higher frequency operation helps the AMD card achieve a peak FP32 throughput of 13.21 TFLOPS, compared to 11.15 TFLOPS for the NVIDIA card. The FP16 figures follow the same pattern: 26.43 TFLOPS for the RX 6700 XT versus 22.30 TFLOPS for the RTX 2080 SUPER, both at a 2:1 ratio.

Memory configurations differ significantly in capacity but not in bandwidth direction. The RX 6700 XT offers 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 2080 SUPER has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a wider 256-bit bus, yielding a higher 495.9 GB/s bandwidth. The effective memory speed is 16 Gbps for the AMD card and 15.5 Gbps for the NVIDIA card. The RX 6700 XT also features a higher pixel rate of 165.2 GPixel/s versus 116.2 GPixel/s, and a higher texture rate of 413.0 GTexel/s versus 348.5 GTexel/s.

Feature sets diverge on compute capabilities. The RTX 2080 SUPER includes 384 tensor cores and 48 RT cores, while the RX 6700 XT has 40 RT cores and no tensor core equivalent listed. The RX 6700 XT has 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs; the RTX 2080 SUPER has 3072 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RX 6700 XT uses a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface, while the RTX 2080 SUPER is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16. Power requirements are close, with the RX 6700 XT rated at 230 W and the RTX 2080 SUPER at 250 W, though the NVIDIA card suggests a 600 W PSU versus 550 W for the AMD card. Both are dual-slot designs with the same 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin power connectors.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT leads with an average benchmark score of 27425, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER records 24170. This places the RX 6700 XT at the 72nd percentile of all GPUs, compared to the 69th percentile for the RTX 2080 SUPER.

Q: How does the RX 6700 XT compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 6700 XT’s average score of 27425 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile (27435, 0% delta) and the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell (27135, 1.1% ahead). It trails the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 (27839) by 1.5% and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (27565) by 0.5%.

Q: Where does the RTX 2080 SUPER stand among its peers?

A: The RTX 2080 SUPER’s average score of 24170 is within a narrow band of its nearest rivals. It is 0.3% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti (24236), 0.4% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 (24277), 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6800S (24063), and 1.1% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (24442).

Q: Which card has more VRAM?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory. The RTX 2080 SUPER compensates with a higher memory bandwidth of 495.9 GB/s versus 384.0 GB/s.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of each card?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT had a launch MSRP of 479 USD. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER had a launch MSRP of 699 USD.

Q: Which card has a higher boost clock?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT boosts to 2581 MHz, which is significantly higher than the RTX 2080 SUPER’s boost clock of 1815 MHz. The RX 6700 XT also has a higher base clock of 2321 MHz versus 1650 MHz.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head results show the RX 6700 XT winning 7 of 10 tests, with the RTX 2080 SUPER taking 3. The largest victory for the AMD card comes in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, where the RX 6700 XT scores 2435 against the RTX 2080 SUPER’s 1882, a decisive 29.4% advantage. This is the single biggest performance gap recorded in the entire comparison, and it highlights the RX 6700 XT’s strength in modern DirectX 12 workloads.

The RX 6700 XT also wins the compute-oriented Passmark GPU Compute test, scoring 9336 versus 8290, a 12.6% lead. In the legacy DirectX tests, the AMD card wins Passmark DirectX 9 (242 vs 227, 6.6% ahead) and Passmark DirectX 11 (173 vs 165, 4.8% ahead). The Passmark DirectX 12 test shows a narrower 2.7% win for the RX 6700 XT (77 vs 75). The RX 6700 XT also edges out the RTX 2080 SUPER in Passmark G2D (951 vs 920, 3.4% ahead) and Passmark G3D (19786 vs 19490, 1.5% ahead). These results indicate that the AMD card holds a consistent, if sometimes slim, advantage across most rasterization and legacy API benchmarks.

The RTX 2080 SUPER’s wins are concentrated in compute and specific API tests. The most dramatic is Geekbench OpenCL, where the NVIDIA card scores 99226 against the RX 6700 XT’s 44152, a 55.5% advantage. This is the largest margin in either direction across the entire test suite. The RTX 2080 SUPER also wins Geekbench Vulkan, scoring 111284 versus 93500, a 16% lead. In Passmark DirectX 10, the NVIDIA card takes a smaller victory at 140 versus 124, an 11.4% margin.

