AMD Radeon RX 6800S vs NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile Comparison

The Verdict

The benchmark data splits these two mobile GPUs into distinct personalities. The AMD Radeon RX 6800S takes 5 of the 9 head-to-head tests, while the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile wins 4. The AMD part leads in overall average benchmark score at 24063 against 21379 for the NVIDIA, a difference of roughly 12.6%. It also holds a higher percentile ranking, sitting at 69 versus 66 for the RTX A4000 Mobile. For raw graphics throughput in the recorded tests, the RX 6800S is the stronger pick. The RTX A4000 Mobile, however, counters with decisive wins in compute-oriented workloads, notably Geekbench OpenCL where it scores 97178 against 73202, a 24.7% advantage. Users whose primary concern is OpenCL compute or DirectX 10 legacy performance should lean toward the NVIDIA part. Gamers and those running Vulkan or DirectX 11 workloads will find the AMD card more responsive based on the recorded deltas. The RTX A4000 Mobile also carries dedicated tensor cores, a feature the AMD chip lacks entirely, which matters for any workload that can leverage them despite the absence of direct tensor benchmark numbers in this dataset.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different design philosophies. The AMD Radeon RX 6800S uses the Navi 23 chip built on RDNA 2.0 architecture, fabricated by TSMC on a 7 nm process. The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile uses the GA104 chip with Ampere architecture, fabricated by Samsung on an 8 nm process. AMD packs 11,060 million transistors into a 237 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 46.7 million per mm². NVIDIA fits 17,400 million transistors into a much larger 392 mm² die, resulting in 44.4 million per mm². The density figures are close, but the sheer scale of the NVIDIA chip is substantially larger. The RX 6800S belongs to the Navi Mobile generation from the RX 6000M family, while the RTX A4000 Mobile belongs to the Ampere-MW generation of the Ax000 series.

The compute architecture diverges sharply. The RX 6800S has 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units. The RTX A4000 Mobile has 5120 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. Despite the NVIDIA part having 2.5 times the shading units, both GPUs deliver identical pixel rates of 134.4 GPixel/s and identical texture rates of 268.8 GTexel/s. This suggests the AMD architecture extracts more throughput per shader in these specific fixed-function units. The FP32 figures tell a different story: the RX 6800S delivers 8.602 TFLOPS while the RTX A4000 Mobile delivers 17.20 TFLOPS, exactly double. The AMD part achieves 17.20 TFLOPS FP16 using a 2:1 ratio, while the NVIDIA part also hits 17.20 TFLOPS FP16 but with a 1:1 ratio, meaning its FP16 and FP32 performance are equal. Ray tracing hardware differs as well, with 32 RT cores on the AMD side versus 40 on the NVIDIA side. The NVIDIA chip uniquely includes 160 tensor cores, which the AMD chip does not have at all.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6800S has an average benchmark score of 24063, while the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile has 21379, making the AMD part approximately 12.6% higher.

Q: How do the memory subsystems compare?

A: Both use 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, but the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile has a 256 bit bus with 384.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the AMD RX 6800S has a 128 bit bus with 256.0 GB/s bandwidth. The NVIDIA part offers 50% more bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU wins in Vulkan performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6800S scores 81272 in Geekbench Vulkan, beating the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile's 73002 by 11.3%.

Q: Does the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile have any unique compute features?

A: Yes, it includes 160 tensor cores, a feature entirely absent from the AMD RX 6800S. Its FP32 performance is also exactly double that of the AMD part, at 17.20 TFLOPS versus 8.602 TFLOPS.

Q: What are the power consumption figures?

A: The AMD RX 6800S has a TDP of 100 W, while the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile has a TDP of 115 W. Neither requires external power connectors.

Q: Which GPU has better DirectX 9 performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6800S scores 200 in Passmark DirectX 9, which is 27.4% higher than the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile's 157.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every major specification category. The process node differs: AMD uses 7 nm from TSMC, NVIDIA uses 8 nm from Samsung. The RX 6800S has a base clock of 1800 MHz and a boost clock of 2100 MHz, with a game clock of 1975 MHz. The RTX A4000 Mobile has a base clock of 1140 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz, with no game clock listed. Memory clocks also differ, with AMD at 2000 MHz or 16 Gbps effective versus NVIDIA at 1500 MHz or 12 Gbps effective. The memory bus width is 128 bit for AMD and 256 bit for NVIDIA, which explains the bandwidth gap: 256.0 GB/s versus 384.0 GB/s. The RX 6800S uses a PCIe 4.0 x8 interface, while the RTX A4000 Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x16, doubling the available bus lanes.

