Radeon RX 6500 XT vs RX 6900 XT

Place in the ranking	22	220
Place by popularity	not in top-100	82
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	29.90	58.67
Power efficiency	15.86	15.89
Architecture	RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)	RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code name	Navi 21	Navi 24
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	28 October 2020 (4 years ago)	19 January 2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$999	$199

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 6500 XT has 96% better value for money than RX 6900 XT.

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	5120	1024
Core clock speed	1825 MHz	2610 MHz
Boost clock speed	2250 MHz	2815 MHz
Number of transistors	26,800 million	5,400 million
Manufacturing process technology	7 nm	6 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	300 Watt	107 Watt
Texture fill rate	720.0	180.2
Floating-point processing power	23.04 TFLOPS	5.765 TFLOPS
ROPs	128	32
TMUs	320	64
Ray Tracing Cores	80	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).

Interface	PCIe 4.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x4
Length	267 mm	no data
Width	3-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	2x 8-pin	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	GDDR6	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	16 GB	8 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	64 Bit
Memory clock speed	2000 MHz	2248 MHz
Memory bandwidth	512.0 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	1x HDMI, 2x DisplayPort, 1x USB Type-C	1x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 1.4a
HDMI	+	+

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 Ultimate (12_2)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	6.5	6.6
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	2.1	2.2
Vulkan	1.2	1.3

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 6900 XT 69.46
+180%

RX 6500 XT 24.83

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 6900 XT 26764
+180%

RX 6500 XT 9568

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.

RX 6900 XT 59119
+158%

RX 6500 XT 22954

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.

RX 6900 XT 50587
+222%

RX 6500 XT 15712

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	196 +216%	62 −216%
1440p	130 +364%	28 −364%
4K	81 +406%	16 −406%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	5.10	3.21
1440p	7.68	7.11
4K	12.33	12.44

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

130−140
+87.5%

−87.5%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	117 +117%	50−55 −117%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	169 +231%	51 −231%
Battlefield 5	220−230 +174%	80−85 −174%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	110−120 +138%	50−55 −138%
Cyberpunk 2077	130−140 +150%	54 −150%
Far Cry 5	110−120 +105%	55−60 −105%
Far Cry New Dawn	170−180 +162%	65−70 −162%
Forza Horizon 4	230−240 +64.1%	140−150 −64.1%
Hitman 3	120−130 +158%	50−55 −158%
Horizon Zero Dawn	250−260 +122%	110−120 −122%
Metro Exodus	150−160 +82.4%	85−90 −82.4%
Red Dead Redemption 2	120−130 +90.6%	60−65 −90.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	290−300 +249%	80−85 −249%
Watch Dogs: Legion	150−160 +47.6%	100−110 −47.6%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	279 +417%	50−55 −417%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	142 +230%	43 −230%
Battlefield 5	220−230 +174%	80−85 −174%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	110−120 +138%	50−55 −138%
Cyberpunk 2077	130−140 +297%	34 −297%
Far Cry 5	110−120 +105%	55−60 −105%
Far Cry New Dawn	170−180 +162%	65−70 −162%
Forza Horizon 4	230−240 +64.1%	140−150 −64.1%
Hitman 3	120−130 +158%	50−55 −158%
Horizon Zero Dawn	250−260 +122%	110−120 −122%
Metro Exodus	150−160 +82.4%	85−90 −82.4%
Red Dead Redemption 2	120−130 +90.6%	60−65 −90.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	290−300 +174%	107 −174%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	140−150 +181%	50−55 −181%
Watch Dogs: Legion	150−160 +47.6%	100−110 −47.6%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	98 +81.5%	50−55 −81.5%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	137 +342%	31 −342%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	110−120 +138%	50−55 −138%
Cyberpunk 2077	130−140 +350%	30 −350%
Far Cry 5	110−120 +105%	55−60 −105%
Forza Horizon 4	248 +71%	140−150 −71%
Hitman 3	120−130 +158%	50−55 −158%
Horizon Zero Dawn	283 +208%	92 −208%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	290−300 +253%	83 −253%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	164 +204%	54 −204%
Watch Dogs: Legion	121 +384%	25 −384%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

120−130
+90.6%

60−65

−90.6%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	160−170 +251%	45−50 −251%
Far Cry New Dawn	110−120 +192%	35−40 −192%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	99 +281%	24−27 −281%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	109 +374%	23 −374%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	80−85 +189%	27−30 −189%
Cyberpunk 2077	70−75 +335%	17 −335%
Far Cry 5	80−85 +193%	27−30 −193%
Forza Horizon 4	270−280 +92.2%	140−150 −92.2%
Hitman 3	100−110 +248%	27−30 −248%
Horizon Zero Dawn	224 +239%	66 −239%
Metro Exodus	117 +105%	57 −105%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	190−200 +252%	56 −252%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	120−130 +320%	30−33 −320%
Watch Dogs: Legion	230−240 +70.7%	140−150 −70.7%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

110−120
+178%

40−45

−178%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	85−90 +263%	24−27 −263%
Far Cry New Dawn	65−70 +263%	18−20 −263%
Hitman 3	83 +730%	10 −730%
Horizon Zero Dawn	220−230 +78%	120−130 −78%
Metro Exodus	110−120 +293%	27−30 −293%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	122 +336%	28 −336%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	68 +353%	14−16 −353%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	66 +1000%	6 −1000%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	50−55 +264%	14−16 −264%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 +775%	4 −775%
Far Cry 5	50−55 +257%	14−16 −257%
Forza Horizon 4	162 +376%	30−35 −376%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	110−120 +340%	25 −340%
Watch Dogs: Legion	54 +440%	10 −440%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

75−80
+257%

21−24

−257%

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

RX 6900 XT is 216% faster in 1080p
RX 6900 XT is 364% faster in 1440p
RX 6900 XT is 406% 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 6900 XT is 1000% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

Without exception, RX 6900 XT surpassed RX 6500 XT in all 72 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	69.46	24.83
Recency	28 October 2020	19 January 2022
Maximum RAM amount	16 GB	8 GB
Chip lithography	7 nm	6 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	300 Watt	107 Watt