AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT vs NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a clear split between these two cards across the nine shared tests. The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT wins six of the nine head-to-head matchups, while the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 takes the remaining three. The margin of victory, however, tells a more nuanced story than the raw win count.

The biggest single win for the AMD card comes in PassMark G2D, where it scores 912 against the Quadro's 709. That is a 28.6% advantage, the largest delta in either direction across the entire comparison. This suggests a substantial lead in 2D desktop and windowing workloads. The AMD card also posts a decisive 16.4% win in PassMark DirectX 11, scoring 163 versus 140, and a 15.2% win in PassMark GPU Compute, at 7520 versus 6525. These are not narrow margins; they indicate a consistent advantage in those specific API and compute paths.

The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000's most significant victory is in Geekbench Vulkan, where it scores 92309 against the AMD card's 72417. That is a 21.5% swing in NVIDIA's favor, the largest margin recorded for either card in any test. This is a substantial lead in a modern cross-platform graphics API. The Quadro also wins PassMark DirectX 10, 113 versus 109, a 3.5% edge, and PassMark DirectX 9, 195 versus 194, a razor-thin 0.5% margin.

The remaining tests are closer. In Geekbench OpenCL, the AMD card wins with 80503 against 78999, a 1.9% margin. In PassMark DirectX 12, AMD wins 61 versus 59, a 3.4% edge. In PassMark G3D, AMD wins 16461 versus 15616, a 5.4% advantage. The overall average benchmark scores reflect this split: the AMD card averages 24442 across all tests, while the Quadro averages 21629. The AMD card sits at the 70th percentile among all GPUs, while the Quadro sits at the 67th.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from fundamentally different design philosophies and process generations. The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is built on RDNA 2.0 architecture using a 7 nm process at TSMC, with 11,060 million transistors on a 237 mm² die. The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 uses Turing architecture on a 12 nm process, also at TSMC, with 13,600 million transistors on a much larger 545 mm² die. The transistor density difference is stark: the AMD chip packs 46.7 million transistors per square millimeter, while the NVIDIA chip manages 25.0 million per square millimeter.

The core configurations differ significantly. The AMD card has 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units. It also includes 32 ray tracing cores. The NVIDIA card has 3072 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units, plus 48 ray tracing cores and 384 tensor cores. The AMD card has no tensor cores listed in the data.

Clock speeds favor the AMD card substantially. Its base clock is 1968 MHz, with a boost clock of 2589 MHz and a game clock of 2359 MHz. The NVIDIA card has a base clock of 1620 MHz and a boost clock of 1815 MHz, with no game clock specified. Despite the lower clock speeds, the NVIDIA card achieves slightly higher raw FP32 throughput at 11.15 TFLOPS versus the AMD card's 10.60 TFLOPS, thanks to its larger shader count. The FP16 figures follow the same pattern: 22.30 TFLOPS for NVIDIA versus 21.21 TFLOPS for AMD, both at a 2:1 ratio.

Memory configurations also diverge. The AMD card has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA card has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s. The Quadro's memory clock is 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective), while the AMD card's memory runs at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective), but the wider bus on the NVIDIA card gives it the bandwidth advantage.

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data points to distinct use-case strengths. The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT dominates in DirectX 11 workloads, where its 16.4% lead suggests it is the stronger choice for titles or applications built on that API. Its 15.2% win in GPU compute indicates a solid edge in general-purpose compute tasks that use that particular PassMark path. The 28.6% lead in G2D makes it the clear pick for 2D-heavy workflows, such as desktop environments, spreadsheets, or any application that stresses 2D rendering rather than 3D.

The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000's 21.5% win in Geekbench Vulkan is the standout result. This is a modern, cross-platform API used in game engines and professional visualization tools. A lead of that magnitude in Vulkan could translate to a meaningful advantage in applications built around that API. The Quadro also edges ahead in the legacy DirectX 10 and DirectX 9 tests, though by much smaller margins of 3.5% and 0.5% respectively.

