AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT vs NVIDIA RTX A1000 Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The recorded benchmark data shows a clear split between these two workstation GPUs. The NVIDIA RTX A1000 wins both head-to-head tests that the database has captured, but the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT holds a distinct advantage in overall standing. The AMD card sits at the 84th percentile among all GPUs, while the NVIDIA card lands at the 79th percentile. That five-point gap in percentile placement reflects the AMD card's higher average benchmark score of 45,384 versus the NVIDIA card's 34,207.

The AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT wins the aggregate performance battle. Its average score places it in the company of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, which scores 44,795, and the Intel Arc A730M at 45,592. The AMD card trails the Intel part by just 0.5% and beats the RTX 4070 Ti by 1.3%. These are close margins, but they indicate that the Radeon Pro 5500 XT operates in a higher performance tier overall.

The NVIDIA RTX A1000, by contrast, sits in a lower bracket. Its average score of 34,207 puts it within 0.2% of the NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB (34,154) and the AMD Radeon RX 560 XT (34,133). It also beats the AMD Radeon RX 480 (33,997) by 0.6% while trailing the NVIDIA TITAN V (34,355) by 0.4%. The RTX A1000's wins come in specific API tests, not in the aggregate.

The database shows the RTX A1000 winning the Geekbench OpenCL test with 52,078 points against the AMD card's 41,772, a 19.8% margin. In Geekbench Vulkan, the NVIDIA card scores 49,574 versus 39,601 for AMD, a 20.1% advantage. These are substantial wins in compute-oriented workloads. The AMD card has no recorded head-to-head victories, but its higher average score across all benchmarks suggests it performs better in the broader set of tests that feed the database's percentile ranking.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different design philosophies and manufacturing processes. The AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT uses the Navi 14 chip built on RDNA 1.0 architecture, fabricated on TSMC's 7 nm process. The NVIDIA RTX A1000 uses the GA107 chip with Ampere architecture, built on Samsung's 8 nm process. The process difference shows in transistor density: AMD packs 40.5 million transistors per square millimeter for a total of 6,400 million across a 158 mm² die. NVIDIA achieves 43.5 million per square millimeter, totaling 8,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die. The NVIDIA chip is physically larger and denser.

The compute resource allocation differs significantly. The AMD card has 1,536 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The NVIDIA card has more shading units at 2,304 but fewer TMUs at 72, with the same 32 ROPs. The NVIDIA card also includes dedicated hardware that the AMD card lacks entirely: 18 ray tracing cores and 72 tensor cores. The AMD card has no RT or tensor core equivalents listed in the database.

Clock speeds tell a complementary story. The AMD card runs at a base clock of 1187 MHz and boosts to 1757 MHz. The NVIDIA card starts lower at 727 MHz base but boosts to 1462 MHz. The AMD card's higher clocks help its texture and pixel throughput. It achieves 168.7 GTexel/s and 56.22 GPixel/s, while the NVIDIA card manages 105.3 GTexel/s and 46.78 GPixel/s. However, the NVIDIA card wins in raw FP32 compute with 6.737 TFLOPS versus the AMD card's 5.398 TFLOPS. The FP16 comparison is stark: the AMD card delivers 10.80 TFLOPS using a 2:1 ratio, while the NVIDIA card delivers 6.737 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio.

Memory architectures are similar in capacity but differ in speed. Both cards have 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus. The AMD card runs its memory at 1750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective speed, producing 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA card runs at 1500 MHz with 12 Gbps effective, yielding 192.0 GB/s. The AMD card holds a 32 GB/s bandwidth advantage.

Power and physical design diverge sharply. The AMD card carries a 125 W TDP and is listed as an IGP with no power connectors and no display outputs. It requires a 300 W suggested PSU. The NVIDIA card draws only 50 W, fits in a single slot, measures 163 mm by 69 mm, includes four mini-DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, and needs a 250 W suggested PSU. The NVIDIA card also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) while the AMD card only reaches DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. The AMD card is end-of-life with a release date of August 2020, while the NVIDIA card is active and was released in April 2024.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT has an average benchmark score of 45,384, compared to the NVIDIA RTX A1000's 34,207. The AMD card also ranks higher at the 84th percentile versus the 79th percentile for NVIDIA.

Q: How much faster is the NVIDIA RTX A1000 in OpenCL and Vulkan tests?

A: In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX A1000 scores 52,078 versus 41,772 for the AMD card, a 19.8% advantage. In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX A1000 scores 49,574 versus 39,601, a 20.1% margin.

Q: Does the AMD card have ray tracing or tensor cores?

A: No. The database lists no RT cores or tensor cores for the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT. The NVIDIA RTX A1000 includes 18 ray tracing cores and 72 tensor cores.

Q: Which card has higher memory bandwidth?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT has 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth, while the NVIDIA RTX A1000 has 192.0 GB/s. Both use 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus.

Q: What are the power consumption figures for each card?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT has a TDP of 125 W with a suggested PSU of 300 W. The NVIDIA RTX A1000 has a TDP of 50 W with a suggested PSU of 250 W. Neither card requires external power connectors.

