AMD Radeon 550X vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK Comparison

NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK decisively outperforms the AMD Radeon 550X in every shared benchmark, but the two cards occupy entirely different tiers of the market. The TITAN BLACK is 207% ahead in Geekbench OpenCL and 229.6% ahead in Geekbench Vulkan, making this comparison less a contest and more a demonstration of generational and segment gulf.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The data shows only two common benchmarks between these cards, and NVIDIA wins both by overwhelming margins. In Geekbench OpenCL, the TITAN BLACK scores 27,218 against the Radeon 550X’s 8,866, a delta of 207%. That is more than triple the AMD card’s output. The Vulkan result is even starker: 29,561 for the TITAN BLACK versus 8,970 for the 550X, a 229.6% advantage. This is not a close race; the TITAN BLACK effectively doubles or more than doubles the Radeon’s compute throughput in both API tests.

The TITAN BLACK’s broader benchmark suite reinforces its standing. Its Passmark G3D score is 9,184, while its Passmark GPU Compute score is 3,726. The Radeon 550X has no Passmark results in the FACT PACK, so direct comparison there is impossible, but the TITAN BLACK’s average benchmark score of 9,474 sits 6.2% above the Radeon’s 8,918. That average gap is far smaller than the Geekbench deltas, suggesting the Radeon performs relatively better in some workloads not captured by the head-to-head list, but the Geekbench results remain the only apples-to-apples evidence, and they are lopsided.

Looking at rival positioning, the TITAN BLACK’s average score of 9,474 places it within 0.2% of the GeForce GTX 760 (9,458) and 1.7% above the Radeon R7 M380 (9,313). It trails the Quadro K5000 (9,637) by 1.7% and the GTX 960M (9,645) by 1.8%. The Radeon 550X’s average of 8,918 is 0.6% above the Radeon Pro WX 5100 (8,863) and 0.8% above the Radeon R9 M265X (8,851), but it falls 1.2% short of the GeForce GTX 660 (9,022) and 1.3% short of the TITAN V CEO Edition (9,037). In short, the TITAN BLACK competes with mid-range desktop cards from its era, while the 550X sits near entry-level mobile and small desktop parts.

The Verdict

Choose the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK if you need raw compute power. The Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan results are not merely wins; they are near-total obliterations. A 207% lead in OpenCL and a 229.6% lead in Vulkan mean the TITAN BLACK delivers more than triple the performance in those workloads. Its 5.645 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, 336.0 GB/s memory bandwidth, and 6 GB of GDDR5 across a 384-bit bus make it a legitimate high-end card from the GeForce 700 generation.

Choose the AMD Radeon 550X if power draw and physical size are paramount. The 550X consumes only 50 W TDP versus the TITAN BLACK’s 250 W, requires no power connectors, and fits in a 145 mm (5.7 inches) length. It also supports newer API versions: DirectX 12 (12_0) versus the TITAN BLACK’s DirectX 12 (11_1), and Vulkan 1.3 versus 1.2.175. The 550X’s FP16 performance is 1,247.2 GFLOPS (1:1 with FP32), which the TITAN BLACK does not list. But those advantages do not translate into benchmark wins; the 550X has zero wins in the head-to-head data.

For gaming and general GPU compute, the TITAN BLACK is the only rational choice from a performance standpoint. For a low-power, compact, passively compatible system, the 550X is the only rational choice from an efficiency standpoint. There is no middle ground here.

Architecture Differences

The TITAN BLACK uses the GK110B chip on TSMC’s 28 nm process, with 7,080 million transistors on a 561 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.6M / mm². The 550X uses the Lexa chip on GlobalFoundries’ 14 nm process, with 2,200 million transistors on a 103 mm² die, yielding a density of 21.4M / mm². The 550X is more densely packed, but the TITAN BLACK’s sheer die size gives it a massive resource advantage.

The TITAN BLACK has 2,880 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 48 ROPs. The 550X has 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. That is a 5.6x difference in shading units, a 7.5x difference in TMUs, and a 3x difference in ROPs. These hardware counts directly explain the benchmark deltas: more units mean more parallel work, and the TITAN BLACK has far more of everything.

Memory configurations differ sharply. The TITAN BLACK has 6 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, delivering 336.0 GB/s bandwidth. The 550X has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 112.0 GB/s bandwidth. Both run memory at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective), but the TITAN BLACK’s wider bus triples bandwidth.

