Radeon RX 6900 XT vs RX 590

Place in the ranking	229	23
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	25.05	29.89
Power efficiency	9.55	15.86
Architecture	GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)	RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code name	Polaris 30	Navi 21
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	15 November 2018 (6 years ago)	28 October 2020 (4 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$279	$999

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 6900 XT has 19% better value for money than RX 590.

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	2304	5120
Core clock speed	1469 MHz	1825 MHz
Boost clock speed	1545 MHz	2250 MHz
Number of transistors	5,700 million	26,800 million
Manufacturing process technology	12 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	175 Watt	300 Watt
Texture fill rate	222.5	720.0
Floating-point processing power	7.119 TFLOPS	23.04 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	128
TMUs	144	320
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	80

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 3.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16
Length	241 mm	267 mm
Width	2-slot	3-slot
Supplementary power connectors	1x 8-pin	2x 8-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	GDDR5	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	8 GB	16 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	2000 MHz	2000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	256.0 GB/s	512.0 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	1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort	1x HDMI, 2x DisplayPort, 1x USB Type-C
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.

DirectX	12 (12_0)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	6.4	6.5
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	2.0	2.1
Vulkan	1.2.131	1.2

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 24.38

RX 6900 XT 69.42
+185%

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 9393

RX 6900 XT 26751
+185%

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 590 23363

RX 6900 XT 59119
+153%

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 590 16814

RX 6900 XT 50587
+201%

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	101 −94.1%	196 +94.1%
1440p	58 −124%	130 +124%
4K	35 −131%	81 +131%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	2.76	5.10
1440p	4.81	7.68
4K	7.97	12.33

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

40−45

−238%

130−140
+238%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	65 −80%	117 +80%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	86 −96.5%	169 +96.5%
Battlefield 5	136 −63.2%	220−230 +63.2%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	69 −72.5%	110−120 +72.5%
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45 −238%	130−140 +238%
Far Cry 5	90 −30%	110−120 +30%
Far Cry New Dawn	90 −88.9%	170−180 +88.9%
Forza Horizon 4	274 +15.1%	230−240 −15.1%
Hitman 3	45−50 −163%	120−130 +163%
Horizon Zero Dawn	301 +19%	250−260 −19%
Metro Exodus	124 −25%	150−160 +25%
Red Dead Redemption 2	91 −34.1%	120−130 +34.1%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	140 −109%	290−300 +109%
Watch Dogs: Legion	272 +78.9%	150−160 −78.9%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	113 −147%	279 +147%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	73 −94.5%	142 +94.5%
Battlefield 5	122 −82%	220−230 +82%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	64 −85.9%	110−120 +85.9%
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45 −238%	130−140 +238%
Far Cry 5	74 −58.1%	110−120 +58.1%
Far Cry New Dawn	71 −139%	170−180 +139%
Forza Horizon 4	259 +8.8%	230−240 −8.8%
Hitman 3	45−50 −163%	120−130 +163%
Horizon Zero Dawn	287 +13.4%	250−260 −13.4%
Metro Exodus	97 −59.8%	150−160 +59.8%
Red Dead Redemption 2	74 −64.9%	120−130 +64.9%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	114 −157%	290−300 +157%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	50−55 −181%	140−150 +181%
Watch Dogs: Legion	261 +71.7%	150−160 −71.7%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	39 −151%	98 +151%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	62 −121%	137 +121%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	46 −159%	110−120 +159%
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45 −238%	130−140 +238%
Far Cry 5	55 −113%	110−120 +113%
Forza Horizon 4	91 −173%	248 +173%
Hitman 3	45−50 −163%	120−130 +163%
Horizon Zero Dawn	96 −195%	283 +195%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	100 −193%	290−300 +193%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	51 −222%	164 +222%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35 −246%	121 +246%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

−90.6%

120−130
+90.6%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	45−50 −259%	160−170 +259%
Far Cry New Dawn	35−40 −200%	110−120 +200%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	24−27 −296%	99 +296%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	55 −98.2%	109 +98.2%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	38 −113%	80−85 +113%
Cyberpunk 2077	14−16 −393%	70−75 +393%
Far Cry 5	27−30 −193%	80−85 +193%
Forza Horizon 4	130−140 −95%	270−280 +95%
Hitman 3	27−30 −248%	100−110 +248%
Horizon Zero Dawn	72 −211%	224 +211%
Metro Exodus	58 −102%	117 +102%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	70 −181%	190−200 +181%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	30−33 −320%	120−130 +320%
Watch Dogs: Legion	203 −17.7%	230−240 +17.7%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

−165%

110−120
+165%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	39 −123%	85−90 +123%
Far Cry New Dawn	26 −165%	65−70 +165%
Hitman 3	18−20 −337%	83 +337%
Horizon Zero Dawn	57 −296%	220−230 +296%
Metro Exodus	36 −206%	110−120 +206%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	32 −281%	122 +281%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	19 −258%	68 +258%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	42 −57.1%	66 +57.1%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	20 −155%	50−55 +155%
Cyberpunk 2077	6−7 −483%	35−40 +483%
Far Cry 5	17 −194%	50−55 +194%
Forza Horizon 4	46 −252%	162 +252%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	40 −175%	110−120 +175%
Watch Dogs: Legion	13 −315%	54 +315%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

−150%

75−80
+150%

This is how RX 590 and RX 6900 XT compete in popular games:

RX 6900 XT is 94% faster in 1080p
RX 6900 XT is 124% faster in 1440p
RX 6900 XT is 131% faster in 4K

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

in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the RX 590 is 79% faster.
in Cyberpunk 2077, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RX 6900 XT is 483% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

RX 590 is ahead in 6 tests (8%)
RX 6900 XT is ahead in 66 tests (92%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	24.38	69.42
Recency	15 November 2018	28 October 2020
Maximum RAM amount	8 GB	16 GB
Chip lithography	12 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	175 Watt	300 Watt

RX 590 has 71.4% lower power consumption.

RX 6900 XT, on the other hand, has a 184.7% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 71.4% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 6900 XT is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon RX 590 in performance tests.

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