AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT vs NVIDIA RTX A4500 Comparison

The NVIDIA RTX A4500 and AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT represent two distinct approaches to high-performance graphics, yet the benchmark data places them in adjacent performance percentiles. The RTX A4500 sits in the 93rd percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 6850M XT lands in the 92nd percentile. Despite this close overall ranking, the head-to-head results show a decisive split: the RTX A4500 wins all three shared benchmarks, with margins ranging from roughly 31% to 67%. The RX 6850M XT is a mobile-first part, as indicated by its IGP slot width and portable-device-dependent display outputs, whereas the RTX A4500 is a dual-slot desktop workstation card. The data suggests that while both are capable of high-end work, the RTX A4500 consistently delivers substantially higher raw scores in the tested workloads, making it the stronger performer in direct comparison.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX A4500 wins every benchmark where both cards were tested, but the nature of those wins points to specific use-case strengths. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, which stresses modern DirectX 12 rendering pipelines, the RTX A4500 scores 3196 against the RX 6850M XT's 2257. This 41.6% advantage indicates that for contemporary game engines and DirectX 12 workloads, the NVIDIA card holds a commanding lead. The gap widens dramatically in OpenCL compute: the RTX A4500's 141837 score versus 85040 represents a 66.8% difference. OpenCL is commonly used for general-purpose GPU compute, scientific simulation, and certain content creation applications, so this result positions the RTX A4500 as the clear choice for compute-heavy tasks that rely on OpenCL acceleration.

The Vulkan benchmark tells a similar story, with the RTX A4500 scoring 129980 against 99483, a 30.7% margin. Vulkan is prevalent in game engines, CAD visualization, and some professional renderers, so this win extends the NVIDIA card's dominance beyond a single API. The RX 6850M XT has no wins in the shared test suite, but its hardware profile suggests areas where it might be competitive despite the benchmark losses. Its 7 nm process node and higher base clock (2321 MHz versus 1050 MHz) indicate it is designed for efficiency and mobile power envelopes. The card's FP16 throughput of 26.43 TFLOPS exceeds its FP32 performance of 13.21 TFLOPS due to a 2:1 ratio, which could benefit workloads that leverage half-precision arithmetic, such as certain AI inference or graphics effects. However, no benchmark in the data confirms this advantage, so it remains a speculative strength rather than a measured one.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different architectural lineages. The RTX A4500 uses the GA102 chip built on NVIDIA's Ampere architecture, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. This is a large die at 628 mm², housing 28,300 million transistors. The RX 6850M XT uses the Navi 22 chip on AMD's RDNA 2.0 architecture, fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. Its die is considerably smaller at 335 mm², with 17,200 million transistors. The transistor density tells the story of process maturity: the AMD chip packs 51.3 million transistors per square millimeter, while the NVIDIA chip achieves 45.1 million per square millimeter. This density difference reflects the newer 7 nm node rather than architectural superiority.

Core counts diverge sharply. The RTX A4500 has 7168 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs. It also includes 56 RT cores and 224 tensor cores, the latter being absent from the RX 6850M XT entirely. The AMD card has 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with 40 RT cores and no tensor core equivalent. This means the RTX A4500 has nearly three times the shading units and roughly 2.8 times the ROP count. The FP32 compute reflects this: 23.65 TFLOPS for the NVIDIA card versus 13.21 TFLOPS for AMD. However, the RX 6850M XT achieves higher FP16 performance at 26.43 TFLOPS due to its 2:1 ratio, whereas the RTX A4500 delivers FP16 at 1:1 with FP32, capping it at 23.65 TFLOPS.

Memory subsystems also differ fundamentally. The RTX A4500 features 20 GB of GDDR6 on a 320-bit bus, yielding 640.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 6850M XT has 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, providing 432.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA card's 8 GB memory advantage and 208 GB/s bandwidth advantage are significant for large datasets and high-resolution textures. Clock speeds tell the opposite story: the RX 6850M XT runs at 2321 MHz base and 2581 MHz boost, with a game clock of 2463 MHz, while the RTX A4500 sits at 1050 MHz base and 1650 MHz boost. The AMD card compensates for fewer cores with much higher clocks, but the raw throughput numbers still favor NVIDIA in FP32. Pixel rates are nearly identical (158.4 GPixel/s for NVIDIA versus 165.2 GPixel/s for AMD), but texture rate favors AMD slightly at 413.0 GTexel/s versus 369.6 GTexel/s.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result is the most balanced of the three comparisons, yet it still shows a substantial gap. The RTX A4500 scores 3196, which is 41.6% higher than the RX 6850M XT's 2257. This test typically stresses geometry, shading, and memory bandwidth, and the NVIDIA card's larger memory bus and higher shading unit count appear to be decisive factors. The RX 6850M XT's higher clock speeds do not compensate for its smaller core configuration in this workload. For users targeting DirectX 12 gaming or workstation rendering, the RTX A4500's margin here is large enough to feel immediately noticeable in frame rates or render times.

