AMD Ryzen 5 5500GT vs AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX Comparison

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500GT and the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX occupy the same statistical neighborhood in the database, with average benchmark scores of 26748 and 26274 respectively and percentile rankings of 79 and 78 against all recorded CPUs. Yet the head-to-head record is lopsided: the 6900HX wins 13 of 15 recorded head-to-head tests, while the 5500GT takes the two Cinebench R23 contests, including a dramatic 43.6 percent single-core victory. This pairing is a useful illustration of why aggregate scores can mask divergent strengths across workload types. One is a 6-core, 12-thread desktop part on AM4; the other is an 8-core, 16-thread mobile part on socket FP7, and the recorded data shows the workload profile determines which one comes out ahead.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The 6900HX dominates the Passmark suite, and by wide margins. Its largest wins come in integer math at 89388 versus 64218, a 28.2 percent gap, and floating point math at 49981 versus 36694, a 26.6 percent gap. Cinebench R15 multi-core tells the same story: 2231 versus 1597, a 28.4 percent advantage for the 6900HX. Physics follows at 27.1 percent (1153 against 840), and string sorting at 23.3 percent (32037 against 24583). Encryption, compression, and extended instructions all land in the 18 to 23 percent range in favor of the 6900HX: 19118 versus 14754 for encryption, 306184 versus 243904 for compression, and 20849 versus 17027 for extended instructions. The overall Passmark multithread score reflects this pattern, 24346 versus 19000, a 22 percent gap. Prime number search sits at 63 versus 54, a 14.3 percent difference.

The 5500GT's wins are concentrated in Cinebench R23, and they are significant. In single-core it scores 2237 against 1558, a 43.6 percent lead, and in multi-core it scores 15848 against 13497, a 17.4 percent lead. The contrast with Cinebench R15 is stark: the same two chips flip the result between R15 and R23 in both single-core and multi-core. R15 single-core goes to the 6900HX 249 to 225, while R23 single-core goes to the 5500GT by the large margin noted above. This inversion between render benchmark versions is the most distinctive feature of this matchup and should be weighed carefully by anyone using Cinebench results for purchase decisions.

Single-thread results split by suite as well. The 6900HX wins Passmark single-thread 3409 to 3066, a 10.1 percent gap, while the 5500GT's R23 single-core result stands far above. Geekbench, recorded only for the 6900HX at 9850 multi-core and 1881 single-core, and the 3DMark CPU scaling data for the 6900HX (912 single-thread, 1767 at 2 threads, 3353 at 4 threads, 5607 at 8 threads, 6745 at 16 threads, and 6717 at maximum threads) have no direct counterpart for the 5500GT, so they serve here as context for the 6900HX's scaling rather than as head-to-head comparisons.

Context from each chip's rival set reinforces how close they sit in the overall database ranking. The 5500GT's average score of 26748 puts it within a rounding error of the AMD EPYC 9554 at 26743, 0.1 percent ahead of the Intel Core i7-12700H, 0.4 percent ahead of the Intel Core i9-11900K, and 0.4 percent behind the AMD Ryzen 5 7545U. The 6900HX's 26274 places it 0.2 percent behind the AMD Ryzen 5 7600, 0.2 percent ahead of the Intel Core i9-11900KF, 0.3 percent ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 8540U, and 0.5 percent behind the AMD Ryzen 7 7435HS.

The Verdict

The data supports the 6900HX as the stronger all-around performer. It wins 13 of 15 direct tests, sweeps the entire Passmark suite, and posts double-digit leads in every one of those wins. Anyone whose workload resembles the Passmark battery, integer and floating point computation, encryption, compression, sorting, and physics simulation, gets a chip that is consistently in the 14 to 28 percent faster range. Its 3DMark scaling data shows it holding strong gains through 8 threads (5607) and 16 threads (6745), which matches its 16-thread capacity.

The 5500GT earns its place through the R23 results. A 43.6 percent single-core lead and a 17.4 percent multi-core lead in that specific benchmark version cannot be ignored, and if R23 is the reference standard for a given workload class, the 5500GT is clearly the better result. It also fits the desktop AM4 platform with DDR4, while the 6900HX is a mobile FP7 part with DDR5, so platform availability will constrain real-world choice as much as benchmark output. Both chips carry a 16 MB L3 cache and identical per-core L1 and L2 sizes of 64 KB and 512 KB, which makes the thread count difference, 12 versus 16, the primary structural driver of the Passmark results.

