AMD Radeon RX 6600 vs NVIDIA Tesla K80 Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 and NVIDIA Tesla K80 are both end-of-life GPUs, but they target completely different workloads. The RX 6600 is a modern RDNA 2.0 consumer card, while the K80 is a Kepler-era compute accelerator with no display outputs. Benchmark data shows the RX 6600 dominating in every shared test, but the K80 offers unique strengths in memory capacity and bus width that matter for specific compute tasks.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6600 scores 19036 on average, while the NVIDIA Tesla K80 scores 18866. The RX 6600 leads by 170 points, a 0.9% margin according to the nearestRivals delta.

Q: How do the two compare in OpenCL performance?

A: In Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 6600 scores 28850 versus 18620 for the K80. That is a 54.9% advantage for the AMD card in the head-to-head data.

Q: Which card has more memory and what type?

A: The Tesla K80 has 12 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, while the RX 6600 has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus. The K80’s bandwidth is 240.6 GB/s, slightly higher than the RX 6600’s 224.0 GB/s.

Q: What are the process nodes and transistor counts?

A: The RX 6600 uses TSMC’s 7 nm process with 11,060 million transistors on a 237 mm² die. The K80 uses TSMC’s 28 nm process with 7,100 million transistors on a 561 mm² die.

Q: Does the K80 support display outputs?

A: No. The Tesla K80 lists “No outputs” for display connections, making it a compute-only card. The RX 6600 has 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a.

Q: Which card has a higher pixel fill rate?

A: The RX 6600 achieves 159.4 GPixel/s, while the K80 manages 42.85 GPixel/s. The AMD card is 3.7 times faster in this metric.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every core specification. The RX 6600 runs at a base clock of 1626 MHz and boosts to 2491 MHz, with a game clock of 2044 MHz. The K80 runs at 562 MHz base and 824 MHz boost. Memory clocks also diverge: the RX 6600 uses 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective), while the K80 uses 1253 MHz (5 Gbps effective).

Memory capacity and bus width differ significantly. The RX 6600 has 8 GB GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus; the K80 has 12 GB GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus. Bandwidth is close: 224.0 GB/s for AMD versus 240.6 GB/s for NVIDIA. Shading units favor the K80 at 2496 versus 1792, but TMUs and ROPs tell a mixed story: the K80 has 208 TMUs and 48 ROPs, while the RX 6600 has 112 TMUs and 64 ROPs.

Power requirements are starkly different. The RX 6600 has a 132 W TDP and a suggested PSU of 300 W; the K80 has a 300 W TDP and a suggested PSU of 700 W. Both use a single 8-pin connector and dual-slot coolers. The RX 6600 is 190 mm long, while the K80 stretches to 267 mm.

The RX 6600 supports PCIe 4.0 x8; the K80 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. API support also differs: the RX 6600 hits DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The K80 maxes out at DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175.

Architecture Differences

The RX 6600 is built on RDNA 2.0, part of the Navi II (RX 6000) generation, using the Navi 23 chip. The K80 uses Kepler 2.0, part of the Tesla Kepler (Kxx) generation, with the GK210 chip. The process node gap is enormous: 7 nm for AMD versus 28 nm for NVIDIA. This drives transistor density from 12.7M per mm² on the K80 to 46.7M per mm² on the RX 6600.

The RX 6600 features 28 dedicated ray tracing cores, a capability the K80 lacks entirely. The K80 has no tensor cores, and neither card offers them. FP32 compute favors the RX 6600 at 8.928 TFLOPS versus 4.113 TFLOPS for the K80. The RX 6600 also delivers FP16 at 17.86 TFLOPS (2:1 rate), while the K80 lists no FP16 capability.

Texture and pixel rates follow the same pattern. The RX 6600 hits 279.0 GTexel/s and 159.4 GPixel/s; the K80 manages 171.4 GTexel/s and 42.85 GPixel/s. The K80’s higher shading unit count (2496 vs 1792) does not compensate for its much lower clocks.

The K80’s generation is Tesla Kepler, with a predecessor of Tesla Fermi and successor of Tesla Maxwell. The RX 6600’s predecessor is Navi and successor is Navi III. Release dates are far apart: the RX 6600 launched on October 12, 2021; the K80 launched on November 16, 2014.

The Verdict

The data overwhelmingly favors the AMD Radeon RX 6600 for any workload that appears in the benchmark suite. It wins both head-to-head tests with massive margins: 54.9% in OpenCL and 253.8% in Vulkan. The RX 6600 also has a higher average benchmark score (19036 vs 18866), a smaller die (237 mm² vs 561 mm²), lower power draw (132 W vs 300 W), and modern API support including DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4.

The NVIDIA Tesla K80 is only the right choice if your workload specifically requires its 12 GB memory capacity and 384-bit bus, or if you need compute without any display output. Its 240.6 GB/s bandwidth edges out the RX 6600’s 224.0 GB/s, and the extra 4 GB of VRAM could matter for large datasets that fit within a single card. However, the K80’s performance in shared tests is far behind, and its 300 W TDP demands a 700 W PSU versus 300 W for the RX 6600.

For nearly every practical purpose, the RX 6600 is the superior card. It is faster, newer, more efficient, and supports modern graphics features. The K80 is a legacy compute accelerator that only makes sense in a niche where its specific memory configuration is a hard requirement.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head data includes only two tests, and the RX 6600 wins both. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 6600 scores 28850 against the K80’s 18620, a 54.9% advantage. This is expected given the RX 6600’s 8.928 TFLOPS FP32 versus 4.113 TFLOPS for the K80.

The bigger gap appears in Geekbench Vulkan. The RX 6600 scores 67623, while the K80 manages 19111. That is a 253.8% difference, meaning the RX 6600 is more than 3.5 times faster. The K80’s Vulkan support is limited to version 1.2.175, while the RX 6600 supports Vulkan 1.4, and the modern RDNA 2.0 architecture clearly scales better in this API.

Looking at the broader benchmark data, the RX 6600 has a much richer test profile. It includes PassMark scores across DirectX 9 (197), 10 (95), 11 (152), and 12 (51), plus G2D (889), G3D (15096), and GPU compute (6554). The K80 only has two Geekbench entries. The RX 6600’s average score of 19036 places it at the 63rd percentile among all GPUs, the same percentile as the K80’s 18866 average. The nearest rivals for the RX 6600 include the NVIDIA Quadro K6000 (19030, 0% delta) and the GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile (19049, -0.1% delta). The K80’s nearest rival is the GeForce RTX 2070 (18789, 0.4% delta).

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 wins in every measured category. It dominates in OpenCL and Vulkan compute benchmarks, with margins of 54.9% and 253.8% respectively. It also wins on raw specifications: higher clocks (1626 MHz base vs 562 MHz), higher FP32 throughput (8.928 vs 4.113 TFLOPS), faster pixel rate (159.4 vs 42.85 GPixel/s), and faster texture rate (279.0 vs 171.4 GTexel/s). The RX 6600 is the clear choice for gaming, modern DirectX 12 Ultimate workloads, and any compute task that leverages Vulkan or ray tracing.

The NVIDIA Tesla K80 wins only in specific hardware characteristics. It has 12 GB of memory versus 8 GB, a 384-bit bus versus 128-bit, and slightly higher memory bandwidth (240.6 GB/s vs 224.0 GB/s). It also has more shading units (2496 vs 1792) and TMUs (208 vs 112). For a workload that is purely memory-capacity-bound and does not require high clocks or modern API features, the K80 could be viable. Its compute-only design (no display outputs) suits server environments where a GPU is used solely for calculations.

Neither card is a winner on power efficiency. The RX 6600’s 132 W TDP is less than half the K80’s 300 W, but the K80’s higher memory capacity per watt may matter in some server contexts. The RX 6600’s 7 nm process gives it a huge density advantage (46.7M vs 12.7M transistors per mm²), which translates to better performance per watt overall. If you need a display output, the K80 is disqualified immediately. If you need 12 GB of VRAM on a single card from this era, the K80 is your only option.