GPU Comparison

AMD Instinct MI300X and NVIDIA RTX A5500 occupy opposite ends of the professional computing spectrum, and the benchmark data reflects a chasm between them. In the single available OpenCL test, the AMD Instinct MI300X delivers a score of 317,994, while the NVIDIA RTX A5500 manages 174,637. The 82.1% delta in favor of the AMD part places it in the 100th percentile of all GPUs, whereas the RTX A5500 sits at the 97th percentile, a strong score in its own right but clearly a different performance class. The MI300X’s nearest rivals are the NVIDIA B200 (345,482), H200 NVL (334,891), L40S (295,763), and RTX 6000 Ada Generation (287,237), while the RTX A5500 competes with the AMD Radeon PRO W7800 (164,894), RTX 4500 Ada Generation (166,094), A100 PCIe 40 GB (162,504), and Radeon Pro W6900X (168,574).

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Instinct MI300X wins where raw compute throughput is the sole criterion. Its OpenCL score of 317,994 is not just higher than the RTX A5500’s 174,637; it is 82.1% higher, a margin that indicates the MI300X is built for workloads that scale with massive parallel processing. The data shows the MI300X outperforms the RTX 6000 Ada Generation by 10.7% and the L40S by 7.5%, making it a leader even among NVIDIA’s top accelerator offerings. The MI300X’s 81.72 TFLOPS FP32 and matching FP16 throughput, combined with 192 GB of HBM3 memory and 5.32 TB/s of bandwidth, point toward large-scale AI training, scientific simulation, and high-performance computing where memory capacity and bandwidth are as critical as raw FLOPs.

The NVIDIA RTX A5500 wins in a different sense: it is a functional, self-contained workstation card. With 24 GB of GDDR6 memory, 768.0 GB/s of bandwidth, and a 230 W TDP, the A5500 is designed to fit into a dual-slot PCIe 4.0 x16 workstation with a single 8-pin power connector. It offers 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, enabling multi-monitor setups, and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The MI300X, by contrast, has no display outputs and requires an OAM module form factor with a suggested 1150 W PSU, making it unsuitable for desktop integration. The A5500 also provides 159.8 GPixel/s pixel rate and 532.8 GTexel/s texture rate, features absent from the MI300X, which lists 0 MPixel/s and 0 ROPS.

The benchmark data gives the MI300X a perfect 1-0 win record in the head-to-head comparisons, but the A5500’s 97th percentile ranking among all GPUs shows it is no slouch. Its average benchmark score of 165,217 is within 2% of the Radeon Pro W6900X (168,574) and within 0.5% of the RTX 4500 Ada Generation (166,094), indicating competitive performance in its own workstation segment. The A5500’s advantage lies in versatility and efficiency, not peak throughput. It delivers 34.10 TFLOPS FP32 with a 230 W TDP, whereas the MI300X delivers 81.72 TFLOPS at 750 W, making the A5500 roughly 2.4x more efficient in terms of TFLOPS per watt, though the MI300X’s absolute performance is over 2.4x higher.

The Verdict

Data-driven choice depends entirely on the intended use case. For users whose workloads are dominated by OpenCL compute and who require maximum throughput and memory capacity, the AMD Instinct MI300X is the clear winner. Its 317,994 OpenCL score is 82.1% higher than the RTX A5500’s 174,637, and its 192 GB memory pool is 8x larger than the A5500’s 24 GB. The MI300X also beats NVIDIA’s own B200 by 8% in the nearest rivals comparison, though the B200 scores higher at 345,482, a fact that places the MI300X slightly behind the top NVIDIA part but ahead of the H200 NVL by 5%. The MI300X is a server-class accelerator for AI and HPC, with no display outputs and a 750 W TDP, so it is not a desktop card.

For users who need a workstation GPU that can drive monitors, fit into a standard PCIe slot, and run a broader range of software APIs, the NVIDIA RTX A5500 is the appropriate pick. Its 24 GB memory is sufficient for many professional visualization, rendering, and simulation tasks, and its 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs support multi-monitor workflows. The A5500’s 97th percentile ranking means it outperforms most GPUs on the market, and its nearest rivals show it is competitive with the Radeon PRO W7800 (0.2% delta) and RTX 4500 Ada Generation (-0.5% delta). The A5500 also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, whereas the MI300X lists no graphics API support.

The verdict is not about which card is “better” in absolute terms, the MI300X wins that by a wide margin, but about which card matches the task. If the task is pure compute with no display requirement, the MI300X is the only choice. If the task involves interactive graphics, display output, or a typical workstation environment, the A5500 is the functional alternative. The MI300X is also a newer product, released on 2023-12-05, while the A5500 launched on 2022-03-21 and is now marked as end-of-life, with the successor listed as Workstation Ada.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct benchmark comparison available is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is decisive. The AMD Instinct MI300X scores 317,994, while the NVIDIA RTX A5500 scores 174,637, giving the MI300X an 82.1% lead. This is the largest delta in the MI300X’s nearest rival list, where it trails the B200 by 8% and the H200 NVL by 5%, but leads the L40S by 7.5% and the RTX 6000 Ada by 10.7%. The A5500’s nearest rival deltas are much smaller, ranging from -2% against the Radeon Pro W6900X to +1.7% against the A100 PCIe 40 GB, indicating that the A5500 sits in a tightly contested performance band.

