AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE vs NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation Comparison

The Verdict

The recorded data presents a decisive outcome: the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation wins the only shared benchmark in the database, the Geekbench OpenCL test, by a staggering margin. Its score of 326,898 versus the AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE's 69,229 represents a 78.8% advantage for NVIDIA. This is not a close contest; the RTX 5880 Ada Generation is in a different performance class entirely.

For compute-heavy workloads that rely on OpenCL, the RTX 5880 Ada Generation is the clear choice. It also carries 48 GB of memory, six times the capacity of the RX 6600 LE's 8 GB, and its 864.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is nearly four times higher. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation also offers 110 RT cores and 440 tensor cores, making it suitable for ray tracing and AI-accelerated tasks.

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE, however, is not without merit. It is a much smaller and more power-efficient design, with a 132 W TDP versus 285 W for the NVIDIA card. It also holds a higher percentile rank against all GPUs in the database, sitting at the 91st percentile compared to the RTX 5880 Ada Generation's 85th percentile. This suggests that while the RX 6600 LE loses this specific head-to-head, it is a well-rounded performer relative to the broader GPU landscape.

The buyer's choice depends entirely on workload. If the task demands massive memory capacity, extreme compute throughput, and professional workstation features, the RTX 5880 Ada Generation is the only option. If the requirement is a compact, lower-power card that still ranks high among all GPUs, the RX 6600 LE fits that niche. The data does not support any scenario where the RX 6600 LE outpaces the RTX 5880 Ada Generation in raw OpenCL performance.

Where Each One Wins

The head-to-head benchmark record shows only one test, Geekbench OpenCL, and the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation wins it outright. There are no recorded wins for the AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE in this comparison. Every other metric must be inferred from the specification differences.

The RTX 5880 Ada Generation wins in memory capacity, bandwidth, shading units, texture units, ROPs, and pixel rate. Its 48 GB frame buffer is essential for large datasets, and its 864.0 GB/s bandwidth supports rapid data movement. The card also excels in compute: its FP32 throughput of 69.27 TFLOPS is nearly eight times the RX 6600 LE's 8.942 TFLOPS. FP16 performance is also massively higher, at 69.27 TFLOPS (1:1) versus 17.88 TFLOPS (2:1) for AMD.

The RX 6600 LE wins in efficiency and physical size. Its 132 W TDP is less than half of the RTX 5880 Ada Generation's 285 W. The AMD card measures 190 mm in length versus 267 mm for the NVIDIA card, making it easier to fit in smaller chassis. It also uses a single 8-pin power connector instead of a 16-pin connector, and its suggested power supply is 300 W versus 600 W.

The AMD card also has a higher base clock, 1626 MHz versus 975 MHz, and a slightly higher boost clock, 2495 MHz versus 2460 MHz. However, these clock advantages do not translate into performance wins in the recorded benchmark. The RX 6600 LE also supports HDMI 2.1 output, which the RTX 5880 Ada Generation lacks, but the NVIDIA card offers four DisplayPort 1.4a outputs compared to three for AMD.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from entirely different architectural foundations. The AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture, using the Navi 23 chip fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It contains 11,060 million transistors on a 237 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 46.7 million per square millimeter.

The NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation uses the Ada Lovelace architecture, built on the AD102 chip fabricated on a 5 nm process, also at TSMC. This chip contains 76,300 million transistors on a much larger 609 mm² die, with a transistor density of 125.3 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA chip has nearly seven times the transistor count and almost 2.6 times the die area.

The memory subsystems differ fundamentally. The RX 6600 LE uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 224.0 GB/s. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation uses 48 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, delivering 864.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA card also has a higher memory clock at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) versus 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) for AMD.

Compute unit counts reveal the scale of difference. The RX 6600 LE has 1792 shading units, 112 texture units, and 64 ROPs, with 28 RT cores and no tensor cores. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation has 14,080 shading units, 440 texture units, and 176 ROPs, with 110 RT cores and 440 tensor cores. The NVIDIA card has roughly eight times the shading units, four times the TMUs, and nearly three times the ROPs.

Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RX 6600 LE uses PCIe 4.0 x8, while the RTX 5880 Ada Generation uses PCIe 4.0 x16, giving the NVIDIA card twice the bus bandwidth for host communication.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in the recorded benchmark?

A: The NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation scores 326,898 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE scores 69,229. The NVIDIA card leads by 78.8%.

Q: How much memory does each card have?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus. The NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation has 48 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, six times the capacity.

Q: What is the power consumption difference?

A: The RX 6600 LE has a TDP of 132 W with a suggested 300 W power supply. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation has a TDP of 285 W with a suggested 600 W power supply.

Q: Does the AMD card have tensor cores?

A: No. The RX 6600 LE has 28 RT cores but no tensor cores. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation has 110 RT cores and 440 tensor cores.

Q: Which card ranks higher among all GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE sits at the 91st percentile, while the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation sits at the 85th percentile, despite the NVIDIA card's much higher raw benchmark score.

Q: What are the physical dimensions?

A: The RX 6600 LE is 190 mm long, 110 mm high, and 40 mm wide. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation is 267 mm long and 112 mm high; its width is not recorded.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only recorded head-to-head test is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is overwhelmingly one-sided. The NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation posts a score of 326,898, compared to 69,229 for the AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE. The delta percentage of -78.8% for the AMD card means it trails by more than three-quarters of the NVIDIA score.

This performance gap aligns with the raw compute specifications. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation delivers 69.27 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, while the RX 6600 LE delivers 8.942 TFLOPS. The NVIDIA card also has 14,080 shading units versus 1,792 for AMD, and its texture rate of 1,082.4 GTexel/s dwarfs the AMD card's 279.4 GTexel/s.

The pixel rate difference is similarly dramatic: 433.0 GPixel/s for NVIDIA versus 159.7 GPixel/s for AMD. These figures explain why the OpenCL benchmark, which often scales with raw compute and memory throughput, shows such a wide margin.

For users relying on OpenCL for general-purpose GPU computing, the RTX 5880 Ada Generation is in a different league. The RX 6600 LE's Geekbench Vulkan score of 72,428 is actually higher than its OpenCL score, but this test is not included in the head-to-head comparison, so no direct comparison is available for Vulkan.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon RX 6600 LE | NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation |

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

| Architecture | RDNA 2.0 | Ada Lovelace |

| Process node | 7 nm | 5 nm |

| Transistors | 11,060 million | 76,300 million |

| Die size | 237 mm² | 609 mm² |

| Transistor density | 46.7M / mm² | 125.3M / mm² |

| Base clock | 1626 MHz | 975 MHz |

| Boost clock | 2495 MHz | 2460 MHz |

| Memory clock | 1750 MHz (14 Gbps) | 2250 MHz (18 Gbps) |

| Memory size | 8 GB | 48 GB |

| Memory bus width | 128 bit | 384 bit |

| Memory bandwidth | 224.0 GB/s | 864.0 GB/s |

| Shading units | 1792 | 14080 |

| TMUs | 112 | 440 |

| ROPs | 64 | 176 |

| RT cores | 28 | 110 |

| Tensor cores | None | 440 |

| Pixel rate | 159.7 GPixel/s | 433.0 GPixel/s |

| Texture rate | 279.4 GTexel/s | 1,082.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 performance | 8.942 TFLOPS | 69.27 TFLOPS |

| FP16 performance | 17.88 TFLOPS (2:1) | 69.27 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 132 W | 285 W |

| Power connectors | 1x 8-pin | 1x 16-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 300 W | 600 W |

| Bus interface | PCIe 4.0 x8 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |

| Display outputs | 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a | 4x DisplayPort 1.4a |

| Length | 190 mm (7.5 inches) | 267 mm (10.5 inches) |

| Height | 110 mm (4.3 inches) | 112 mm (4.4 inches) |

| Width | 40 mm (1.6 inches) | Not recorded |

| Release date | 2023-12-07 | 2024-01-04 |

| Generation | Navi II (RX 6000) | Workstation Ada (x000A) |

| Predecessor | Navi | Workstation Ampere |

| Successor | Navi III | Blackwell PRO W |