AMD Radeon Pro 5700 vs AMD Radeon Pro W5500 Comparison

AMD Radeon Pro 5700 and AMD Radeon Pro W5500 are both professional graphics cards built on the RDNA 1.0 architecture, but they serve distinctly different roles within AMD’s lineup. The Pro 5700, based on the Navi 10 chip, is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with no display outputs, while the Pro W5500, using the Navi 14 chip, is a single-slot, 241 mm add-in card with four DisplayPort outputs. The benchmark data shows a clear performance hierarchy, with the Pro 5700 winning 9 out of 10 head-to-head tests, yet the W5500 holds its own in specific workloads and offers a different physical and connectivity profile. The recorded scores place the Pro 5700 at the 62nd percentile among all GPUs, while the W5500 sits at the 58th percentile. Their average benchmark scores, 18189 for the Pro 5700 and 15679 for the W5500, reflect a meaningful gap, though the W5500’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, a notable comparison that shows it trading blows with much older flagship hardware.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 is the dominant performer in raw compute and graphics workloads. It wins 9 of the 10 head-to-head benchmarks, with its largest victories coming in DirectX 10 (71 vs 47, a 51.1% lead), DirectX 11 (78 vs 56, a 39.3% lead), and the comprehensive Passmark G3D test (11583 vs 8978, a 29% lead). These are substantial margins that indicate the Pro 5700 is the better choice for applications that stress traditional rasterization and general 3D rendering. The Pro 5700 also leads in all three Geekbench tests: Metal (60126 vs 54302, 10.7% ahead), OpenCL (52787 vs 45615, 15.7% ahead), and Vulkan (51289 vs 42021, 22.1% ahead). This suggests it is well suited for cross-platform compute tasks, particularly those leveraging Apple’s Metal API, where its score of 60126 is the highest recorded among both cards.

The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 wins only one head-to-head test, the Passmark G2D benchmark, with a score of 806 versus 805, a 0.1% margin that is essentially a tie. However, the W5500’s strengths lie beyond raw benchmark scores. It is a single-slot card with 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, making it the only one of the two that can drive a multi-monitor professional workstation directly. It also has a higher base clock (1744 MHz vs 1243 MHz) and boost clock (1855 MHz vs 1350 MHz), which helps it remain competitive in compute-heavy tasks despite having fewer shading units (1408 vs 2304) and a narrower 128-bit memory bus. In the Passmark GPU Compute test, the W5500 scores 4804 against the Pro 5700’s 4961, a gap of only 3.3%, showing that its compute efficiency is much closer than the overall averages suggest. The W5500’s nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, has an average score of 15548, which is 0.8% lower than the W5500’s 15679, indicating that this card can hold its own against a much older enthusiast-class GPU in aggregate performance.

The Verdict

The choice between these two cards comes down to form factor, connectivity, and the specific workload profile. The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 is the clear performance winner, with a 29% lead in Passmark G3D, a 22.1% lead in Vulkan, and a 15.7% lead in OpenCL over the W5500. It is the better option for users who prioritize maximum compute throughput and do not need display outputs, which aligns with its IGP form factor and lack of any video connectors. Its average benchmark score of 18189 places it just ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile (18159, 0.2% gap) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER (18093, 0.5% gap), showing it competes with mid-range gaming GPUs from the same era despite its professional positioning. The Pro 5700 is also the stronger choice for DirectX 12 workloads, leading 48 to 39, a 23.1% advantage.

The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 is the pick for professionals who need a physical card with display outputs. It is a single-slot, 241 mm card with 4x DisplayPort 1.4a, meaning it can be installed in a standard workstation and connected to multiple monitors. Its 125 W TDP and 1x 6-pin power connector make it a more conventional installation compared to the Pro 5700, which has no power connectors and is listed as an IGP. The W5500 also has a slight edge in 2D performance, scoring 806 vs 805 in G2D, though this is negligible. For users who need to run legacy or 2D-heavy applications, the W5500 is the safer bet, but for anyone who can work with a card that has no outputs and is integrated into a system, the Pro 5700’s superior compute and graphics scores make it the obvious choice from a pure performance standpoint. The W5500’s nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7700, has an average score of 15852, which is 1.1% higher, so the W5500 is positioned just below that card in the database’s rankings.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The largest gap between the two cards appears in the Passmark DirectX 10 test, where the Pro 5700 scores 71 versus the W5500’s 47, a 51.1% difference. This is followed by the DirectX 11 test, where the Pro 5700 leads 78 to 56, a 39.3% margin. These older API tests show the Pro 5700’s higher shading unit count (2304 vs 1408) and wider 256-bit memory bus (vs 128-bit) providing a significant advantage in legacy rasterization paths. The Pro 5700 also wins the Passmark G3D test by 29% (11583 vs 8978), which is a broad measure of 3D graphics performance and reinforces the overall compute advantage.

