AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT vs NVIDIA L40 Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data splits cleanly along workload lines. The NVIDIA L40 is a server-class compute accelerator, and its recorded results reflect that positioning. In the two shared tests, Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan, the L40 wins outright. Its OpenCL score of 330,926 dwarfs the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT's 85,040, a 289.1% advantage. The Vulkan gap is similarly decisive: 237,295 versus 99,483, a 138.5% lead.

The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT does not win either of the head-to-head benchmark comparisons recorded in the database. However, its profile is that of a mobile gaming GPU, and its own benchmark suite includes tests the L40 was not subjected to. The RX 6850M XT posts a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2,257 and a Geekbench Metal score of 128,981. These results are not comparable to the L40 directly, as the database records no corresponding L40 scores for those workloads. The data indicates the RX 6850M XT is a capable performer within its own class, sitting at the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, but it occupies a fundamentally different performance tier.

The L40's percentile ranking is 99th, placing it near the top of the entire GPU database. Its average benchmark score of 284,111 is more than three times the RX 6850M XT's average of 78,940. When considering the nearest rivals for each card, the L40 sits between the RTX 6000 Ada Generation (287,237, 1.1% higher) and the L40S (295,763, 3.9% higher), while leading the L20 by 13.1% and the Instinct MI300X by 10.7%. The RX 6850M XT, meanwhile, trades blows with the Tesla P100 variants and the GeForce RTX 5090, with deltas of -0.6%, -0.8%, and -1.1% respectively, and a 1.6% lead over the RTX 5090 D.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in OpenCL compute workloads?

A: The NVIDIA L40 is dramatically faster. It scores 330,926 in Geekbench OpenCL versus 85,040 for the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT, a 289.1% advantage.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT win any benchmark against the L40?

A: No. In the two recorded head-to-head tests (Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan), the L40 wins both. The RX 6850M XT does have unique scores in 3DMark Steel Nomad and Geekbench Metal that the L40 does not have recorded.

Q: How do these GPUs compare in overall percentile ranking?

A: The NVIDIA L40 ranks in the 99th percentile among all GPUs in the database. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT ranks in the 92nd percentile. This places the L40 in the top 1% of all recorded GPUs, while the RX 6850M XT sits in the top 8%.

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

A: The NVIDIA L40 has an average benchmark score of 284,111. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT has an average benchmark score of 78,940. The L40's average is roughly 3.6 times higher.

Q: Which card has higher memory bandwidth?

A: The NVIDIA L40 has significantly higher memory bandwidth at 864.0 GB/s, compared to 432.0 GB/s for the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT. The L40 also has a larger memory pool at 48 GB versus 12 GB.

Q: Are these cards from the same generation?

A: No. The NVIDIA L40 is from the Server Ada (Lxx) generation based on the Ada Lovelace architecture. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT is from the Navi Mobile (RX 6000M) generation based on RDNA 2.0. The L40 was released on October 12, 2022, while the RX 6850M XT was released earlier on January 3, 2022.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded head-to-head data contains two tests, and the NVIDIA L40 dominates both. The first is Geekbench OpenCL. Here the L40 scores 330,926 against the RX 6850M XT's 85,040. The delta is 289.1%, meaning the L40 delivers nearly four times the raw compute throughput in this API. This result is consistent with the L40's hardware profile: it has 18,176 shading units and 568 tensor cores, while the RX 6850M XT has 2,560 shading units and no tensor cores.

The second shared test is Geekbench Vulkan. The L40 scores 237,295, and the RX 6850M XT scores 99,483. The delta here is 138.5%, a smaller but still commanding margin. Vulkan tends to scale well across architectures, but the sheer difference in shading units and memory bandwidth (864.0 GB/s versus 432.0 GB/s) explains the gap. The L40's pixel rate of 478.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,414.3 GTexel/s are also far above the RX 6850M XT's 165.2 GPixel/s and 413.0 GTexel/s.

The RX 6850M XT's own benchmark results, while not directly comparable, show it is not a weak card. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2,257 and Geekbench Metal score of 128,981 are respectable for a mobile part. But the average benchmark score tells the story: 284,111 for the L40 versus 78,940 for the RX 6850M XT. The L40's nearest rivals are all enterprise or high-end workstation parts, while the RX 6850M XT competes with older Tesla accelerators and consumer GeForce cards. This is not a close contest; it is a mismatch in compute class.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification. The NVIDIA L40 features 48 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 864.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT has 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, yielding 432.0 GB/s. That is a 4x difference in capacity and a 2x difference in bandwidth.

The L40's shading unit count is 18,176, versus 2,560 for the RX 6850M XT. Texture mapping units are 568 versus 160, and ROPs are 192 versus 64. Ray tracing cores are 142 on the L40, while the RX 6850M XT has 40. The L40 also has 568 tensor cores; the RX 6850M XT has none recorded.

Clock speeds tell a different story. The L40 has a base clock of 735 MHz and a boost clock of 2,490 MHz. The RX 6850M XT has a much higher base clock of 2,321 MHz and a boost of 2,581 MHz, with a game clock of 2,463 MHz. The AMD card runs at higher frequencies, but the L40 compensates with vastly more compute units.

Power and physical specifications diverge sharply. The L40 has a 300 W TDP and requires a 700 W power supply, using a single 16-pin connector. The RX 6850M XT has a 165 W TDP and no power connectors, as it is an integrated mobile part (IGP form factor). The L40 is a dual-slot card measuring 267 mm in length and 111 mm in height, while the RX 6850M XT has no recorded dimensions. Display outputs are 4x DisplayPort 1.4a on the L40, versus "Portable Device Dependent" on the RX 6850M XT.

The process nodes differ: the L40 is built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, while the RX 6850M XT uses 7 nm. Transistor counts are 76,300 million for the L40 versus 17,200 million for the RX 6850M XT. Die sizes are 609 mm² and 335 mm² respectively, giving transistor densities of 125.3M per mm² and 51.3M per mm².

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA L40 uses the AD102 chip, the largest die in the Ada Lovelace architecture. It is built on a 5 nm TSMC process with 76,300 million transistors. The architecture supports 12 Ultimate (12_2) DirectX, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The L40's FP32 compute is rated at 90.52 TFLOPS, and its FP16 is also 90.52 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio. This means it does not split FP32 and FP16 throughput; they are equal.

The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT uses the Navi 22 chip, part of the RDNA 2.0 architecture. It is built on a 7 nm TSMC process with 17,200 million transistors. It also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Its FP32 throughput is 13.21 TFLOPS, while FP16 is 26.43 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio, meaning FP16 is twice the FP32 rate.

The architectural philosophies are opposite. The L40 is designed for server compute, with tensor cores for AI workloads and a massive FP32 pipeline. The RX 6850M XT is a mobile gaming chip, optimized for rasterization and power efficiency, with higher clocks but far fewer compute units. The L40's 568 tensor cores are absent on the AMD side, and its ray tracing core count of 142 versus 40 reflects a much larger dedicated RT pipeline.

The L40's transistor density of 125.3M per mm² is more than double the RX 6850M XT's 51.3M per mm², a direct result of the newer 5 nm process. The L40's predecessor is Server Ampere, and its successor is Server Hopper. The RX 6850M XT's predecessor is Polaris Mobile, and it has no recorded successor. Both cards are marked as end-of-life in the database. The L40 was released in October 2022, and the RX 6850M XT in January 2022.