AMD Radeon Pro 5500M vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data presents a decisive split: the AMD Radeon Pro 5500M wins the only head-to-head comparison available, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A has no benchmark victories to its name in this dataset. In the single overlapping test — Geekbench OpenCL — the Radeon Pro 5500M scores 31,088 against the GTX 950A's 10,273, a 202.6% advantage that categorically separates the two in compute workloads.

Beyond that direct comparison, the broader benchmark suite reinforces where each card sits. The Radeon Pro 5500M posts an average benchmark score of 11,528 across ten tests, placing it at the 51st percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla K20c (average 11,479, just 0.4% behind), the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT (11,627, 0.8% ahead), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (11,680, 1.3% ahead). This clustering indicates the Pro 5500M is competitive with a wide range of desktop and professional parts from different generations. The GTX 950A, by contrast, averages 10,273 from a single OpenCL result, sitting at the 48th percentile. Its closest competitors are the AMD Radeon RX 6500M (10,362, 0.9% ahead), NVIDIA Tesla C2075 (10,400, 1.2% ahead), AMD Radeon R9 M375 (10,070, 2% behind), and AMD Radeon RX 550X (10,481, 2% ahead).

The Radeon Pro 5500M's win profile is broad. It leads in DirectX 10 (36 points), DirectX 11 (42), and DirectX 12 (29) Passmark tests, though these are legacy APIs where both cards are limited by their respective architectures. Its Passmark G3D score of 6,732 and GPU compute score of 3,240 further demonstrate strength in both rasterization and general compute. The GTX 950A has no equivalent scores in the dataset, so its capabilities in those specific tests cannot be quantified here. What the data shows is unambiguous: in any workload where both cards can be measured, the Radeon Pro 5500M is the superior performer, often by a wide margin.

The practical interpretation is that the Pro 5500M is suited for tasks requiring substantial compute throughput — think content creation, GPU-accelerated rendering, or professional applications that leverage OpenCL. The GTX 950A, with its single available benchmark score, appears positioned for lighter duties, likely in compact or mobile systems where its 75W TDP and MXM form factor fit. The data does not support any scenario where the GTX 950A wins outright, but its lower power envelope and smaller footprint could make it the only choice in certain chassis constraints.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different design philosophies and eras. The AMD Radeon Pro 5500M uses the Navi 14 chip built on RDNA 1.0 architecture, manufactured on a 7nm process at TSMC. It packs 6,400 million transistors into a 158 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 40.5 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A uses the GM107 chip based on Maxwell architecture, also fabricated by TSMC but on a much older 28nm node. It contains 1,870 million transistors on a 148 mm² die, for a density of just 12.6 million per square millimeter. The process advantage is stark: the Radeon packs over three times the transistors into a similar physical area, translating directly to its substantial performance lead.

The execution resources diverge accordingly. The Radeon Pro 5500M has 1,536 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The GTX 950A has 640 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 16 ROPs — roughly 42% of the shading units and TMUs, and half the ROPs. This resource gap explains the pixel rate difference: 46.40 GPixel/s for the AMD versus 17.98 GPixel/s for the NVIDIA. Texture rate tells a similar story: 139.2 GTexel/s versus 44.96 GTexel/s. The Radeon's FP32 throughput of 4.454 TFLOPS dwarfs the GTX 950A's 1,438.7 GFLOPS, a 3.1x difference. The AMD card also supports FP16 at 8.909 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio, while the NVIDIA card has no FP16 capability listed — a notable omission for compute-heavy workflows.

Memory architecture further separates them. The Radeon Pro 5500M uses 8GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, achieving 192.0 GB/s bandwidth. The GTX 950A uses 2GB of DDR3 on the same 128-bit bus width, but only manages 32.03 GB/s — a six-fold bandwidth deficit. Memory clocks tell the story: 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) for the AMD versus 1001 MHz (2 Gbps effective) for the NVIDIA. The Radeon also benefits from PCIe 4.0 x8 connectivity, while the GTX 950A uses an MXM-B (3.0) interface, reflecting its mobile-oriented design. Both cards are end-of-life products, but the Radeon was released on 2019-11-12, over four years after the GTX 950A's 2015-03-12 launch. The GTX 950A's predecessor is the GeForce 800A; the Radeon has no predecessor listed.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The single head-to-head benchmark available is Geekbench OpenCL, and it is a rout. The AMD Radeon Pro 5500M scores 31,088, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A manages 10,273. The delta of 202.6% means the Radeon is more than three times as fast in this compute test. This is not a marginal victory; it is a generational gap made visible through raw numbers. OpenCL performance is particularly relevant for professional applications, scientific computing, and any workload that offloads parallel math to the GPU. The Radeon's RDNA architecture, with its high FP32 throughput and dedicated FP16 paths, is designed for exactly these tasks. The GTX 950A's Maxwell architecture, while competent for its era, lacks the modern feature set and raw throughput to compete.

