AMD Radeon Pro 5500M vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a decisive sweep in favor of the AMD Radeon Pro 5500M across all three head-to-head benchmark entries. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 does not secure a single win in the comparison, with the AMD part claiming all three tests. The largest margin appears in the Geekbench Metal test, where the Radeon Pro 5500M scores 38235 against the GTX 950's 7172, a delta of -81.2% from the perspective of the NVIDIA card. This means the AMD GPU is roughly five times faster in Metal compute workloads, a gap that reflects both architectural generation differences and the substantial increase in shading resources.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the AMD Radeon Pro 5500M posts 31088 versus the GTX 950's 15662, representing a -49.6% delta for the NVIDIA part. The AMD card is nearly double the score of the older Maxwell GPU in this cross-vendor compute API. The Geekbench Vulkan test follows a similar pattern: the Radeon Pro 5500M reaches 35134 while the GTX 950 manages 16734, a -52.4% delta. Across these three tests, the AMD part maintains a consistent lead that ranges from roughly 1.98x in OpenCL to 5.33x in Metal.

The average benchmark score in the database tells a somewhat different story. The GTX 950 holds an average benchmark score of 13189, while the Radeon Pro 5500M averages 11528. This places the NVIDIA card about 14.4% higher in aggregate across all recorded tests, despite losing every head-to-head matchup. The explanation lies in the benchmark mix: the GTX 950's average draws on its three Geekbench entries, while the Radeon Pro 5500M's average includes ten entries, several of which are PassMark tests with relatively low scores. The PassMark DirectX 9 score of 96 and DirectX 11 score of 42, for instance, pull down the AMD card's overall average considerably.

The percentile rankings reinforce this nuance. The GTX 950 sits at the 53rd percentile among all GPUs in the database, while the Radeon Pro 5500M rests at the 51st percentile. The nearest rivals for the GTX 950 include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 with an average score of 13300 and a delta of -0.8%, the AMD Radeon Pro 555X at 13321 with a -1% delta, and the AMD FirePro M6100 at 13354 with a -1.2% delta. The Radeon Pro 5500M's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla K20c at 11479 with a 0.4% delta, the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT at 11627 with a -0.8% delta, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 at 11680 with a -1.3% delta. These rival positions show that both cards sit in a crowded mid-pack region, with the GTX 950 slightly ahead in aggregate standing.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different manufacturing generations and process nodes. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 uses the GM206 chip built on Maxwell 2.0 architecture, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. The AMD Radeon Pro 5500M uses the Navi 14 chip with RDNA 1.0 architecture, also at TSMC but on a 7 nm node. The transistor counts diverge sharply: the GTX 950 contains 2,940 million transistors on a 228 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 12.9 million per square millimeter. The Radeon Pro 5500M packs 6,400 million transistors into a smaller 158 mm² die, achieving a density of 40.5 million per square millimeter. This density advantage, roughly three times higher, is the clearest expression of the process node leap between 2015 and 2019.

The shading resources scale accordingly. The GTX 950 has 768 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 32 raster operation pipelines. The Radeon Pro 5500M doubles the shading units to 1536 and doubles the TMUs to 96, while keeping the same 32 ROPs. Clock speeds tell a complementary story: the GTX 950 operates at a base of 1024 MHz and a boost of 1188 MHz, while the Radeon Pro 5500M runs at a lower base of 1000 MHz but a much higher boost of 1450 MHz. The higher boost clock, combined with double the shading units, produces a theoretical FP32 throughput of 4.454 TFLOPS for the AMD card versus 1.825 TFLOPS for the NVIDIA card, a 2.44x advantage.

Memory configurations also differ substantially. The GTX 950 ships with 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, running at 1653 MHz with a 6.6 Gbps effective rate, yielding 105.8 GB/s of bandwidth. The Radeon Pro 5500M offers 8 GB of GDDR6 on the same 128-bit bus width, but at 1500 MHz with a 12 Gbps effective rate, producing 192.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The AMD card thus provides four times the capacity and roughly 1.82x the bandwidth. The interface also changes: the GTX 950 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the Radeon Pro 5500M uses PCIe 4.0 x8, a newer generation with half the lane count but double the per-lane throughput.

Pixel and texture rates reflect these differences. The GTX 950 achieves 38.02 GPixel/s and 57.02 GTexel/s. The Radeon Pro 5500M reaches 46.40 GPixel/s and 139.2 GTexel/s, the latter a 2.44x improvement driven by the doubled TMU count. The Radeon Pro 5500M also lists FP16 performance of 8.909 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio, a capability the GTX 950 does not document. Both cards support DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so API-level feature parity holds.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear choice for modern workloads: the AMD Radeon Pro 5500M dominates the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 in every head-to-head benchmark recorded. The Metal test shows a 5.33x lead, the Vulkan test shows a 2.10x lead, and the OpenCL test shows a 1.98x lead. For any application relying on compute performance through these APIs, the Radeon Pro 5500M is the stronger part by a wide margin.

The GTX 950 does hold a higher average benchmark score of 13189 versus 11528, but this aggregate figure is skewed by the composition of tests. The Radeon Pro 5500M's PassMark DirectX scores are low (36 in DirectX 10, 42 in DirectX 11, 29 in DirectX 12), which drags its average down despite its strong Geekbench results. The GTX 950's three Geekbench scores are more consistent, with no equivalent low outliers. The percentile ranking of 53 for the GTX 950 versus 51 for the Radeon Pro 5500M suggests they occupy similar territory in the overall GPU landscape, but the head-to-head results are unambiguous: in direct comparison, the AMD part wins all three tests.

