AMD Radeon Pro 450 vs AMD Radeon RX 6500M Comparison

The AMD Radeon Pro 450 and the AMD Radeon RX 6500M represent two vastly different eras of mobile graphics, separated by over five years of architectural evolution. The data reveals a stark generational gap, with the newer RX 6500M delivering benchmark scores that dwarf the older Pro 450, despite the fact that both GPUs occupy a similar low-to-mid-range percentile position among all GPUs. The benchmark results are not close; they are evidence of the rapid pace of performance scaling in the mobile graphics space.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The direct comparison in the data is unequivocal. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the AMD Radeon RX 6500M scores 38,586, which is a staggering 76.7% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro 450's score of 9,002. This is not a marginal improvement; it is a four-fold increase in raw compute performance. The deltaPct of -76.7% indicates that the Pro 450's score is a fraction of the RX 6500M's, showcasing the immense leap in processing power achieved by the newer architecture.

The trend continues in the Geekbench Vulkan test, where the RX 6500M again dominates with a score of 43,837 compared to the Pro 450's 10,518. This represents a 76% deficit for the older card. While the Pro 450's Vulkan score is higher than its OpenCL score, suggesting some relative strength in that API, it is still completely outclassed by the RX 6500M, which also performs better in Vulkan than in OpenCL. The data shows a clear and consistent winner across all available head-to-head benchmarks, with the RX 6500M achieving roughly four times the performance of the Pro 450 in both test scenarios.

Where Each One Wins

Based on the head-to-head data, the AMD Radeon RX 6500M wins in every single benchmark category where both cards were tested. There are no test results in the provided data where the AMD Radeon Pro 450 emerges victorious. The newer card's wins in both OpenCL and Vulkan indicate a broad superiority in general-purpose compute and modern graphics API workloads. The Pro 450's only potential advantage lies in its much lower 35 W TDP compared to the RX 6500M's 50 W, which could make it a more power-efficient option for extremely thin and light portable devices, but this does not translate into any performance wins.

The RX 6500M's additional benchmark results, while not directly comparable to the Pro 450, paint a picture of its capabilities. Its Passmark G3D score of 7,531 and G2D score of 385 show it is a capable performer in legacy DirectX workloads as well. However, the core takeaway is that the RX 6500M is the definitive performance winner in this pairing, with the Pro 450 offering no performance counterpoints.

Architecture Differences

The architectural chasm between these two GPUs explains the massive performance gap. The AMD Radeon Pro 450 is built on the older GCN 4.0 architecture and uses the Baffin chip, fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. In contrast, the AMD Radeon RX 6500M utilizes the modern RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 24 chip, manufactured on a much more advanced 6 nm process at TSMC. This process shrink allows the RX 6500M to pack 5,400 million transistors into a smaller 107 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 50.5M / mm², compared to the Pro 450's 3,000 million transistors on a larger 123 mm² die (24.4M / mm²).

The core configurations are also vastly different. The RX 6500M has 1,024 shading units, 64 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 32 render output units (ROPs), double the Pro 450's 640 shaders, 40 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. Critically, the RX 6500M features 16 dedicated ray tracing cores, a technology entirely absent from the older GCN-based Pro 450. This gives the RX 6500M support for DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Pro 450 is limited to DirectX 12 (12_0). The memory subsystems also differ significantly, with the RX 6500M using faster GDDR6 memory on a 64-bit bus to achieve 144.0 GB/s of bandwidth, while the Pro 450 uses GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus for 81.28 GB/s. The RX 6500M also supports PCIe 4.0 x4, while the Pro 450 is limited to PCIe 3.0 x8.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in the Geekbench OpenCL test?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6500M is significantly faster, scoring 38,586 compared to the AMD Radeon Pro 450's 9,002, a performance delta of 76.7%.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon Pro 450 have any ray tracing capabilities?

A: No. The Pro 450 is based on the GCN 4.0 architecture and has no ray tracing cores. The RX 6500M, in contrast, has 16 ray tracing cores.

Q: How do their memory bandwidths compare?

A: The RX 6500M has a higher memory bandwidth of 144.0 GB/s using GDDR6 memory, while the Pro 450 offers 81.28 GB/s with GDDR5 memory.

Q: What is the difference in their power consumption?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 450 has a lower TDP of 35 W, while the AMD Radeon RX 6500M has a TDP of 50 W.

Q: Which GPU supports the newer PCIe standard?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6500M supports PCIe 4.0 x4, while the AMD Radeon Pro 450 is limited to the older PCIe 3.0 x8 interface.

Q: Are these GPUs comparable in overall performance ranking?

A: Despite the massive performance gap in benchmarks, their overall percentile ranks are surprisingly similar, with the Pro 450 at the 49th percentile and the RX 6500M at the 48th percentile of all GPUs. This suggests the Pro 450 was a high performer in its own era.

The Verdict

The data points to an unambiguous conclusion: the AMD Radeon RX 6500M is the superior graphics processor by a massive margin. Its benchmark scores in OpenCL and Vulkan are approximately four times higher than those of the AMD Radeon Pro 450. For any application that leverages compute performance or modern graphics APIs, the RX 6500M is the clear choice. Its modern RDNA 2.0 architecture also brings features like hardware ray tracing and DirectX 12 Ultimate support, which the older card cannot offer.

The only area where the AMD Radeon Pro 450 might be considered is in scenarios where power consumption is the absolute highest priority. Its 35 W TDP is 30% lower than the RX 6500M's 50 W, which could be a critical factor for ultra-portable, fanless designs. However, this power efficiency comes at the cost of a four-fold performance penalty. For the vast majority of users, the performance and feature advantages of the RX 6500M are so overwhelming that the Pro 450's lower power draw is unlikely to be a decisive factor, unless a specific system design requires it.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon Pro 450 | AMD Radeon RX 6500M |

|:--- |:--- |:--- |

| Architecture | GCN 4.0 | RDNA 2.0 |

| Process Node | 14 nm | 6 nm |

| Foundry | GlobalFoundries | TSMC |

| Transistors | 3,000 million | 5,400 million |

| Die Size | 123 mm² | 107 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 24.4M / mm² | 50.5M / mm² |

| Base Clock | Not specified | 2000 MHz |

| Boost Clock | Not specified | 2400 MHz |

| Game Clock | Not specified | 2191 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1270 MHz / 5.1 Gbps effective | 2250 MHz / 18 Gbps effective |

| Memory Size | 2 GB | 4 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus Width | 128 bit | 64 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 81.28 GB/s | 144.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 640 | 1024 |

| TMUs | 40 | 64 |

| ROPs | 16 | 32 |

| Ray Tracing Cores | Not specified | 16 |

| Pixel Rate | 12.80 GPixel/s | 76.80 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 32.00 GTexel/s | 153.6 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 1,024.0 GFLOPS | 4.915 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 1,024.0 GFLOPS (1:1) | 9.830 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 35 W | 50 W |

| Slot Width | MXM Module | IGP |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x8 | PCIe 4.0 x4 |

| DirectX Support | 12 (12_0) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.3 | 1.4 |