AMD Radeon Pro 555X vs AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT Comparison

# AMD Radeon Pro 555X vs AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT

The AMD Radeon Pro 555X and the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT occupy opposite ends of the GPU spectrum, both in time and in capability. The Pro 555X is a 14 nm GCN 4.0 part designed for integrated use in Apple laptops, while the RX 7800 XT is a 5 nm RDNA 3.0 desktop powerhouse. Benchmark data shows a decisive overall victory for the RX 7800 XT, which wins both recorded head-to-head tests, yet the Pro 555X still holds relevance in specific low-power, portable contexts. The database records 0 wins for the Pro 555X and 2 wins for the RX 7800 XT in direct comparisons.

Where Each One Wins

The use-case split between these two cards is stark. The AMD Radeon Pro 555X, with its 75 W TDP and integrated form factor, is built for scenarios where power draw and physical space are the primary constraints. Its IGP slot width and lack of power connectors make it suitable for thin-and-light laptops where discrete power cabling is impossible. The Pro 555X targets professional mobile workloads that demand OpenCL or Vulkan acceleration in a thermally limited chassis, though its performance ceiling is modest.

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT, by contrast, is a dual-slot desktop card requiring a 600 W suggested PSU and 2x 8-pin power connectors. Its 263 W TDP and 267 mm length position it for high-refresh 1440p gaming, content creation, and compute tasks where raw throughput matters more than efficiency. The RX 7800 XT wins every benchmark where both cards have recorded scores, making it the clear choice for any workload that can tolerate its power and space requirements. The Pro 555X wins only in the implicit categories of portability and power efficiency, where its 75 W draw versus the RX 7800 XT's 263 W gives it an unquantified but obvious advantage.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs spans multiple generations and fundamental design philosophies. The Pro 555X uses the Polaris 21 chip built on GCN 4.0 architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It packs 3,000 million transistors into a 123 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 24.4 million per square millimeter. The RX 7800 XT uses the Navi 32 chip with RDNA 3.0 architecture, fabricated on TSMC's 5 nm node. It contains 28,100 million transistors across a 346 mm² die, achieving 81.2 million transistors per square millimeter, a density advantage of more than 3x.

The compute resources differ by an order of magnitude. The Pro 555X has 768 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 16 ROPs. The RX 7800 XT has 3,840 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, representing 5x, 5x, and 6x increases respectively. The RX 7800 XT also adds 60 ray tracing cores, a feature completely absent from the GCN 4.0 part. Both cards lack dedicated tensor cores, but the RX 7800 XT's RDNA 3.0 architecture supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Pro 555X is limited to DirectX 12 (12_0). The RX 7800 XT also supports Vulkan 1.4 versus Vulkan 1.3 on the Pro 555X, and features a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface compared to PCIe 3.0 x8.

The memory subsystem tells a similar story. The Pro 555X has 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128 bit bus, delivering 94.08 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 7800 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256 bit bus, delivering 624.1 GB/s, a 6.6x bandwidth advantage. The RX 7800 XT's memory clock runs at 2438 MHz (19.5 Gbps effective) versus 1470 MHz (5.9 Gbps effective) on the Pro 555X.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The direct benchmark comparisons reveal the magnitude of the RX 7800 XT's dominance. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Pro 555X scores 12,628 while the RX 7800 XT scores 18,290, a delta of -31% from the RX 7800 XT's perspective. This means the RX 7800 XT outperforms the Pro 555X by roughly 45% in raw OpenCL compute, a substantial margin but not the blowout seen in other tests.

The Geekbench Vulkan result is far more lopsided. The Pro 555X manages 12,855, but the RX 7800 XT reaches 54,228, a delta of -76.3%. In plain terms, the RX 7800 XT delivers approximately 4.2x the Vulkan performance of the Pro 555X. This extreme disparity reflects both the architectural leap and the RX 7800 XT's superior memory bandwidth and shading resources. Vulkan workloads tend to scale well with raw compute throughput, and the RX 7800 XT's 37.32 TFLOPS FP32 versus the Pro 555X's 1,393.2 GFLOPS (roughly 1.39 TFLOPS) explains the result.

