AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 and AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT occupy vastly different tiers of the GPU landscape, as reflected in their average benchmark scores. The RTX 4090 records an average score of 60,347 across its tested workloads, placing it in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, while the Radeon Pro 5500 XT averages 45,384, landing in the 84th percentile. These figures alone suggest a substantial gap, but the head-to-head results clarify the magnitude: in OpenCL, the RTX 4090 scores 255,416 versus 41,772 for the AMD card, a lead of 511.5%; in Vulkan, the RTX 4090 posts 271,631 against 39,601, a margin of 585.9%. The data records two wins for the NVIDIA part and none for the AMD part in direct comparisons.

FAQ

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each GPU?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 averages 60,347 points, while the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT averages 45,384 points.

Q: How does the RTX 4090 compare to its nearest rivals in the database?

A: The RTX 4090 sits within 2.9% of the AMD Radeon PRO V710 (which is 2.9% lower), 0.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48, and 2.5% behind the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M. Its closest overall rival, the Intel Arc Pro A60, is essentially tied at a 0% delta.

Q: Which GPU has the higher memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX 4090 provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth from its 384-bit bus, whereas the Radeon Pro 5500 XT offers 224.0 GB/s from a 128-bit bus.

Q: Does the Radeon Pro 5500 XT support ray tracing or tensor operations?

A: No, the AMD card lists no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores in the database. The RTX 4090 includes 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores.

Q: What is the process node difference between the two chips?

A: The RTX 4090 uses a 5 nm process at TSMC, while the Radeon Pro 5500 XT uses a 7 nm process, also at TSMC.

Q: Which GPU has a higher transistor density?

A: The RTX 4090 achieves 125.3 million transistors per mm², compared to 40.5 million per mm² for the Radeon Pro 5500 XT.

Architecture Differences

The architectural separation between these two GPUs is fundamental. The RTX 4090 is built on NVIDIA’s Ada Lovelace architecture, using the AD102 chip, and targets the GeForce 40-series generation. The Radeon Pro 5500 XT employs AMD’s RDNA 1.0 architecture, powered by the Navi 14 chip, and belongs to the Radeon Pro Mac (Navi Series) generation. Process technology differs: the RTX 4090 is fabricated on a 5 nm node, while the Radeon Pro 5500 XT uses a 7 nm node; both are produced by TSMC. Transistor counts reflect this scale disparity, with the RTX 4090 packing 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die, versus 6,400 million on a 158 mm² die for the AMD part. Transistor density is 125.3 million per mm² for the NVIDIA chip and 40.5 million per mm² for the AMD chip.

Compute resources diverge sharply. The RTX 4090 has 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 raster operation pipelines. It also integrates 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI workloads. The Radeon Pro 5500 XT offers 1,536 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with no ray tracing or tensor cores listed. The NVIDIA part’s pixel rate is 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate is 1,290.2 GTexel/s, while the AMD card manages 56.22 GPixel/s and 168.7 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput stands at 82.58 TFLOPS for the RTX 4090 versus 5.398 TFLOPS for the Radeon Pro 5500 XT. FP16 performance is 82.58 TFLOPS on the NVIDIA card (at a 1:1 ratio), while the AMD card reaches 10.80 TFLOPS (at a 2:1 ratio).

Memory architecture is equally distinct. The RTX 4090 uses 24 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit interface, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. The Radeon Pro 5500 XT uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit interface, producing 224.0 GB/s. Clock speeds differ: the RTX 4090 runs at a base of 2235 MHz and a boost of 2520 MHz, with memory at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective); the Radeon Pro 5500 XT has a base of 1187 MHz and a boost of 1757 MHz, with memory at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). API support also varies, as the RTX 4090 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Radeon Pro 5500 XT supports DirectX 12 (12_1); both offer OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 4090 dominates in every recorded comparison, but the nature of its wins points to specific strengths. Its OpenCL score of 255,416 versus 41,772 demonstrates overwhelming compute throughput, making it suited for general-purpose GPU compute, rendering, and simulation tasks that scale across thousands of shading units. The Vulkan result of 271,631 versus 39,601 reinforces this, showing exceptional performance in graphics APIs that expose low-level hardware control. The RTX 4090’s ray tracing and tensor cores add capabilities the AMD card lacks entirely, so workloads involving ray-traced rendering, DLSS-style upscaling, or machine learning inference fall exclusively within the NVIDIA part’s domain. Its 24 GB memory capacity and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth also position it for large datasets and high-resolution textures.

