AMD Instinct MI300X vs AMD Radeon RX 6550S Comparison

The Verdict

The recorded data places the AMD Instinct MI300X and AMD Radeon RX 6550S in entirely separate performance tiers. The MI300X holds a Geekbench OpenCL score of 317,994, placing it in the 100th percentile of all GPUs in the database. The RX 6550S has no recorded benchmark scores, an average benchmark score of 0, and sits at the 50th percentile. The MI300X is clearly a data-center compute accelerator, while the RX 6550S is a low-power mobile part. The MI300X is the only choice for workloads that require massive parallel compute throughput, while the RX 6550S is positioned for portable systems where power draw is the primary constraint.

Relative to its nearest rivals, the MI300X trails the NVIDIA B200 by 8% and the NVIDIA H200 NVL by 5%, while leading the NVIDIA L40S by 7.5% and the NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation by 10.7%. These deltas show that the MI300X competes directly with the top-tier NVIDIA data-center accelerators, with performance within a single-digit percentage of the fastest recorded competitor. The RX 6550S, lacking any recorded score, cannot be positioned relative to rivals in the same manner.

Architecture Differences

The two processors share a manufacturer but diverge completely in architecture. The MI300X uses the CDNA 3.0 architecture with the Aqua Vanjaram chip, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The RX 6550S uses RDNA 2.0 with the Navi 24 chip, also from TSMC but on a 6 nm process. The MI300X integrates 153,000 million transistors across a 1017 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 150.4 million per mm². The RX 6550S integrates 5,400 million transistors on a 107 mm² die, with a density of 50.5 million per mm². The MI300X die is roughly nine and a half times larger in area and packs over 28 times the transistor count.

The MI300X belongs to the Instinct (MIx) generation and is a successor to Radeon Instinct. The RX 6550S belongs to the Radeon RX 6000 series, specifically the Navi Mobile (RX 6000M) generation, and succeeds Polaris Mobile. The MI300X was released on December 5, 2023, while the RX 6550S was released on January 3, 2023. The RX 6550S is marked as Active in production status, while the MI300X has no recorded production status.

Shading unit counts differ by a factor of 19: the MI300X has 19,456 shading units versus 1,024 on the RX 6550S. Texture mapping units number 1,216 on the MI300X and 64 on the RX 6550S. The MI300X has zero ROPs and zero pixel rate, reflecting its compute-focused design with no rasterization output. The RX 6550S has 32 ROPs and a pixel rate of 76.80 GPixel/s. The RX 6550S includes 16 ray tracing cores; the MI300X lists no ray tracing cores.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains no direct head-to-head benchmark entries between these two parts. The MI300X has one recorded Geekbench OpenCL score of 317,994, while the RX 6550S has no benchmark entries at all. With no common test data, a direct comparison of measured performance is not possible from the recorded measurements. What can be established is the absolute gap in compute resources: the MI300X delivers 81.72 TFLOPS FP32 and 81.72 TFLOPS FP16 (1:1 ratio), while the RX 6550S delivers 4.915 TFLOPS FP32 and 9.830 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1 ratio). The MI300X achieves roughly 16.6 times the FP32 throughput and 8.3 times the FP16 throughput of the RX 6550S.

The MI300X texture rate is 2,553.6 GTexel/s versus 153.6 GTexel/s on the RX 6550S, a 16.6-fold difference. Memory bandwidth shows an even larger separation: 5.32 TB/s on the MI300X versus 128.0 GB/s on the RX 6550S, a difference of roughly 41.6 times. The MI300X also has 192 GB of HBM3 memory on an 8192-bit bus, while the RX 6550S has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus.

Specification Differences

The following table summarizes the fields where the two parts differ, based only on recorded data.

| Specification | AMD Instinct MI300X | AMD Radeon RX 6550S |

|---|---|---|

| Architecture | CDNA 3.0 | RDNA 2.0 |

| Chip | Aqua Vanjaram | Navi 24 |

| Generation | Instinct (MIx) | Navi Mobile (RX 6000M) |

| Process Node | 5 nm | 6 nm |

| Transistors | 153,000 million | 5,400 million |

| Die Size | 1017 mm² | 107 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 150.4M / mm² | 50.5M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1000 MHz | 2000 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 2100 MHz | 2400 MHz |

| Game Clock | Not recorded | 2170 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1300 MHz, 5.2 Gbps effective | 2000 MHz, 16 Gbps effective |

| Memory Size | 192 GB | 4 GB |

| Memory Type | HBM3 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus Width | 8192 bit | 64 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 5.32 TB/s | 128.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 19,456 | 1,024 |

| TMUs | 1,216 | 64 |

| ROPs | 0 | 32 |

| RT Cores | Not recorded | 16 |

| Pixel Rate | 0 MPixel/s | 76.80 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 2,553.6 GTexel/s | 153.6 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 81.72 TFLOPS | 4.915 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 81.72 TFLOPS (1:1) | 9.830 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 750 W | 50 W |

| Slot Width | OAM Module | IGP |

| Power Connectors | None | None |

| Suggested PSU | 1150 W | Not recorded |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 5.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x4 |

| Display Outputs | No outputs | Portable Device Dependent |

| DirectX | N/A | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| OpenGL | N/A | 4.6 |

| Vulkan | N/A | 1.4 |

| Release Date | 2023-12-05 | 2023-01-03 |

| Predecessor | Radeon Instinct | Polaris Mobile |

| Production Status | Not recorded | Active |

| Geekbench OpenCL Score | 317,994 | No data |

| Percentile vs All GPUs | 100 | 50 |

| Average Benchmark Score | 317,994 | 0 |

The MI300X uses a 750 W power envelope and requires a suggested PSU of 1150 W. The RX 6550S uses 50 W and has no suggested PSU recorded. The MI300X has no display outputs, while the RX 6550S outputs are portable device dependent. API support follows the same split: the MI300X records N/A for DirectX, OpenGL, and Vulkan, while the RX 6550S supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher recorded benchmark score?

A: The AMD Instinct MI300X has a Geekbench OpenCL score of 317,994. The AMD Radeon RX 6550S has no recorded benchmark scores in the database.

Q: How does the MI300X compare to its closest rivals?

A: The MI300X is 5% behind the NVIDIA H200 NVL, 8% behind the NVIDIA B200, 7.5% ahead of the NVIDIA L40S, and 10.7% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation.

Q: What are the memory configurations of each GPU?

A: The MI300X has 192 GB of HBM3 on an 8192-bit bus with 5.32 TB/s bandwidth. The RX 6550S has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus with 128.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU supports graphics APIs?

A: The RX 6550S supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The MI300X records N/A for all three APIs.

Q: What is the power requirement difference?

A: The MI300X has a TDP of 750 W and a suggested PSU of 1150 W. The RX 6550S has a TDP of 50 W and no suggested PSU recorded.

Q: What process nodes are used?

A: Both are manufactured by TSMC, but the MI300X uses a 5 nm process and the RX 6550S uses a 6 nm process.