The Geekbench OpenCL result is the most lopsided. The RTX A4500 posts 141837, while the RX 6850M XT manages 85040. This 66.8% difference is the largest in the entire comparison. OpenCL workloads often scale with shading unit count and memory bandwidth, both of which favor the NVIDIA card. The RTX A4500's 7168 shading units versus 2560, combined with 640.0 GB/s versus 432.0 GB/s, explains much of this gap. The RX 6850M XT's FP16 advantage does not help here because OpenCL benchmarks typically use FP32 or mixed precision. This result strongly suggests that any application relying on OpenCL compute — whether for physics simulation, image processing, or scientific computing — will run significantly faster on the RTX A4500.

The Vulkan benchmark narrows the gap but still favors NVIDIA. The RTX A4500 scores 129980 against 99483, a 30.7% advantage. Vulkan's lower-level API can sometimes benefit from higher clock speeds, which may explain why the RX 6850M XT performs relatively better here than in OpenCL. However, the RTX A4500's architectural advantages — more RT cores, more shading units, and tensor cores for certain acceleration paths — still carry it to a comfortable win. The delta of 30.7% is smaller than the other two tests, suggesting that Vulkan is the closest competition point between these two cards. Still, no benchmark in the suite favors the AMD part, and the overall average benchmark score reflects this: the RTX A4500 averages 91671, while the RX 6850M XT averages 78940.

FAQ

Q: Which card has higher raw compute performance in FP32?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A4500 delivers 23.65 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, while the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT provides 13.21 TFLOPS. This gives the RTX A4500 a roughly 79% advantage in single-precision compute.

Q: How do the two cards compare in memory capacity and bandwidth?

A: The RTX A4500 has 20 GB of GDDR6 on a 320-bit bus, achieving 640.0 GB/s. The RX 6850M XT has 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, achieving 432.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA card offers 8 GB more memory and 208 GB/s more bandwidth.

Q: Does the RX 6850M XT have any compute advantage?

A: Yes, in FP16 workloads. The RX 6850M XT reaches 26.43 TFLOPS via a 2:1 FP16 ratio, while the RTX A4500 caps at 23.65 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio. However, no benchmark in the data confirms an actual FP16 win.

Q: Which card is more efficient per watt?

A: The RX 6850M XT has a 165 W TDP versus 200 W for the RTX A4500. The AMD card delivers 13.21 TFLOPS at lower power, but the NVIDIA card delivers more absolute performance. Efficiency per watt is not directly measured in the provided data.

Q: Are both cards still in production?

A: No. Both are marked as end-of-life. The RTX A4500 was released in November 2021, and the RX 6850M XT was released in January 2022.

Q: What does the percentile ranking indicate?

A: The RTX A4500 ranks in the 93rd percentile of all GPUs, and the RX 6850M XT ranks in the 92nd. Despite the large benchmark deltas between them, both are near the top of the overall performance distribution.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every major specification category. The RTX A4500 uses the GA102 chip on an 8 nm Samsung process, while the RX 6850M XT uses the Navi 22 chip on a 7 nm TSMC process. Transistor counts are 28,300 million versus 17,200 million, and die sizes are 628 mm² versus 335 mm². The RTX A4500 has 7168 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, compared to 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs on the RX 6850M XT. RT core counts are 56 versus 40, and the RTX A4500 has 224 tensor cores while the RX 6850M XT has none.

Clock speeds favor AMD dramatically: the RX 6850M XT runs at 2321 MHz base and 2581 MHz boost, with a 2463 MHz game clock, versus 1050 MHz base and 1650 MHz boost for the RTX A4500. Memory configurations also diverge: 20 GB on a 320-bit bus for NVIDIA versus 12 GB on a 192-bit bus for AMD, with bandwidth of 640.0 GB/s versus 432.0 GB/s. FP32 compute is 23.65 TFLOPS versus 13.21 TFLOPS, and FP16 is 23.65 TFLOPS versus 26.43 TFLOPS. The RTX A4500 has a higher TDP at 200 W versus 165 W, and it is a dual-slot card with a 1x 8-pin power connector, while the RX 6850M XT is an IGP with no power connectors. Display outputs are 4x DisplayPort 1.4a for NVIDIA versus portable-device-dependent for AMD. The RTX A4500 measures 267 mm in length and 112 mm in height, while the RX 6850M XT has no listed dimensions.