AMD Radeon 550X vs NVIDIA Quadro P5000 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records only two shared benchmark tests between these cards, and the results split exactly one win each. The Geekbench OpenCL test is a complete rout in favor of the NVIDIA Quadro P5000. The Radeon 550X scores 8,866 points, while the Quadro P5000 posts 52,509 points, a delta of 83.1% in favor of the NVIDIA card. That is not a marginal gap; the Quadro P5000 is roughly six times faster in raw compute throughput as measured by OpenCL. This aligns with the massive difference in FP32 output: the Radeon 550X delivers 1,247.2 GFLOPS, while the Quadro P5000 delivers 8.873 TFLOPS, a nearly 7x advantage for NVIDIA.

The Geekbench Vulkan test flips the script entirely. Here the Radeon 550X scores 8,970 points versus 6,342 points for the Quadro P5000, a 41.4% lead for the AMD card. This is a significant reversal, and it suggests that the Radeon 550X has a more efficient Vulkan driver path or better utilization of its architecture under that API, despite having far fewer shading units (512 versus 2,560) and a much lower pixel rate (19.49 GPixel/s versus 110.9 GPixel/s). The Vulkan result is not a small edge; it is a decisive win for the AMD part in that specific workload.

Looking at the nearest rivals in the database, the Radeon 550X sits at the 45th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 8,918. Its closest competitors are the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 (8,863, 0.6% behind), the AMD Radeon R9 M265X (8,851, 0.8% behind), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 (9,022, 1.2% ahead), and the NVIDIA TITAN V CEO Edition (9,037, 1.3% ahead). The Radeon 550X is effectively bracketed by these cards within a 1.3% band, meaning its overall standing is that of a mid-pack entry.

The Quadro P5000, despite its enormous OpenCL score, only sits at the 41st percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 8,039. This is because its average is dragged down by the Vulkan result and by a set of PassMark tests where it scores very low. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M (8,040, 0% delta), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti (8,053, 0.2% ahead), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost (8,067, 0.3% ahead), and the NVIDIA GRID K2 (8,080, 0.5% ahead). In terms of average score, the Quadro P5000 is indistinguishable from these older or lower-tier cards, which is a remarkable outcome for a card with 16 GB of GDDR5X memory and a 256-bit bus.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different architectural generations and different foundries. The Radeon 550X uses the Lexa chip built on GCN 4.0 architecture, part of the Polaris (RX 500X) generation. It is manufactured on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries, with 2,200 million transistors on a 103 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 21.4M per mm². The Quadro P5000 uses the GP104 chip built on Pascal architecture, part of the Quadro Pascal (Px000) generation. It is manufactured on a 16 nm process at TSMC, with 7,200 million transistors on a 314 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 22.9M per mm². The NVIDIA chip has over three times the transistor count and nearly three times the die area.

The memory subsystems are completely different in scale. The Radeon 550X has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, running at 1750 MHz with 7 Gbps effective speed, yielding 112.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Quadro P5000 has 16 GB of GDDR5X on a 256-bit bus, running at 1127 MHz with 9 Gbps effective speed, yielding 288.5 GB/s of bandwidth. That is 2.6 times the bandwidth for the NVIDIA card, and eight times the capacity.

Compute resources differ by a factor of five in shading units: 512 for the Radeon versus 2,560 for the Quadro. Texture mapping units are 32 versus 160, and ROPs are 16 versus 64. The pixel rate is 19.49 GPixel/s versus 110.9 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 38.98 GTexel/s versus 277.3 GTexel/s. FP16 performance is a notable inversion: the Radeon 550X runs FP16 at a 1:1 ratio with FP32, both at 1,247.2 GFLOPS, while the Quadro P5000 runs FP16 at a 1:64 ratio, yielding only 138.6 GFLOPS. This makes the Radeon 550X far stronger in FP16 throughput relative to its FP32 output, while the Quadro P5000 is heavily optimized for FP32.

API support differs slightly. Both support DirectX 12 and OpenGL 4.6, but the Radeon 550X supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3, while the Quadro P5000 supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.4. The newer Vulkan version on the NVIDIA card does not translate into a Vulkan benchmark win, as the data shows.

Power and physical requirements are also starkly different. The Radeon 550X has a TDP of 50 W, requires no power connectors, and has a suggested PSU of 250 W. The Quadro P5000 has a TDP of 180 W, needs a single 8-pin power connector, and has a suggested PSU of 450 W. The Radeon is a 145 mm dual-slot card, while the Quadro is 267 mm long and 111 mm tall, also dual-slot. The bus interface is PCIe 3.0 x8 for the AMD card and PCIe 3.0 x16 for the NVIDIA card.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The Radeon 550X has an average benchmark score of 8,918, while the Quadro P5000 has an average of 8,039. The AMD card leads by roughly 10% in aggregate.

Q: Is the Quadro P5000 always faster than the Radeon 550X?

A: No. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Quadro P5000 wins by 83.1%, but in Geekbench Vulkan, the Radeon 550X wins by 41.4%. The result depends entirely on the API and workload.

Q: What is the FP16 performance of each card?

A: The Radeon 550X runs FP16 at 1,247.2 GFLOPS (1:1 with FP32). The Quadro P5000 runs FP16 at 138.6 GFLOPS (1:64 with FP32). The AMD card has nearly 9x higher FP16 throughput.

Q: How do the memory capacities and bandwidths compare?