The pattern is clear: the RX 6700 XT dominates in the 3DMark and Passmark gaming-oriented tests, while the RTX 2080 SUPER shows a substantial advantage in Geekbench’s compute-oriented OpenCL test and a solid lead in Vulkan. The Passmark G3D result, often used as a proxy for overall gaming performance, favors the RX 6700 XT by only 1.5%, suggesting that the two cards are closer in traditional rasterization than the 3DMark gap might imply. The Geekbench OpenCL result, however, shows that the RTX 2080 SUPER’s 3072 shading units and 384 tensor cores provide a significant edge in raw compute tasks that leverage OpenCL.

The Verdict

The benchmark data supports a clear recommendation for the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT for most users. It holds a 13.5% higher average benchmark score (27425 vs 24170) and wins the majority of direct comparisons, including the modern 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test by 29.4%. Its higher clock speeds, larger 12 GB memory buffer, and newer 7 nm architecture deliver better results in the tests that typically matter for gaming and general graphics workloads. The RX 6700 XT also occupies a higher percentile rank (72nd vs 69th) among all GPUs.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER is the better choice only in specific scenarios where raw compute through OpenCL is the primary concern. Its 55.5% lead in Geekbench OpenCL and 16% advantage in Geekbench Vulkan indicate that applications heavily optimized for NVIDIA’s compute stack could favor this older card. The RTX 2080 SUPER also has higher memory bandwidth (495.9 GB/s vs 384.0 GB/s) and a wider 256-bit bus, which may benefit certain bandwidth-sensitive tasks.

For gaming and most DirectX workloads, the RX 6700 XT is the superior card according to the recorded measurements. The 3DMark and Passmark results, including the DirectX 11, DirectX 12, and DirectX 9 tests, all favor the AMD card. The only DirectX test the RTX 2080 SUPER wins is DirectX 10, by 11.4%. The RX 6700 XT’s wins in Passmark GPU Compute and Passmark G3D further solidify its position as the more well-rounded performer. Given the lower launch MSRP of 479 USD versus 699 USD, the RX 6700 XT offers better performance at a lower initial price point, though the database notes that both cards are now end-of-life.

Specification Differences

The key specification differences between the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER are listed below, focusing only on fields where the two cards differ.

| Specification | AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER |

| :--- | :--- | :--- |

| Architecture | RDNA 2.0 | Turing |

| Process Node | 7 nm | 12 nm |

| Transistors | 17,200 million | 13,600 million |

| Die Size | 335 mm² | 545 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 51.3M / mm² | 25.0M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 2321 MHz | 1650 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 2581 MHz | 1815 MHz |

| Game Clock | 2424 MHz | Not specified |

| Memory Size | 12 GB | 8 GB |

| Memory Bus Width | 192 bit | 256 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 384.0 GB/s | 495.9 GB/s |

| Memory Clock | 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) | 1937 MHz (15.5 Gbps effective) |

| Shading Units | 2560 | 3072 |

| TMUs | 160 | 192 |

| RT Cores | 40 | 48 |

| Tensor Cores | Not specified | 384 |

| Pixel Rate | 165.2 GPixel/s | 116.2 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 413.0 GTexel/s | 348.5 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 13.21 TFLOPS | 11.15 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 26.43 TFLOPS (2:1) | 22.30 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 230 W | 250 W |

| Suggested PSU | 550 W | 600 W |

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

| Display Outputs | 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a | 1x HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, 1x USB Type-C |

| Height | 110 mm (4.3 inches) | 116 mm (4.6 inches) |

| Width | 40 mm (1.6 inches) | 35 mm (1.4 inches) |

| Release Date | 2021-03-02 | 2019-07-22 |

| Launch MSRP | 479 USD | 699 USD |

| Average Benchmark Score | 27425 | 24170 |

| Percentile vs All GPUs | 72 | 69 |