AMD Radeon Pro 5500M vs AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT dominates this comparison on nearly every front. Of the nine shared benchmark tests, the RX 9070 XT wins eight. The Radeon Pro 5500M wins only one: Geekbench OpenCL, where it posts a score of 31088 against 17428 for the RX 9070 XT, a delta of 43.9% in its favor.

The RX 9070 XT's wins are decisive and broad. In Passmark G3D, the primary gaming and graphics performance metric, it scores 26795 versus 6732, a 298% advantage. The gap is even larger in Passmark GPU Compute, where the RX 9070 XT posts 15864 against 3240, a 389.6% lead. In Vulkan, the modern cross-platform graphics API, the RX 9070 XT scores 65879 versus 35134, a 87.5% advantage.

The use-case split is clear. The Radeon Pro 5500M, with its single OpenCL victory, appears optimized for compute workloads that favor its specific architecture, particularly in OpenCL environments. The RX 9070 XT, however, is the clear choice for DirectX gaming, Vulkan applications, and general graphics throughput. In every Passmark DirectX test (versions 9 through 12), the RX 9070 XT wins by margins ranging from 169% to 595.2%.

For 2D performance, the RX 9070 XT also leads: Passmark G2D scores are 1328 versus 648, a 104.9% difference. This suggests the newer card handles desktop compositing, window management, and basic UI rendering with substantially more headroom.

Architecture Differences

The two cards belong to entirely different eras of AMD's GPU design. The RX 9070 XT uses the Navi 48 chip built on RDNA 4.0 architecture, fabricated on a 4 nm process at TSMC. The Radeon Pro 5500M uses the Navi 14 chip on the older RDNA 1.0 architecture, built on a 7 nm process, also at TSMC.

Transistor counts tell the scale story. The RX 9070 XT packs 53,900 million transistors on a 357 mm² die, yielding a density of 151.0M per mm². The Pro 5500M has 6,400 million transistors on a 158 mm² die, with a density of 40.5M per mm². The RX 9070 XT is not just newer, it is an order of magnitude larger and denser.

Memory configurations differ sharply. The RX 9070 XT carries 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth. The Pro 5500M has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, with 192.0 GB/s. That is roughly 3.4 times the bandwidth in the newer card, which directly impacts texture-heavy workloads and high-resolution rendering.

Compute resources scale accordingly. The RX 9070 XT has 4096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 128 ROPs. The Pro 5500M has 1536 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The RX 9070 XT also introduces 64 dedicated ray tracing cores, a feature the RDNA 1.0-based Pro 5500M lacks entirely.

Clock speeds reflect both architecture improvements and power envelopes. The RX 9070 XT runs at a 1660 MHz base and 2970 MHz boost clock. The Pro 5500M runs at 1000 MHz base and 1450 MHz boost. The RX 9070 XT also has a specified game clock of 2400 MHz, which the mobile card does not report.

The feature set diverges as well. The RX 9070 XT supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), PCIe 5.0 x16, and has display outputs including 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1a. The Pro 5500M supports DirectX 12 (12_1), PCIe 4.0 x8, and its display outputs are listed as "Portable Device Dependent," reflecting its mobile MacBook Pro origin.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a consistent pattern of overwhelming RX 9070 XT superiority, with one notable exception.

The largest single margin is in Passmark DirectX 11, where the RX 9070 XT scores 292 against 42 for the Pro 5500M, a 595.2% advantage. This is a legacy API, but the gap highlights how much faster the newer architecture handles even older rendering paths.

Passmark DirectX 10 shows a 327.8% lead (154 versus 36). DirectX 9 shows 267.7% (353 versus 96), and DirectX 12 shows 169% (78 versus 29). The margins shrink as the API gets newer, but the RX 9070 XT still wins every DirectX generation by a wide margin.

In Passmark G3D, the overall gaming score, the RX 9070 XT posts 26795 versus 6732, a 298% delta. Passmark GPU Compute shows 15864 versus 3240, a 389.6% lead, indicating the RX 9070 XT is dramatically faster for general-purpose GPU compute despite the Pro 5500M's OpenCL win.

Vulkan performance favors the RX 9070 XT at 65879 versus 35134, an 87.5% advantage. This is the smallest percentage gap among the RX 9070 XT wins, suggesting the RDNA 1.0 architecture still handles Vulkan reasonably well relative to its other APIs.

