Radeon RX 6500 vs RX 6900 XT

Place in performance ranking	18	265
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	21.70	no data
Architecture	Navi / RDNA2 (2020−2022)	no data
GPU code name	Navi 21	no data
Market segment	Desktop	Laptop
Release date	8 December 2020 (3 years ago)	no data
Launch price (MSRP)	$999	no data
Current price	$957 (1x MSRP)	no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Detailed specifications

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores	5120	no data
Core clock speed	1825 MHz	no data
Boost clock speed	2250 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	26,800 million	no data
Manufacturing process technology	7 nm	no data
Power consumption (TDP)	300 Watt	no data
Texture fill rate	720.0	no data

Form factor & compatibility

Information on Radeon RX 6900 XT and Radeon RX 6500 compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop video cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility). For notebook video cards it's notebook size, connection slot and bus, if the video card is inserted into a slot instead of being soldered to the notebook motherboard.

Interface	PCIe 4.0 x16	no data
Length	267 mm	no data
Width	3-slot	no data
Supplementary power connectors	2x 8-pin	no 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 type	GDDR6	no data
Maximum RAM amount	16 GB	no data
Memory bus width	256 Bit	no data
Memory clock speed	16000 MHz	no data
Memory bandwidth	512.0 GB/s	no 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 Connectors	1x HDMI, 2x DisplayPort, 1x USB Type-C	no data
HDMI	+	no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 Ultimate (12_2)	no data
Shader Model	6.5	no data
OpenGL	4.6	no data
OpenCL	2.1	no data
Vulkan	1.2	no data

Synthetic benchmark performance

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

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance 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 6900 XT 69.49
+252%

RX 6500 19.75

RX 6900 XT outperforms RX 6500 by 252% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. 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.

Benchmark coverage: 25%

RX 6900 XT 26837
+252%

RX 6500 7628

RX 6900 XT outperforms RX 6500 by 252% in Passmark.

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	202 +267%	55−60 −267%
1440p	137 +291%	35−40 −291%
4K	86 +258%	24−27 −258%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

130−140
+335%

30−35

−335%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	117 +200%	35−40 −200%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	169 +397%	30−35 −397%
Battlefield 5	220−230 +242%	65−70 −242%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	110−120 +198%	40−45 −198%
Cyberpunk 2077	130−140 +335%	30−35 −335%
Far Cry 5	110−120 +154%	45−50 −154%
Far Cry New Dawn	170−180 +221%	50−55 −221%
Forza Horizon 4	283 +214%	90−95 −214%
Hitman 3	120−130 +213%	35−40 −213%
Horizon Zero Dawn	442 +467%	75−80 −467%
Metro Exodus	140−150 +258%	40−45 −258%
Red Dead Redemption 2	120−130 +130%	50−55 −130%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	300−350 +403%	60−65 −403%
Watch Dogs: Legion	190 +217%	60−65 −217%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	106 +172%	35−40 −172%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	142 +318%	30−35 −318%
Battlefield 5	220−230 +242%	65−70 −242%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	110−120 +198%	40−45 −198%
Cyberpunk 2077	130−140 +335%	30−35 −335%
Far Cry 5	110−120 +154%	45−50 −154%
Far Cry New Dawn	170−180 +221%	50−55 −221%
Forza Horizon 4	210−220 +141%	90−95 −141%
Hitman 3	61 +56.4%	35−40 −56.4%
Horizon Zero Dawn	290−300 +277%	75−80 −277%
Metro Exodus	62 −6.5%	65−70 +6.5%
Red Dead Redemption 2	120−130 +130%	50−55 −130%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	300−350 +403%	60−65 −403%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	323 +651%	40−45 −651%
Watch Dogs: Legion	130−140 +123%	60−65 −123%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	98 +151%	35−40 −151%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	137 +303%	30−35 −303%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	110−120 +297%	30−33 −297%
Cyberpunk 2077	130−140 +335%	30−35 −335%
Far Cry 5	110−120 +154%	45−50 −154%
Forza Horizon 4	248 +176%	90−95 −176%
Horizon Zero Dawn	283 +254%	80−85 −254%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	300−350 +258%	90−95 −258%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	164 +281%	40−45 −281%
Watch Dogs: Legion	121 +102%	60−65 −102%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

120−130

+254%

35−40
−254%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	160−170 +267%	45−50 −267%
Far Cry New Dawn	140−150 +260%	40−45 −260%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	99 +395%	20−22 −395%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	109 +506%	18−20 −506%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	100−110 +253%	30−33 −253%
Cyberpunk 2077	70−75 +573%	10−12 −573%
Far Cry 5	130−140 +303%	30−35 −303%
Forza Horizon 4	231 +492%	35−40 −492%
Hitman 3	100−110 +274%	27−30 −274%
Horizon Zero Dawn	224 +273%	60−65 −273%
Metro Exodus	117 +290%	30−33 −290%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	190−200 +258%	55−60 −258%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	120−130 +257%	35−40 −257%
Watch Dogs: Legion	91 +600%	12−14 −600%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

110−120

+280%

30−33
−280%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	85−90 +263%	24−27 −263%
Far Cry New Dawn	65−70 +283%	18−20 −283%
Hitman 3	83 +453%	14−16 −453%
Horizon Zero Dawn	100−110 +386%	21−24 −386%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	85 +554%	12−14 −554%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	122 +510%	20−22 −510%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	68 +467%	12−14 −467%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	66 +560%	10−11 −560%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	50−55 +264%	14−16 −264%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 +775%	4−5 −775%
Far Cry 5	50−55 +355%	10−12 −355%
Forza Horizon 4	162 +500%	27−30 −500%
Horizon Zero Dawn	137 +291%	35−40 −291%
Metro Exodus	101 +274%	27−30 −274%
Watch Dogs: Legion	54 +575%	8−9 −575%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

75−80
+257%

21−24

−257%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	220−230 +238%	65−70 −238%
Far Cry New Dawn	180−190 +240%	50−55 −240%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	85−90 +240%	24−27 −240%
Hitman 3	80−85 +248%	21−24 −248%
Horizon Zero Dawn	140−150 +250%	40−45 −250%
Metro Exodus	130−140 +251%	35−40 −251%
Red Dead Redemption 2	110−120 +233%	30−35 −233%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	140−150 +250%	40−45 −250%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	130−140 +242%	35−40 −242%
Far Cry New Dawn	130−140 +233%	35−40 −233%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	35−40 +218%	10−12 −218%
Metro Exodus	65−70 +242%	18−20 −242%
Red Dead Redemption 2	55−60 +224%	16−18 −224%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	65−70 +242%	18−20 −242%
Far Cry New Dawn	50−55 +233%	14−16 −233%

This is how RX 6900 XT and RX 6500 compete in popular games:

RX 6900 XT is 267% faster in 1080p
RX 6900 XT is 291% faster in 1440p
RX 6900 XT is 258% faster in 4K

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

in Cyberpunk 2077, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RX 6900 XT is 775% faster.
in Metro Exodus, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the RX 6500 is 6% faster.

All in all, in popular games: