AMD Radeon Pro 455 vs AMD Radeon Pro 555 Comparison

The AMD Radeon Pro 555 and AMD Radeon Pro 455 are both GCN 4.0-based mobile graphics solutions, but the benchmark data shows a consistent, if narrow, advantage for the Pro 555. Across all three tested workloads, the Pro 555 wins, with the margin ranging from a marginal 0.5% to a more substantial 13%. The average benchmark scores reinforce this, with the Pro 555 achieving 13,407 versus the Pro 455's 12,831, placing the former at the 54th percentile and the latter at the 52nd percentile of all GPUs.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most decisive victory for the AMD Radeon Pro 555 comes in the Geekbench OpenCL test, where it scores 11,682 against the Pro 455's 10,336. This represents a 13% lead, the largest delta between the two cards in any benchmark. This significant gap suggests that in compute-heavy tasks that leverage OpenCL, the Pro 555 offers a clearly measurable performance advantage over its predecessor.

In the Geekbench Metal test, the Pro 555 again takes the lead, scoring 16,236 compared to the Pro 455's 15,916. The 2% delta here is much tighter than in OpenCL, indicating that on Apple's Metal API, the performance difference is less pronounced. While the Pro 555 still wins, the data shows that the two GPUs are closely matched in this specific workload, with the Pro 555's advantage being relatively small.

The Geekbench Vulkan results show the closest competition of the three benchmarks. The Pro 555 scores 12,303, narrowly edging out the Pro 455's 12,240, a difference of just 0.5%. This near-tie suggests that for Vulkan-based applications, users would be hard-pressed to notice any real-world performance distinction between the two cards, as the benchmark results are effectively within statistical noise.

Looking at the average benchmark score, the Pro 555's 13,407 places it in the company of the AMD Radeon HD 8950M (13,376) and NVIDIA P106-090 (13,470), with deltas of 0.2% and -0.5% respectively. The Pro 455's average of 12,831, meanwhile, puts it directly alongside the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 (12,830) with a 0% delta. This contextualizes the performance tier of each card relative to other legacy and mobile parts in the database.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the AMD Radeon Pro 555 is the faster GPU, winning all three head-to-head benchmark comparisons. Anyone choosing between these two based purely on performance should select the Pro 555, as it delivers a higher average benchmark score and a 13% advantage in OpenCL workloads. The Pro 455 does not win any of the direct comparisons, making its case solely on other factors like power consumption.

The AMD Radeon Pro 455 is the more power-efficient option, with a TDP of 35 W compared to the Pro 555's 75 W. For systems where thermal headroom and battery life are paramount, this lower power draw is a significant specification difference. However, the benchmark data shows this efficiency does not translate into a performance win in any tested workload; the Pro 455 consistently trails the Pro 555.

The Pro 555's 75 W TDP and IGP slot width suggest it is designed for larger, more robust systems, while the Pro 455's 35 W TDP and MXM Module form factor indicate a focus on more compact or power-sensitive designs. Ultimately, the choice is between the higher performance of the Pro 555 or the significantly lower power envelope of the Pro 455, with the performance crown going firmly to the former.

Architecture Differences

Both the AMD Radeon Pro 555 and the AMD Radeon Pro 455 are built on the same fundamental architecture, GCN 4.0, and are fabricated on the same 14 nm process node at GlobalFoundries. This shared foundation means the two GPUs are architecturally very similar, with the core design principles and instruction sets being identical. The Pro 555 is based on the Polaris 21 chip, while the Pro 455 uses the Baffin chip, which accounts for some of the minor differences in their specifications.

The transistor counts and die sizes are identical, with both chips packing 3,000 million transistors on a 123 mm² die. This results in the same transistor density of 24.4M per mm² for both. Given the identical process node, die size, and transistor budget, the architectural differences between the Polaris 21 and Baffin chips are primarily reflected in the minor clock speed and resulting throughput variations, rather than in any fundamental design overhaul.

Both GPUs support the same API feature set, including DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. This ensures software compatibility is consistent across the two cards. Neither GPU features dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores, and both rely on a traditional rasterization pipeline with 768 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 16 render output units.

Specification Differences

While the core architectures are nearly identical, the specifications reveal subtle differences that explain the performance gaps. The most notable difference is in power consumption, where the AMD Radeon Pro 555 has a TDP of 75 W, which is more than double the Pro 455's 35 W. This higher power budget likely allows the Pro 555 to sustain its performance characteristics.

The memory clocks differ slightly, with the Pro 555 running at 1275 MHz (5.1 Gbps effective) and the Pro 455 at 1270 MHz (5.1 Gbps effective). This small difference translates to a marginal bandwidth advantage for the Pro 555, which has 81.60 GB/s compared to the Pro 455's 81.28 GB/s. Both cards have 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus.

Interestingly, the Pro 455 has slightly higher throughput rates than the Pro 555 in some areas. The Pro 455's pixel rate is 13.68 GPixel/s versus 13.60 GPixel/s for the Pro 555, and its texture rate is 41.04 GTexel/s versus 40.80 GTexel/s. Similarly, the Pro 455's FP32 and FP16 performance is 1,313.3 GFLOPS compared to the Pro 555's 1,305.6 GFLOPS. Despite these nominal specification advantages for the Pro 455, the real-world benchmark results favor the Pro 555.

The physical form factor also differs, with the Pro 555 listed as an IGP (Integrated Graphics Processor) and the Pro 455 as an MXM Module. This indicates that the Pro 555 is typically soldered to the motherboard, while the Pro 455 is a replaceable module, which could have implications for serviceability and system design.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 555 has a higher average benchmark score of 13,407, compared to the AMD Radeon Pro 455's 12,831.

Q: What is the performance difference in the OpenCL benchmark?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 555 scores 11,682, which is 13% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro 455's score of 10,336.

Q: Which GPU consumes less power?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 455 has a significantly lower TDP of 35 W, compared to the AMD Radeon Pro 555's TDP of 75 W.

Q: Are both GPUs based on the same architecture?

A: Yes, both the AMD Radeon Pro 555 and AMD Radeon Pro 455 are based on the GCN 4.0 architecture and are manufactured on a 14 nm process node.

Q: What is the difference in the Vulkan benchmark scores?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 555 scores 12,303, which is just 0.5% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro 455's score of 12,240.

Q: Do both GPUs have the same amount of memory?

A: Yes, both the AMD Radeon Pro 555 and AMD Radeon Pro 455 come equipped with 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Pro 555 is the clear winner in all benchmark categories, making it the superior choice for performance-sensitive applications. Its 13% lead in OpenCL is particularly notable, suggesting it is better suited for compute tasks that utilize this API. For users running Metal-based applications, the Pro 555 still holds an advantage, though the 2% margin is smaller.

The AMD Radeon Pro 455's primary advantage lies in its power efficiency, with a TDP of 35 W versus the Pro 555's 75 W. This makes it the preferred option for systems where power consumption and thermal output are critical constraints. The data shows that this efficiency does not come at a significant cost in Vulkan performance, where the Pro 455 trails by only 0.5%.

The choice between the two depends on the priority of the user. For maximum performance in OpenCL and Metal workloads, the AMD Radeon Pro 555 is the definitive choice. For a more power-efficient solution where the performance delta is less critical, the AMD Radeon Pro 455 offers a compelling alternative, especially in Vulkan-based scenarios where the performance gap is nearly negligible.