AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT vs NVIDIA CMP 30HX Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a decisive NVIDIA CMP 30HX advantage across every shared benchmark test. In Geekbench OpenCL, the NVIDIA CMP 30HX scores 65,199 against the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT's 41,772, producing a 56.1% delta in favor of NVIDIA. The Vulkan test tells a similar story: NVIDIA scores 62,484 while AMD manages 39,601, a 57.8% advantage. These are not marginal differences; they represent a substantial performance gap that appears consistently across different compute APIs.

Looking at the average benchmark scores, the NVIDIA CMP 30HX achieves 63,842 while the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT averages 45,384. That places the NVIDIA part roughly 40.7% ahead on average, a significant margin that aligns with its higher percentile ranking of 89 versus AMD's 84. The NVIDIA GPU sits near the top of the database's overall GPU population, while the AMD card remains respectable but clearly a tier below in raw compute performance.

The head-to-head record stands at 2 wins for NVIDIA and 0 for AMD. There is no benchmark category in the shared test set where the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT manages to outpace the NVIDIA CMP 30HX. The closest comparison would be if we examined the AMD card's Metal score of 54,779, but that test has no corresponding NVIDIA result, so it cannot be used for a direct head-to-head comparison. Within the tests both cards took, NVIDIA wins every round.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA CMP 30HX wins in OpenCL and Vulkan compute workloads, and it does so with commanding margins. The 56.1% OpenCL lead and 57.8% Vulkan lead indicate that applications leveraging these APIs for general-purpose GPU compute, rendering, or acceleration will see substantially better throughput on the NVIDIA card. The NVIDIA card's FP32 performance of 5.027 TFLOPS and FP16 of 10.05 TFLOPS support this compute-oriented strength, though the AMD card actually posts slightly higher theoretical FP32 at 5.398 TFLOPS and FP16 at 10.80 TFLOPS. The benchmark results, however, show that theoretical peak does not translate into real-world wins for AMD.

The AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT has no recorded wins in the shared benchmark suite. Its only distinct advantage appears in the Metal API, where it scores 54,779, a result that cannot be compared directly to NVIDIA since the NVIDIA card has no Metal benchmark recorded. For macOS environments that rely heavily on Metal, this could be relevant, but the data does not permit a direct comparison. The AMD card also offers 8 GB of memory versus 6 GB on NVIDIA, which could matter for larger datasets, though the NVIDIA card's 336.0 GB/s bandwidth versus AMD's 224.0 GB/s gives NVIDIA a memory throughput edge despite the smaller capacity.

For pure compute throughput, the NVIDIA card is the clear winner. For memory capacity in compute tasks that exceed 6 GB, the AMD card holds an advantage. For Metal-specific workloads, AMD has a recorded score, but no NVIDIA equivalent exists in the database.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different architectural generations. NVIDIA's CMP 30HX uses the TU116 chip built on the Turing architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 12 nm process. AMD's Radeon Pro 5500 XT uses the Navi 14 chip based on RDNA 1.0, built on TSMC's 7 nm node. The process difference is stark: 12 nm versus 7 nm, which explains why AMD packs 6,400 million transistors into a 158 mm² die while NVIDIA fits 6,600 million into a much larger 284 mm² die. Transistor density reflects this: AMD achieves 40.5M transistors per mm² versus NVIDIA's 23.2M per mm².

Clock speeds differ notably. The NVIDIA card has a base clock of 1530 MHz and a boost of 1785 MHz. The AMD card starts lower at 1187 MHz base but boosts to 1757 MHz, nearly matching NVIDIA's boost. Memory clocks are identical at 1750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective data rate, but the memory subsystems diverge: NVIDIA uses a 192-bit bus with 6 GB GDDR6 delivering 336.0 GB/s, while AMD uses a 128-bit bus with 8 GB GDDR6 delivering 224.0 GB/s.

Core configurations differ in composition. NVIDIA fields 1408 shading units, 88 texture mapping units, and 48 ROPs. AMD counters with 1536 shading units, 96 TMUs, but only 32 ROPs. The higher TMU count on AMD contributes to its 168.7 GTexel/s texture rate versus NVIDIA's 157.1 GTexel/s, but NVIDIA's pixel rate of 85.68 GPixel/s far exceeds AMD's 56.22 GPixel/s due to the ROP advantage. Neither card includes ray tracing cores or tensor cores.

