AMD Radeon Pro 555 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data splits cleanly between these two cards, but the split is not about raw performance alone. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 wins the only directly comparable cross-platform test, Geekbench OpenCL, by a substantial 30.8% margin. That is the sole head-to-head benchmark recorded in the database, and the GTX 580 takes it decisively.

However, the AMD Radeon Pro 555 has a broader benchmark presence. The database records three separate scores for it: Geekbench Metal at 16236, Geekbench OpenCL at 11682, and Geekbench Vulkan at 12303. In contrast, the GTX 580 has only a single OpenCL result of 15283. So while the GTX 580 wins the one test where both cards appear, the Radeon Pro 555 shows it can produce competitive numbers in API-specific workloads that the GTX 580 simply has no recorded result for.

The real use-case distinction emerges from platform context. The GTX 580 is a dual-slot, 267 mm desktop card with a 244 W TDP and external power connectors. The Radeon Pro 555 is an integrated-style part (labeled IGP) with a 75 W TDP, no power connectors, and portable-device-dependent display outputs. The GTX 580 is built for a desktop tower with a 550 W suggested PSU; the Radeon Pro 555 is built for a Mac laptop or compact system where power draw and physical space are constrained. One is a performance-first add-in board, the other is an efficiency-first mobile solution.

The percentile rankings reflect this: the GTX 580 sits at the 58th percentile among all GPUs, while the Radeon Pro 555 sits at the 54th. That is a narrow gap, but the GTX 580 edges ahead in overall standing. The average benchmark score tells a similar story, with the GTX 580 at 15283 versus the Radeon Pro 555 at 13407, a difference that aligns with the 30.8% OpenCL delta. In short, the GTX 580 wins where both can be measured, while the Radeon Pro 555 wins on efficiency and API coverage.

Architecture Differences

These two GPUs come from different eras and different design philosophies. The GTX 580 uses NVIDIA's GF110 chip on the Fermi 2.0 architecture, built on a 40 nm process at TSMC. The die is 520 mm² and packs 3,000 million transistors, yielding a transistor density of 5.8 million per square millimeter. The Radeon Pro 555 uses AMD's Polaris 21 chip on the GCN 4.0 architecture, built on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. Its die is just 123 mm² but also contains 3,000 million transistors, giving it a density of 24.4 million per square millimeter, over four times denser than the Fermi chip.

The memory subsystems diverge sharply. The GTX 580 has 1536 MB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, delivering 192.4 GB/s of bandwidth at a memory clock of 1002 MHz (4 Gbps effective). The Radeon Pro 555 has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 81.60 GB/s at 1275 MHz (5.1 Gbps effective). The GTX 580 has more than double the memory bandwidth, which matters for high-resolution texturing and large framebuffers. The Radeon Pro 555 has more capacity, which helps with larger datasets that fit within 2 GB.

Compute resources differ in configuration. The GTX 580 has 512 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, and 48 ROPs. The Radeon Pro 555 has 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. So the AMD card has 50% more shading units, but fewer texture units and dramatically fewer ROPs. Pixel throughput reflects this: the GTX 580 delivers 24.70 GPixel/s versus 13.60 GPixel/s for the Radeon Pro 555. Texture throughput is closer, with 49.41 GTexel/s versus 40.80 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 1.581 TFLOPS for the GTX 580 versus 1,305.6 GFLOPS for the Radeon Pro 555, a 21% advantage for NVIDIA. The Radeon Pro 555 also has FP16 support at a 1:1 ratio (1,305.6 GFLOPS), which the GTX 580 lacks entirely.

API support differs meaningfully. The GTX 580 supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, but has no Vulkan entry. The Radeon Pro 555 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The AMD card also supports Metal, as evidenced by its Geekbench Metal score, which is relevant for macOS environments. The GTX 580's PCIe interface is 2.0 x16, while the Radeon Pro 555 uses PCIe 3.0 x8. The GTX 580 requires a 6-pin plus 8-pin power connector and a 550 W suggested PSU; the Radeon Pro 555 has no power connectors and no suggested PSU. The GTX 580 is 267 mm long and 111 mm tall; the Radeon Pro 555 has no recorded dimensions.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison in the database is Geekbench OpenCL. The GTX 580 scores 15283, and the Radeon Pro 555 scores 11682. That is a 30.8% advantage for the GTX 580. To put that in context, the GTX 580's nearest rivals in the database are the RTX 2060 at 15290 (0% delta), the Radeon 680M at 15270 (0.1% delta), the RTX 3050 OEM at 15199 (0.6% delta), and the RX 7600 at 15171 (0.7% delta). The GTX 580 is within 0.7% of all of these modern cards in OpenCL, which is remarkable for a 2010 part. The Radeon Pro 555, by contrast, sits near the Radeon HD 8950M (13376, 0.2% delta), RX 5500M (13356, 0.4% delta), FirePro M6100 (13354, 0.4% delta), and P106-090 (13470, -0.5% delta). Its OpenCL score places it well below the GTX 580's peer group.

