AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT vs AMD Radeon RX 480 Comparison

# AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT vs AMD Radeon RX 480

The database places the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT and the AMD Radeon RX 480 in adjacent performance tiers. Their aggregate benchmark scores sit close to the 80th percentile of all recorded GPUs, which makes this comparison relevant for systems targeting high-end rendering workloads. The data shows a clear split: the Radeon Pro 5500 XT leads in two of the three recorded cross-benchmarks, while the Radeon RX 480 takes the remaining test by a significant margin. This page breaks down where each card wins, where it loses, and what the architectural differences suggest about those results.

Where Each One Wins

The head-to-head data covers three benchmarks: Geekbench Metal, Geekbench OpenCL, and Geekbench Vulkan. The Radeon Pro 5500 XT wins the Metal test with a score of 54,779 against 51,057, a delta of 7.3%. The Radeon RX 480 takes the OpenCL test with 41,772 against 37,998, a 9.9% advantage. The Vulkan result flips back to the Radeon Pro 5500 XT: 39,601 versus 45,968, a difference of 13.9% in favor of the RX 480.

The win pattern is therefore 2 to 1 in favor of the Radeon Pro 5500 XT. It is worth remembering the two wins for the Pro card come in the higher-level API tests, while the RX 480's sole win is in the Vulkan test. The Vulkan delta is the largest single margin in either direction, so the RX 480's loss there is offset by a strong gain elsewhere.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural families. The Radeon Pro 5500 XT is built on the Navi 14 chip with the RDNA 1.0 architecture, manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It packs 6,400 million transistors on a 158 mm² die, for a transistor density of 40.5 million per mm². The Radeon RX 480 uses the Ellesmere chip with GCN 4.0 architecture, built on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It carries 5,700 million transistors across a 232 mm² die, a density of 24.6 million per mm².

The process node difference is substantial: 7 nm versus 14 nm. This gives the Navi chip a smaller die area while holding more transistors. Clock behavior supports the Radeon Pro 5500 XT's case. Its base clock is 1187 MHz with a boost up to 1757 MHz. The RX 480 starts at 1120 MHz and boosts to 1266 MHz. Memory clocks also differ: the Radeon Pro 5500 XT runs its 8 GB GDDR6 at 1750 MHz, which yields 14 Gbps effective data rate across a 128-bit bus. The RX 480 uses 8 GB GDDR5 at 2000 MHz, configured as 256-bit, resulting in 8 Gbps effective.

The memory systems are not identical. The Pro 5500 XT has 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth, while the RX 480 reaches 256.0 GB/s. However, the Radeon Pro 5500 XT has 1536 shading units, 96 texture memory units, and 32 ROPs. The RX 480 is equipped with 2304 shaders, 144 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The Pro card's pixel fill rate is 56.22 GPixel/s and texture fill rate is 168.7 GTexel/s. The RX 480 outputs 40.51 GPixel/s pixel and 182.3 GTexel/s texture. Compute performance is listed as 5.398 TFLOPS FP32 for the Pro 5500 XT, while the RX 480 is rated at 5.834 TFLOPS FP32. The Pro's FP16 rating is listed at 10.80 TFLOPS at 2:1 ratio, the RX 480's FP16 is equal to its FP32 rating at 1:1.

The Verdict

From the recorded data, the two cards are close enough that the application decides the winner. The Radeon Pro 5500 XT wins in Metal by 7.3%, which is a large margin in the low-level graphics API. It also wins in OpenCL by 9.9%. The Radeon RX 480's Vulkan score is 13.9% higher than the Pro 5500 XT, the largest spread in the entire head-to-head. The RX 480's lower FP32 rate (5.834 TFLOPS vs 5.398 TFLOPS) is partially compensated by its higher memory bandwidth and wider bus. Yet the Pro 5500 XT's newer architecture and higher clock rate give it the edge in two of the three workloads. Users targeting Metal or OpenCL workloads should favor the Radeon Pro 5500 XT; those with Vulkan-centric workloads should weigh the RX 480's advantage.

FAQ

Q: Which card has higher peak boost clock?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT boosts up to 1757 MHz. The AMD Radeon RX 480 boosts to 1266 MHz.

Q: What is the memory difference?

A: The Radeon Pro 5500 XT uses 8 GB GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, with 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Radeon RX 480 uses 8 GB GDDR5 at 256-bit, with 256.0 GB/s.

Q: Are the process nodes different?

A: Yes. The 5500 XT is built on TSMC's 7 nm process. The RX 480 is on GlobalFoundries 14 nm.

Q: Which GPU has more shading units?

A: The Radeon RX 480 has 2304 shading units. The Radeon Pro 5500 XT has 1536.

Q: What is the production status of both cards?

A: The Radeon Pro 5500 XT is listed as end-of-life. The Radeon RX 480 is also end-of-life.

Q: Do both cards support DirectX 12?

A: Yes. The Pro 5500 XT is listed for DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RX 480 is listed for DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The largest win for the Radeon Pro 5500 XT is in Geekbench Vulkan, where it scores 39,601 versus 45,468. That is a 13.9% edge for the Radeon RX 480. The Pro 5500 XT's other two wins are both in Geekbench Metal (54,779 vs 51,057, +7.3%) and Geekbench OpenCL (41,772 vs 37,998, +9.9%). The two cards are reversed in the OpenCL test, with the RX 480 ahead by 9.9% in the OpenCL test. The data indicates the Pro 5500 XT's architecture provides an advantage in Apple's Metal API and in the generic OpenCL compute workloads, whereas the RX 480's older GCN design is better suited for Vulkan.

Specification Differences

The core specifications diverge in several notable fields. The Radeon Pro 5500 XT uses the Navi 14 chip with RDNA 1.0 architecture, while the Radeon RX 480 is built around Ellesmere with GCN 4.0. The former uses a 7 nm process at TSMC, the latter a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. The Radeon Pro 5500 XT has 6,400 million transistors on a 158 mm² die, while the Radeon RX 480 has 5,700 million on a 232 mm² die. The memory type also differs: GDDR6 on the Radeon Pro 5500 XT versus GDDR5 on the Radeon RX 480. The Radeon Pro 5500 XT has a 128-bit memory bus, the RX 480 a 256-bit bus. Bandwidth goes to 224.0 GB/s for the Pro 5500 XT, while the RX 480 reaches 256.0 GB/s. Shading units: 1536 for the 5500 XT, 2304 for the RX 480. TMUs: 96 versus 144, while both have 32 ROPs.