Graphics cards/Comparison
13 specifications
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 vs AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 4GB
On paper, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 carries more memory (6 GB against 4 GB), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 has more shading units, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 has a wider memory bus. Specifications describe what each card is designed to do; how much of that either one holds under continuous load is a separate question.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660
NVIDIA · GeForce GTX 16 · Desktop
AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 4GB
AMD · Radeon RX 6000 · Desktop
Compute
Memory
Power and platform
A check marks the higher figure only on rows where higher is unambiguously better. Rows without one are not ties; they are specifications where “better” has no meaning.
Reading the table
What the difference means.
3 years apart
The RX 6500 XT 4GB (Radeon RX 6000, 2022) is 3 years newer than the GTX 1660 (Turing, 2019). A newer architecture brings more than speed: newer video encoders and decoders, newer upscaling and frame generation, and a longer run of driver updates ahead of it.
Video memory
The GTX 1660 has 6 GB of video memory against 4 GB. Memory does not make a card faster until it runs out, and then the drop is sharp: textures spill into system memory and frame times stutter. High resolutions, high texture settings, heavy mods and running AI models locally are what fill it. 4 GB is already the limit in some recent games at high settings.
Memory bus
The GTX 1660 moves data over a 192-bit bus of GDDR5; the RX 6500 XT 4GB uses 64-bit GDDR6. The bus width and the memory type together set how fast the chip can reach its own memory, which shows at high resolutions where every frame moves more data. A narrow bus with fast memory can match a wide one with slow memory, so neither figure settles it alone.
Shading units
The counts differ, 1,408 against 1,024, but these are different designs from different makers, and a shading unit on one is not the same amount of work as on the other. The row cannot be used to rank this pair.
Board power
The GTX 1660 draws up to 120 W against 107 W. That is heat the case has to exhaust and current the power supply has to deliver: allow a supply of about 500 W for the GTX 1660 with a typical processor, and check the card's power connectors against the supply's. A card that cannot shed its heat does not fail. It lowers its clocks after a few minutes, which is the frame rate that falls the longer you play.
Which to pick, on paper
- High resolutions, heavy textures, local AI
- GTX 1660
- 6 GB against 4 GB. Memory is the wall these workloads hit first.
- A small case or a modest power supply
- RX 6500 XT 4GB
- 107 W against 120 W: less heat, fewer power connectors, quieter fans.
What no table says
How much of its speed a graphics card keeps after the first minute depends on the cooling and the power limit of the machine it is in. If you own one of these, measure it: the test is free and runs in this browser.
Questions
- Is the GTX 1660 better than the RX 6500 XT 4GB?
- By need, on the specifications: high resolutions, heavy textures, local ai: the GTX 1660; a small case or a modest power supply: the RX 6500 XT 4GB. They are different designs, so the raw counts cannot rank them. Frame rates depend on the game and its settings, and how much speed either card keeps after ten minutes depends on its cooling, which is what a sustained test measures.
- Is 4 GB of video memory enough?
- For 1080p at sensible settings, only in older or lighter games. At 1440p and above, with high texture settings, or for running AI models, 6 GB gives real headroom. When memory runs out the symptom is stutter, not a lower average.
- What power supply does the GTX 1660 need?
- Allow about 500 W with a typical processor, and make sure the supply has the power connectors the card uses. The RX 6500 XT 4GB at 107 W is easier on both.
More comparisons
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 vs Intel Arc A580
- AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 4GB vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
- AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 4GB vs AMD Radeon RX 6400
- AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 4GB vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER
- AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 4GB vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
- AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT 4GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060
Every figure on this table is a design target. None of it is a measurement.
Nothing above describes how a graphics card behaves twenty minutes into a sustained workload, which is where two chips with nearly identical specifications routinely diverge. A boost clock is a ceiling the vendor permits, not a rate the chip sustains, and whether it holds depends on the cooling, the case, the power profile and the room. None of those appear on a specification sheet.
We deliberately do not reduce these figures to a single score. A composite invented from specifications would look authoritative and measure nothing, and choosing the weights would be choosing the winner.