The Radeon Pro 5500 XT, despite losing all head-to-head tests, still holds relevance in scenarios where the RTX 4090 is impractical. Its 125 W TDP versus the RTX 4090’s 450 W, combined with a single-slot IGP form factor and no power connectors, makes it suitable for compact systems or integrated deployments where power and space are constrained. It also lacks display outputs, meaning it is designed for compute or auxiliary tasks rather than direct display driving. In the database, its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc A730M (0.5% lower average score), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile (0.5% higher), the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation (1.3% lower), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti (1.3% higher), indicating that it competes in a mobile or lower-power segment. The RTX 4090, by contrast, sits near the Intel Arc Pro A60 (0% delta), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (0.3% higher), AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (2.5% higher), and AMD Radeon PRO V710 (2.9% lower), placing it among high-end workstation and desktop parts.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every recorded specification. Process node: 5 nm for the RTX 4090, 7 nm for the Radeon Pro 5500 XT. Transistor count: 76,300 million versus 6,400 million. Die size: 609 mm² versus 158 mm². Transistor density: 125.3 million per mm² versus 40.5 million per mm². Base clock: 2235 MHz versus 1187 MHz. Boost clock: 2520 MHz versus 1757 MHz. Memory clock: 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective) versus 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). Memory size: 24 GB versus 8 GB. Memory type: GDDR6X versus GDDR6. Bus width: 384-bit versus 128-bit. Bandwidth: 1.01 TB/s versus 224.0 GB/s. Shading units: 16,384 versus 1,536. TMUs: 512 versus 96. ROPs: 176 versus 32. Ray tracing cores: 128 versus none. Tensor cores: 512 versus none. Pixel rate: 443.5 GPixel/s versus 56.22 GPixel/s. Texture rate: 1,290.2 GTexel/s versus 168.7 GTexel/s. FP32: 82.58 TFLOPS versus 5.398 TFLOPS. FP16: 82.58 TFLOPS (1:1) versus 10.80 TFLOPS (2:1). TDP: 450 W versus 125 W. Slot width: Triple-slot versus IGP. Power connectors: 1x 16-pin versus none. Suggested PSU: 850 W versus 300 W. Bus interface: PCIe 4.0 x16 versus PCIe 4.0 x8. Display outputs: 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a versus no outputs. Dimensions: 304 mm length, 137 mm height, 61 mm width for the RTX 4090; no dimensions recorded for the AMD card. Release dates: 2022-09-19 for the NVIDIA part, 2020-08-03 for the AMD part. Launch MSRP: the RTX 4090 lists at 1,599 USD, while the Radeon Pro 5500 XT has no recorded launch MSRP.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database includes two direct comparisons, both decisively favoring the RTX 4090. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4090 scores 255,416 against the Radeon Pro 5500 XT’s 41,772, resulting in a delta of 511.5%. This means the NVIDIA card is roughly six times faster in this compute benchmark, a margin that reflects the combined effects of higher shading unit count, faster clocks, and substantially larger memory bandwidth. In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 4090 scores 271,631 versus 39,601, a delta of 585.9%, meaning the NVIDIA part is nearly seven times faster. The Vulkan gap is slightly larger than the OpenCL gap, suggesting the RTX 4090’s architecture scales even better under low-level graphics workloads.

Beyond these direct tests, the RTX 4090’s broader benchmark suite includes results not available for the AMD card. It records 9,223 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 224 in Passmark DirectX 10, 326 in Passmark DirectX 11, 150 in Passmark DirectX 12, 397 in Passmark DirectX 9, 1,299 in Passmark G2D, 38,194 in Passmark G3D, and 26,613 in Passmark GPU Compute. The Radeon Pro 5500 XT has only three benchmarks: Geekbench Metal at 54,779, plus the OpenCL and Vulkan scores already cited. The absence of DirectX and 3DMark results for the AMD part limits direct comparisons, but the available data consistently shows the RTX 4090 leading by multiples. The Radeon Pro 5500 XT’s Metal score of 54,779, while high relative to its OpenCL and Vulkan figures, still falls far short of the RTX 4090’s compute results, and no Metal score exists for the NVIDIA card to enable a direct comparison.

The recorded wins tally reflects this: the RTX 4090 wins 2 head-to-head benchmarks, and the Radeon Pro 5500 XT wins 0. Percentile rankings corroborate the hierarchy, with the RTX 4090 at 88% of all GPUs and the Radeon Pro 5500 XT at 84%. The average score gap of 14,963 points (60,347 versus 45,384) is substantial but understates the extreme deltas seen in individual tests, where the RTX 4090’s advantage grows to over 500%. These numbers indicate that while both cards are above the median in their respective peer groups, the RTX 4090 operates in a performance class that the Radeon Pro 5500 XT cannot approach, even when accounting for the different workload profiles implied by their benchmark sets.