AMD Radeon 550X vs Intel Arc A310 Comparison

The AMD Radeon 550X and Intel Arc A310 represent two very different approaches to low-power graphics, separated by several years of architectural evolution. The Radeon 550X is a 2019 Polaris-generation part built on GCN 4.0, while the Arc A310 is Intel's 2022 Alchemist entry using Xe-HPG. The benchmark data shows a decisive performance gap, with the Arc A310 winning both recorded head-to-head tests, yet the Radeon 550X holds a higher overall percentile ranking. This contradiction invites a closer look at what each card actually does well.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon 550X has an average benchmark score of 8918, while the Intel Arc A310 has an average score of 7550. The Radeon's average is pulled up by its two strong Geekbench results, whereas the Arc A310's average includes several Passmark tests with lower scores.

Q: How do the two cards compare in Geekbench OpenCL performance?

A: The Intel Arc A310 scores 30607 in Geekbench OpenCL, versus 8866 for the AMD Radeon 550X. That is a 71% difference in favor of the Arc A310, making it the dominant card in compute workloads measured by this test.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The Radeon 550X has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 112.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Arc A310 has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus, but achieves 124.0 GB/s due to faster effective memory speed of 15.5 Gbps.

Q: Does either card support ray tracing?

A: Only the Intel Arc A310 has dedicated ray tracing hardware, with 6 RT cores. The AMD Radeon 550X has no RT cores listed, reflecting its older GCN 4.0 architecture.

Q: Which card has the higher transistor density?

A: The Intel Arc A310, built on TSMC's 6 nm process, has a transistor density of 45.9M per mm². The AMD Radeon 550X, using GlobalFoundries' 14 nm process, has a density of 21.4M per mm².

Q: How do their DirectX feature levels differ?

A: The Arc A310 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Radeon 550X supports DirectX 12 (12_0). The Arc also supports Vulkan 1.4, compared to Vulkan 1.3 on the Radeon.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from entirely different architectural lineages. The AMD Radeon 550X uses the Lexa chip built on GCN 4.0, part of the Polaris generation under the RX 500X refresh. It is fabricated by GlobalFoundries on a 14 nm process with 2,200 million transistors on a 103 mm² die. The Intel Arc A310 uses the DG2-128 chip with Xe-HPG architecture, from the Alchemist Arc 3 generation. It is manufactured by TSMC on a 6 nm process, packing 7,200 million transistors into a 157 mm² die. The process difference is stark: 14 nm versus 6 nm, resulting in a transistor density of 21.4M per mm² for AMD and 45.9M per mm² for Intel.

Compute resources differ significantly. The Radeon 550X has 512 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, and 16 raster operation units. The Arc A310 has 768 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. Both share the same TMU and ROP counts, but Intel fields 50% more shading units. The Arc A310 also includes 6 dedicated ray tracing cores, which the Radeon entirely lacks. This is a fundamental feature gap: the Intel card can accelerate ray-traced workloads, while the AMD card relies on traditional rasterization only.

Clock speeds tell part of the story. The Radeon 550X runs at a base clock of 1082 MHz with a boost of 1218 MHz. The Arc A310 runs at a flat 1750 MHz for both base and boost, representing a substantial clock advantage. Memory architecture also diverges sharply. The Radeon uses 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus with memory clocked at 1750 MHz, translating to 7 Gbps effective and 112.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Arc A310 uses 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus, but the memory runs at 1937 MHz (15.5 Gbps effective), achieving 124.0 GB/s. Intel achieves higher bandwidth on a narrower bus through much faster memory.

API support reflects their respective eras. The Radeon 550X supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The Arc A310 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The DirectX 12 Ultimate designation on the Intel card is tied to its ray tracing and mesh shader capabilities. The Arc A310 also outputs to four mini-DisplayPort 2.0 connectors, while the Radeon offers one DVI, one HDMI 2.0b, and one DisplayPort 1.4a. The Intel card runs on PCIe 4.0 x8, double the bus bandwidth of the Radeon's PCIe 3.0 x8 interface.

Where Each One Wins

The recorded head-to-head data shows the Intel Arc A310 winning both benchmark tests, so the Radeon 550X does not claim a direct victory in any measured comparison. However, the broader benchmark set reveals a more nuanced picture. The Radeon 550X has a higher average benchmark score of 8918 and sits at the 45th percentile among all GPUs, while the Arc A310 sits at the 40th percentile. The Radeon's two Geekbench results, 8866 in OpenCL and 8970 in Vulkan, are closely clustered, suggesting consistent performance across different compute APIs.

The Arc A310 wins decisively in compute-heavy workloads. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 30607 is more than three times the Radeon's 8866. Its Vulkan score of 28964 is similarly dominant. Beyond the head-to-head tests, the Arc A310 records a Passmark G3D score of 5433, a GPU compute score of 2157, and a G2D score of 625. Its DirectX 9 Passmark score of 69 stands well above its DirectX 10, 11, and 12 scores of 31, 33, and 29 respectively, indicating that legacy DirectX 9 workloads run relatively better on this card.

