AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT vs AMD Radeon Pro W5700X Comparison

The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X and the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT are both RDNA 1.0 workstation cards from the same Mac-oriented generation, but the benchmark data reveals a clear hierarchy. The Pro W5700X wins all three recorded head-to-head tests, with the largest gap in Geekbench Metal, where it scores 75427 against the Pro 5500 XT's 54779, a 37.7% advantage. The OpenCL result is much closer: 43810 versus 41772, a 4.9% margin, while the Vulkan test shows a 14.3% lead (45246 vs 39601). The overall average benchmark score for the Pro W5700X is 54828, placing it at the 87th percentile of all GPUs, while the Pro 5500 XT averages 45384 and sits at the 84th percentile.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most decisive win for the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X comes in Geekbench Metal, a compute API heavily used in macOS creative workflows. The 37.7% delta is substantial, and the raw numbers (75427 vs 54779) show that the Pro W5700X delivers a fundamentally higher level of performance in this test. This is not a marginal difference; it is a leap that will be immediately noticeable in Metal-accelerated rendering or compute tasks.

The Vulkan result narrows the gap but still favors the Pro W5700X decisively. A score of 45246 versus 39601 means the Pro W5700X is 14.3% faster, which is a meaningful margin for cross-platform workloads. Interestingly, the OpenCL benchmark is nearly a tie in relative terms, with the Pro W5700X scoring 43810 against the Pro 5500 XT's 41772, a slim 4.9% lead. This suggests that the two cards scale differently depending on the API, with the Pro W5700X's larger compute configuration mattering more in Metal and Vulkan than in OpenCL.

When comparing the Pro W5700X to its nearest rivals in the database, its average score of 54828 is 1.1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 (54247) and 1.1% ahead of the RTX 4080 SUPER (54209). It trails the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB by 1.6% (55698) and the AMD Radeon 8060S by 1.7% (55757). The Pro 5500 XT, with its average of 45384, sits 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile (45152) and 1.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti (44795), while being 0.5% behind the Intel Arc A730M (45592) and 1.3% behind the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation (45972). These rival positions confirm that the Pro W5700X competes with high-end consumer and workstation GPUs, while the Pro 5500 XT is closer to mid-range mobile and desktop parts.

The Verdict

From the recorded data, the choice is unambiguous for raw compute performance: the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X is the superior card. It wins every benchmark in the head-to-head comparison, and its average score is 20.8% higher than the Pro 5500 XT's (54828 vs 45384). The Pro W5700X also holds a higher percentile ranking (87th vs 84th), meaning it outperforms a greater share of the GPU population in the database.

However, the Pro 5500 XT is not without its own context. Its OpenCL score is only 4.9% behind, suggesting that for certain OpenCL-bound tasks, the performance gap is nearly negligible. The Pro 5500 XT also requires significantly less power (125 W vs 205 W) and uses a smaller die (158 mm² vs 251 mm²), which could make it a more suitable choice for systems with tighter thermal or power constraints. Yet, the data does not show any benchmark where the Pro 5500 XT wins, so any recommendation for it must be based on factors outside the recorded performance metrics, such as physical fit or power delivery.

For users who prioritize compute throughput in Metal or Vulkan, the Pro W5700X is the only defensible pick based on these numbers. Its 37.7% Metal lead and 14.3% Vulkan lead are too large to ignore. The Pro 5500 XT is a capable card in its own right, but the data positions it as a lower-tier option within the same architecture family.

Architecture Differences

Both cards share the RDNA 1.0 architecture and are built on TSMC's 7 nm process, but they use different chips. The Pro W5700X is based on Navi 10, while the Pro 5500 XT uses Navi 14. The transistor counts differ accordingly: the Pro W5700X packs 10,300 million transistors on a 251 mm² die, yielding a density of 41.0M per mm², while the Pro 5500 XT has 6,400 million transistors on a 158 mm² die, with a slightly lower density of 40.5M per mm².

The compute configuration scales with the chip size. The Pro W5700X has 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operations pipelines, whereas the Pro 5500 XT has 1536 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. This directly explains the performance differences: the Pro W5700X has 66.7% more shading units and double the ROPs. The clock speeds also favor the Pro W5700X, with a base of 1243 MHz and a boost of 2040 MHz, compared to 1187 MHz base and 1757 MHz boost on the Pro 5500 XT.

Memory is another major divergence. The Pro W5700X offers 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, while the Pro 5500 XT has 8 GB on a 128-bit bus, capping at 224.0 GB/s. This is a 100% difference in both capacity and bandwidth, which has substantial implications for large data sets or high-resolution textures. The memory clock is identical at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective), so the bandwidth gap is purely a function of bus width.

