Radeon RX 6500 XT vs GeForce GTS 160M

Place in the ranking	921	218
Place by popularity	not in top-100	85
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	no data	58.37
Power efficiency	2.04	16.16
Architecture	Tesla (2006−2010)	RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code name	G94	Navi 24
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	3 March 2009 (15 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	64	1024
Core clock speed	600 MHz	2610 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	2815 MHz
Number of transistors	505 million	5,400 million
Manufacturing process technology	65 nm	6 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	60 Watt	107 Watt
Texture fill rate	19.20	180.2
Floating-point processing power	0.192 TFLOPS	5.765 TFLOPS
Gigaflops	288	no data
ROPs	16	32
TMUs	32	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).

Laptop size	large	no data
Bus support	PCI-E 2.0	no data
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x4
Width	no data	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	no data	1x 6-pin
SLI options	2-way	-
MXM Type	MXM 3.0 Type-B	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	GDDR3	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	8 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	64 Bit
Memory clock speed	Up to 800 MHz	2248 MHz
Memory bandwidth	51 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	VGADisplayPortDual Link DVIHDMILVDSSingle Link DVI	1x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 1.4a
HDMI	+	+
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536	no data
Audio input for HDMI	S/PDIF	no data

Supported technologies

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

Power management

8.0

no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	11.1 (10_0)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	4.0	6.6
OpenGL	2.1	4.6
OpenCL	1.1	2.2
Vulkan	N/A	1.3
CUDA	+	-

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.

GTS 160M 1.76

RX 6500 XT 24.80
+1309%

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.

GTS 160M 678

RX 6500 XT 9568
+1311%

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

GTS 160M 3965

RX 6500 XT 76445
+1828%

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	4−5 −1475%	63 +1475%
1440p	2−3 −1400%	30 +1400%
4K	1−2 −1600%	17 +1600%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	no data	3.16
1440p	no data	6.63
4K	no data	11.71

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

4−5

−1700%

72
+1700%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	7−8 −671%	50−55 +671%
Battlefield 5	0−1	80−85
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6 −900%	50−55 +900%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 −1250%	54 +1250%
Far Cry 5	3−4 −1800%	55−60 +1800%
Far Cry New Dawn	4−5 −1525%	65−70 +1525%
Forza Horizon 4	6−7 −2317%	140−150 +2317%
Hitman 3	6−7 −733%	50−55 +733%
Horizon Zero Dawn	16−18 −613%	110−120 +613%
Red Dead Redemption 2	3−4 −2033%	60−65 +2033%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	9−10 −833%	80−85 +833%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 −203%	100−110 +203%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	7−8 −671%	50−55 +671%
Battlefield 5	0−1	80−85
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6 −900%	50−55 +900%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 −750%	34 +750%
Far Cry 5	3−4 −1800%	55−60 +1800%
Far Cry New Dawn	4−5 −1525%	65−70 +1525%
Forza Horizon 4	6−7 −2317%	140−150 +2317%
Hitman 3	6−7 −733%	50−55 +733%
Horizon Zero Dawn	16−18 −613%	110−120 +613%
Red Dead Redemption 2	3−4 −2033%	60−65 +2033%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	9−10 −1089%	107 +1089%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 −342%	50−55 +342%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 −203%	100−110 +203%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	7−8 −671%	50−55 +671%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6 −900%	50−55 +900%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 −650%	30 +650%
Far Cry 5	3−4 −1800%	55−60 +1800%
Forza Horizon 4	6−7 −2317%	140−150 +2317%
Hitman 3	6−7 −733%	50−55 +733%
Horizon Zero Dawn	16−18 −475%	92 +475%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	9−10 −822%	83 +822%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 −350%	54 +350%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 +36%	25 −36%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

3−4

−2033%

60−65
+2033%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	2−3 −2250%	45−50 +2250%
Far Cry New Dawn	3−4 −1167%	35−40 +1167%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	1−2 −2500%	24−27 +2500%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2 −2700%	27−30 +2700%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −1600%	17 +1600%
Far Cry 5	2−3 −1300%	27−30 +1300%
Hitman 3	7−8 −314%	27−30 +314%
Horizon Zero Dawn	5−6 −1220%	66 +1220%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	1−2 −2900%	30−33 +2900%
Watch Dogs: Legion	9−10 −1456%	140−150 +1456%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

5−6

−720%

40−45
+720%

4K
High Preset

Far Cry New Dawn

1−2

−1800%

18−20
+1800%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3 −650%	14−16 +650%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	1−2 −500%	6 +500%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	0−1	14−16
Far Cry 5	1−2 −1300%	14−16 +1300%
Watch Dogs: Legion	0−1	10

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

3−4

−600%

21−24
+600%

Full HD
Medium Preset

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

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	43 +0%	43 +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%
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%

This is how GTS 160M and RX 6500 XT compete in popular games:

RX 6500 XT is 1475% faster in 1080p
RX 6500 XT is 1400% faster in 1440p
RX 6500 XT is 1600% faster in 4K

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

in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GTS 160M is 36% faster.
in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RX 6500 XT is 2900% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

GTS 160M is ahead in 1 test (1%)
RX 6500 XT is ahead in 50 tests (74%)
there's a draw in 17 tests (25%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	1.76	24.80
Recency	3 March 2009	19 January 2022
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	8 GB
Chip lithography	65 nm	6 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	60 Watt	107 Watt

GTS 160M has 78.3% lower power consumption.

RX 6500 XT, on the other hand, has a 1309.1% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 12 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 983.3% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 6500 XT is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTS 160M in performance tests.

Be aware that GeForce GTS 160M 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.