Contextualizing this score against each card's broader benchmark profile adds depth. The Radeon Pro 5500M's OpenCL result of 31,088 is its second-highest Geekbench score, behind Metal (38,235) and ahead of Vulkan (35,134). This suggests the card is well-balanced across different compute APIs, with OpenCL slightly lower than the others but still far above the GTX 950A's total. The GTX 950A has no other benchmark scores in the dataset, so its OpenCL result of 10,273 stands as its entire measured performance profile. The Radeon's average benchmark score across all tests is 11,528, which is higher than the GTX 950A's single score alone — but the Radeon's average is pulled down by its low Passmark legacy API scores (29 to 96 points), which are not comparable to modern compute tests.

The data does not offer any counter-example where the GTX 950A wins. Its wins count is zero, and the Radeon's is one. This asymmetry is decisive. In any real-world scenario that relies on OpenCL compute, the Radeon Pro 5500M is the only rational choice based on this evidence. The GTX 950A might still be suitable for very specific legacy workloads, but the benchmark data provides no positive case for it.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification. The architecture is RDNA 1.0 for AMD versus Maxwell for NVIDIA. Process node: 7nm versus 28nm. Transistor count: 6,400 million versus 1,870 million. Die size: 158 mm² versus 148 mm². Shading units: 1,536 versus 640. TMUs: 96 versus 40. ROPs: 32 versus 16. Pixel rate: 46.40 GPixel/s versus 17.98 GPixel/s. Texture rate: 139.2 GTexel/s versus 44.96 GTexel/s. FP32: 4.454 TFLOPS versus 1,438.7 GFLOPS. The Radeon has FP16 at 8.909 TFLOPS; the GTX has none listed.

Memory: 8GB GDDR6 versus 2GB DDR3. Bandwidth: 192.0 GB/s versus 32.03 GB/s. Memory clock: 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) versus 1001 MHz (2 Gbps effective). Both use a 128-bit bus, but the memory type and speed make the difference enormous. TDP: 85W versus 75W — the Radeon draws 10W more, which is modest given its performance advantage. The GTX 950A is an MXM module with an MXM-B (3.0) interface; the Radeon uses PCIe 4.0 x8. Both have "None" for power connectors and "Portable Device Dependent" for display outputs. The Radeon supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The GTX supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 — the DirectX feature level is lower. Release dates: 2019-11-12 versus 2015-03-12. The GTX has a predecessor (GeForce 800A); the Radeon has none listed. Neither has a launch MSRP in the data.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in the only shared benchmark?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 5500M scores 31,088 in Geekbench OpenCL, compared to 10,273 for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A, a 202.6% advantage.

Q: How do their average benchmark scores compare?

A: The Radeon Pro 5500M has an average benchmark score of 11,528 across ten tests, while the GTX 950A has an average of 10,273 from a single test. The Radeon sits at the 51st percentile of all GPUs; the GTX sits at the 48th.

Q: What are the closest rivals for each card?

A: The Radeon Pro 5500M's nearest rival is the NVIDIA Tesla K20c (11,479 average, 0.4% behind), followed by the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT (11,627, 0.8% ahead) and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (11,680, 1.3% ahead). The GTX 950A's nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 6500M (10,362, 0.9% ahead), with the NVIDIA Tesla C2075 (10,400, 1.2% ahead) and AMD Radeon R9 M375 (10,070, 2% behind) also close.

Q: What is the memory difference between the two?

A: The Radeon Pro 5500M has 8GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 192.0 GB/s bandwidth. The GTX 950A has 2GB of DDR3 on the same bus width but only 32.03 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The Radeon Pro 5500M has 1,536 shading units, while the GTX 950A has 640. The Radeon also has 96 TMUs and 32 ROPs versus 40 TMUs and 16 ROPs.

Q: How do their power draws compare?

A: The Radeon Pro 5500M has a TDP of 85W, and the GTX 950A has a TDP of 75W. The Radeon draws 10W more but delivers significantly higher performance in the available benchmarks.