The Radeon Pro 5500M's architecture advantages, including double the shading units, double the TMUs, higher boost clocks, more memory capacity, and higher bandwidth, align with its benchmark dominance. The GTX 950's 28 nm process and 2015 design simply cannot match the 7 nm RDNA 1.0 architecture in raw throughput. For users who need peak compute performance in Metal, Vulkan, or OpenCL workloads, the Radeon Pro 5500M is the data-supported choice. The GTX 950 remains relevant only in contexts where its specific feature set, such as the dual-slot design, 1x 6-pin power connector, and desktop display outputs, matters more than raw score.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every recorded specification field. The GTX 950 uses the GM206 chip with Maxwell 2.0 architecture from the GeForce 900 generation, while the Radeon Pro 5500M uses the Navi 14 chip with RDNA 1.0 architecture from the Radeon Pro Mac (Navi Mobile) generation. The process node drops from 28 nm to 7 nm, and transistor count rises from 2,940 million to 6,400 million. Die size shrinks from 228 mm² to 158 mm², and transistor density climbs from 12.9M per square millimeter to 40.5M per square millimeter.

Base clocks are similar (1024 MHz versus 1000 MHz), but boost clocks differ (1188 MHz versus 1450 MHz). Memory size quadruples from 2 GB to 8 GB, type changes from GDDR5 to GDDR6, and bandwidth rises from 105.8 GB/s to 192.0 GB/s while bus width stays at 128 bit. Shading units double from 768 to 1536, TMUs double from 48 to 96, and ROPs remain at 32. Pixel rate increases from 38.02 GPixel/s to 46.40 GPixel/s, texture rate from 57.02 GTexel/s to 139.2 GTexel/s, and FP32 from 1.825 TFLOPS to 4.454 TFLOPS. The Radeon Pro 5500M adds FP16 at 8.909 TFLOPS, which the GTX 950 does not list.

TDP differs modestly: 90 W for the GTX 950 versus 85 W for the Radeon Pro 5500M. The GTX 950 uses a dual-slot cooler with a 1x 6-pin power connector and a suggested PSU of 250 W, while the Radeon Pro 5500M lists no power connectors and no suggested PSU, consistent with a mobile-oriented design. The bus interface shifts from PCIe 3.0 x16 to PCIe 4.0 x8. Display outputs are 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, and 3x DisplayPort 1.2 for the GTX 950, versus "Portable Device Dependent" for the Radeon Pro 5500M. The GTX 950 has a launch MSRP of 159 USD; the Radeon Pro 5500M has no recorded launch MSRP.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins the Geekbench Metal test?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 5500M scores 38235, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 scores 7172, a delta of -81.2% for the NVIDIA card.

Q: How do the two cards compare in average benchmark score?

A: The GTX 950 holds an average benchmark score of 13189, while the Radeon Pro 5500M averages 11528, making the GTX 950 higher by roughly 14.4% in aggregate.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference?

A: The GTX 950 has 2 GB of GDDR5, while the Radeon Pro 5500M has 8 GB of GDDR6, a fourfold increase in capacity.

Q: Which card has a higher boost clock?

A: The Radeon Pro 5500M boosts to 1450 MHz, while the GTX 950 boosts to 1188 MHz.

Q: Do both cards support the same API versions?

A: Yes, both support DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Q: What are the TDP values for each card?

A: The GTX 950 has a TDP of 90 W, and the Radeon Pro 5500M has a TDP of 85 W.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Pro 5500M wins in every direct benchmark comparison. Its Geekbench Metal score of 38235 is 5.33x the GTX 950's 7172, making it the clear choice for Metal-accelerated applications, which are common on macOS platforms given the card's Radeon Pro Mac lineage. Its Vulkan score of 35134 versus 16734 gives a 2.10x lead, and its OpenCL score of 31088 versus 15662 gives a 1.98x lead. The Radeon Pro 5500M also wins on memory capacity (8 GB versus 2 GB), bandwidth (192.0 GB/s versus 105.8 GB/s), FP32 throughput (4.454 TFLOPS versus 1.825 TFLOPS), and texture rate (139.2 GTexel/s versus 57.02 GTexel/s). It also offers FP16 support at 8.909 TFLOPS, which the GTX 950 does not document.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 wins only in aggregate standing. Its average benchmark score of 13189 exceeds the Radeon Pro 5500M's 11528, and its 53rd percentile ranking edges out the 51st percentile of the AMD card. The GTX 950 also carries a desktop-oriented feature set: dual-slot cooling, a 1x 6-pin power connector, and three DisplayPort 1.2 outputs plus DVI and HDMI 2.0. Its nearest rivals, including the GeForce GTX 480 at 13300 (-0.8% delta) and the Radeon Pro 555X at 13321 (-1% delta), sit close to its score, suggesting it clusters with a specific performance tier. For users prioritizing the highest peak scores in compute-heavy APIs, the Radeon Pro 5500M wins. For users prioritizing consistency across a broader benchmark mix or needing desktop display connectivity, the GTX 950 has the data on its side.