AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 vs NVIDIA GeForce MX550 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records two shared benchmark results for these cards, and the outcome is decisive. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 scores 118,202, while the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 manages 20,372. That is a massive performance gap, with the AMD card finishing 82.8% ahead of the NVIDIA part. The result is not close; it represents a different performance class entirely.

The second shared test, Geekbench Vulkan, tells a similar story but with a narrower margin. The Radeon AI PRO R9700 posts 63,550, while the GeForce MX550 scores 32,469. The delta here is 48.9% in favor of the AMD card. While the percentage gap is smaller than in OpenCL, it still shows the AMD part delivering nearly double the Vulkan performance of the MX550.

Across the two head-to-head benchmarks, the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 takes both wins. The GeForce MX550 does not secure a single victory in the shared test suite. The strongest relative showing for the NVIDIA card comes in Vulkan, where its score of 32,469 is roughly half of the AMD card's 63,550. In OpenCL, the gap is far more lopsided, with the MX550 trailing by over 80%.

Context matters here. The MX550's average benchmark score across all recorded tests is 26,421, which places it in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs in the database. The Radeon AI PRO R9700 averages 23,315 across its broader test suite, sitting in the 69th percentile. That is a curious inversion: the card that wins every head-to-head matchup has a lower average score and percentile ranking, simply because the two cards are tested against different benchmark suites. The MX550's average is pulled up by its two Geekbench results, while the Radeon AI PRO R9700's average includes several Passmark tests with lower scores.

The nearest rivals for the MX550 in the database include the AMD Radeon 860M at an average score of 26,401 (0.1% delta), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 at 26,331 (0.3% delta), the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary at 26,553 (-0.5% delta), and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 at 26,683 (-1% delta). The MX550 sits right in the middle of that pack, essentially tied with all four rivals. For the Radeon AI PRO R9700, the nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon R9 M290X at 23,276 (0.2% delta), the AMD Radeon RX 6600M at 23,273 (0.2% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 at 23,250 (0.3% delta), and the NVIDIA P106-100 at 23,249 (0.3% delta). The Radeon AI PRO R9700 is similarly clustered with its nearest competitors, all within a fraction of a percent.

The takeaway from the head-to-head data is unambiguous: the Radeon AI PRO R9700 dominates the MX550 in every shared test. The magnitude of the OpenCL victory is especially striking, and even the smaller Vulkan gap represents a decisive margin.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different design philosophies and different eras. The NVIDIA GeForce MX550 uses the TU117SB chip, built on the Turing architecture, and is part of the GeForce MX (5xx) generation. It is fabricated on a 12 nm process at TSMC, with 4,700 million transistors packed into a 200 mm² die. That yields a transistor density of 23.5 million per mm². The chip is a modest design, aimed at thin-and-light laptops where power efficiency is paramount.

The AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700, by contrast, uses the Navi 48 chip, built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture, and belongs to the Radeon Pro Navi (Navi IV Series) generation. It is also fabricated at TSMC, but on a much more advanced 4 nm process. The transistor count jumps to 53,900 million, spread across a 357 mm² die. The transistor density is 151.0 million per mm², a figure over six times higher than the MX550's density. This is a large, modern GPU designed for professional workloads.

The memory subsystems are wildly different. The MX550 has 2 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus, delivering 96.00 GB/s of bandwidth. The Radeon AI PRO R9700 has 32 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 644.6 GB/s. That is a 16x increase in capacity and a nearly 7x increase in bandwidth. The Radeon card also runs its memory at a higher effective speed: 20.1 Gbps versus 12 Gbps on the MX550.

Core counts scale accordingly. The MX550 has 1,024 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, and 16 ROPs. The Radeon AI PRO R9700 has 4,096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 128 ROPs. It also has 64 ray tracing cores, while the MX550 has none listed. The Radeon card's pixel rate is 373.8 GPixel/s versus 21.12 GPixel/s on the MX550, and its texture rate is 747.5 GTexel/s versus 42.24 GTexel/s. Raw FP32 throughput is 47.84 TFLOPS on the AMD card versus 2.703 TFLOPS on the NVIDIA card. Both cards run FP16 at a 1:1 ratio with FP32.

Clock speeds reflect the different design targets. The MX550 has a base clock of 1065 MHz and a boost of 1320 MHz. The Radeon AI PRO R9700 has a base of 1660 MHz, a game clock of 2350 MHz, and a boost of 2920 MHz. The Radeon card runs faster at every point, despite drawing far more power.

The power envelope is another major divider. The MX550 is rated at 25 W TDP, uses no power connectors, and is listed as an IGP (integrated graphics processor) in terms of slot width. The Radeon AI PRO R9700 is rated at 300 W TDP, requires a single 16-pin power connector, and is a dual-slot card. The suggested power supply for the AMD card is 700 W. The bus interface also differs: PCIe 4.0 x8 for the MX550 versus PCIe 5.0 x16 for the Radeon card.