Both cards share the same API support: DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Power consumption is identical at 125 W TDP with a suggested PSU of 300 W. The NVIDIA card requires a 1x 8-pin power connector and occupies a dual-slot form factor measuring 229 mm in length. The AMD card uses no power connectors, is listed as an IGP (integrated graphics processor) form factor, and has no recorded dimensions. Both cards have no display outputs, consistent with their compute or mining-oriented positioning.

The bus interfaces differ: NVIDIA uses PCIe 1.0 x4 (an unusual and potentially limiting choice) while AMD uses PCIe 4.0 x8. The release dates show NVIDIA arriving later on 2021-02-24 versus AMD's 2020-08-03, and both are marked as end-of-life production.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA CMP 30HX averages 63,842 while the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT averages 45,384, a difference of roughly 40.7% in NVIDIA's favor.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT win any shared benchmark?

A: No. In the two shared tests (Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan), NVIDIA wins both, with leads of 56.1% and 57.8% respectively.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference?

A: The AMD card has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the NVIDIA card has 6 GB. However, NVIDIA's memory bandwidth is 336.0 GB/s versus AMD's 224.0 GB/s.

Q: Which GPU has a smaller manufacturing process?

A: AMD uses TSMC's 7 nm process, while NVIDIA uses TSMC's 12 nm. AMD's die is 158 mm² compared to NVIDIA's 284 mm².

Q: Are there any benchmark results unique to one card?

A: Yes. AMD has a Geekbench Metal score of 54,779, which has no NVIDIA equivalent in the database. NVIDIA has no unique benchmark tests recorded.

Q: What is the transistor count on each GPU?

A: NVIDIA's TU116 has 6,600 million transistors, while AMD's Navi 14 has 6,400 million transistors.

The Verdict

The data directs a clear choice for compute performance: the NVIDIA CMP 30HX outperforms the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT in every shared benchmark by a wide margin. The 56.1% OpenCL lead and 57.8% Vulkan lead are substantial enough that any workload relying on these APIs will favor NVIDIA decisively. The NVIDIA card also holds a higher percentile ranking (89 versus 84), indicating it outperforms a larger share of the overall GPU population.

The AMD card's advantages are narrower and more situational. Its 8 GB memory capacity exceeds NVIDIA's 6 GB, useful for memory-bound tasks that fit within 8 GB but exceed 6 GB. Its Metal score of 54,779 suggests some capability in macOS environments, though without a corresponding NVIDIA score, the relative performance remains unknown. The AMD card also offers PCIe 4.0 x8 connectivity versus NVIDIA's unusual PCIe 1.0 x4, which could affect data transfer in some system configurations.

For buyers prioritizing raw compute throughput across OpenCL and Vulkan, the NVIDIA CMP 30HX is the documented winner. For those who need more memory capacity or operate in Metal-centric Mac environments, the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT presents a defensible alternative, but the benchmark evidence shows it cannot match NVIDIA's compute performance.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA CMP 30HX | AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT |

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

| Architecture | Turing | RDNA 1.0 |

| Process Node | 12 nm | 7 nm |

| Die Size | 284 mm² | 158 mm² |

| Transistors | 6,600 million | 6,400 million |

| Transistor Density | 23.2M / mm² | 40.5M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1530 MHz | 1187 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1785 MHz | 1757 MHz |

| Memory Size | 6 GB | 8 GB |

| Memory Bus Width | 192 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 336.0 GB/s | 224.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 1408 | 1536 |

| TMUs | 88 | 96 |

| ROPs | 48 | 32 |

| Pixel Rate | 85.68 GPixel/s | 56.22 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 157.1 GTexel/s | 168.7 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 5.027 TFLOPS | 5.398 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 10.05 TFLOPS (2:1) | 10.80 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | IGP |

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

| Bus Interface | PCIe 1.0 x4 | PCIe 4.0 x8 |

| Dimensions | 229 mm x 111 mm x 35 mm | Not recorded |

| Release Date | 2021-02-24 | 2020-08-03 |

| Launch MSRP | 799 USD | Not recorded |

| Average Benchmark Score | 63,842 | 45,384 |

| Percentile vs All GPUs | 89 | 84 |