For DirectX 12, the AMD card wins by a modest 3.4%, suggesting neither card has a commanding position in the most modern DirectX API. The OpenCL result is similarly close, with AMD ahead by only 1.9%. The G3D score, a general 3D graphics measure, favors AMD by 5.4%, indicating a broad but not overwhelming overall 3D performance lead.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT has an average benchmark score of 24442, while the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 averages 21629.

Q: How large is the Vulkan performance gap between the two?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 scores 92309 in Geekbench Vulkan, which is 21.5% higher than the AMD card's 72417.

Q: Does the NVIDIA card have more memory bandwidth?

A: Yes, the Quadro RTX 5000 delivers 448.0 GB/s from its 16 GB GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, versus 256.0 GB/s from the AMD card's 8 GB on a 128-bit bus.

Q: Which card wins in DirectX 11 performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT wins PassMark DirectX 11 with a score of 163 against the Quadro's 140, a 16.4% margin.

Q: What is the transistor density difference?

A: The AMD chip has 46.7 million transistors per mm², while the NVIDIA chip has 25.0 million per mm².

Q: Which card has a higher boost clock?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT boosts to 2589 MHz, compared to 1815 MHz for the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000.

The Verdict

The data presents a clear picture for different audiences. The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is the stronger overall performer according to the average benchmark score of 24442 versus 21629, and it wins six of nine head-to-head tests. Its victories span DirectX 11, DirectX 12, OpenCL, G2D, G3D, and GPU compute. For users working primarily in those APIs, the AMD card appears to be the better choice.

The NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000, despite its lower average score, holds a commanding lead in Vulkan with a 21.5% margin. It also wins in the legacy DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 paths. For applications that rely heavily on Vulkan, the Quadro's advantage is substantial and should not be ignored. Its 16 GB memory capacity and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth also give it a hardware resource advantage for memory-intensive workloads, even if the benchmark scores do not always reflect that.

The AMD card is also the more efficient design on paper, with a 160 W TDP versus 230 W for the NVIDIA card, and a smaller 237 mm² die. The Quadro RTX 5000 has more shading units (3072 versus 2048), more ray tracing cores (48 versus 32), and includes tensor cores that the AMD card lacks. These hardware differences do not translate into benchmark dominance for NVIDIA, but they do represent a different feature set.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every major specification line. The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT uses the Navi 23 chip on RDNA 2.0 architecture with a 7 nm process, while the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 uses the TU104 chip on Turing architecture with a 12 nm process. Transistor counts are 11,060 million for AMD and 13,600 million for NVIDIA, with die sizes of 237 mm² and 545 mm² respectively.

Clock speeds favor AMD: base 1968 MHz versus 1620 MHz, boost 2589 MHz versus 1815 MHz. The AMD card has a game clock of 2359 MHz, while the NVIDIA card has none listed. Memory differs in capacity, bus width, and bandwidth: 8 GB on a 128-bit bus with 256.0 GB/s for AMD, versus 16 GB on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s for NVIDIA.

Shader configuration differs: 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and 32 RT cores for AMD; 3072 shading units, 192 TMUs, 64 ROPs, 48 RT cores, and 384 tensor cores for NVIDIA. The FP32 output is 10.60 TFLOPS for AMD and 11.15 TFLOPS for NVIDIA. Pixel rate favors AMD at 165.7 GPixel/s versus 116.2 GPixel/s, while texture rate slightly favors NVIDIA at 348.5 GTexel/s versus 331.4 GTexel/s.

Power and physical specs differ: 160 W TDP with a single 8-pin connector and 450 W suggested PSU for AMD; 230 W TDP with 6-pin plus 8-pin connectors and 550 W suggested PSU for NVIDIA. The AMD card uses PCIe 4.0 x8, while the NVIDIA card uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs differ: AMD has one HDMI 2.1 and three DisplayPort 1.4a; NVIDIA has four DisplayPort 1.4a and one USB Type-C. The AMD card is 190 mm long, while the NVIDIA card is 267 mm long. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.