AMD Radeon Pro 450 vs AMD Radeon RX 580 Comparison

The Verdict

The RX 580 is the clear performance winner, dominating the Pro 450 in every recorded benchmark. It is the pick for anyone running GPU-accelerated tasks like gaming, 3D rendering, or OpenCL compute. The Pro 450 is a low-power mobile part. It targets portable Mac systems where a 35 W TDP and MXM form factor matter more than raw speed. Choose the RX 580 for desktop performance, choose the Pro 450 for a compact, low-power mobile workstation.

Architecture Differences

Both cards use the same GCN 4.0 architecture and are built on the same 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. However, the chips are very different in scale. The RX 580 uses the Polaris 20 die, which contains 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die. The Pro 450 uses the Baffin chip, with 3,000 million transistors on a 123 mm² die. Transistor density is nearly identical, at 24.6M per mm² for the RX 580 and 24.4M per mm² for the Pro 450.

The RX 580 features 2,304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 32 raster operations pipelines. The Pro 450 has 640 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. This means the RX 580 has roughly 3.6 times the shading units, 3.6 times the TMUs, and double the ROPs of the Pro 450.

Memory architecture also differs. The RX 580 has 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, yielding 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Pro 450 has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, giving 81.28 GB/s. The RX 580 memory clock is listed at 2000 MHz with 8 Gbps effective, while the Pro 450 runs at 1270 MHz with 5.1 Gbps effective.

Both support DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. Neither has ray tracing or tensor cores. The RX 580 uses a PCIe 3.0 x16 interface, while the Pro 450 uses PCIe 3.0 x8. Display output differs: the RX 580 has 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the Pro 450 relies on portable device dependent outputs.

FAQ

Q: Which card has higher raw compute performance?

A: The RX 580. It delivers 6.175 TFLOPS of FP32 and FP16 (1:1), while the Pro 450 delivers 1,024.0 GFLOPS for both. This is a massive difference.

Q: What is the power draw comparison?

A: The RX 580 has a 185 W TDP with a dual-slot cooler and requires a 1x 8-pin power connector and a 450 W suggested PSU. The Pro 450 has a 35 W TDP, uses an MXM Module slot, and has no separate power connector or suggested PSU listed.

Q: How do the memory specs differ?

A: The RX 580 has 8 GB GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 256.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Pro 450 has 2 GB GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus with 81.28 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 580 memory runs at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective), versus 1270 MHz (5.1 Gbps effective) for the Pro 450.

Q: Which card is faster in Vulkan workloads?

A: The RX 580. In the Geekbench Vulkan test, it scores 45,173 versus 10,518 for the Pro 450, a 329.5% advantage.

Q: Are these cards still in production?

A: No. Both are listed as end-of-life. The RX 580 was released on 2017-04-17, and the Pro 450 was released on 2016-10-29.

Q: What is the form factor difference?

A: The RX 580 is a dual-slot desktop card measuring 241 mm (9.5 inches) long. The Pro 450 is an MXM Module, a small removable graphics module for portable systems.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon RX 580 | AMD Radeon Pro 450 |

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

| Chip | Polaris 20 | Baffin |

| Generation | Polaris (RX 500) | Radeon Pro Mac (400 Series) |

| Transistors | 5,700 million | 3,000 million |

| Die Size | 232 mm² | 123 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 24.6M / mm² | 24.4M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1257 MHz | None listed |

| Boost Clock | 1340 MHz | None listed |

| Memory Clock | 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective) | 1270 MHz (5.1 Gbps effective) |

| Memory Size | 8 GB | 2 GB |

| Bus Width | 256 bit | 128 bit |

| Bandwidth | 256.0 GB/s | 81.28 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 2304 | 640 |

| TMUs | 144 | 40 |

| ROPs | 32 | 16 |

| Pixel Rate | 42.88 GPixel/s | 12.80 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 193.0 GTexel/s | 32.00 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 6.175 TFLOPS | 1,024.0 GFLOPS |

| FP16 | 6.175 TFLOPS (1:1) | 1,024.0 GFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 185 W | 35 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | MXM Module |

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

| Suggested PSU | 450 W | None |

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

| Display Outputs | 1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a | Portable Device Dependent |

| Release Date | 2017-04-17 | 2016-10-29 |

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The RX 580 wins all three recorded head-to-head tests. The gaps are enormous.

In Geekbench Metal, the RX 580 scores 45,235 against 12,893 for the Pro 450. That is a 250.8% advantage. Metal is Apple's graphics API, which matters for Mac users. The Pro 450 is a Mac-oriented card, yet the older desktop RX 580 still beats it by a factor of 3.5 in this test.

Geekbench OpenCL shows an even larger gap. The RX 580 scores 37,453, the Pro 450 scores 9,002. The delta is 316.1%. OpenCL is a general-purpose compute API, and the RX 580's higher shading unit count and memory bandwidth translate directly into a massive compute lead.

The biggest difference appears in Geekbench Vulkan. The RX 580 scores 45,173, the Pro 450 scores 10,518, a 329.5% margin. Vulkan is a modern low-overhead API, and the RX 580's architectural advantage is most pronounced here.

Looking at the average benchmark scores, the RX 580 averages 12,928 across all tests, while the Pro 450 averages 10,804. The RX 580 sits at the 53rd percentile of all GPUs, the Pro 450 at the 49th. The nearest rivals for the RX 580 are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (average 12,940, -0.1%), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER (12,986, -0.4%), AMD Radeon 740M (12,870, +0.5%), and AMD FirePro W5100 (12,847, +0.6%). For the Pro 450, its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Quadro K2200 (10,761, +0.4%), NVIDIA GeForce MX350 (10,883, -0.7%), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti (10,690, +1.1%), and AMD Radeon RX 6600S (10,629, +1.7%).

Where Each One Wins

The RX 580 wins every category where performance matters. It leads in pixel rate (42.88 GPixel/s versus 12.80), texture rate (193.0 GTexel/s versus 32.00), and raw FP32 throughput (6.175 TFLOPS versus 1,024.0 GFLOPS). Memory bandwidth favors the RX 580 at 256.0 GB/s versus 81.28 GB/s. If you need to run modern games at high settings, render scenes, or process compute workloads, the RX 580 is the only choice between these two.

The Pro 450 wins where efficiency and form factor matter. Its TDP is 35 W versus 185 W, a dramatic difference. It is an MXM Module, meaning it fits into portable systems. The RX 580 is a dual-slot desktop card that needs a 450 W PSU and an 8-pin connector. For a laptop or small Mac desktop, the Pro 450 is the workable option. It also has a smaller die (123 mm² versus 232 mm²) and fewer transistors, which contributes to its lower power draw. It was released earlier, on 2016-10-29, versus 2017-04-17 for the RX 580.

In practical terms, the Pro 450 is for users who need a basic GPU in a compact mobile system, where power limits are strict. The RX 580 is for desktop users who want real performance and have the power budget and physical space for it. The benchmark data shows no scenario where the Pro 450 outscores the RX 580. The RX 580's dominance in compute and graphics is consistent across all APIs tested, making it the superior part unless low power consumption or a mobile form factor is the primary requirement.