Radeon RX 6500 XT vs R5 M230

Place in the ranking	1089	220
Place by popularity	not in top-100	83
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	no data	58.69
Power efficiency	no data	15.91
Architecture	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)	RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code name	Jet	Navi 24
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	7 January 2014 (10 years ago)	19 January 2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$199

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores	320	1024
Compute units	5	no data
Core clock speed	825 MHz	2610 MHz
Boost clock speed	855 MHz	2815 MHz
Number of transistors	690 million	5,400 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	6 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	unknown	107 Watt
Texture fill rate	17.10	180.2
Floating-point processing power	0.5472 TFLOPS	5.765 TFLOPS
ROPs	8	32
TMUs	20	64
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	16

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Bus support	PCIe 3.0 x8	no data
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x8	PCIe 4.0 x4
Width	no data	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	no data	1x 6-pin

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory type	DDR3	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	8 GB
Memory bus width	64 Bit	64 Bit
Memory clock speed	1000 MHz	2248 MHz
Memory bandwidth	16 GB/s	143.9 GB/s
Shared memory	-	-

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectors	No outputs	1x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 1.4a
Eyefinity	+	-
HDMI	-	+

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

AppAcceleration	+	-
HD3D	+	-
PowerTune	+	-
DualGraphics	+	-
ZeroCore	+	-
Switchable graphics	+	-

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX	DirectX® 11	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	5.1	6.6
OpenGL	4.4	4.6
OpenCL	Not Listed	2.2
Vulkan	-	1.3
Mantle	+	-

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

R5 M230 1.07

RX 6500 XT 24.83
+2221%

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

R5 M230 414

RX 6500 XT 9569
+2211%

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

R5 M230 1175

RX 6500 XT 22954
+1854%

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

R5 M230 771

RX 6500 XT 15712
+1938%

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

R5 M230 4814

RX 6500 XT 91909
+1809%

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

Full HD	10 −520%	62 +520%
1440p	1−2 −2700%	28 +2700%
4K	0−1	16

Cost per frame, $

1080p	no data	3.21
1440p	no data	7.11
4K	no data	12.44

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

3−4

−2300%

72
+2300%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 −980%	50−55 +980%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −1150%	50−55 +1150%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −1700%	54 +1700%
Far Cry 5	1−2 −5600%	55−60 +5600%
Far Cry New Dawn	2−3 −3150%	65−70 +3150%
Forza Horizon 4	0−1	140−150
Hitman 3	5−6 −900%	50−55 +900%
Horizon Zero Dawn	12−14 −777%	110−120 +777%
Red Dead Redemption 2	1−2 −6300%	60−65 +6300%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	7−8 −1100%	80−85 +1100%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 −222%	100−110 +222%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 −980%	50−55 +980%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −1150%	50−55 +1150%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −1033%	34 +1033%
Far Cry 5	1−2 −5600%	55−60 +5600%
Far Cry New Dawn	2−3 −3150%	65−70 +3150%
Forza Horizon 4	0−1	140−150
Hitman 3	5−6 −900%	50−55 +900%
Horizon Zero Dawn	12−14 −777%	110−120 +777%
Red Dead Redemption 2	1−2 −6300%	60−65 +6300%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	7−8 −1429%	107 +1429%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−12 −382%	50−55 +382%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 −222%	100−110 +222%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 −980%	50−55 +980%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −1150%	50−55 +1150%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −900%	30 +900%
Far Cry 5	1−2 −5600%	55−60 +5600%
Forza Horizon 4	0−1	140−150
Hitman 3	5−6 −900%	50−55 +900%
Horizon Zero Dawn	12−14 −608%	92 +608%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	7−8 −1086%	83 +1086%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−12 −391%	54 +391%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 +28%	25 −28%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

1−2

−6300%

60−65
+6300%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	1−2 −4600%	45−50 +4600%
Far Cry New Dawn	1−2 −3700%	35−40 +3700%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	1−2 −2500%	24−27 +2500%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −1600%	17 +1600%
Far Cry 5	1−2 −2700%	27−30 +2700%
Hitman 3	7−8 −314%	27−30 +314%
Horizon Zero Dawn	4−5 −1550%	66 +1550%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	0−1	30−33
Watch Dogs: Legion	4−5 −3400%	140−150 +3400%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

4−5

−925%

40−45
+925%

4K
High Preset

Far Cry New Dawn

0−1

18−20

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	1−2 −1400%	14−16 +1400%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	0−1	6
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	0−1	14−16
Far Cry 5	0−1	14−16

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

2−3

−950%

21−24
+950%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	51 +0%	51 +0%
Battlefield 5	80−85 +0%	80−85 +0%
Metro Exodus	85−90 +0%	85−90 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	43 +0%	43 +0%
Battlefield 5	80−85 +0%	80−85 +0%
Metro Exodus	85−90 +0%	85−90 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla

+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	23 +0%	23 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	140−150 +0%	140−150 +0%
Metro Exodus	57 +0%	57 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	56 +0%	56 +0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Hitman 3	10 +0%	10 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	120−130 +0%	120−130 +0%
Metro Exodus	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	28 +0%	28 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Cyberpunk 2077	4 +0%	4 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	25 +0%	25 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	10 +0%	10 +0%

This is how R5 M230 and RX 6500 XT compete in popular games:

RX 6500 XT is 520% faster in 1080p
RX 6500 XT is 2700% faster in 1440p

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the R5 M230 is 28% faster.
in Red Dead Redemption 2, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the RX 6500 XT is 6300% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

R5 M230 is ahead in 1 test (2%)
RX 6500 XT is ahead in 42 tests (66%)
there's a draw in 21 test (33%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	1.07	24.83
Recency	7 January 2014	19 January 2022
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	8 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	6 nm

RX 6500 XT has a 2220.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 8 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 366.7% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 6500 XT is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R5 M230 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon R5 M230 is a notebook card while Radeon RX 6500 XT is a desktop one.

Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.