AMD Radeon RX 560 XT vs NVIDIA Quadro M6000 Comparison

The Verdict

The recorded benchmark data separates these two cards clearly. The NVIDIA Quadro M6000 wins both recorded tests outright, with an average benchmark score of 43301 against 34133 for the AMD Radeon RX 560 XT. The Quadro M6000 sits in the 84th percentile of all GPUs in the database, while the RX 560 XT lands in the 79th percentile. That percentile gap, combined with a 26.4% lead in Geekbench OpenCL and a 27.2% lead in Geekbench Vulkan, makes the Quadro M6000 the stronger choice for workloads that stress compute throughput.

The AMD Radeon RX 560 XT is not without merit, however. It is a smaller, more efficient design with a lower power draw and a newer manufacturing process. For users constrained by power delivery or physical space, the RX 560 XT offers a credible alternative. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB, with a delta of -0.1%, and the NVIDIA RTX A1000, with a delta of -0.2%, placing it in the same performance class as those professional cards. The Quadro M6000, by contrast, trades nearly neck-and-neck with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile (delta 0.1%) and the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB (delta 0.1%), while trailing the GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile by 0.8%.

The verdict is straightforward: pick the Quadro M6000 when maximum compute performance is the priority and power draw is not a limiting factor. Pick the RX 560 XT when a lower thermal envelope and a more compact board are more important, accepting the measurable performance deficit. The data does not support a case for the RX 560 XT winning on raw speed, but it does support a case for it as a practical, lower-power alternative.

Where Each One Wins

The head-to-head benchmark table shows a clean sweep for the NVIDIA Quadro M6000. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Quadro M6000 scores 39688 against 31387 for the RX 560 XT, a delta of 26.4%. In Geekbench Vulkan, the margin widens slightly: 46913 against 36879, a delta of 27.2%. The Quadro M6000 records 2 wins in the database, while the RX 560 XT records 0.

Breaking down the wins by workload type, the OpenCL result reflects general-purpose compute, where the Quadro M6000's larger shader array and wider memory bus provide a substantial edge. The Vulkan result, which typically exercises graphics and compute together, shows an even larger advantage, suggesting the Quadro M6000 scales better when the workload is more demanding.

The RX 560 XT does have its own strengths, though they do not appear in the win column. Its FP16 throughput is rated at 4.394 TFLOPS, matching its FP32 rate at a 1:1 ratio, a feature the Quadro M6000 does not list. That makes the RX 560 XT potentially better suited to workloads that can exploit half-precision math, even if its absolute FP32 number is lower. Additionally, the RX 560 XT supports Vulkan 1.3, while the Quadro M6000 supports Vulkan 1.4, so the newer API version belongs to NVIDIA.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different architectural generations and use different manufacturing approaches. The NVIDIA Quadro M6000 is built on the GM200 chip using Maxwell 2.0 architecture, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 8,000 million transistors into a 601 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 13.3 million per mm². The AMD Radeon RX 560 XT uses the Ellesmere chip with GCN 4.0 architecture, built on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. Its die is 232 mm² with 5,700 million transistors, yielding a density of 24.6 million per mm². The AMD card is therefore the denser design, packing more transistors per square millimeter despite having fewer total transistors.

Memory configurations differ markedly. The Quadro M6000 carries 12 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, delivering 317.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 560 XT has 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, with 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Quadro M6000 offers three times the memory capacity and roughly 42% more bandwidth. Its memory clock runs at 1653 MHz (6.6 Gbps effective), while the RX 560 XT runs at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective), so the AMD card has the faster memory clock, but the wider bus on the NVIDIA card wins on total throughput.

Compute resources tell a similar story. The Quadro M6000 has 3072 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units. The RX 560 XT has 1792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The NVIDIA card's pixel rate is 106.9 GPixel/s versus 39.23 GPixel/s for AMD, and its texture rate is 213.9 GTexel/s versus 137.3 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput is 6.844 TFLOPS for NVIDIA and 4.394 TFLOPS for AMD.

