AMD Radeon Pro 555 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile Comparison

The AMD Radeon Pro 555 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile represent two distinct eras of mobile graphics, separated by four years of architectural evolution. Benchmark data shows the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile as the dominant performer in the shared test suite, while the Radeon Pro 555 holds a slight edge in overall market percentile ranking.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two GPUs were evaluated in two common compute workloads, and the results are decisively in favor of the NVIDIA part. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the Radeon Pro 555 scores 11,682 points, while the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile achieves 57,915 points. This represents a delta of -79.8%, meaning the Radeon Pro 555 delivers less than a quarter of the NVIDIA GPU's compute throughput in this API.

The Vulkan benchmark tells a similar story. The Radeon Pro 555 posts 12,303 points, whereas the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile reaches 55,812 points, a -78% delta. The NVIDIA GPU is approximately 4.5 times faster in both tests. It is worth remembering the Radeon Pro 555's scores across OpenCL (11,682) and Vulkan (12,303) are relatively close, suggesting the older GCN architecture scales similarly across different compute APIs. The RTX 3050 Ti Mobile shows a slightly larger gap between its OpenCL (57,915) and Vulkan (55,812) results, with OpenCL being marginally stronger.

The overall win count stands at 0 for the AMD part and 2 for the NVIDIA part in these direct comparisons. However, the aggregate picture is nuanced by the fact that the Radeon Pro 555 has a higher average benchmark score of 13,407 across its tested workloads, compared to 12,940 for the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile. This discrepancy arises because the NVIDIA GPU's benchmark suite includes additional tests like PassMark G3D (10,093) and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 (469), which pull its average down relative to the AMD part's more limited but consistently mid-range results.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on fundamentally different architectures and fabrication processes. The Radeon Pro 555 uses the Polaris 21 chip based on GCN 4.0 architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. The RTX 3050 Ti Mobile employs the GA106 chip with Ampere architecture, built on Samsung's 8 nm process. This process advantage contributes to the NVIDIA GPU's higher transistor density: 43.5M transistors per mm² versus 24.4M for the AMD part.

The raw silicon differences are substantial. The RTX 3050 Ti Mobile contains 12,000 million transistors on a 276 mm² die, while the Radeon Pro 555 has only 3,000 million transistors on a 123 mm² die. This fourfold transistor advantage enables the NVIDIA GPU to pack significantly more compute resources: 2,560 shading units, 80 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs, compared to 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 16 ROPs on the AMD side.

Memory configurations also differ markedly. The RTX 3050 Ti Mobile features 4 GB of GDDR6 memory running at 12 Gbps effective, delivering 192.0 GB/s bandwidth over a 128-bit bus. The Radeon Pro 555 offers 2 GB of GDDR5 memory at 5.1 Gbps effective, yielding 81.60 GB/s bandwidth on the same 128-bit bus. The NVIDIA GPU thus provides more than double the memory bandwidth.

Clock behavior is another differentiator. The RTX 3050 Ti Mobile has explicit base and boost clocks of 735 MHz and 1035 MHz respectively, while the Radeon Pro 555 lists no base or boost figures in the data. The NVIDIA GPU's memory clock is specified at 1500 MHz, whereas the AMD part's memory runs at 1275 MHz. Both GPUs are rated at 75 W TDP and are intended as integrated graphics solutions with no power connectors.

The feature sets diverge significantly. The RTX 3050 Ti Mobile includes 20 ray tracing cores and 80 tensor cores, reflecting its Ampere architecture's focus on real-time ray tracing and AI acceleration. The Radeon Pro 555 has no such dedicated hardware. The NVIDIA GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the Radeon Pro 555 supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3. Both offer OpenGL 4.6. The PCIe interface also differs: the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the Radeon Pro 555 is limited to PCIe 3.0 x8.

Where Each One Wins

Based on the available benchmark data, the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile wins decisively in raw compute workloads. Its OpenCL score of 57,915 is roughly 5 times higher than the Radeon Pro 555's 11,682, and its Vulkan score of 55,812 is about 4.5 times higher than the AMD part's 12,303. This makes the NVIDIA GPU the clear choice for applications that leverage general-purpose GPU compute, such as rendering, scientific simulation, or machine learning inference.

The RTX 3050 Ti Mobile also excels in feature-rich workloads thanks to its dedicated ray tracing and tensor cores. While no direct ray tracing benchmarks appear in the data, the presence of 20 RT cores and 80 tensor cores suggests hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI-based features like DLSS are available, which the Radeon Pro 555 cannot offer. The NVIDIA GPU's support for DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4 also positions it better for modern gaming titles that utilize these advanced APIs.