In the Geekbench suite, the Pro 5700’s lead is consistent but more moderate. The Vulkan test shows a 22.1% advantage (51289 vs 42021), the OpenCL test shows 15.7% (52787 vs 45615), and the Metal test shows 10.7% (60126 vs 54302). The Metal score is particularly relevant for Apple-centric workflows, as the Pro 5700’s generation is listed as “Radeon Pro Mac (Navi Series),” indicating it is designed for Mac systems. The W5500, by contrast, is from the “Radeon Pro Navi (Navi Series)” generation and is a general-purpose workstation card. The DirectX 12 test shows a 23.1% lead for the Pro 5700 (48 vs 39), while the DirectX 9 test shows a 13.5% lead (143 vs 126). The only benchmark where the W5500 edges ahead is Passmark G2D (806 vs 805), a 0.1% difference that falls within noise.

The closest contest is the Passmark GPU Compute test, where the Pro 5700 leads by just 3.3% (4961 vs 4804). This is notable because the W5500 has a much higher boost clock (1855 MHz vs 1350 MHz) and a smaller die (158 mm² vs 251 mm²), yet it still nearly matches the Pro 5700 in compute throughput. The Pro 5700’s FP32 performance is 6.221 TFLOPS versus the W5500’s 5.224 TFLOPS, a difference of about 19%, but the compute benchmark gap is much smaller, suggesting the W5500’s higher clocks help it close the gap in certain compute patterns. Overall, the Pro 5700 wins 9 out of 10 tests, with the W5500 taking the G2D test by a hair, and the Pro 5700’s average score of 18189 is 16% higher than the W5500’s 15679.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 has an average benchmark score of 18189, which is 16% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5500’s 15679.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 beat the Pro 5700 in any tests?

A: Yes, the W5500 wins the Passmark G2D test with a score of 806 versus the Pro 5700’s 805, a 0.1% difference.

Q: What is the largest benchmark margin between the two cards?

A: The Passmark DirectX 10 test shows the Pro 5700 winning 71 to 47, a 51.1% lead.

Q: How do the two cards compare in compute performance?

A: The Pro 5700 leads the Passmark GPU Compute test with 4961 against the W5500’s 4804, a 3.3% advantage.

Q: Which card is positioned higher in the database rankings?

A: The Pro 5700 is at the 62nd percentile, while the W5500 is at the 58th percentile, and the W5500’s average score of 15679 is 1.1% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 7700’s 15679.

Q: What are the physical differences between the two cards?

A: The Pro 5700 is an IGP with no display outputs, while the W5500 is a single-slot, 241 mm card with 4x DisplayPort 1.4a.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 and AMD Radeon Pro W5500 share the RDNA 1.0 architecture and the 7 nm process node from TSMC, but they are built on different chips. The Pro 5700 uses the Navi 10 chip with 10,300 million transistors on a 251 mm² die, giving it a transistor density of 41.0 million per mm². The W5500 uses the smaller Navi 14 chip with 6,400 million transistors on a 158 mm² die, resulting in a density of 40.5 million per mm². The Pro 5700 has a wider memory interface at 256-bit, while the W5500 uses a 128-bit bus, which directly impacts memory bandwidth: the Pro 5700 delivers 384.0 GB/s versus the W5500’s 224.0 GB/s. Both cards have 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, but the Pro 5700 runs at 12 Gbps effective while the W5500 runs at 14 Gbps effective. The higher clock speed on the W5500 partially compensates for its narrower bus, but the Pro 5700 still has a substantial bandwidth advantage.

The computing resources differ significantly. The Pro 5700 has 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operations pipelines, while the W5500 has 1408 shading units, 88 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. This translates to higher pixel and texture rates for the Pro 5700: 86.40 GPixel/s and 194.4 GTexel/s versus 59.36 GPixel/s and 163.2 GTexel/s for the W5500. The Pro 5700’s FP32 throughput is 6.221 TFLOPS, and its FP16 is 12.44 TFLOPS (2:1), while the W5500 manages 5.224 TFLOPS FP32 and 10.45 TFLOPS FP16. Clock speeds favor the W5500, with a base of 1744 MHz and boost of 1855 MHz, compared to the Pro 5700’s 1243 MHz base and 1350 MHz boost. The Pro 5700 has a TDP of 130 W and no power connectors, while the W5500 has a 125 W TDP and uses a 1x 6-pin connector.

Both cards support PCIe 4.0, but the Pro 5700 uses x16 while the W5500 uses x8. The Pro 5700 has no display outputs, while the W5500 has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a. Both support DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The W5500 is the only one with a recorded launch MSRP of 399 USD. The Pro 5700 is designated as an IGP, which explains the lack of outputs and power connectors, while the W5500 is a standard single-slot add-in card measuring 241 mm by 111 mm. The W5500’s predecessor is the Radeon Pro Vega, and both cards are now end-of-life. The Pro 5700’s generation is specifically listed as “Radeon Pro Mac (Navi Series),” suggesting its integration targets Apple systems, while the W5500’s generation is “Radeon Pro Navi (Navi Series),” indicating a general professional workstation focus.