AMD Radeon Pro 555X vs NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data for these two GPUs comes from different benchmark suites, so direct comparisons require careful attention to the specific tests involved. The AMD Radeon Pro 555X has results across three compute-oriented tests, while the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q has a single DirectX 12 workload result. The database does not contain any overlapping head-to-head benchmark entries, meaning there is no single test where both cards were measured under identical conditions.

For the AMD Radeon Pro 555X, the strongest recorded result is in Geekbench Metal, where it scores 14,479 points. This places it ahead of its own OpenCL and Vulkan results, which come in at 12,628 and 12,855 respectively. The Metal score represents a 14.7% advantage over the OpenCL score within the same GPU, indicating that the compute architecture responds differently depending on the API layer. In Vulkan, the 12,855 score sits 12.6% below the Metal peak.

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q records a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 11,088. This is the only benchmark entry for this GPU in the database. Its average benchmark score is identical at 11,088, since there is no other test data to average. The Radeon Pro 555X, by contrast, has an average benchmark score of 13,321 across its three tests, which is higher than the NVIDIA card's single result despite the massive generational gap between the two products.

The percentile rankings tell an interesting story. The AMD card sits at the 54th percentile of all GPUs in the database, while the NVIDIA card sits at the 50th percentile. The database's nearest rival lists help contextualize these positions. The Radeon Pro 555X's nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 with an average score of 13,300 (a delta of 0.2%), the AMD FirePro M6100 at 13,354 (delta of -0.2%), the AMD Radeon RX 5500M at 13,356 (delta of -0.3%), and the AMD Radeon HD 8950M at 13,376 (delta of -0.4%). These are extremely tight margins, with the entire cluster spanning less than 1% in score difference.

The RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q's nearest rivals are more surprising given its specifications. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q matches it exactly at 11,088 with a delta of 0%. The AMD Radeon RX 550 comes within 0.1% at 11,075, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER is 0.4% higher at 11,047, and the AMD FirePro W4300 is 1.2% higher at 11,225. This means the 3DMark Steel Nomad result places the RTX PRO 6000D in a performance neighborhood occupied by much older and lower-tier GPUs, at least within this specific benchmark.

The gap between the two cards in their respective averages is significant. The Radeon Pro 555X's average of 13,321 is 20.1% higher than the RTX PRO 6000D's 11,088. However, this comparison is methodologically fragile because the tests are entirely different workloads. Geekbench Metal, OpenCL, and Vulkan are compute-centric tests, while 3DMark Steel Nomad is a full DirectX 12 rendering workload. The database does not provide a common test to adjudicate between them.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Pro 555X wins in compute API versatility based on the recorded data. It has three separate benchmark scores across Metal, OpenCL, and Vulkan, all of which exceed 12,600 points. The Metal result of 14,479 is its peak, and the OpenCL score of 12,628 is its lowest, yet even that low point is 13.9% above the NVIDIA card's single 3DMark result. For workloads that rely on general-purpose GPU compute through these cross-platform APIs, the data suggests the older AMD card maintains a measurable edge in these specific tests.

The RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q wins in modern rendering workloads, at least based on the one test available. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 11,088 represents a current-generation DirectX 12 Ultimate workload with ray tracing and mesh shader features that the Radeon Pro 555X cannot execute at all. The AMD card's DirectX support tops out at 12 (12_0), while the NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2). This is not a comparison of raw speed but of capability: the NVIDIA card can run the full modern feature set, and the AMD card cannot.

The NVIDIA card also wins on raw specification headroom. Its 24,064 shading units, 752 texture mapping units, and 192 render output units dwarf the AMD card's 768 shaders, 48 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. The FP32 throughput of 110.1 TFLOPS is 79 times the AMD card's 1,393.2 GFLOPS. The memory subsystem is similarly lopsided: 96 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus delivering 1.79 TB/s versus 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus delivering 94.08 GB/s. These figures do not translate into a higher benchmark score in the database's single NVIDIA test, but they define the ceiling of what each card can attempt.

For the AMD card, the wins are confined to the specific compute benchmarks recorded. For the NVIDIA card, the win is in modern feature support and raw throughput capacity, even if the only measured benchmark does not reflect that advantage. The database's nearest rival data for the NVIDIA card, which places it near the GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER and Radeon RX 550 in this one test, suggests that the Steel Nomad workload may not be representative of the card's full capability, or that the test is heavily bottlenecked elsewhere.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon Pro 555X is built on the Polaris 21 chip using the GCN 4.0 architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. The die contains 3,000 million transistors on a 123 mm² area, yielding a transistor density of 24.4 million per square millimeter. It belongs to the Radeon Pro Mac (500X Series) generation and was released on 2018-07-15. The production status is end-of-life. It uses a PCIe 3.0 x8 bus interface.

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q is built on the GB202 chip using the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The die contains 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² area, yielding a transistor density of 122.9 million per square millimeter. It belongs to the Blackwell PRO W (x000) generation and was released on 2025-03-17. The production status is active. It uses a PCIe 5.0 x16 bus interface.

The transistor density difference is stark: the NVIDIA chip packs 5 times more transistors per square millimeter than the AMD chip. The absolute transistor count difference is even larger, with the NVIDIA chip containing 30.7 times more transistors. The die size is 6.1 times larger. These are different eras of chip design entirely.

The AMD card has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores. The NVIDIA card has 188 ray tracing cores and 752 tensor cores. The AMD card's shading units are organized in the GCN 4.0 style, with 768 shaders, 48 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. The NVIDIA card uses the Blackwell 2.0 arrangement with 24,064 shaders, 752 TMUs, and 192 ROPs.