For context, the Pro 555X's average benchmark score of 13,321 places it near the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 (13,300, delta 0.2%) and slightly above the AMD FirePro M6100 (13,354, delta -0.2%). The RX 7800 XT's average score of 11,627 is surprisingly lower than its individual test scores, due to inclusion of PassMark legacy tests where it scores modestly (for example, 121 in DirectX 10 and 93 in DirectX 12). Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (11,680, delta -0.5%) and the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT (11,842, delta -1.8%). The percentile rankings are close: the Pro 555X sits at the 54th percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 7800 XT sits at the 51st percentile, reflecting the different benchmark suites used for each card.

Specification Differences

The specification table highlights the generational chasm. The Pro 555X uses GCN 4.0 architecture on a 14 nm GlobalFoundries process, while the RX 7800 XT uses RDNA 3.0 on a 5 nm TSMC process. Transistor counts are 3,000 million versus 28,100 million, and die sizes are 123 mm² versus 346 mm². The RX 7800 XT's base clock is 1295 MHz, its game clock is 2124 MHz, and its boost clock is 2430 MHz; the Pro 555X lists no base, game, or boost clocks in the database.

Memory configurations diverge completely: 4 GB GDDR5 versus 16 GB GDDR6, 128 bit versus 256 bit bus, 94.08 GB/s versus 624.1 GB/s bandwidth, and 1470 MHz versus 2438 MHz memory clock. The RX 7800 XT has 3,840 shading units, 240 TMUs, 96 ROPs, and 60 ray tracing cores; the Pro 555X has 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, 16 ROPs, and no ray tracing cores. Pixel rates are 14.51 GPixel/s versus 233.3 GPixel/s, and texture rates are 43.54 GTexel/s versus 583.2 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 1,393.2 GFLOPS versus 37.32 TFLOPS, with both offering 1:1 FP16.

Power and physical specs are equally divergent. The Pro 555X draws 75 W with no power connectors and an IGP slot width; the RX 7800 XT draws 263 W with 2x 8-pin connectors and dual-slot width. The RX 7800 XT requires a 600 W suggested PSU and measures 267 mm by 111 mm by 50 mm. The Pro 555X has portable device dependent display outputs, while the RX 7800 XT offers 1x HDMI 2.1a and 3x DisplayPort 2.1. The Pro 555X connects via PCIe 3.0 x8, the RX 7800 XT via PCIe 4.0 x16. Production status is end-of-life for the Pro 555X, active for the RX 7800 XT, with release dates of July 2018 and September 2023 respectively. The RX 7800 XT has a launch MSRP of 499 USD.

FAQ

Q: Which card has more ray tracing cores?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT has 60 ray tracing cores, while the AMD Radeon Pro 555X has none, as its GCN 4.0 architecture predates hardware ray tracing support.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The RX 7800 XT delivers 624.1 GB/s over a 256 bit GDDR6 bus, compared to the Pro 555X's 94.08 GB/s over a 128 bit GDDR5 bus, a 6.6x advantage for the newer card.

Q: How do their Vulkan scores compare?

A: In Geekbench Vulkan, the RX 7800 XT scores 54,228 versus 12,855 for the Pro 555X, a delta of -76.3% from the RX 7800 XT's perspective, meaning the RX 7800 XT is roughly 4.2x faster.

Q: Which card has a higher transistor density?

A: The RX 7800 XT has a transistor density of 81.2 million per square millimeter on TSMC's 5 nm process, versus 24.4 million per square millimeter for the Pro 555X on GlobalFoundries' 14 nm process.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The Pro 555X has a 75 W TDP with no power connectors and an IGP slot width, while the RX 7800 XT has a 263 W TDP, requires 2x 8-pin power connectors, and a 600 W suggested PSU.

Q: Which card supports newer DirectX features?

A: The RX 7800 XT supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Pro 555X supports DirectX 12 (12_0). The RX 7800 XT also supports Vulkan 1.4 versus Vulkan 1.3 on the Pro 555X.