AMD Radeon 550X vs AMD Radeon RX 550X Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a clear and consistent winner in every head-to-head benchmark between the AMD Radeon RX 550X and the AMD Radeon 550X. Across the two tested workloads, the RX 550X takes both victories, with the largest margin appearing in the Vulkan compute test.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 550X scores 9662, while the Radeon 550X trails at 8866. That is a 9% advantage for the RX 550X. The gap is meaningful but not overwhelming; both cards sit in the same performance tier, though the RX 550X's lead is enough to matter in compute-heavy tasks. The OpenCL result places the RX 550X just ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla C2075 (delta of 0.8%) and slightly behind the AMD Radeon R9 M275X (delta of -1%). The Radeon 550X, by comparison, scores 8866, which puts it nearly level with the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 (delta of 0.6%) and just above the AMD Radeon R9 M265X (delta of 0.8%).

The Vulkan benchmark widens the gap substantially. Here, the RX 550X posts 11299, while the Radeon 550X manages only 8970. That is a 26% delta in favor of the RX 550X, a decisive margin that suggests the RX 550X handles low-level API workloads far more effectively. The Vulkan result also boosts the RX 550X's overall average benchmark score to 10481, compared to 8918 for the Radeon 550X. The percentile data reflects this: the RX 550X sits at the 49th percentile among all GPUs, while the Radeon 550X lands at the 45th percentile.

The aggregate picture is unambiguous. The RX 550X wins 2 benchmarks, the Radeon 550X wins 0. The average benchmark score difference is roughly 1563 points, or about 17.5% in favor of the RX 550X. While neither card is a performance monster by modern standards, the RX 550X is consistently the stronger of the two, especially in Vulkan workloads where its lead nearly triples compared to the OpenCL result.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 550X is faster, scoring 9662 versus 8866 for the AMD Radeon 550X, a 9% difference.

Q: How large is the performance gap in Vulkan?

A: The RX 550X leads by 26% in Geekbench Vulkan, scoring 11299 against 8970 for the Radeon 550X.

Q: Do both cards share the same architecture?

A: Yes, both use the Lexa chip with GCN 4.0 architecture, built on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries.

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each card?

A: The RX 550X has an average benchmark score of 10481, while the Radeon 550X averages 8918.

Q: Which card has more memory?

A: The RX 550X comes with 4 GB of GDDR5, while the Radeon 550X has 2 GB of GDDR5. Both use a 128-bit memory bus.

Q: Do the cards differ in power requirements?

A: No, both are rated at 50 W TDP with a suggested 250 W power supply and no power connectors.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 550X is the clear choice for compute-oriented tasks. Its OpenCL score of 9662 and Vulkan score of 11299 both outpace the Radeon 550X, and the 26% Vulkan margin makes it especially attractive for applications that leverage low-level GPU access. The RX 550X also benefits from double the memory capacity at 4 GB, which can help with larger working sets in compute and graphics workloads. Its average benchmark score of 10481 places it at the 49th percentile, a modest but real step above the Radeon 550X's 45th percentile standing.

The AMD Radeon 550X, by contrast, finds no benchmark where it wins outright. Its best showing is in OpenCL, where it trails by only 9%, a gap that may be tolerable in non-performance-critical scenarios. However, its Vulkan deficit of 26% is severe, and its 2 GB memory capacity may limit its usefulness in modern workloads. The Radeon 550X does have a slightly higher boost clock at 1218 MHz versus 1183 MHz, and a higher memory clock at 1750 MHz versus 1500 MHz, but these advantages do not translate into benchmark victories. The data indicates the Radeon 550X is best suited for basic display output or light 2D workloads where raw compute performance is not a priority.

For users choosing between the two, the RX 550X is the only rational pick for any task involving GPGPU compute, Vulkan-based rendering, or memory-intensive applications. The Radeon 550X remains a functional but clearly inferior alternative, and its lower average score of 8918 reinforces its position as the weaker entry in this pairing.

Specification Differences

The two cards share many core specifications, but key differences exist in clock speeds, memory capacity, memory clock, and resulting bandwidth and fill rates.

The RX 550X has a base clock of 1100 MHz and a boost clock of 1183 MHz. The Radeon 550X has a lower base clock at 1082 MHz but a higher boost clock at 1218 MHz. This means the Radeon 550X can reach a higher peak frequency under boost conditions, though the RX 550X starts from a higher idle frequency.

Memory is where the cards diverge more significantly. The RX 550X ships with 4 GB of GDDR5, while the Radeon 550X has 2 GB. Both use a 128-bit bus, but the memory clock differs: the RX 550X runs at 1500 MHz (6 Gbps effective), while the Radeon 550X runs at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective). This gives the Radeon 550X a bandwidth advantage of 112.0 GB/s versus 96.00 GB/s for the RX 550X, a 16.7% higher figure. The Radeon 550X also posts higher pixel and texture rates: 19.49 GPixel/s and 38.98 GTexel/s, respectively, versus 18.93 GPixel/s and 37.86 GTexel/s for the RX 550X. Its FP32 throughput is likewise higher at 1,247.2 GFLOPS versus 1,211.4 GFLOPS.

The RX 550X was released on 2018-12-15, while the Radeon 550X followed on 2019-03-26, a gap of roughly three months. Neither card has a launch MSRP in the database. Both are marked as end-of-life products, and both have the same successor: Vega.

Architecture Differences

Both GPUs are built on the Lexa chip using GCN 4.0 architecture, which is part of the Polaris (RX 500X) generation. The process node is identical: 14 nm at GlobalFoundries. Transistor count is the same at 2,200 million, and die size is identical at 103 mm², yielding a transistor density of 21.4 million transistors per square millimeter.

The compute configuration is also the same. Both cards feature 512 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, and 16 render output units. Neither has dedicated ray tracing cores or tensor cores. The API support is identical as well: DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3.

The memory subsystem differs in capacity but not in bus width. Both use GDDR5 on a 128-bit interface, but the RX 550X offers 4 GB while the Radeon 550X offers 2 GB. The memory clock is higher on the Radeon 550X, which gives it greater bandwidth despite the smaller capacity. This creates an interesting dynamic: the Radeon 550X has a theoretical throughput advantage, yet it loses decisively in real-world benchmark results, suggesting that memory capacity and driver optimization play a larger role than raw bandwidth in these workloads.

Other shared traits include a 50 W TDP, dual-slot design, no power connectors, a suggested 250 W power supply, and a PCIe 3.0 x8 bus interface. Display outputs are identical: 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a. Physical dimensions match at 145 mm (5.7 inches) in length. Both cards have the same predecessor, Polaris, and the same successor, Vega.

The architectural similarities mean that the performance gap between the two cards comes down to clock behavior, memory configuration, and possibly firmware or driver differences. The Radeon 550X's higher boost clock and memory bandwidth do not compensate for its smaller memory pool and lower benchmark scores. The RX 550X, despite lower peak frequencies, delivers superior results across both OpenCL and Vulkan, underscoring that architectural parity does not guarantee performance parity.