Power and physical specifications also diverge. The Quadro M6000 has a TDP of 250 W, requires a 600 W suggested PSU, and uses a single 8-pin power connector. The RX 560 XT has a TDP of 150 W, a 450 W suggested PSU, and a single 6-pin connector. Both are dual-slot cards, but the Quadro M6000 is longer at 267 mm (10.5 inches) versus 241 mm (9.5 inches) for the RX 560 XT. The Quadro M6000 also has a taller profile at 111 mm (4.4 inches), while the RX 560 XT's height is not recorded.

Display outputs differ as well. The Quadro M6000 offers 1x DVI and 4x DisplayPort 1.2. The RX 560 XT offers 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, giving the AMD card the newer display interface standard. In terms of API support, the Quadro M6000 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RX 560 XT supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The NVIDIA card has the higher DirectX feature level and newer Vulkan version.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro M6000 has an average benchmark score of 43301, while the AMD Radeon RX 560 XT scores 34133. The Quadro M6000 also holds an 84th percentile rank versus 79th for the RX 560 XT.

Q: How much faster is the Quadro M6000 in OpenCL?

A: In Geekbench OpenCL, the Quadro M6000 scores 39688 against 31387 for the RX 560 XT, a margin of 26.4%.

Q: Does the RX 560 XT have any compute advantage?

A: Yes, the RX 560 XT lists FP16 throughput at 4.394 TFLOPS, matching its FP32 rate at a 1:1 ratio. The Quadro M6000 has no FP16 figure recorded in the database.

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The Quadro M6000 delivers 317.4 GB/s over a 384-bit bus, compared to 224.0 GB/s over a 256-bit bus for the RX 560 XT.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The Quadro M6000 has a TDP of 250 W and requires a 600 W suggested PSU with a single 8-pin connector. The RX 560 XT has a TDP of 150 W and requires a 450 W suggested PSU with a single 6-pin connector.

Q: Which card supports newer display outputs?

A: The RX 560 XT supports HDMI 2.0b and DisplayPort 1.4a, while the Quadro M6000 supports DVI and DisplayPort 1.2. The AMD card has the newer display interface standard.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records two head-to-head benchmark comparisons, and the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 wins both. The first test, Geekbench OpenCL, shows the Quadro M6000 at 39688 points. The RX 560 XT trails at 31387 points. The delta of 26.4% is substantial, and it means that for every 100 points the RX 560 XT produces, the Quadro M6000 produces roughly 126. This is a workload that stresses raw compute throughput, and the Quadro M6000's larger shader count (3072 versus 1792) and higher FP32 rate (6.844 TFLOPS versus 4.394 TFLOPS) explain the gap.

The second test, Geekbench Vulkan, shows an even larger separation. The Quadro M6000 scores 46913, while the RX 560 XT scores 36879, a delta of 27.2%. Vulkan workloads often combine graphics and compute, and the Quadro M6000's advantage in pixel rate (106.9 GPixel/s versus 39.23 GPixel/s) and texture rate (213.9 GTexel/s versus 137.3 GTexel/s) contributes to this wider margin. The RX 560 XT's higher memory clock (1750 MHz versus 1653 MHz) does not compensate for its narrower bus and lower overall bandwidth.

Looking at the nearest rivals in the database provides context for these scores. The Quadro M6000's average of 43301 places it within 0.1% of the GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile (43268) and the Quadro M6000 24 GB (43262), and within 0.2% of the GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER (43223). It trails the GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile (43667) by 0.8%. This means the Quadro M6000 sits in a tightly packed performance cluster, where a few percent separate several modern cards. The RX 560 XT, with an average of 34133, sits in a similar cluster of its own: it is 0.1% behind the RTX A2000 12 GB (34154), 0.2% behind the RTX A1000 (34207), 0.4% ahead of the Radeon RX 480 (33997), and 0.5% ahead of the Radeon HD 7950 (33951).

The practical takeaway from the head-to-head numbers is that the Quadro M6000 does not just win, it wins by a consistent margin across both recorded tests. The 27.2% Vulkan lead is the single largest advantage in the comparison, and it suggests that the Quadro M6000 is particularly strong when the workload presses both graphics and compute resources. The RX 560 XT, despite its newer process node and denser transistor layout, cannot close the gap in these tests. The data records 2 wins for the Quadro M6000 and 0 for the RX 560 XT, a result that aligns with the overall average score difference of 9168 points (43301 minus 34133).