Where Each One Wins

The 6900HX is the pick where sustained parallel throughput matters. Integer math at 89388, floating point at 49981, encryption at 19118, compression at 306184, string sorting at 32037, and physics at 1153 all favor it by large margins. Its 8 cores and 16 threads show directly in the multi-threaded Passmark score of 24346 and in the R15 multi-core score of 2231. Workloads in this mold, including number crunching, file compression, and physics-heavy computation, are its territory.

The 5500GT is the pick where the R23 profile is representative. Its R23 single-core score of 2237 and multi-core score of 15848 lead by 43.6 and 17.4 percent respectively. Its unlocked multiplier, shared with the 6900HX, gives tweakers headroom on the AM4 desktop platform. The Radeon Vega 7 integrated graphics are recorded for the 5500GT, but the 6900HX carries the Radeon 680M, and the naming alone indicates the 6900HX is the clearly stronger integrated option in this pairing.

FAQ

Q: Which CPU is faster overall in the recorded benchmarks?

A: The 6900HX wins 13 of 15 head-to-head tests, including the entire Passmark suite, with margins from 9.6 to 28.4 percent. The 5500GT wins both Cinebench R23 tests.

Q: Why does the 5500GT win Cinebench R23 but lose Cinebench R15?

A: The data shows a clean inversion between benchmark versions. R15 goes to the 6900HX at 2231 versus 1597 multi-core and 249 versus 225 single-core, while R23 goes to the 5500GT at 15848 versus 13497 multi-core and 2237 versus 1558 single-core. The database does not attribute a cause, but the pattern is consistent and large.

Q: How do the two compare in single-threaded performance?

A: It depends on the suite. The 6900HX leads Passmark single-thread 3409 to 3066, a 10.1 percent gap, and R15 single-core 249 to 225. The 5500GT leads R23 single-core 2237 to 1558, a 43.6 percent gap.

Q: What are the key architectural differences?

A: The 5500GT is a 6-core, 12-thread Zen 3 (Cezanne) desktop chip on 7 nm TSMC silicon, socket AM4, DDR4, PCIe Gen 3 with 16 CPU lanes, 65 W TDP, and a 3.60 base and 4.40 boost clock. The 6900HX is an 8-core, 16-thread Zen 3+ (Rembrandt) mobile chip on 6 nm TSMC silicon, socket FP7, DDR5, PCIe Gen 4 with 20 CPU lanes, 45 W TDP, and a 3.30 base and 4.90 boost clock.

Q: Which has better memory bandwidth?

A: The 6900HX, at 76.8 GB/s with DDR5 on a dual-channel bus, versus 51.2 GB/s for the 5500GT with DDR4, also dual-channel.

Q: Do they have the same cache?

A: Effectively yes at the recorded level. Both list 64 KB L1 per core, 512 KB L2 per core, and 16 MB of L3. Neither has 3D V-Cache recorded.

Architecture Differences

The process gap is the headline structural difference: the 6900HX is built on TSMC 6 nm while the 5500GT uses TSMC 7 nm. The 5500GT is a Zen 3 design codenamed Cezanne with 10,700 million transistors on a 180 mm² die. The 6900HX is Zen 3+, codenamed Rembrandt, on a larger 208 mm² die with no transistor count recorded. Core counts differ at 6 versus 8, thread counts at 12 versus 16, and clocking strategies differ too: the 5500GT runs a higher 3.60 base with a lower 4.40 boost, while the 6900HX runs a 3.30 base with a 4.90 boost.

Cache structure is identical on paper, 64 KB L1 and 512 KB L2 per core with 16 MB L3, so the multi-threaded advantages recorded for the 6900HX trace to core count and memory subsystem rather than cache capacity. The memory story favors the 6900HX clearly: DDR5 at 76.8 GB/s against DDR4 at 51.2 GB/s on equivalent dual-channel buses. Platform connectivity also favors the mobile part, with PCIe Gen 4 and 20 CPU lanes versus Gen 3 and 16 lanes. The TDP figures, 65 W for the desktop chip and 45 W for the mobile chip, reflect their segments: AM4 desktop versus FP7 mobile. Integrated graphics differ sharply, Radeon Vega 7 on the 5500GT against Radeon 680M on the 6900HX. Both are active production parts with unlocked multipliers, both omit ECC support, and the 5500GT's recorded launch MSRP is $125, with no corresponding figure recorded for the 6900HX.