Q: When were these GPUs released?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT was released on August 3, 2020, and is now end-of-life. The NVIDIA RTX A1000 was released on April 15, 2024, and remains active in production.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every major specification category. The process node separates them: AMD uses 7 nm TSMC, NVIDIA uses 8 nm Samsung. Transistor counts differ by 2,300 million, with NVIDIA at 8,700 million and AMD at 6,400 million. Die size also favors NVIDIA at 200 mm² versus AMD's 158 mm².

Compute units vary in count and type. AMD fields 1,536 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. NVIDIA counters with 2,304 shading units, 72 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. NVIDIA adds 18 RT cores and 72 tensor cores, features absent from the AMD card. Clock speeds favor AMD on both base and boost: 1187 MHz and 1757 MHz respectively, versus 727 MHz and 1462 MHz for NVIDIA. Memory clocks also favor AMD at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) versus 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective).

Rates and throughput figures show a mixed picture. AMD leads in pixel rate (56.22 GPixel/s versus 46.78 GPixel/s) and texture rate (168.7 GTexel/s versus 105.3 GTexel/s). NVIDIA leads in FP32 (6.737 TFLOPS versus 5.398 TFLOPS). FP16 performance splits by architecture: AMD achieves 10.80 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio, NVIDIA achieves 6.737 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio.

Power and physical specs diverge completely. AMD lists a 125 W TDP, IGP slot width, no power connectors, no display outputs, and a 300 W suggested PSU. NVIDIA lists a 50 W TDP, single-slot width, no power connectors, four mini-DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, and a 250 W suggested PSU. The NVIDIA card has physical dimensions of 163 mm by 69 mm. Both use PCIe 4.0 x8. DirectX support differs, with NVIDIA at 12 Ultimate (12_2) and AMD at 12 (12_1). Production status also differs: AMD is end-of-life, NVIDIA is active.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records two direct comparisons between these GPUs, and NVIDIA wins both by roughly one-fifth. In Geekbench OpenCL, the NVIDIA RTX A1000 scores 52,078 against the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT's 41,772. The 19.8% delta means the NVIDIA card completes compute workloads substantially faster under OpenCL. This aligns with the NVIDIA card's higher FP32 throughput of 6.737 TFLOPS versus 5.398 TFLOPS, though the margin in the benchmark exceeds what raw TFLOPS alone would predict.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the pattern repeats. The RTX A1000 scores 49,574, while the Radeon Pro 5500 XT scores 39,601. The 20.1% delta is nearly identical to the OpenCL gap. The NVIDIA card's dedicated RT and tensor cores may contribute to its Vulkan efficiency, though the database does not isolate those effects. The consistency of the margin across both APIs suggests a fundamental compute advantage for the Ampere architecture in these workloads.

The AMD card's counterargument comes from its average benchmark score. Across all tests in the database, the Radeon Pro 5500 XT averages 45,384, which is 32.7% higher than the NVIDIA card's 34,207. This indicates that the AMD card performs better in other benchmark categories not captured in the head-to-head array. The AMD card's nearest rival, the Intel Arc A730M, scores 45,592, just 0.5% above the AMD card. The NVIDIA RTX A1000's nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB, scores 34,154, just 0.2% below it. The database places the AMD card in a performance tier roughly 33% above the NVIDIA card's tier, despite losing the two direct comparisons.

The Verdict

The data supports a clear conclusion for different use cases. The NVIDIA RTX A1000 is the stronger choice for compute-heavy applications that rely on OpenCL or Vulkan APIs. Its 19.8% OpenCL win and 20.1% Vulkan win over the AMD card are decisive margins. The NVIDIA card also brings hardware features the AMD card lacks: 18 ray tracing cores and 72 tensor cores. These make it suitable for workloads that leverage ray tracing or tensor operations, and its 50 W TDP with four display outputs makes it a practical single-slot solution for multi-display workstation setups.

The AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT is the better pick for users who prioritize overall benchmark standing. Its 84th percentile rank and average score of 45,384 place it well above the NVIDIA card's 79th percentile and 34,207 average. The AMD card also offers higher memory bandwidth at 224.0 GB/s versus 192.0 GB/s, faster pixel and texture rates, and higher FP16 throughput at 10.80 TFLOPS. Its 125 W TDP is higher, but it still requires no external power connectors. The AMD card's lack of display outputs, however, makes it unsuitable as a primary display adapter.

Choose the NVIDIA RTX A1000 for raw compute performance in OpenCL and Vulkan, for ray tracing and tensor workloads, and for a low-power, single-slot card with display outputs. Choose the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT for higher aggregate performance across the full benchmark suite, for faster memory bandwidth, and for superior texture and pixel throughput. The AMD card's end-of-life status may matter for long-term availability, while the NVIDIA card's active production status suggests ongoing supply. The data does not indicate a clear winner for all scenarios; it indicates two different strengths for two different jobs.