The Radeon 550X wins in the context of its rival positioning. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 (0.6% below), AMD Radeon R9 M265X (0.8% below), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 (1.2% above), and NVIDIA TITAN V CEO Edition (1.3% above). The Arc A310's nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon R7 250 (0.1% above), AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 (0.4% above), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (1% below), and AMD Radeon HD 8850M (1.4% below). The Radeon 550X clusters tightly with its rivals, while the Arc A310's average is dragged down by its Passmark scores despite its Geekbench dominance.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every major specification. The most obvious differences are in process node, transistor count, and die size. The Radeon 550X uses a 14 nm process with 2,200 million transistors on 103 mm², while the Arc A310 uses 6 nm with 7,200 million transistors on 157 mm². The Intel chip is physically larger and packs over three times the transistors.

Clock speeds: the Radeon 550X has a 1082 MHz base and 1218 MHz boost, while the Arc A310 has a 1750 MHz base and boost. Memory: the Radeon has 2 GB GDDR5 with 112.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the Arc has 4 GB GDDR6 with 124.0 GB/s. Bus width: 128-bit for AMD, 64-bit for Intel. Shading units: 512 versus 768. TMUs and ROPs are equal at 32 and 16. The Arc A310 adds 6 RT cores, which the Radeon lacks.

Pixel and texture rates scale with the clock advantage. The Arc A310 achieves 28.00 GPixel/s and 56.00 GTexel/s, versus 19.49 GPixel/s and 38.98 GTexel/s for the Radeon. FP32 compute is 2.688 TFLOPS for Intel versus 1,247.2 GFLOPS for AMD. FP16 performance shows a notable split: the Radeon delivers 1,247.2 GFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio, while the Arc A310 delivers 5.376 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio, indicating dedicated hardware for half-precision workloads.

Power and physical specs also diverge. The Radeon 550X has a 50 W TDP, a dual-slot design, and a suggested PSU of 250 W. The Arc A310 has a 30 W TDP, a single-slot design, and a suggested PSU of 200 W. Neither card requires power connectors. The Radeon measures 145 mm (5.7 inches) in length, while the Arc A310 has no recorded dimensions. Bus interfaces: PCIe 3.0 x8 for AMD, PCIe 4.0 x8 for Intel. Display outputs: the Radeon offers DVI, HDMI 2.0b, and DisplayPort 1.4a, while the Arc offers four mini-DisplayPort 2.0 connectors. Both are end-of-life products, with the Radeon released in March 2019 and the Arc in October 2022.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two recorded head-to-head tests both favor the Intel Arc A310 by a wide margin. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Arc A310 scores 30607 against the Radeon 550X's 8866, a difference of 71%. This is not a marginal win; the Intel card is roughly 3.5 times faster in this compute test. The gap reflects the combination of more shading units, much higher clocks, and newer architecture.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the Arc A310 scores 28964 against 8970, again a 69% difference. The Radeon's Vulkan score of 8970 is almost identical to its OpenCL score of 8866, showing consistent performance across APIs. The Arc A310's Vulkan score is slightly lower than its OpenCL score, but still vastly ahead of the Radeon.

The Passmark results, recorded only for the Arc A310, add context. The G3D score of 5433 and GPU compute score of 2157 are the strongest Passmark numbers for the Intel card. Its DirectX 9 score of 69 is more than double its DirectX 10 score of 31, DirectX 11 score of 33, and DirectX 12 score of 29. This pattern suggests the Arc A310's drivers handle older DirectX 9 workloads relatively well, while newer API performance is more modest.

The Radeon 550X's rival data places it in a tight competitive band. Its nearest rival, the Radeon Pro WX 5100, is only 0.6% away, and the R9 M265X is 0.8% away. The GeForce GTX 660 and TITAN V CEO Edition are 1.2% and 1.3% above respectively. The Arc A310's rivals are similarly close: the R7 250 is 0.1% above, the Pro WX 3100 is 0.4% above, while the GTX 1650 is 1% below and the HD 8850M is 1.4% below. Both cards sit in crowded performance tiers, but the Arc A310's Geekbench scores suggest it should rank higher than its average indicates.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear compute performance winner: the Intel Arc A310 is far ahead in both Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan tests, with deltas of 71% and 69% respectively. It also offers 4 GB of memory versus 2 GB, faster GDDR6 memory, ray tracing support, a much smaller 30 W TDP, and a newer 6 nm process. For anyone prioritizing raw compute throughput, modern API support, or ray tracing, the Arc A310 is the obvious choice.

The AMD Radeon 550X, however, posts the higher average benchmark score of 8918 versus 7550, and a higher percentile ranking of 45 versus 40. This is because the Arc A310's Passmark scores are relatively low, particularly in DirectX 10, 11, and 12 tests. The Radeon's two recorded benchmarks are both strong, and it sits within 1.3% of four closely matched rivals. The Radeon also has a wider 128-bit memory bus, though its lower memory speed gives it less bandwidth than the Arc.

The choice depends on the workload. The Arc A310 wins every measured head-to-head test and offers modern features like RT cores and DirectX 12 Ultimate. The Radeon 550X offers a more balanced average score and a higher percentile ranking, suggesting it may be more consistent across a broader range of legacy workloads. The Arc A310 is the stronger compute card, while the Radeon 550X holds its own in the overall ranking despite being older and architecturally simpler. The recorded data does not show a single scenario where the Radeon beats the Arc, so the verdict leans firmly toward Intel for performance, with the caveat that the Arc's Passmark results indicate uneven performance across different DirectX versions.