The architectures themselves are from different eras. The TITAN BLACK is Kepler, released February 2014. The 550X is GCN 4.0 under the Polaris (RX 500X) generation, released March 2019. Kepler lacks hardware features that GCN 4.0 includes, such as native FP16 support (the 550X lists FP16 at 1,247.2 GFLOPS, while the TITAN BLACK lists no FP16). The TITAN BLACK’s API support tops out at DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.175; the 550X supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK has an average benchmark score of 9,474, compared to the AMD Radeon 550X’s 8,918, a difference of 6.2%.

Q: How much faster is the TITAN BLACK in Geekbench Vulkan?

A: The TITAN BLACK scores 29,561 versus the 550X’s 8,970, a delta of 229.6% in favor of NVIDIA.

Q: Does the Radeon 550X win any head-to-head benchmark?

A: No. The head-to-head data lists two tests (Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan), and the TITAN BLACK wins both. The Radeon 550X has 0 wins out of 2.

Q: What is the TDP difference?

A: The TITAN BLACK has a 250 W TDP, while the Radeon 550X has a 50 W TDP. The 550X also requires no power connectors, whereas the TITAN BLACK needs 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin.

Q: Which card supports newer API versions?

A: The Radeon 550X supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3. The TITAN BLACK supports DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.175.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The TITAN BLACK has 336.0 GB/s bandwidth on a 384-bit bus, while the 550X has 112.0 GB/s on a 128-bit bus.

Where Each One Wins

The TITAN BLACK wins in every performance metric where both cards have data. It wins Geekbench OpenCL by 207% and Geekbench Vulkan by 229.6%. It wins on raw specs: 5.645 TFLOPS FP32 versus 1,247.2 GFLOPS, 58.80 GPixel/s pixel rate versus 19.49 GPixel/s, and 235.2 GTexel/s texture rate versus 38.98 GTexel/s. It wins on memory capacity (6 GB vs 2 GB), memory bus width (384-bit vs 128-bit), and memory bandwidth (336.0 GB/s vs 112.0 GB/s). It wins on shading units (2,880 vs 512), TMUs (240 vs 32), and ROPs (48 vs 16).

The 550X wins on efficiency and physical footprint. It has a 50 W TDP versus 250 W, a 145 mm length versus 267 mm, and no power connectors versus a 6-pin plus 8-pin requirement. It also has a higher transistor density (21.4M / mm² vs 12.6M / mm²) and supports FP16 at 1:1 ratio, a feature the TITAN BLACK does not list. The 550X’s suggested PSU is 250 W versus the TITAN BLACK’s 600 W. For systems with limited power delivery or space, the 550X is the only viable option.

For everything else, the TITAN BLACK dominates. Its percentile rank among all GPUs is 46 versus the 550X’s 45, a slim margin, but its average score is higher and its peak scores in Geekbench are far beyond anything the 550X can approach. The verdict is unambiguous: the TITAN BLACK is a high-performance part from 2014, and the 550X is a low-power part from 2019, and the data reflects that positioning exactly.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every specification. The TITAN BLACK uses a 28 nm process from TSMC; the 550X uses 14 nm from GlobalFoundries. Transistor counts are 7,080 million versus 2,200 million. Die sizes are 561 mm² versus 103 mm². Transistor density is 12.6M / mm² versus 21.4M / mm².

Clocks differ: the TITAN BLACK has a base of 889 MHz and boost of 980 MHz; the 550X has a base of 1082 MHz and boost of 1218 MHz. The 550X runs at higher clocks, but the TITAN BLACK’s massive unit count overwhelms that advantage.

Memory: 6 GB GDDR5 on 384-bit vs 2 GB GDDR5 on 128-bit. Bandwidth is 336.0 GB/s versus 112.0 GB/s. Shading units: 2,880 vs 512. TMUs: 240 vs 32. ROPs: 48 vs 16. Pixel rate: 58.80 GPixel/s vs 19.49 GPixel/s. Texture rate: 235.2 GTexel/s vs 38.98 GTexel/s. FP32: 5.645 TFLOPS vs 1,247.2 GFLOPS. FP16: not listed for TITAN BLACK, 1,247.2 GFLOPS for 550X.

TDP: 250 W vs 50 W. Power connectors: 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin vs None. Suggested PSU: 600 W vs 250 W. Bus interface: PCIe 3.0 x16 vs PCIe 3.0 x8. Display outputs: the TITAN BLACK has 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, 1x DisplayPort 1.2; the 550X has 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, 1x DisplayPort 1.4a.

Dimensions: the TITAN BLACK is 267 mm long, 111 mm high, 38 mm wide; the 550X is 145 mm long with no listed height or width. API support: DirectX 12 (11_1) vs 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6 for both, Vulkan 1.2.175 vs 1.3. Release dates: February 2014 vs March 2019. The TITAN BLACK has a launch MSRP of 999 USD; the 550X has no listed launch MSRP.