Radeon RX 6850M XT vs RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000)

Place in the ranking	660	78
Place by popularity	39	not in top-100
Power efficiency	20.71	18.96
Architecture	Vega (2017−2020)	RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code name	Vega Raven Ridge	Navi 22
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	26 October 2017 (7 years ago)	4 January 2022 (2 years ago)

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	512	2560
Core clock speed	300 MHz	2321 MHz
Boost clock speed	1200 MHz	2581 MHz
Number of transistors	9,800 million	17,200 million
Manufacturing process technology	14 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	15 Watt	165 Watt
Texture fill rate	57.60	413.0
Floating-point processing power	1.843 TFLOPS	13.21 TFLOPS
ROPs	8	64
TMUs	32	160
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	40

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).

Laptop size	no data	large
Interface	IGP	PCIe 4.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors	None	None

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	System Shared	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	System Shared	12 GB
Memory bus width	System Shared	192 Bit
Memory clock speed	System Shared	2000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	no data	384.0 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

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_1)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	6.4	6.5
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	2.1	2.1
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 Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) 4.51

RX 6850M XT 45.43
+907%

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 Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) 1737

RX 6850M XT 17511
+908%

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 Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) 3557

RX 6850M XT 42016
+1081%

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 Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) 2381

RX 6850M XT 33901
+1324%

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.

RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) 15770

RX 6850M XT 172972
+997%

3DMark Time Spy Graphics

RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) 693

RX 6850M XT 11837
+1608%

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	18 −706%	145 +706%
1440p	8−9 −988%	87 +988%
4K	8 −738%	67 +738%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

−1678%

160
+1678%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	15 −527%	90−95 +527%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	10 −1490%	159 +1490%
Battlefield 5	18 −689%	140−150 +689%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10 −790%	85−90 +790%
Cyberpunk 2077	9 −1411%	136 +1411%
Far Cry 5	18 −417%	90−95 +417%
Far Cry New Dawn	18 −506%	100−110 +506%
Forza Horizon 4	58 −250%	200−210 +250%
Hitman 3	9 −956%	95−100 +956%
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−33 −500%	180−190 +500%
Metro Exodus	22 −523%	130−140 +523%
Red Dead Redemption 2	16 −525%	100−105 +525%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	19 −784%	160−170 +784%
Watch Dogs: Legion	65 −108%	130−140 +108%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	30 −213%	90−95 +213%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	4−5 −3150%	130 +3150%
Battlefield 5	10−12 −1191%	140−150 +1191%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10 −790%	85−90 +790%
Cyberpunk 2077	6 −1667%	106 +1667%
Far Cry 5	10 −830%	90−95 +830%
Far Cry New Dawn	13 −738%	100−110 +738%
Forza Horizon 4	52 −290%	200−210 +290%
Hitman 3	10−11 −850%	95−100 +850%
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−33 −500%	180−190 +500%
Metro Exodus	17 −706%	130−140 +706%
Red Dead Redemption 2	10 −900%	100−105 +900%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	16 −1519%	259 +1519%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	31 −197%	90−95 +197%
Watch Dogs: Legion	55 −145%	130−140 +145%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	8 −1075%	90−95 +1075%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	4−5 −2700%	112 +2700%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	7 −1171%	85−90 +1171%
Cyberpunk 2077	5 −1640%	87 +1640%
Far Cry 5	7 −1229%	90−95 +1229%
Forza Horizon 4	23 −783%	200−210 +783%
Hitman 3	10−11 −850%	95−100 +850%
Horizon Zero Dawn	15 −1100%	180−190 +1100%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	14 −1521%	227 +1521%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	8 −1425%	122 +1425%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 −84.4%	83 +84.4%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

−900%

100−105
+900%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	8−9 −1000%	85−90 +1000%
Far Cry New Dawn	7−8 −871%	65−70 +871%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	4−5 −1125%	45−50 +1125%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −1225%	50−55 +1225%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 −2650%	55 +2650%
Far Cry 5	5−6 −940%	50−55 +940%
Forza Horizon 4	8−9 −2925%	240−250 +2925%
Hitman 3	9−10 −556%	55−60 +556%
Horizon Zero Dawn	10−11 −890%	95−100 +890%
Metro Exodus	1−2 −8100%	80−85 +8100%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	4−5 −1600%	65−70 +1600%
Watch Dogs: Legion	27−30 −636%	200−210 +636%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

8−9

−863%

75−80
+863%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	3−4 −1433%	45−50 +1433%
Far Cry New Dawn	3−4 −1200%	35−40 +1200%
Hitman 3	1−2 −3600%	35−40 +3600%
Horizon Zero Dawn	3−4 −6433%	190−200 +6433%
Metro Exodus	1−2 −5800%	55−60 +5800%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	0−1	72

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	4 −675%	30−35 +675%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 −2250%	47 +2250%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	2−3 −1350%	27−30 +1350%
Cyberpunk 2077	0−1	26
Far Cry 5	2−3 −1250%	27−30 +1250%
Forza Horizon 4	9 −600%	60−65 +600%
Watch Dogs: Legion	1−2 −2300%	24−27 +2300%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

5−6

−720%

40−45
+720%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	85 +0%	85 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	166 +0%	166 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

+0%

This is how RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) and RX 6850M XT compete in popular games:

RX 6850M XT is 706% faster in 1080p
RX 6850M XT is 988% faster in 1440p
RX 6850M XT is 738% faster in 4K

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

in Metro Exodus, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RX 6850M XT is 8100% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

RX 6850M XT is ahead in 67 tests (96%)
there's a draw in 3 tests (4%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	4.51	45.43
Recency	26 October 2017	4 January 2022
Chip lithography	14 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	15 Watt	165 Watt

RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) has 1000% lower power consumption.

RX 6850M XT, on the other hand, has a 907.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 4 years, and a 100% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 6850M XT is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) in performance tests.

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