Radeon RX 6500 vs RX 590

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon RX 590 with Radeon RX 6500, including specs and performance data.

RX 590
2018
8 GB GDDR5, 175 Watt
24.35
+21.6%

RX 590 outperforms RX 6500 by a significant 22% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking229274
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation25.28no data
Power efficiency9.69no data
ArchitectureGCN 4.0 (2016−2020)no data
GPU code namePolaris 30no data
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Release date15 November 2018 (6 years ago)no data (2024 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$279 no data

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 cores2304no data
Core clock speed1469 MHzno data
Boost clock speed1545 MHzno data
Number of transistors5,700 millionno data
Manufacturing process technology12 nmno data
Power consumption (TDP)175 Wattno data
Texture fill rate222.5no data
Floating-point processing power7.119 TFLOPSno data
ROPs32no data
TMUs144no data

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).

InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16no data
Length241 mmno data
Width2-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors1x 8-pinno data

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 typeGDDR5no data
Maximum RAM amount8 GBno data
Memory bus width256 Bitno data
Memory clock speed2000 MHzno data
Memory bandwidth256.0 GB/sno data
Shared memory-no data

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 Connectors1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPortno data
HDMI+-

Supported technologies

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

FreeSync+-

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (12_0)no data
Shader Model6.4no data
OpenGL4.6no data
OpenCL2.0no data
Vulkan1.2.131-

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.

RX 590 24.35
+21.6%
RX 6500 20.02

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.

RX 590 9392
+21.6%
RX 6500 7723

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 HD101
+26.3%
80−85
−26.3%
1440p58
+28.9%
45−50
−28.9%
4K35
+29.6%
27−30
−29.6%

Cost per frame, $

1080p2.76no data
1440p4.81no data
4K7.97no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+25%
30−35
−25%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 65
+47.7%
40−45
−47.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 86
+161%
30−35
−161%
Battlefield 5 136
+109%
65−70
−109%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 69
+72.5%
40−45
−72.5%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+25%
30−35
−25%
Far Cry 5 90
+95.7%
45−50
−95.7%
Far Cry New Dawn 90
+69.8%
50−55
−69.8%
Forza Horizon 4 274
+123%
120−130
−123%
Hitman 3 45−50
+25.6%
35−40
−25.6%
Horizon Zero Dawn 301
+214%
95−100
−214%
Metro Exodus 124
+24%
100−105
−24%
Red Dead Redemption 2 91
+71.7%
50−55
−71.7%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 140
+112%
65−70
−112%
Watch Dogs: Legion 272
+199%
90−95
−199%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 113
+157%
40−45
−157%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 73
+121%
30−35
−121%
Battlefield 5 122
+87.7%
65−70
−87.7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 64
+60%
40−45
−60%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+25%
30−35
−25%
Far Cry 5 74
+60.9%
45−50
−60.9%
Far Cry New Dawn 71
+34%
50−55
−34%
Forza Horizon 4 259
+111%
120−130
−111%
Hitman 3 45−50
+25.6%
35−40
−25.6%
Horizon Zero Dawn 287
+199%
95−100
−199%
Metro Exodus 97
+40.6%
65−70
−40.6%
Red Dead Redemption 2 74
+39.6%
50−55
−39.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 114
+72.7%
65−70
−72.7%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 50−55
+17.8%
45−50
−17.8%
Watch Dogs: Legion 261
+187%
90−95
−187%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 39
−12.8%
40−45
+12.8%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 62
+87.9%
30−35
−87.9%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 46
+31.4%
35−40
−31.4%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+25%
30−35
−25%
Far Cry 5 55
+19.6%
45−50
−19.6%
Forza Horizon 4 91
−35.2%
120−130
+35.2%
Hitman 3 45−50
+22.5%
40−45
−22.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn 96
+28%
75−80
−28%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 100
+25%
80−85
−25%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 51
+13.3%
45−50
−13.3%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35
−160%
90−95
+160%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 64
+28%
50−55
−28%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 45−50
+31.4%
35−40
−31.4%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+23.3%
30−33
−23.3%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 24−27
+25%
20−22
−25%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 55
+206%
18−20
−206%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 38
+26.7%
30−33
−26.7%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+36.4%
10−12
−36.4%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+21.7%
21−24
−21.7%
Forza Horizon 4 130−140
+26.4%
110−120
−26.4%
Hitman 3 27−30
+38.1%
21−24
−38.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn 72
+30.9%
55−60
−30.9%
Metro Exodus 58
+28.9%
45−50
−28.9%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 70
+27.3%
55−60
−27.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−33
+25%
24−27
−25%
Watch Dogs: Legion 203
+73.5%
110−120
−73.5%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 43
+22.9%
35−40
−22.9%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 39
+30%
30−33
−30%
Far Cry New Dawn 26
+23.8%
21−24
−23.8%
Hitman 3 18−20
+26.7%
14−16
−26.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn 57
−80.7%
100−110
+80.7%
Metro Exodus 36
+71.4%
21−24
−71.4%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 32
+60%
20−22
−60%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 19
+58.3%
12−14
−58.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 42
+320%
10−11
−320%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 20
+25%
16−18
−25%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
+50%
4−5
−50%
Far Cry 5 17
+54.5%
10−12
−54.5%
Forza Horizon 4 46
+70.4%
27−30
−70.4%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 40
+33.3%
30−33
−33.3%
Watch Dogs: Legion 13
+62.5%
8−9
−62.5%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 30
+25%
24−27
−25%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Hitman 3 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Metro Exodus 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 30−33
+0%
30−33
+0%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 20−22
+0%
20−22
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%

This is how RX 590 and RX 6500 compete in popular games:

  • RX 590 is 26% faster in 1080p
  • RX 590 is 29% faster in 1440p
  • RX 590 is 30% faster in 4K

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

  • in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RX 590 is 320% faster.
  • in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RX 6500 is 160% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • RX 590 is ahead in 48 tests (72%)
  • RX 6500 is ahead in 4 tests (6%)
  • there's a draw in 15 tests (22%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 24.35 20.02

RX 590 has a 21.6% higher aggregate performance score.

The Radeon RX 590 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon RX 6500 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon RX 590 is a desktop card while Radeon RX 6500 is a notebook one.


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

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


AMD Radeon RX 590
Radeon RX 590
AMD Radeon RX 6500
Radeon RX 6500

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


4.1 2470 votes

Rate Radeon RX 590 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
3.1 39 votes

Rate Radeon RX 6500 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.