The Radeon Pro 555's other scores show that it is not uniformly slow. Its Metal score of 16236 is higher than the GTX 580's OpenCL score, but those are different APIs and cannot be directly compared. Its Vulkan score of 12303 is slightly above its OpenCL score. The GTX 580 has no Vulkan or Metal results, so the database cannot confirm how it would perform in those tests. The pattern suggests the Radeon Pro 555 is better optimized for Apple's Metal API, which makes sense given its "Radeon Pro Mac" generation label.

The delta of 30.8% in OpenCL is the single largest piece of comparative data. It means that in a compute workload using OpenCL, the GTX 580 finishes roughly a third faster than the Radeon Pro 555. For tasks like rendering, physics simulation, or GPGPU compute that rely on OpenCL, the older NVIDIA card is the stronger choice. The Radeon Pro 555's advantage lies in API coverage, not in raw OpenCL speed.

The Verdict

Pick the GTX 580 if you need raw OpenCL compute performance and have a desktop system that can feed it. The data shows a 30.8% lead over the Radeon Pro 555 in the only shared benchmark. Its 192.4 GB/s of memory bandwidth, 48 ROPs, and 1.581 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput make it the faster card for pixel-heavy and bandwidth-sensitive workloads. It also sits at the 58th percentile overall, above the Radeon Pro 555's 54th percentile. The GTX 580 is end-of-life, launched in November 2010, but its performance still lands within 0.7% of modern cards like the RTX 2060 and RX 7600 in OpenCL, according to the nearest rival data.

Pick the Radeon Pro 555 if you need a low-power, mobile-friendly GPU with modern API support. It draws 75 W versus 244 W, requires no power connectors, and fits in an IGP form factor. It supports Vulkan 1.3 and DirectX 12 (12_0), both of which are more recent than the GTX 580's DirectX 12 (11_0) and lack of Vulkan. Its Metal score of 16236 suggests strong performance in Apple's ecosystem, which is its intended environment given the "Radeon Pro Mac" generation. It also has 2 GB of VRAM versus 1536 MB, which can help in memory-constrained scenarios.

The database does not support a universal winner. The GTX 580 wins the measurable compute race, but the Radeon Pro 555 wins on efficiency, API breadth, and form factor. If you are building a desktop and care about OpenCL speed, take the GTX 580. If you need a card for a slim or portable system with modern API support, take the Radeon Pro 555.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 scores 15283, while the AMD Radeon Pro 555 scores 11682. The GTX 580 leads by 30.8%.

Q: Does the Radeon Pro 555 have any benchmark where it scores higher than the GTX 580?

A: The only direct comparison is Geekbench OpenCL, which the GTX 580 wins. The Radeon Pro 555 has separate scores for Metal (16236) and Vulkan (12303), but the GTX 580 has no results for those APIs, so no direct comparison exists.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The GTX 580 delivers 192.4 GB/s over a 384-bit bus with 1536 MB of GDDR5. The Radeon Pro 555 delivers 81.60 GB/s over a 128-bit bus with 2 GB of GDDR5. The GTX 580 has more than double the bandwidth.

Q: Which card supports Vulkan?

A: Only the AMD Radeon Pro 555 lists Vulkan 1.3 support. The GTX 580 has no Vulkan entry in the database.

Q: How do their power requirements compare?

A: The GTX 580 has a 244 W TDP and requires a 6-pin plus 8-pin power connector with a 550 W suggested PSU. The Radeon Pro 555 has a 75 W TDP and no power connectors or suggested PSU.

Q: Where does each card rank among all GPUs?

A: The GTX 580 is at the 58th percentile, and the Radeon Pro 555 is at the 54th percentile. The GTX 580 has an average benchmark score of 15283, while the Radeon Pro 555 averages 13407.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 | AMD Radeon Pro 555 |

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

| Architecture | Fermi 2.0 | GCN 4.0 |

| Process Node | 40 nm | 14 nm |

| Foundry | TSMC | GlobalFoundries |

| Die Size | 520 mm² | 123 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 5.8M / mm² | 24.4M / mm² |

| Memory Size | 1536 MB | 2 GB |

| Memory Bus Width | 384 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 192.4 GB/s | 81.60 GB/s |

| Memory Clock | 1002 MHz (4 Gbps effective) | 1275 MHz (5.1 Gbps effective) |

| Shading Units | 512 | 768 |

| TMUs | 64 | 48 |

| ROPs | 48 | 16 |

| Pixel Rate | 24.70 GPixel/s | 13.60 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 49.41 GTexel/s | 40.80 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 1.581 TFLOPS | 1,305.6 GFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | None | 1,305.6 GFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 244 W | 75 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | IGP |

| Power Connectors | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin | None |

| Suggested PSU | 550 W | None |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 2.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x8 |

| DirectX Support | 12 (11_0) | 12 (12_0) |

| Vulkan Support | None | 1.3 |

| Display Outputs | 2x DVI, 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a | Portable Device Dependent |

| Dimensions | 267 mm x 111 mm | Not recorded |

| Release Date | 2010-11-08 | 2017-06-04 |

| Launch MSRP | 499 USD | None |