AMD Radeon RX 7600 vs Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 vs Intel Arc A750: the 1080p graphics shoot-out

Game benchmarks: Hitman 3, A Plague Tale: Requiem, Returnal.

Review by Richard Leadbetter Technology Editor, Digital Foundry

Published on 17 Jun 2023

Our rasterisation benchmarks come to a conclusion on this final page of tests, where we are fully expecting AMD's dominance in non-RT gaming to continue - but the question is whether the RX 6650 XT or RX 7600 is the better buy. The new AMD card seems to be stronger here than the (in sales terms at least) all-conquering RTX 3060, but where do the Arc A750 and A770 slot in? And just how much more potent is the more expensive RTX 4060 Ti.

Once again, if you're jumping straight to this page without looking at prior results, we should stress that our benchmarking system offers a number of ways to get to the data you want, the presentation varying according to the device you're using. You'll get a basic overview of our findings on mobile, with metadata from the video capture of each GPU being translated into simple bar charts with average frame-rate and lowest one per cent measurements for easy comparisons.

On a desktop-class browser, you'll get the full-fat DF experience with embedded YouTube videos of each test scene and live performance metrics. Play the video, and you'll see exactly how each card handled the scene as it progresses. Below the real-time metrics is an interactive bar chart, which you can mouse over to see different measurements and click to switch between actual frame-rates and percentage differences. All the data here is derived from video captured directly from each GPU, ensuring an accurate replay of real performance.

Hitman 3

Hitman 3 is a highly performant game, to the point where the lowest average frame-rate at 1080p in our line-up is an excellent 125fps on the bargain bucket RX 6600. Here, we see Intel Arc start to redeem itself in terms of rasterisation which sees both cards deliver almost identical results, beating RTX 3060 by around 13 to 14 percent.

However, the stars of the show remain in the AMD space, with tremendous results for the RX 7600 and 6650 XT. The fact that the RX 6700 XT is on par with the RX 7600 may look like an error (the RDNA 2 offering is generally much faster) but is perhaps explained when you look at how high frame-rates are. We're likely hitting CPU limits at circa 200fps.

Switch to 1440p and frame-rates reduce, with more plausible-looking differentials. And there, it's interesting to note that Arc is more competitive, perhaps hinting at driver limitations at 1080p.

Hitman, Ultra, TAA

A Plague Tale: Requiem

We had to include this game in our test suite simply because it's so beautiful - a proper next generation showcase. It's also runs exceptionally smoothly bearing in mind that so much is being asked of the graphics hardware... and with RT disabled at least, it doesn't trouble the limitations of 8GB GPUs.

Arc's position within the pecking order sits where we expect it to be at this point - with the A750 around 14 percent ahead of the RTX 3060. However, once again, the difference between A750 and A770 is so low, I believe users would struggle to tell them apart.

The RX 7600 clocks in a useful win over the RX 6650 XT with a nigh-on ten percentage point advantage, sitting between the 6650 XT and 6700 XT. Performance with the RTX 3060 in unremarkable, but this ignores the fact that A Plague Tale: Requiem supports DLSS and no other upscalers. That's not what we want to see holistically but the bottom line is that this gives the RTX cards a key advantage against all competitors.

A Plague Tale Requiem, Ultra Settings

Returnal

Finally, the testing comes to a conclusion with Housemarque and Climax's port of the incredible Returnal, one of the greatest games you can play on PlayStation 5. We still have issues with this port, but the benchmark is an interesting work-out for all graphics hardware.

It's perhaps apt that we end our tests with what effectively stands as a summary of rasterisation performance across the board. The RX 6600 is the slowest card, but it's well worth considering if funds are limited as the performance you get at its sales price of under £200/$200 is remarkable.

Meanwhile, RTX 3060 performance is good but not tremendous - but you are getting a 12GB GPU (please don't consider the 8GB version) and in DLSS, it has the best upscaler. However, for outright raster wins, AMD is in the lead in the sub-$300/£300 range, but it's disappointing to see how close the existing RX 6650 XT gets to the new RX 7600, especially when it's often a good chunk cheaper than the new AMD offering.