Pixel and texture rates reflect the ROP and TMU counts. The Pro W5700X achieves 130.6 GPixel/s and 326.4 GTexel/s, while the Pro 5500 XT reaches 56.22 GPixel/s and 168.7 GTexel/s. The FP32 throughput is 10.44 TFLOPS for the Pro W5700X and 5.398 TFLOPS for the Pro 5500 XT, with FP16 rates of 20.89 TFLOPS and 10.80 TFLOPS respectively, both at a 2:1 ratio. Neither card has dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X averages 54828, which is 20.8% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT's 45384.

Q: How much faster is the Pro W5700X in Geekbench Metal?

A: The Pro W5700X scores 75427 versus 54779, a 37.7% lead over the Pro 5500 XT.

Q: Do both cards support the same graphics APIs?

A: Yes, both support DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The Pro W5700X has 448.0 GB/s bandwidth on a 256-bit bus, while the Pro 5500 XT has 224.0 GB/s on a 128-bit bus.

Q: Which card has a higher boost clock?

A: The Pro W5700X boosts to 2040 MHz, compared to 1757 MHz on the Pro 5500 XT.

Q: Are there any benchmark tests where the Pro 5500 XT wins?

A: No, the recorded data shows the Pro W5700X winning all three tests: Metal, OpenCL, and Vulkan.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X is the clear winner in Metal-based workloads, which are common in macOS applications for video editing, 3D rendering, and GPU-accelerated effects. Its 37.7% Metal advantage is the strongest single metric in the comparison. It also wins in Vulkan by 14.3%, making it the better choice for cross-platform game development or Vulkan compute tasks. The Pro W5700X's 16 GB memory capacity and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth give it a substantial edge in texture-heavy scenes or large model datasets, where the Pro 5500 XT's 8 GB and 224.0 GB/s could become bottlenecks.

The AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT does not win any benchmark, but its closest result is in OpenCL, where it trails by only 4.9%. For OpenCL-specific applications, the performance difference is minor, and the Pro 5500 XT's lower power draw (125 W vs 205 W) and lack of external power connectors make it a more flexible option for systems with limited power delivery. Its IGP slot width and PCIe 4.0 x8 interface also indicate a design intended for integrated or space-constrained Mac configurations, whereas the Pro W5700X uses an Apple MPX bus and a quad-slot form factor.

For users who need maximum compute throughput, the Pro W5700X is the only choice. For users who prioritize power efficiency or have physical installation limits, the Pro 5500 XT is the viable alternative, but the data shows it will deliver noticeably lower performance in most scenarios.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every core specification. The chip design is different: Navi 10 for the Pro W5700X versus Navi 14 for the Pro 5500 XT. The Pro W5700X has 10,300 million transistors on a 251 mm² die, while the Pro 5500 XT has 6,400 million on a 158 mm² die. Transistor density is nearly identical (41.0M vs 40.5M per mm²). The Pro W5700X has a base clock of 1243 MHz and a boost of 2040 MHz, while the Pro 5500 XT runs at 1187 MHz base and 1757 MHz boost.

Memory specifications diverge significantly: the Pro W5700X has 16 GB GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the Pro 5500 XT has 8 GB GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 224.0 GB/s. The shading unit count is 2560 versus 1536, TMUs are 160 versus 96, and ROPs are 64 versus 32. Pixel rate is 130.6 GPixel/s versus 56.22 GPixel/s, texture rate is 326.4 GTexel/s versus 168.7 GTexel/s, and FP32 is 10.44 TFLOPS versus 5.398 TFLOPS. FP16 scales accordingly at 20.89 TFLOPS and 10.80 TFLOPS.

Power and physical specs also differ: the Pro W5700X has a TDP of 205 W with a suggested PSU of 550 W and a quad-slot design, while the Pro 5500 XT has a TDP of 125 W, a suggested PSU of 300 W, and is an IGP with no power connectors and no display outputs. The Pro W5700X uses an Apple MPX bus interface and offers 1x HDMI 2.0b and 4x Thunderbolt outputs, while the Pro 5500 XT uses PCIe 4.0 x8 and has no outputs. The Pro W5700X has a length of 305 mm, while the Pro 5500 XT has no recorded dimensions. The release dates differ: the Pro W5700X launched on 2019-12-10, and the Pro 5500 XT on 2020-08-03. The Pro W5700X has a launch MSRP of 999 USD, while the Pro 5500 XT has no recorded launch MSRP. Both are end-of-life products.