Compute resources differ substantially. The RX 6800S has 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and 32 RT cores. The RTX A4000 Mobile has 5120 shading units, 160 TMUs, 80 ROPs, 40 RT cores, and 160 tensor cores. FP32 output is 8.602 TFLOPS for AMD and 17.20 TFLOPS for NVIDIA. FP16 output is 17.20 TFLOPS for both, but AMD achieves this with a 2:1 ratio while NVIDIA uses 1:1. Pixel rate and texture rate are identical at 134.4 GPixel/s and 268.8 GTexel/s respectively. The TDP differs, with AMD at 100 W and NVIDIA at 115 W. The RX 6800S is listed as an IGP slot width, while the RTX A4000 Mobile has no slot width listed. Neither GPU has power connectors. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RX 6800S released on 2022-01-03, while the RTX A4000 Mobile released on 2021-04-11. Both are end-of-life products. The AMD predecessor is Polaris Mobile, while the NVIDIA predecessor is Quadro Turing-M. The RTX A4000 Mobile has a listed successor, Ada-MW, while the RX 6800S does not.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The Geekbench OpenCL test shows the largest gap between the two. The RTX A4000 Mobile scores 97178, while the RX 6800S scores 73202, giving NVIDIA a 24.7% lead. This aligns with the FP32 specification difference, where the NVIDIA part delivers exactly double the FP32 throughput. The compute advantage is consistent in the Passmark GPU Compute test, where NVIDIA wins 6394 to 6144, a 3.9% margin. The RX 6800S, however, dominates in several graphics API tests. In Passmark DirectX 9, AMD wins 200 to 157, a 27.4% advantage, its largest in the head-to-head set. The Passmark G2D test also favors AMD heavily, with 732 versus 585, a 25.1% lead. The Geekbench Vulkan test goes to AMD at 81272 versus 73002, an 11.3% margin. Passmark DirectX 11 shows AMD ahead at 139 versus 127, a 9.4% difference. Passmark G3D, the overall 3D graphics score, goes to AMD at 15908 versus 14796, a 7.5% lead. The remaining tests are closer. Passmark DirectX 12 is nearly tied, with NVIDIA at 66 and AMD at 65, a 1.5% delta. Passmark DirectX 10 goes to NVIDIA at 105 versus 91, a 13.3% margin. The AMD part wins 5 tests, the NVIDIA part wins 4, but the magnitude of NVIDIA's OpenCL win is the single largest delta in either direction.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 6800S establishes its dominance in graphics API performance and 2D workloads. It wins Vulkan, DirectX 11, DirectX 9, G2D, and G3D tests. The 27.4% DirectX 9 lead and 25.1% G2D lead suggest the AMD architecture handles legacy and 2D rendering paths with particular efficiency. The 11.3% Vulkan advantage indicates strong modern cross-platform graphics performance, which benefits gaming and Vulkan-based applications. The 7.5% G3D win reinforces that the AMD part is the better general-purpose graphics card in this comparison. Its higher average benchmark score of 24063 and higher percentile ranking of 69 support this conclusion.

The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile takes the compute crown. Its 24.7% OpenCL lead is the most decisive result in the entire comparison, and it also wins GPU Compute by 3.9%. The Passmark DirectX 10 win of 13.3% shows strength in that specific legacy API. The 160 tensor cores and doubled FP32 throughput make the NVIDIA part the clear choice for OpenCL-heavy workloads, compute shaders, and any tensor-accelerated tasks. The DirectX 12 win, while narrow at 1.5%, still gives NVIDIA a clean sweep of sorts in the higher-level DirectX compute tests. The RTX 6100 Mobile's predecessor relationship to Quadro Turing-M and its successor Ada-MW place it in a professional lineage, reinforcing its compute-oriented identity. Users prioritizing raw FP32 math or OpenCL acceleration should choose the NVIDIA RTX 6800S rival, while those prioritizing gaming and graphics API variety should choose the AMD Radeon RX 6800S. The data does not indicate a single superior GPU, but rather two specialized tools with divergent strengths.