AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT vs NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT and NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile are both end-of-life mobile graphics solutions, but they target fundamentally different workloads. The data shows a clear performance hierarchy: the RX 6850M XT holds a 92nd percentile rank among all GPUs, while the RTX A3000 Mobile sits at the 91st percentile. Their average benchmark scores differ by roughly 12.5%, with the AMD part scoring 78,940 compared to the NVIDIA’s 70,140. This gap, however, masks significant architectural and feature differences that dictate which card belongs in which machine.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT wins on raw compute throughput in every head-to-head test recorded. It takes the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 85,040 against 79,091 for the RTX A3000 Mobile, a 7.5% advantage. The gap widens dramatically in the Geekbench Vulkan test, where the RX 6850M XT scores 99,483 versus 61,189 — a 62.6% lead. This makes the AMD card the clear choice for graphics-heavy applications that leverage Vulkan or DirectX 12, particularly in gaming or real-time rendering scenarios.

The NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile, despite losing both recorded head-to-head benchmarks, wins in efficiency and professional feature set. Its 70 W TDP is less than half of the AMD part’s 165 W, making it suitable for thinner, cooler laptops with smaller power budgets. The RTX A3000 Mobile also brings 128 tensor cores, which are absent from the AMD chip entirely. This means the NVIDIA card is the only one of the two capable of hardware-accelerated AI workloads like DLSS or OptiX denoising, even if its raw FP32 throughput (10.08 TFLOPS) trails the AMD’s 13.21 TFLOPS.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural generations and foundries. AMD uses the Navi 22 chip built on TSMC’s 7 nm process, packing 17,200 million transistors into a 335 mm² die. NVIDIA’s GA104 uses Samsung’s 8 nm node, with 17,400 million transistors spread across a larger 392 mm² die. The AMD chip achieves a higher transistor density of 51.3M per mm² compared to NVIDIA’s 44.4M per mm².

Clock speeds show a stark divergence. The RX 6850M XT runs at a 2321 MHz base and 2581 MHz boost, with a game clock of 2463 MHz. The RTX A3000 Mobile, by contrast, has a 600 MHz base and 1230 MHz boost — less than half the AMD’s clocks. This explains why the AMD card achieves higher pixel and texture rates: 165.2 GPixel/s and 413.0 GTexel/s, respectively, versus 78.72 GPixel/s and 157.4 GTexel/s for the NVIDIA part.

Memory configurations differ in capacity but not bus width. Both use a 192-bit bus, but the RX 6850M XT carries 12 GB of GDDR6 at 18 Gbps effective, yielding 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX A3000 Mobile has only 6 GB of GDDR6 at 11 Gbps effective, producing 264.0 GB/s. The AMD card also has more ray tracing cores (40 vs 32) and more texture mapping units (160 vs 128), though the NVIDIA part has more shading units (4096 vs 2560) and those 128 tensor cores.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The Geekbench OpenCL test shows a modest but definitive win for the AMD RX 6850M XT. Its score of 85,040 beats the RTX A3000 Mobile’s 79,091 by 7.5%. This is a compute-centric workload that reflects raw FP32 and memory bandwidth performance, where the AMD card’s higher clocks and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth provide a clear edge over the NVIDIA’s 264.0 GB/s.

The Geekbench Vulkan test is where the two diverge massively. The RX 6850M XT posts 99,483, which is 62.6% higher than the RTX A3000 Mobile’s 61,189. This delta suggests the AMD architecture handles Vulkan’s low-level API overhead more efficiently, likely due to its RDNA 2.0 design and higher pixel fill rate. For any workload that can use Vulkan — modern games, some CAD viewports, or compute shaders — the RX 6850M XT is in a different league.