The MI300X’s OpenCL score translates to 81.72 TFLOPS FP32 and FP16 (1:1), with a texture rate of 2,553.6 GTexel/s. The A5500’s 174,637 score corresponds to 34.10 TFLOPS FP32 and FP16 (1:1), with a texture rate of 532.8 GTexel/s. The MI300X’s FP32 throughput is 2.4x higher, and its texture rate is 4.8x higher. The memory subsystem differences are even starker: the MI300X has 5.32 TB/s bandwidth versus 768.0 GB/s for the A5500, a 6.9x advantage. The MI300X’s 8192-bit memory bus is over 21x wider than the A5500’s 384-bit bus, though the A5500 uses faster effective memory clocks (16 Gbps versus 5.2 Gbps).

The MI300X also wins on transistor count and die size, with 153,000 million transistors on a 1017 mm² die versus 28,300 million on 628 mm² for the A5500. The transistor density tells the story of process advantage: the MI300X packs 150.4M transistors per mm² on TSMC’s 5 nm node, while the A5500 achieves 45.1M per mm² on Samsung’s 8 nm node. The MI300X has 19,456 shading units versus 10,240 for the A5500, and 1,216 TMUs versus 320. The A5500 does have dedicated RT cores (80) and tensor cores (320), features the MI300X does not list, which may matter for ray tracing or specific AI acceleration workloads that leverage those units.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher OpenCL benchmark score?

A: The AMD Instinct MI300X scores 317,994 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 82.1% higher than the NVIDIA RTX A5500’s 174,637.

Q: How does the MI300X compare to NVIDIA’s B200?

A: The MI300X scores 317,994, which is 8% lower than the B200’s 345,482 average score, placing the MI300X behind the B200 but ahead of the H200 NVL by 5%.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference?

A: The MI300X has 192 GB of HBM3 memory, while the RTX A5500 has 24 GB of GDDR6, making the MI300X’s memory pool 8x larger.

Q: Can the RTX A5500 output video?

A: Yes, the RTX A5500 has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, whereas the MI300X has no display outputs.

Q: Which card is more power-efficient?

A: The RTX A5500 has a 230 W TDP and delivers 34.10 TFLOPS FP32, while the MI300X has a 750 W TDP and delivers 81.72 TFLOPS FP32, giving the A5500 a higher FP32-per-watt ratio.

Q: What is the production status of the RTX A5500?

A: The RTX A5500 is marked as end-of-life, with a release date of 2022-03-21 and a successor listed as Workstation Ada, while the MI300X was released on 2023-12-05.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Instinct MI300X is built on CDNA 3.0 architecture, codenamed Aqua Vanjaram, using TSMC’s 5 nm process node. It integrates 153,000 million transistors on a 1017 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 150.4M per mm². The chip features 19,456 shading units, 1,216 TMUs, and no ROPS or RT cores listed. Its memory subsystem consists of 192 GB of HBM3 on an 8192-bit bus, delivering 5.32 TB/s of bandwidth at 1300 MHz (5.2 Gbps effective). The MI300X has a base clock of 1000 MHz and a boost clock of 2100 MHz. It uses an OAM Module form factor, has no power connectors (power delivered through the module), and requires a suggested 1150 W PSU. The bus interface is PCIe 5.0 x16, and it has no display outputs or graphics API support (DirectX, OpenGL, Vulkan all N/A).

The NVIDIA RTX A5500 is built on Ampere architecture using the GA102 chip, manufactured on Samsung’s 8 nm process. It has 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die, with a density of 45.1M per mm². The GPU contains 10,240 shading units, 320 TMUs, 96 ROPS, 80 RT cores, and 320 tensor cores. Its memory is 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, providing 768.0 GB/s bandwidth at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective). The A5500 operates at a base clock of 1080 MHz and a boost clock of 1665 MHz. It is a dual-slot card, 267 mm long and 112 mm high, with a single 8-pin power connector and a 230 W TDP, requiring a suggested 550 W PSU. It uses PCIe 4.0 x16 and has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The A5500 is end-of-life, released on 2022-03-21, and succeeds the Quadro Turing line, with its successor being Workstation Ada.

The architectural gap is substantial: the MI300X uses a newer 5 nm process, has 5.4x more transistors, a 1.9x larger die, and 3.3x higher transistor density. The MI300X’s shading unit count is 1.9x higher, and its TMU count is 3.8x higher. The MI300X lacks ROPS and RT cores entirely, whereas the A5500 has 96 ROPS and 80 RT cores. The MI300X also does not list tensor cores, though its FP16 throughput matches FP32 at 81.72 TFLOPS, suggesting compute-oriented design. The A5500’s 34.10 TFLOPS FP16 and FP32 are identical, indicating no dedicated tensor acceleration in the listed specs. The MI300X’s memory bandwidth advantage (5.32 TB/s versus 768.0 GB/s) and capacity (192 GB versus 24 GB) are the defining features for large dataset workloads, while the A5500’s display output and graphics API support make it a conventional workstation GPU.