AMD Radeon 550X vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a clear, consistent lead for the AMD Radeon 550X across both benchmark workloads. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the AMD card scores 8866 against the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti's 7877, a 12.6% advantage. The Vulkan test narrows the gap slightly but still favors AMD: 8970 versus 8229, a 9% delta. The Radeon 550X wins both head-to-head comparisons, and the database records 2 wins for AMD and 0 for NVIDIA.

What is more telling is how each card positions against its own nearest rivals. The Radeon 550X sits at the 45th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 8918. Its closest competitor is the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 at 8863, a mere 0.6% difference, essentially a statistical tie. It edges out the Radeon R9 M265X by 0.8% and falls 1.2% short of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 and 1.3% behind the NVIDIA TITAN V CEO Edition. This places the 550X in a crowded mid-pack where small margins separate adjacent cards.

The GTX 650 Ti, by contrast, records a 42nd percentile ranking with an average score of 8053. Its nearest rivals are all within 0.3%: the GeForce GTX 880M at 8040, the GTX 650 Ti Boost at 8067, the Quadro P5000 at 8039, and the GRID K2 at 8080. The 650 Ti is effectively locked in a tight cluster, with no clear separation from its peers. The gap between the two cards in question, roughly 10% on average, is more pronounced than the internal rival deltas for either card.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon 550X wins decisively in both tested scenarios, but the margin varies by workload. The OpenCL test shows its largest advantage at 12.6%, suggesting the card's compute-oriented architecture handles general-purpose GPU workloads with greater efficiency. The Vulkan test, while still a win for AMD, produces a smaller 9% delta, indicating that NVIDIA's Kepler architecture narrows the gap in modern graphics API workloads.

For the GTX 650 Ti, there are no benchmark wins to highlight. The data records zero victories for NVIDIA in the head-to-head set. However, the card's texture rate of 59.39 GTexel/s exceeds the Radeon's 38.98 GTexel/s, and its FP32 throughput of 1,425.4 GFLOPS outpaces the 550X's 1,247.2 GFLOPS. These raw compute figures suggest that in texture-heavy or shader-bound scenarios that do not appear in the recorded benchmarks, the 650 Ti could potentially perform better, but the actual test results do not support this hypothesis.

The Radeon 550X also holds advantages in memory bandwidth (112.0 GB/s versus 86.40 GB/s) and pixel rate (19.49 GPixel/s versus 14.85 GPixel/s). These figures correlate with its benchmark wins, as higher bandwidth and pixel throughput directly benefit the OpenCL and Vulkan workloads measured in the database.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from fundamentally different design philosophies. The AMD Radeon 550X uses the Lexa chip on GCN 4.0 architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process by GlobalFoundries. It packs 2,200 million transistors onto a 103 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 21.4 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti uses the GK106S chip on Kepler architecture, built on a 28 nm process by TSMC. It contains 2,540 million transistors across a 221 mm² die, with a density of 11.5 million per square millimeter.

These process differences explain the efficiency gap. The 550X draws 50 W with no power connectors and a suggested 250 W PSU, while the 650 Ti consumes 110 W, requires a 6-pin connector, and suggests a 300 W PSU. The newer 14 nm node allows AMD to deliver comparable or better performance at less than half the power draw.

Memory configurations differ as well. The Radeon 550X ships with 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, running at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) for 112.0 GB/s bandwidth. The GTX 650 Ti has 1 GB of GDDR5, also on a 128-bit bus, but at 1350 MHz (5.4 Gbps effective) for 86.40 GB/s. The AMD card doubles the frame buffer and adds 30% more bandwidth.

Shader resources tell a different story. The 650 Ti has 768 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, and 16 ROPs. The 550X has 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. NVIDIA's card has 50% more shaders and double the TMUs, yet still loses in the benchmarks, highlighting the architectural efficiency of GCN 4.0 versus older Kepler. The 550X also supports FP16 at 1:1 ratio (1,247.2 GFLOPS), while the 650 Ti has no FP16 support listed.

API support favors AMD: DirectX 12 (12_0) versus NVIDIA's 12 (11_0), Vulkan 1.3 versus 1.2.175, and both support OpenGL 4.6. The 550X uses PCIe 3.0 x8, while the 650 Ti uses PCIe 3.0 x16, though this does not appear to affect the benchmark outcomes. Display outputs also differ: AMD offers 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a, while NVIDIA offers 2x DVI and 1x mini-HDMI 1.4a.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon 550X records an average benchmark score of 8918, compared to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti's 8053, a difference of roughly 10%.

Q: How do the cards compare in memory capacity and bandwidth?

A: The Radeon 550X has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory with 112.0 GB/s bandwidth on a 128-bit bus. The GTX 650 Ti has 1 GB of GDDR5 with 86.40 GB/s bandwidth, also on a 128-bit bus.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The Radeon 550X has a 50 W TDP, requires no power connectors, and suggests a 250 W PSU. The GTX 650 Ti has a 110 W TDP, requires one 6-pin connector, and suggests a 300 W PSU.

Q: Which card supports newer graphics APIs?

A: The Radeon 550X supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The GTX 650 Ti supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175.

Q: How does each card fare against its nearest rivals?

A: The Radeon 550X is within 1.3% of its four nearest rivals, ranging from the Radeon Pro WX 5100 (0.6% ahead) to the TITAN V CEO Edition (1.3% behind). The GTX 650 Ti is within 0.3% of its nearest rivals, with the GTX 650 Ti Boost 0.2% ahead and the GRID K2 0.3% behind.

Q: What is the transistor density difference between the two?

A: The Radeon 550X achieves 21.4 million transistors per square millimeter on a 14 nm process, while the GTX 650 Ti achieves 11.5 million per square millimeter on a 28 nm process.

The Verdict

The data points to a straightforward conclusion: the AMD Radeon 550X is the superior card in every measured benchmark. It wins both Geekbench tests with margins of 12.6% and 9%, holds a higher percentile ranking (45th versus 42nd), and maintains a higher average score (8918 versus 8053). It does so while consuming less than half the power (50 W versus 110 W), requiring no external power connectors, and offering double the memory capacity (2 GB versus 1 GB).

For users prioritizing modern API support, the 550X is the clear choice with Vulkan 1.3 and DirectX 12 (12_0). For those concerned about power efficiency, the 550X's 14 nm process and low TDP make it the obvious pick. The GTX 650 Ti's only theoretical advantages lie in raw shader count and texture rate, but these do not translate into benchmark wins.

The GTX 650 Ti, released in 2012, represents an older generation with a larger die (221 mm² versus 103 mm²), higher power draw, and lower memory bandwidth. Its launch MSRP was 149 USD, but the data does not include a comparable figure for the Radeon 550X. The 650 Ti may appeal to users with legacy systems that already have a 6-pin connector and prefer a single-slot card, but from a pure performance standpoint, the Radeon 550X dominates.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon 550X | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti |

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

| Architecture | GCN 4.0 | Kepler |

| Process Node | 14 nm | 28 nm |

| Foundry | GlobalFoundries | TSMC |

| Transistors | 2,200 million | 2,540 million |

| Die Size | 103 mm² | 221 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 21.4M / mm² | 11.5M / mm² |

| Memory Size | 2 GB | 1024 MB |

| Memory Clock | 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) | 1350 MHz (5.4 Gbps effective) |

| Bandwidth | 112.0 GB/s | 86.40 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 512 | 768 |

| TMUs | 32 | 64 |

| Pixel Rate | 19.49 GPixel/s | 14.85 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 38.98 GTexel/s | 59.39 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 1,247.2 GFLOPS | 1,425.4 GFLOPS |

| FP16 | 1,247.2 GFLOPS (1:1) | None |

| TDP | 50 W | 110 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | Single-slot |

| Power Connectors | None | 1x 6-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 250 W | 300 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x8 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, 1x DisplayPort 1.4a | 2x DVI, 1x mini-HDMI 1.4a |

| DirectX | 12 (12_0) | 12 (11_0) |

| Vulkan | 1.3 | 1.2.175 |

| Release Date | 2019-03-26 | 2012-10-08 |

| Predecessor | Polaris | GeForce 500 |

| Successor | Vega | GeForce 700 |