It is notably the RTX A3000 Mobile has no recorded score in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, while the RX 6850M XT scores 2,257 there. Similarly, the AMD card has a Geekbench Metal score of 128,981, a test the NVIDIA part does not appear in. The absence of these data points means the NVIDIA card’s average score of 70,140 is computed from only two tests, whereas the AMD part’s 78,940 average draws from four.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher raw compute performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT. It delivers 13.21 TFLOPS FP32 versus the RTX A3000 Mobile’s 10.08 TFLOPS. In Geekbench OpenCL, the AMD card scores 85,040 against 79,091.

Q: Is the NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile better for AI or machine learning tasks?

A: Yes, because it includes 128 tensor cores, a feature entirely absent from the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT. The NVIDIA card also supports FP16 at a 1:1 ratio, whereas the AMD card’s FP16 is 2:1 (26.43 TFLOPS vs 10.08 TFLOPS).

Q: How do their power requirements compare?

A: The RTX A3000 Mobile has a 70 W TDP, while the RX 6850M XT draws 165 W. This means the NVIDIA part is far more suitable for thinner laptops with smaller batteries and cooling solutions.

Q: Which GPU has more memory?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT has 12 GB of GDDR6, double the RTX A3000 Mobile’s 6 GB. Both use a 192-bit bus, but the AMD card’s memory runs at 18 Gbps effective versus 11 Gbps, giving it 432.0 GB/s bandwidth against 264.0 GB/s.

Q: Which card is better for Vulkan-based gaming?

A: The AMD RX 6850M XT wins decisively. In the Geekbench Vulkan test, it scores 99,483 against the RTX A3000 Mobile’s 61,189, a 62.6% advantage.

Q: Are these GPUs still in production?

A: No. Both are marked as end-of-life. The AMD card was released on January 3, 2022, and the NVIDIA card on April 11, 2021.

The Verdict

The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT is the faster GPU by a wide margin in every recorded benchmark. Its 62.6% lead in Vulkan and 7.5% lead in OpenCL make it the obvious choice for performance-focused mobile workstations or gaming laptops where power draw and thermals are secondary concerns. The 12 GB memory capacity and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth also make it more future-proof for large textures or compute buffers.

The NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile is the pick only when power efficiency is non-negotiable. Its 70 W TDP allows for a much smaller cooling solution and longer battery life. The 128 tensor cores give it a unique capability for AI inference or DLSS that the AMD card cannot match. However, the NVIDIA part’s 6 GB memory and 264.0 GB/s bandwidth are clear limitations, and its 10.08 TFLOPS FP32 performance trails the AMD part by over 30%.

For a builder prioritizing raw frame rates, Vulkan performance, or compute throughput, the RX 6850M XT is the only rational choice. For a professional who needs CUDA-accelerated AI tools or who must fit a dGPU into a slim chassis, the RTX A3000 Mobile has a purpose — but it is not a performance competitor to the AMD part. The data does not support any scenario where the RTX A3000 Mobile wins on speed; it only wins on efficiency and tensor-core features.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT | NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile |

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

| Architecture | RDNA 2.0 | Ampere |

| Process Node | 7 nm (TSMC) | 8 nm (Samsung) |

| Die Size | 335 mm² | 392 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 51.3M / mm² | 44.4M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 2321 MHz | 600 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 2581 MHz | 1230 MHz |

| Memory Size | 12 GB GDDR6 | 6 GB GDDR6 |

| Memory Clock | 18 Gbps effective | 11 Gbps effective |

| Memory Bandwidth | 432.0 GB/s | 264.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 2560 | 4096 |

| TMUs | 160 | 128 |

| RT Cores | 40 | 32 |

| Tensor Cores | None | 128 |

| Pixel Rate | 165.2 GPixel/s | 78.72 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 413.0 GTexel/s | 157.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 13.21 TFLOPS | 10.08 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 26.43 TFLOPS (2:1) | 10.08 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 165 W | 70 W |

| Release Date | 2022-01-03 | 2021-04-11 |

| Predecessor | Polaris Mobile | Quadro Turing-M |

| Successor | None | Ada-MW |