AMD Radeon 550X vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Comparison

The AMD Radeon 550X and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 represent two very different generations of GPU design, and the benchmark data reflects a substantial performance gulf between them. The GTX 980 wins both head-to-head comparisons by wide margins, while the Radeon 550X counters with a more modern process node and a significantly lower power requirement. The data shows a clear separation in raw compute capability, yet the Radeon 550X holds its own in specific architectural attributes that matter for certain workloads.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two available head-to-head results show a decisive victory for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 in both OpenCL and Vulkan compute workloads. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the GTX 980 scores 34,676 against the Radeon 550X’s 8,866, producing a delta of -74.4% for the AMD card. This is not a marginal gap; the NVIDIA card delivers roughly 3.9 times the OpenCL score, indicating a massive difference in raw compute throughput that aligns with its larger shader array and wider memory bus.

The Vulkan test narrows the gap slightly but still favors the GTX 980 overwhelmingly. The NVIDIA part scores 22,543 versus 8,970 for the Radeon 550X, a -60.2% delta. While the relative margin is smaller than in OpenCL, the absolute difference remains enormous—the GTX 980 is still about 2.5 times faster in Vulkan. This suggests that while the Radeon 550X’s GCN architecture handles Vulkan relatively better than OpenCL, it cannot overcome the fundamental hardware disparity between the two cards.

Looking at the broader benchmark context, the GTX 980’s average benchmark score of 8,167 places it at the 43rd percentile of all GPUs, while the Radeon 550X averages 8,918 and sits at the 45th percentile. This is a curious inversion: despite losing both head-to-head tests decisively, the Radeon 550X has a higher aggregate score and percentile ranking. The explanation lies in the benchmark coverage—the Radeon 550X only has two recorded tests, both of which are compute-oriented, while the GTX 980’s average pulls in eleven different tests, including legacy DirectX and Passmark workloads where it may score lower relative to its peak capabilities.

The nearest rival data reinforces this picture. The Radeon 550X’s closest competitor is the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100, which averages 8,863—just 0.6% behind. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 sits 1.2% ahead of the 550X, and the NVIDIA TITAN V CEO Edition is 1.3% ahead. These are tight margins, suggesting the 550X performs very much in line with its immediate peers. By contrast, the GTX 980’s nearest rivals are all much weaker cards: the GTX 950M trails by 0.4%, the Radeon R9 M360 by 0.5%, and the GeForce 945M by 0.8%. The GTX 980’s average score is thus clustered with mobile and low-end desktop parts, which is surprising given its head-to-head dominance over the 550X.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous for raw compute performance: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 is the superior card in both tested workloads. If the priority is OpenCL or Vulkan compute throughput, the GTX 980 delivers 74.4% and 60.2% higher scores respectively, which translates to practical advantages in rendering, physics simulation, or any GPU-accelerated task that leverages these APIs. The GTX 980’s 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs provide a hardware foundation that the Radeon 550X’s 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs simply cannot match.

However, the Radeon 550X is not without its merits. Its 14 nm process node from GlobalFoundries is two generations ahead of the GTX 980’s 28 nm TSMC process, yielding a transistor density of 21.4 million per square millimeter versus 13.1 million for the NVIDIA part. This efficiency translates directly to power consumption: the Radeon 550X has a 50 W TDP and requires no auxiliary power connectors, while the GTX 980 draws 165 W and needs two 6-pin connectors. The suggested PSU rating tells the same story—250 W for the AMD card versus 450 W for the NVIDIA card. For systems with limited power budgets or compact builds, the Radeon 550X is the only viable choice from these two.

The verdict depends entirely on the use case. For gaming at higher resolutions or compute-heavy workloads, the GTX 980 is the obvious pick—its 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus provides 224.4 GB/s of bandwidth, double the 112.0 GB/s of the 550X’s 2 GB on a 128-bit bus. For low-power HTPCs, office systems, or any scenario where the GPU sits idle most of the time, the Radeon 550X’s 50 W draw and dual-slot, connector-free design make it far easier to integrate. The GTX 980’s 267 mm length also demands more physical space than the 550X’s 145 mm. There is no universal winner—the data supports each card for different audiences.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two GPUs is generational. The AMD Radeon 550X is built on GCN 4.0, part of the Polaris family within the RX 500X generation, using the Lexa chip. This is a 14 nm design fabricated by GlobalFoundries, with 2,200 million transistors packed into a 103 mm² die. The small die size and high transistor density (21.4M per mm²) reflect a modern, efficiency-focused approach. The architecture supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3, and notably offers FP16 performance at a 1:1 ratio with FP32—both rated at 1,247.2 GFLOPS.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 uses the older Maxwell 2.0 architecture, built on the GM204 chip at 28 nm via TSMC. This is a much larger design: 5,200 million transistors on a 398 mm² die, but with lower density at 13.1M per mm². Maxwell 2.0 was designed for the GeForce 900 generation and supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4—a slightly newer Vulkan revision than the Radeon 550X. Notably, the GTX 980 does not report FP16 performance, indicating that half-precision compute was not a focus for this architecture.

The transistor count difference is stark—5,200 million versus 2,200 million—and explains the GTX 980’s compute advantage. Yet the 550X achieves more with less physical silicon, thanks to the denser 14 nm process. The Radeon 550X’s FP32 output of 1,247.2 GFLOPS is only about a quarter of the GTX 980’s 4.981 TFLOPS, which matches the head-to-head OpenCL results. The GTX 980’s pixel rate of 77.82 GPixel/s and texture rate of 155.6 GTexel/s dwarf the 550X’s 19.49 GPixel/s and 38.98 GTexel/s, reinforcing its lead in fill-rate-bound scenarios.

Specification Differences

The memory subsystems are a primary differentiator. The GTX 980 offers 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, yielding 224.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The Radeon 550X provides 2 GB on a 128-bit bus, capped at 112.0 GB/s. Effective memory clock is nominally the same at 7 Gbps, but the wider bus gives the NVIDIA card double the bandwidth. This affects high-resolution textures and large dataset workloads directly.

Clock speeds are similar but not identical. The Radeon 550X has a base clock of 1082 MHz and boost of 1218 MHz, while the GTX 980 runs at 1127 MHz base and 1216 MHz boost. The AMD card actually boosts slightly higher, but with far fewer shaders, the clock advantage is irrelevant to overall performance. The GTX 980’s 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs are exactly four times the 550X’s 512, 32, and 16 respectively—a clean 4:1 ratio that explains the compute scaling.

Power and physical specifications diverge sharply. The Radeon 550X has a 50 W TDP, no power connectors, a 250 W suggested PSU, and a 145 mm length. The GTX 980 draws 165 W, requires 2x 6-pin connectors, suggests a 450 W PSU, and measures 267 mm long, 111 mm tall, and 40 mm wide. Both cards are dual-slot, but the GTX 980 is nearly twice as long. The bus interface also differs: PCIe 3.0 x8 for the AMD card versus x16 for the NVIDIA card, which can affect bandwidth in some workloads. Display outputs are similar in count but differ in version—the 550X has HDMI 2.0b and DisplayPort 1.4a, while the GTX 980 has HDMI 2.0 and three DisplayPort 1.2 connectors.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 wins decisively, scoring 34,676 against the AMD Radeon 550X’s 8,866, a delta of -74.4% for the AMD card.

Q: How does the Radeon 550X compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Radeon 550X averages 8,918, which is 0.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 (8,863), 0.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon R9 M265X (8,851), but 1.2% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 (9,022) and 1.3% behind the NVIDIA TITAN V CEO Edition (9,037).

Q: What is the power consumption difference?

A: The AMD Radeon 550X has a 50 W TDP with no power connectors and a 250 W suggested PSU, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 has a 165 W TDP, requires 2x 6-pin connectors, and suggests a 450 W PSU.

Q: Does the GTX 980 support FP16 compute?

A: No, the GTX 980 does not report FP16 performance in its specifications. The Radeon 550X offers FP16 at 1,247.2 GFLOPS, matching its FP32 output at a 1:1 ratio.

Q: Which card has a higher memory bandwidth?

A: The GTX 980 has 224.4 GB/s of bandwidth from its 4 GB GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, while the Radeon 550X has 112.0 GB/s from 2 GB on a 128-bit bus—exactly half the bandwidth.

Q: What is the average benchmark score and percentile for each?

A: The Radeon 550X averages 8,918 and sits at the 45th percentile of all GPUs, while the GTX 980 averages 8,167 and sits at the 43rd percentile. Despite the GTX 980’s head-to-head wins, the 550X has a higher aggregate score.