API support is similar but not identical. Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. The MX550 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), while the Radeon AI PRO R9700 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2). The Radeon card also has specific display outputs: 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1a, whereas the MX550's outputs are listed as portable device dependent.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 wins every head-to-head benchmark, and it wins by a wide margin in most cases. Its 118,202 OpenCL score and 63,550 Vulkan score put it far beyond the MX550's reach. The 300 W TDP, 32 GB of memory, and 47.84 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput make it suitable for heavy compute tasks, AI workloads, and professional 3D rendering. The ray tracing cores add hardware support for ray-traced effects, which the MX550 lacks entirely. The dual-slot design with a 16-pin connector and 700 W suggested PSU indicates a workstation-class card that expects a serious power supply and chassis.

The NVIDIA GeForce MX550 wins in efficiency and portability. At 25 W TDP with no external power connectors, it is designed for thin laptops where space and cooling are constrained. Its IGP slot width and portable device dependent display outputs confirm that it is meant to be soldered into a motherboard rather than installed in a desktop tower. The 2 GB memory capacity and 64-bit bus are sufficient for light gaming, media playback, and basic productivity, but they will bottleneck any serious compute workload.

The Radeon AI PRO R9700 is the clear choice for anyone needing raw performance. Its 644.6 GB/s of memory bandwidth is essential for large datasets, and its 32 GB capacity allows it to hold substantial models or textures in VRAM. The 4 nm process and 53,900 million transistors indicate a modern, high-end design that is still in active production. It was released on 2025-07-22 and has a launch MSRP of 1,299 USD.

The MX550 is the better fit for legacy systems or ultra-portable devices where power draw is the limiting factor. Its 12 nm process and 4,700 million transistors are from an older era, and its production status is end-of-life. It was released on 2021-12-16 and has no recorded launch MSRP. For a user with a 25 W thermal budget, the MX550 offers a discrete GPU experience without the power requirements of a full-size card.

The percentile data adds nuance. The MX550 sits at the 72nd percentile of all GPUs, while the Radeon AI PRO R9700 sits at the 69th. That means the MX550, despite its low absolute performance, is a better-than-average GPU in the broader database context. The Radeon AI PRO R9700, despite its dominance over the MX550, is slightly below average relative to all GPUs. This is likely because its Passmark scores are low relative to its Geekbench results, dragging down its average.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 wins with a score of 118,202, which is 82.8% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce MX550's 20,372.

Q: How much faster is the Radeon AI PRO R9700 in Vulkan?

A: The AMD card scores 63,550 versus 32,469 for the MX550, a delta of 48.9% in favor of the Radeon AI PRO R9700.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference?

A: The Radeon AI PRO R9700 has 32 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 644.6 GB/s bandwidth. The MX550 has 2 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus with 96.00 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Does the MX550 support ray tracing?

A: No. The MX550 has no ray tracing cores listed in the database. The Radeon AI PRO R9700 has 64 ray tracing cores.

Q: What is the TDP of each card?

A: The MX550 is rated at 25 W, while the Radeon AI PRO R9700 is rated at 300 W. The Radeon card requires a single 16-pin power connector and a suggested 700 W power supply.

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The MX550 averages 26,421, which is higher than the Radeon AI PRO R9700's 23,315. However, the Radeon card wins every shared benchmark test.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA GeForce MX550 | AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 |

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

| Chip | TU117SB | Navi 48 |

| Architecture | Turing | RDNA 4.0 |

| Generation | GeForce MX (5xx) | Radeon Pro Navi (Navi IV Series) |

| Process Node | 12 nm | 4 nm |

| Transistors | 4,700 million | 53,900 million |

| Die Size | 200 mm² | 357 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 23.5M / mm² | 151.0M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1065 MHz | 1660 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1320 MHz | 2920 MHz |

| Game Clock | None | 2350 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1500 MHz, 12 Gbps effective | 2518 MHz, 20.1 Gbps effective |

| Memory Size | 2 GB | 32 GB |

| Memory Bus Width | 64 bit | 256 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 96.00 GB/s | 644.6 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 1024 | 4096 |

| TMUs | 32 | 256 |

| ROPs | 16 | 128 |

| RT Cores | None | 64 |

| Pixel Rate | 21.12 GPixel/s | 373.8 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 42.24 GTexel/s | 747.5 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 2.703 TFLOPS | 47.84 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 2.703 TFLOPS (1:1) | 47.84 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 25 W | 300 W |

| Slot Width | IGP | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | None | 1x 16-pin |

| Suggested PSU | None | 700 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 4.0 x8 | PCIe 5.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | Portable Device Dependent | 1x HDMI 2.1b, 3x DisplayPort 2.1a |

| DirectX | 12 (12_1) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| Production Status | End-of-life | Active |

| Release Date | 2021-12-16 | 2025-07-22 |

| Predecessor | None | Radeon Pro Vega |

| Launch MSRP | None | 1,299 USD |

| Dimensions | Not listed | 267 mm x 111 mm x 40 mm |