The API support differs. The AMD card supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Both cards list the same OpenGL version, but the DirectX and Vulkan tiers are different generations.

The memory architectures are completely different. The AMD card uses 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus. The NVIDIA card uses 96 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus. The memory clock for the AMD card is 1470 MHz with 5.9 Gbps effective, while the NVIDIA card runs at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective. The bandwidth difference is 1.79 TB/s versus 94.08 GB/s, a 19-fold gap.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification. The process node is 14 nm for AMD versus 5 nm for NVIDIA. The foundry is GlobalFoundries for AMD versus TSMC for NVIDIA. Transistor count is 3,000 million versus 92,200 million. Die size is 123 mm² versus 750 mm². Transistor density is 24.4M per mm² versus 122.9M per mm².

Clock speeds: the AMD card lists no base or boost clock in the database, only a memory clock of 1470 MHz with 5.9 Gbps effective. The NVIDIA card lists a base clock of 1590 MHz, a boost clock of 2288 MHz, and a memory clock of 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective.

Memory: 4 GB GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus with 94.08 GB/s bandwidth versus 96 GB GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth.

Compute units: 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 16 ROPs for AMD versus 24,064 shading units, 752 TMUs, and 192 ROPs for NVIDIA. The NVIDIA card has 188 ray tracing cores and 752 tensor cores; the AMD card has none.

Rates: pixel rate is 14.51 GPixel/s versus 439.3 GPixel/s. Texture rate is 43.54 GTexel/s versus 1,720.6 GTexel/s. FP32 is 1,393.2 GFLOPS versus 110.1 TFLOPS. FP16 is 1,393.2 GFLOPS (1:1) for both cards relative to their respective FP32 rates.

Power and physical: the AMD card is rated at 75 W TDP, is an IGP slot width, has no power connectors, and no suggested PSU. The NVIDIA card is rated at 300 W TDP, is dual-slot, uses a 1x 16-pin power connector, and has a suggested PSU of 700 W. The NVIDIA card measures 267 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 40 mm in width.

Bus and outputs: the AMD card uses PCIe 3.0 x8 and has display outputs described as portable device dependent. The NVIDIA card uses PCIe 5.0 x16 and has 4x DisplayPort 2.1b outputs.

Release timing: the AMD card was released on 2018-07-15 and is end-of-life. The NVIDIA card was released on 2025-03-17 and is active. The NVIDIA card's predecessor is listed as Workstation Ada; the AMD card has no listed predecessor or successor.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 555X has an average benchmark score of 13,321, which is 20.1% higher than the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q's average of 11,088.

Q: Does the NVIDIA card support ray tracing?

A: Yes, the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q has 188 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2). The AMD Radeon Pro 555X has no ray tracing cores and supports only DirectX 12 (12_0).

Q: What is the memory capacity difference?

A: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q has 96 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth. The AMD Radeon Pro 555X has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus with 94.08 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: How do the two cards compare in the database percentile rankings?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 555X sits at the 54th percentile of all GPUs, while the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q sits at the 50th percentile.

Q: What are the nearest rivals for each card?

A: The AMD card's nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 (delta 0.2%), AMD FirePro M6100 (delta -0.2%), AMD Radeon RX 5500M (delta -0.3%), and AMD Radeon HD 8950M (delta -0.4%). The NVIDIA card's nearest rivals are the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q (delta 0%), AMD Radeon RX 550 (delta 0.1%), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER (delta 0.4%), and AMD FirePro W4300 (delta -1.2%).

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the NVIDIA card?

A: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q has a launch MSRP of 8,565 USD. The AMD Radeon Pro 555X has no launch MSRP listed in the database.

The Verdict

The data presents a fragmented picture. The AMD Radeon Pro 555X wins every recorded benchmark in the database, but those benchmarks are all compute API tests from 2018-era hardware. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q loses its single recorded benchmark to a set of much older rivals, yet its specification sheet indicates a completely different class of hardware.

For users whose workloads run through Metal, OpenCL, or Vulkan compute, the recorded data favors the AMD card. Its Metal score of 14,479 and Vulkan score of 12,855 are the highest numbers in this comparison. The NVIDIA card has no recorded results in these APIs, so no direct claim can be made about its performance there.

For users who need modern rendering features, the choice is clear from the architecture data alone. The NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, has 188 ray tracing cores, 752 tensor cores, and 96 GB of GDDR7 memory. The AMD card cannot run these workloads at all. The 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 11,088, while modest relative to its rivals, is the only modern rendering data point available.

The specification gap is overwhelming in favor of the NVIDIA card: 24,064 shading units versus 768, 110.1 TFLOPS FP32 versus 1,393.2 GFLOPS, 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth versus 94.08 GB/s. The database's benchmark results do not reflect this gap, which suggests either a bottleneck in the Steel Nomad test or a measurement context that does not exercise the NVIDIA card's full capability.

The AMD card is end-of-life, released in 2018, with no ray tracing, no tensor cores, and 4 GB of memory. The NVIDIA card is active, released in 2025, with current-generation features and a 300 W TDP requiring a 700 W suggested PSU. The AMD card is an IGP with no power connectors; the NVIDIA card is a dual-slot card with a 16-pin connector.

The verdict from the recorded data: the AMD Radeon Pro 555X is the better choice for the specific compute benchmarks in the database, where it outperforms the NVIDIA card by 20.1% on average. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q is the only option for modern DirectX 12 Ultimate workloads, ray tracing, and tensor-based compute, based on its architecture and feature set. The benchmark scores do not align with the specification differences, so users should weigh which workload matters more. For legacy compute API performance, the data favors AMD. For current and future rendering features, the data favors NVIDIA.