The single Pro 5500M victory comes in Geekbench OpenCL, where it scores 31088 versus 17428, a 43.9% difference. This is anomalous given the compute-heavy wins elsewhere for the RX 9070 XT. The data suggests the Pro 5500M's OpenCL drivers or its specific compute unit configuration excel in this particular benchmark, even though its raw FP32 throughput (4.454 TFLOPS) is roughly 11 times lower than the RX 9070 XT's 48.66 TFLOPS.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in Vulkan?

A: The RX 9070 XT scores 65879 in Geekbench Vulkan, while the Pro 5500M scores 35134, giving the RX 9070 XT an 87.5% advantage.

Q: Does the Radeon Pro 5500M win any benchmark?

A: Yes, it wins Geekbench OpenCL with a score of 31088 versus 17428 for the RX 9070 XT, a 43.9% margin.

Q: How do the memory bandwidths compare?

A: The RX 9070 XT has 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth on a 256-bit bus with 16 GB of GDDR6. The Pro 5500M has 192.0 GB/s on a 128-bit bus with 8 GB of GDDR6.

Q: Does the RX 9070 XT support ray tracing?

A: Yes, it has 64 dedicated ray tracing cores. The Pro 5500M has no ray tracing cores listed in its specifications.

Q: What is the production status of each card?

A: The RX 9070 XT is listed as Active, while the Pro 5500M is End-of-life.

Q: Which card has a higher boost clock?

A: The RX 9070 XT boosts to 2970 MHz, while the Pro 5500M boosts to 1450 MHz.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT | AMD Radeon Pro 5500M |

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

| Architecture | RDNA 4.0 | RDNA 1.0 |

| Process Node | 4 nm | 7 nm |

| Transistors | 53,900 million | 6,400 million |

| Die Size | 357 mm² | 158 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 151.0M / mm² | 40.5M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1660 MHz | 1000 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 2970 MHz | 1450 MHz |

| Memory Size | 16 GB | 8 GB |

| Memory Bus Width | 256 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 644.6 GB/s | 192.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 4096 | 1536 |

| TMUs | 256 | 96 |

| ROPs | 128 | 32 |

| RT Cores | 64 | None |

| Pixel Rate | 380.2 GPixel/s | 46.40 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 760.3 GTexel/s | 139.2 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 48.66 TFLOPS | 4.454 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 48.66 TFLOPS (1:1) | 8.909 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 304 W | 85 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 5.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x8 |

| DirectX Support | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | 12 (12_1) |

| Power Connectors | 2x 8-pin | None |

| Production Status | Active | End-of-life |

| Release Date | 2025-03-05 | 2019-11-12 |

The Verdict

The benchmark data is unambiguous. The RX 9070 XT is the superior card for almost every workload measured. It wins eight of nine head-to-head tests, with wins ranging from 87.5% to 595.2%. Its nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon HD 7770M and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570, with average score deltas of 0.1% and 0.2% respectively, placing it in a mid-tier position among all GPUs at the 55th percentile.

The Radeon Pro 5500M, by contrast, sits at the 51st percentile with an average benchmark score of 11528, compared to 13543 for the RX 9070 XT. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla K20c and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT, with deltas of 0.4% and -0.8%, indicating it is competitive with those older or differently positioned cards.

For gaming and DirectX workloads, the RX 9070 XT is the only rational choice. Its Passmark G3D score of 26795 dwarfs the Pro 5500M's 6732. For Vulkan development and modern API usage, the RX 9070 XT again leads decisively.

The Pro 5500M's sole claim to relevance is its Geekbench OpenCL result. The data shows it is 43.9% faster than the RX 9070 XT in that specific test. For users whose primary workload is OpenCL compute on macOS (given the "Portable Device Dependent" display outputs and Radeon Pro Mac generation label), the Pro 5500M may still hold value. It is also an end-of-life product with an 85 W TDP, suggesting it was designed for constrained mobile environments.

The verdict: the RX 9070 XT is the pick for nearly all use cases, particularly gaming, DirectX, and Vulkan. The Pro 5500M is only relevant for legacy OpenCL compute scenarios where its specific driver and architecture advantages apply. Its launch MSRP was 599 USD, and it remains an active product with modern API support and ray tracing capability. The Pro 5500M, released in 2019, is at the end of its life.