The Radeon Pro 555's advantage lies in its narrower but more consistent performance profile. Its average benchmark score of 13,407 exceeds the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile's 12,940, and its percentile ranking of 54 versus 53 indicates slightly better standing relative to all GPUs in the database. This suggests that in the specific workloads where the Radeon Pro 555 was tested (Geekbench Metal, OpenCL, and Vulkan), it performs more consistently relative to its contemporaries than the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile does across its broader test suite.

The AMD part also wins on transistor density efficiency in one sense: its 24.4M transistors per mm² is lower, but its die size of 123 mm² is smaller, making it a more compact solution. For systems where physical space is constrained or where the GPU is secondary to other components, the Radeon Pro 555's smaller footprint and lower complexity could be preferable. The Radeon Pro 555's Geekbench Metal score of 16,236 is notably higher than its OpenCL (11,682) and Vulkan (12,303) results, indicating that Apple's Metal API is particularly well-optimized for this GPU, which could matter for macOS-based workflows.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in OpenCL compute?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile scores 57,915 in Geekbench OpenCL, compared to 11,682 for the AMD Radeon Pro 555, representing a -79.8% delta for the AMD part. The NVIDIA GPU is approximately 5 times faster.

Q: Does the Radeon Pro 555 have any benchmark where it beats the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile?

A: In the direct head-to-head tests, the Radeon Pro 555 does not win any of the two shared benchmarks. However, its average benchmark score of 13,407 is higher than the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile's 12,940, and its percentile rank of 54 is one point higher than the NVIDIA GPU's 53.

Q: What are the key memory differences between these GPUs?

A: The RTX 3050 Ti Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 memory with 192.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the Radeon Pro 555 has 2 GB of GDDR5 with 81.60 GB/s bandwidth. Both use a 128-bit bus, but the NVIDIA GPU's memory runs at 12 Gbps effective versus 5.1 Gbps for the AMD part.

Q: Does the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile support ray tracing?

A: Yes, the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile includes 20 dedicated ray tracing cores as part of its Ampere architecture, along with 80 tensor cores. The Radeon Pro 555 has no such dedicated hardware.

Q: Which GPU has better API support?

A: The RTX 3050 Ti Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the Radeon Pro 555 supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3. Both support OpenGL 4.6.

Q: Are there any architectural advantages for the Radeon Pro 555?

A: The Radeon Pro 555 uses a smaller die (123 mm² versus 276 mm²) and lower transistor count (3,000 million versus 12,000 million), making it a more compact and less complex chip. Its Geekbench Metal score of 16,236 is notably higher than its other benchmark scores, suggesting strong optimization for that API.

Specification Differences

The following specifications differ between the AMD Radeon Pro 555 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile:

• Chip: Polaris 21 vs GA106
• Architecture: GCN 4.0 vs Ampere
• Generation: Radeon Pro Mac (500 Series) vs GeForce 30 Mobile
• Process Node: 14 nm vs 8 nm
• Foundry: GlobalFoundries vs Samsung
• Transistors: 3,000 million vs 12,000 million
• Die Size: 123 mm² vs 276 mm²
• Transistor Density: 24.4M / mm² vs 43.5M / mm²
• Base Clock: Not specified vs 735 MHz
• Boost Clock: Not specified vs 1035 MHz
• Memory Clock: 1275 MHz vs 1500 MHz
• Memory Speed: 5.1 Gbps effective vs 12 Gbps effective
• Memory Size: 2 GB vs 4 GB
• Memory Type: GDDR5 vs GDDR6
• Memory Bandwidth: 81.60 GB/s vs 192.0 GB/s
• Shading Units: 768 vs 2560
• TMUs: 48 vs 80
• ROPs: 16 vs 32
• RT Cores: None vs 20
• Tensor Cores: None vs 80
• Pixel Rate: 13.60 GPixel/s vs 33.12 GPixel/s
• Texture Rate: 40.80 GTexel/s vs 82.80 GTexel/s
• FP32 Performance: 1,305.6 GFLOPS vs 5.299 TFLOPS
• FP16 Performance: 1,305.6 GFLOPS vs 5.299 TFLOPS
• Bus Interface: PCIe 3.0 x8 vs PCIe 4.0 x16
• DirectX Support: 12 (12_0) vs 12 Ultimate (12_2)
• Vulkan Support: 1.3 vs 1.4
• Release Date: 2017-06-04 vs 2021-05-10
• Predecessor: None vs GeForce 20 Mobile