AMD Radeon RX 6700M vs NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 6700M and NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile represent two very different approaches to high-performance mobile graphics, with the former built on AMD’s RDNA 2.0 architecture and the latter on NVIDIA’s Ampere design. The benchmark data shows a clear overall winner in the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile, which secures victory in 8 of the 9 head-to-head tests, while the AMD Radeon RX 6700M manages a single win. The average benchmark scores tell a similar story, with the AMD card posting 25,633 points and the NVIDIA card posting 24,763 points, placing them at the 71st and 70th percentiles of all GPUs respectively.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most decisive victory for the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile comes in the Geekbench OpenCL test, where it scores 110,877 against the AMD’s 77,666, representing a 30% advantage. This is the largest margin of any test in the comparison and highlights the NVIDIA card’s substantial lead in general-purpose compute workloads. The Passmark GPU Compute test reinforces this trend, with NVIDIA scoring 6,945 versus AMD’s 5,191, a 25.3% difference. These results suggest that the RTX A5000 Mobile is significantly stronger in compute-heavy tasks that leverage raw parallel processing power.

In DirectX 10 and DirectX 12 workloads, the NVIDIA card again takes the lead, though by smaller margins. The DirectX 10 score of 115 beats AMD’s 92 by 20%, while the DirectX 12 score of 72 beats AMD’s 65 by 9.7%. The DirectX 11 test is much closer, with NVIDIA’s 133 narrowly edging out AMD’s 129, a mere 3% gap. Legacy DirectX 9 performance also favors NVIDIA, with a score of 169 versus AMD’s 155, an 8.3% difference. The Passmark G3D score, which represents overall 3D graphics performance, shows NVIDIA ahead at 15,779 versus AMD’s 13,536, a 14.2% margin.

The AMD Radeon RX 6700M’s sole victory comes in the Geekbench Vulkan test, where it scores 90,816 against NVIDIA’s 88,144, a 3% advantage. While this is a relatively narrow win, it demonstrates that the AMD card has a competitive edge in Vulkan-based workloads. Additionally, the Passmark G2D test, which measures 2D graphics performance, shows NVIDIA ahead at 629 versus AMD’s 555, an 11.8% difference. The head-to-head tally of 8 wins for NVIDIA and 1 for AMD accurately reflects the overall performance hierarchy, though the margins vary considerably across different test types.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on fundamentally different architectures and manufacturing processes. The AMD Radeon RX 6700M uses the Navi 22 chip based on RDNA 2.0 architecture, manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It contains 17,200 million transistors on a die size of 335 mm², resulting in a transistor density of 51.3 million per square millimeter. In contrast, the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile uses the GA104 chip based on Ampere architecture, manufactured on an 8 nm process at Samsung. It packs 17,400 million transistors into a larger 392 mm² die, yielding a lower transistor density of 44.4 million per square millimeter.

Memory configurations differ substantially between the two cards. The AMD card features 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, providing 320.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA card doubles the capacity to 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This larger memory pool and wider bus give the NVIDIA card a clear advantage in memory-intensive applications and higher-resolution workloads. The AMD card’s memory runs at 16 Gbps effective, while the NVIDIA card’s memory runs at 14 Gbps effective, though the NVIDIA card’s wider bus more than compensates for the lower clock speed.

Core configurations also differ significantly. The AMD Radeon RX 6700M has 2,304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units, along with 36 ray tracing cores. The NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile has 6,144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, plus 48 ray tracing cores and 192 tensor cores. The NVIDIA card’s shading unit count is nearly triple that of the AMD card, which explains its substantial lead in compute-heavy benchmarks. Clock speeds tell the opposite story, with the AMD card boosting to 2,400 MHz compared to NVIDIA’s 1,575 MHz, but the NVIDIA card’s massive core count overrides this clock disadvantage. The FP32 performance figures reflect this balance: AMD delivers 11.06 TFLOPS while NVIDIA delivers 19.35 TFLOPS. FP16 performance is where the architectures diverge sharply, with AMD offering 22.12 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio versus NVIDIA’s 19.35 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio.