A: The Radeon 550X has 2 GB of GDDR5 with 112.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Quadro P5000 has 16 GB of GDDR5X with 288.5 GB/s bandwidth. The NVIDIA card has 8x the capacity and 2.6x the bandwidth.

Q: Which card has a higher percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The Radeon 550X sits at the 45th percentile, while the Quadro P5000 sits at the 41st percentile. Despite the OpenCL gap, the AMD card ranks slightly higher overall.

Q: Do both cards support the same DirectX feature level?

A: No. The Radeon 550X supports DirectX 12 (12_0), while the Quadro P5000 supports DirectX 12 (12_1). The NVIDIA card has a higher feature level.

The Verdict

The data presents a clear split based on workload type. For OpenCL compute, the Quadro P5000 is in a different class entirely, with an 83.1% lead over the Radeon 550X. Its FP32 throughput of 8.873 TFLOPS, 16 GB of GDDR5X memory, and 288.5 GB/s of bandwidth make it the obvious choice for compute-heavy tasks that leverage OpenCL or FP32 shader work. The Radeon 550X cannot compete in this domain; its 1,247.2 GFLOPS FP32 and 2 GB memory are simply too limited.

For Vulkan workloads, the Radeon 550X wins decisively, posting a 41.4% higher score than the Quadro P5000. This is unexpected given the hardware specs, but the benchmark data is unambiguous. If the target application is Vulkan-based, the Radeon 550X delivers more performance per the recorded measurements.

The overall average benchmark score also favors the Radeon 550X, which sits at 8,918 versus 8,039 for the Quadro P5000. That said, the Quadro P5000's nearest rivals in the database are all within a 0.5% band (GeForce GTX 880M, GTX 650 Ti, GTX 650 Ti Boost, GRID K2), while the Radeon 550X's nearest rivals span a 1.3% band around its score. Both cards are firmly mid-pack in the overall GPU landscape, but the Radeon 550X edges out the Quadro P5000 in percentile ranking (45th versus 41st).

The launch MSRP of the Quadro P5000 is 2,499 USD. The Radeon 550X has no recorded launch MSRP.

For a builder choosing between these two end-of-life cards, the decision hinges on the API and the memory requirement. OpenCL-heavy scientific or compute workloads with large datasets favor the Quadro P5000 without question. Vulkan-based gaming or lighter compute tasks favor the Radeon 550X, and it does so with a far lower power draw (50 W versus 180 W) and no external power connector required.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon 550X | NVIDIA Quadro P5000 |

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

| Architecture | GCN 4.0 | Pascal |

| Process Node | 14 nm | 16 nm |

| Foundry | GlobalFoundries | TSMC |

| Transistors | 2,200 million | 7,200 million |

| Die Size | 103 mm² | 314 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 21.4M / mm² | 22.9M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1082 MHz | 1607 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1218 MHz | 1733 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1750 MHz, 7 Gbps effective | 1127 MHz, 9 Gbps effective |

| Memory Size | 2 GB | 16 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR5X |

| Memory Bus Width | 128 bit | 256 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 112.0 GB/s | 288.5 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 512 | 2560 |

| TMUs | 32 | 160 |

| ROPs | 16 | 64 |

| Pixel Rate | 19.49 GPixel/s | 110.9 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 38.98 GTexel/s | 277.3 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 1,247.2 GFLOPS | 8.873 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 1,247.2 GFLOPS (1:1) | 138.6 GFLOPS (1:64) |

| TDP | 50 W | 180 W |

| Power Connectors | None | 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 250 W | 450 W |

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

| Display Outputs | 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, 1x DisplayPort 1.4a | 1x DVI, 4x DisplayPort 1.4a |

| DirectX | 12 (12_0) | 12 (12_1) |

| Vulkan | 1.3 | 1.4 |

| Length | 145 mm (5.7 inches) | 267 mm (10.5 inches) |

| Height | Not recorded | 111 mm (4.4 inches) |

| Release Date | 2019-03-26 | 2016-09-30 |

Where Each One Wins

The Quadro P5000 wins in OpenCL compute by an 83.1% margin, and it also wins on every raw hardware specification that matters for throughput: FP32 (8.873 TFLOPS versus 1,247.2 GFLOPS), pixel rate (110.9 GPixel/s versus 19.49 GPixel/s), texture rate (277.3 GTexel/s versus 38.98 GTexel/s), memory bandwidth (288.5 GB/s versus 112.0 GB/s), and memory capacity (16 GB versus 2 GB). It also supports DirectX 12_1 and Vulkan 1.4, the newer API versions. For workloads that can use 16 GB of GDDR5X or need high FP32 throughput, this is the only choice between the two.

The Radeon 550X wins in Geekbench Vulkan by a 41.4% margin, and it also produces far higher FP16 throughput (1,247.2 GFLOPS versus 138.6 GFLOPS). It consumes 50 W versus 180 W, needs no power connector versus a single 8-pin, requires a 250 W PSU versus 450 W, and is physically shorter at 145 mm versus 267 mm. It also has a higher overall percentile ranking (45th versus 41st) and a higher average benchmark score (8,918 versus 8,039). For Vulkan-based applications, low-power builds, or systems without spare PCIe power connectors, the Radeon 550X is the better fit.

The data does not support a single universal winner. The Quadro P5000 is the compute powerhouse with a massive OpenCL lead, while the Radeon 550X is the Vulkan and efficiency champion. Choose based on the API and workload you actually run.