Power consumption is relatively close, with the AMD card rated at 135 W and the NVIDIA card at 150 W, though the NVIDIA card delivers significantly higher performance within this modest power envelope. Both cards support PCIe 4.0 x16 and feature identical API support for DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile is the clear winner in most scenarios, particularly those involving compute workloads and DirectX-based gaming. Its 30% lead in OpenCL and 25.3% lead in GPU Compute make it the better choice for professional applications that rely on general-purpose GPU computing, such as rendering, simulation, and data processing. The 14.2% advantage in Passmark G3D indicates that it also provides better overall 3D graphics performance for gaming and 3D modeling. The NVIDIA card also wins in DirectX 10, 11, and 12 tests, with margins ranging from 3% to 20%, suggesting that it is the stronger option for most modern games using Microsoft’s API.

The AMD Radeon RX 6700M’s strengths lie in Vulkan-based workloads, where it beats the NVIDIA card by 3% in the Geekbench Vulkan test. This suggests that games and applications optimized for Vulkan may perform comparably or better on the AMD card. However, this single win is narrow and does not compensate for the NVIDIA card’s dominance elsewhere. Users who primarily run Vulkan titles might find the AMD card satisfactory, but the broader benchmark suite clearly favors NVIDIA.

For legacy DirectX 9 workloads, NVIDIA wins by 8.3%, and for 2D graphics performance in the G2D test, NVIDIA wins by 11.8%. The NVIDIA card’s higher memory capacity of 16 GB versus 10 GB makes it more suitable for large datasets, high-resolution textures, and multi-tasking with multiple GPU-accelerated applications. The AMD card’s higher boost clock of 2,400 MHz versus 1,575 MHz does not translate into benchmark wins, indicating that raw clock speed is less important than the sheer number of cores and memory bandwidth in these tests.

The Verdict

Based strictly on the benchmark data, the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile is the superior GPU for the vast majority of use cases. It wins 8 out of 9 head-to-head benchmarks, with particularly large margins in compute-heavy tests like OpenCL at 30% and GPU Compute at 25.3%. Its higher average performance in the Passmark G3D test at 15,779 versus 13,536 makes it the better choice for general 3D graphics and gaming, while its 16 GB memory capacity and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth provide a solid foundation for professional workloads. The NVIDIA card’s 19.35 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, compared to AMD’s 11.06 TFLOPS, further reinforces its dominance in raw compute throughput.

The AMD Radeon RX 6700M is not without merit, however. Its 3% win in Vulkan shows that it can compete in specific API environments, and its lower 135 W power draw versus NVIDIA’s 150 W might make it more attractive for thin-and-light laptop designs. The AMD card’s higher boost clock of 2,400 MHz and FP16 performance of 22.12 TFLOPS (at 2:1 ratio) indicate strong theoretical capabilities, but these do not translate into benchmark victories. Users who prioritize Vulkan performance or lower power consumption might consider the AMD card, but for anyone seeking the highest overall performance across a wide range of tests, the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile is the data-supported choice.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6700M has a higher average benchmark score of 25,633, compared to the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile’s 24,763, despite the NVIDIA card winning more individual head-to-head tests.

Q: What is the largest performance margin between the two cards?

A: The largest margin is in the Geekbench OpenCL test, where the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile scores 110,877 versus the AMD Radeon RX 6700M’s 77,666, a 30% difference in NVIDIA’s favor.

Q: How much memory does each GPU have and what is the bandwidth?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6700M has 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus with 320.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: In which benchmark does the AMD Radeon RX 6700M outperform the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile?

A: The AMD card wins the Geekbench Vulkan test with a score of 90,816, which is 3% higher than the NVIDIA card’s 88,144.

Q: What are the FP32 performance figures for both cards?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6700M delivers 11.06 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, while the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile delivers 19.35 TFLOPS.

Q: How do the two cards compare in terms of transistor count and die size?

A: The AMD card has 17,200 million transistors on a 335 mm² die, while the NVIDIA card has 17,400 million transistors on a larger 392 mm² die, with the AMD card having a higher transistor density of 51.3M per mm² versus NVIDIA’s 44.4M per mm².