AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 vs NVIDIA T550 Mobile Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a clear performance hierarchy between these two mobile workstation GPUs. In the shared benchmark suite, the NVIDIA T550 Mobile wins both head-to-head tests, taking a 2-0 victory over the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20. The most significant margin appears in Geekbench OpenCL, where the T550 Mobile scores 35,521 against the Radeon Pro Vega 20's 26,679, a 33.1% advantage. This is not a marginal difference; it is a substantial gap that places the NVIDIA part in a different performance tier for compute workloads exposed through OpenCL.

The second common test, Geekbench Vulkan, narrows the gap but still favors NVIDIA. The T550 Mobile delivers 30,801 points, while the Radeon Pro Vega 20 manages 26,410, resulting in a 16.6% lead for the Turing-based chip. This indicates that while Vulkan performance is closer, the NVIDIA architecture still holds a decisive edge in this API. Across the two tests, the average benchmark score for the T550 Mobile is 33,161, compared to 27,839 for the Radeon Pro Vega 20, a difference of roughly 5,300 points, or about 19% in favor of NVIDIA.

Context from the nearest rivals reinforces this positioning. The T550 Mobile's average score of 33,161 places it essentially level with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile, which averages 33,170 (a 0% delta). It also sits slightly above the AMD Radeon Pro 570 (33,207, delta -0.1%), the NVIDIA P104-100 (32,982, delta 0.5%), and the NVIDIA T600 Mobile (32,849, delta 1%). The Radeon Pro Vega 20, with its 27,839 average, is bracketed by the AMD Radeon RX 7800M (27,883, delta -0.2%), the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X (27,973, delta -0.5%), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (28,020, delta -0.6%), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (27,565, delta 1%). This places the Radeon Pro Vega 20 in a lower performance class, roughly 16% behind its NVIDIA competitor in the database's aggregate scoring.

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark distribution shows that the NVIDIA T550 Mobile wins in every test where both products have recorded results. Its largest win is in OpenCL, where the 33.1% delta represents the strongest single-test advantage. This suggests that applications or workloads leveraging OpenCL for general-purpose compute, such as rendering tasks, physics simulations, or data processing, will see a pronounced benefit from choosing the T550 Mobile.

The Vulkan test tells a slightly different story. While the T550 Mobile still wins by 16.6%, the smaller margin indicates that the Radeon Pro Vega 20 is relatively more competitive in graphics-oriented APIs. Vulkan is often used for game engines and real-time visualization, so users prioritizing those workloads will find the gap less punishing, but the NVIDIA part still leads. The AMD GPU has no recorded wins in shared tests, meaning there is no benchmark category in this database where it overtakes the T550 Mobile. However, the Radeon Pro Vega 20 does have a Geekbench Metal score of 30,427, a test that the T550 Mobile was not subjected to, so any conclusion about Metal performance must remain qualitative: the AMD part shows a strong result in that Apple-centric API, but no direct comparison exists in this data.

For users focused on raw compute throughput, the T550 Mobile is the clear choice. For those in mixed environments where both OpenCL and Vulkan are used, the data still favors NVIDIA, but the margin narrows in Vulkan. The Radeon Pro Vega 20's strengths, if any, would have to lie outside the measured tests, as the recorded benchmarks do not show a single instance where it outperforms the T550 Mobile.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different manufacturers and use fundamentally different architectures. The NVIDIA T550 Mobile is built on the Turing architecture, specifically the TU117 chip, fabricated on a 12 nm process at TSMC. It packs 4,700 million transistors into a 200 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 23.5 million per square millimeter. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 uses the GCN 5.0 architecture with the Vega 12 chip, built on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. Notably, the database does not record a transistor count or die size for the AMD part, so a direct density comparison is not possible.

Memory subsystems differ markedly. The T550 Mobile uses 4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 64-bit bus, delivering 96.00 GB/s of bandwidth. The Radeon Pro Vega 20 also has 4 GB, but it uses HBM2 memory on a 1024-bit bus, pushing bandwidth to 189.4 GB/s. This is a 97% bandwidth advantage for the AMD part, which is significant for memory-bound workloads, yet the NVIDIA chip still wins the compute benchmarks, suggesting that raw bandwidth alone does not dictate overall performance in these tests. Clock speeds also diverge: the T550 Mobile runs at a 1065 MHz base and 1665 MHz boost, while the Radeon Pro Vega 20 has a lower 815 MHz base and 1283 MHz boost.

Shader configuration favors AMD in raw count: 1280 shading units, 80 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs, versus NVIDIA's 1024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. Despite having more shaders, the Radeon Pro Vega 20 produces slightly lower FP32 throughput at 3.284 TFLOPS versus the T550 Mobile's 3.410 TFLOPS. Texture fill rates are similar: 102.6 GTexel/s for AMD and 106.6 GTexel/s for NVIDIA. Pixel rates differ modestly, with NVIDIA at 53.28 GPixel/s and AMD at 41.06 GPixel/s. Both support FP16 at a 2:1 ratio, with NVIDIA at 6.820 TFLOPS and AMD at 6.569 TFLOPS. Power consumption is a major differentiator: the T550 Mobile's TDP is 23 W, while the Radeon Pro Vega 20 draws 100 W, a 4.3x higher power envelope. Both are integrated into laptops (IGP slot width) with no external power connectors listed, and both use PCIe 3.0 x16.

API support is nearly identical: both support DirectX 12 (12_1) and OpenGL 4.6. The NVIDIA part supports Vulkan 1.4, while the AMD part lists Vulkan 1.3. Display outputs are described as "Portable Device Dependent" for both, meaning the laptop manufacturer determines connectivity.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA T550 Mobile averages 33,161 points, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 averages 27,839 points, a difference of about 19% in favor of NVIDIA.

Q: How much faster is the T550 Mobile in OpenCL?

A: In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the T550 Mobile scores 35,521 versus 26,679 for the Radeon Pro Vega 20, a 33.1% lead.

Q: Does the Radeon Pro Vega 20 have any memory advantage?

A: Yes, it uses HBM2 on a 1024-bit bus providing 189.4 GB/s, while the T550 Mobile uses GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus providing 96.00 GB/s, giving AMD roughly double the bandwidth.

Q: What is the power consumption difference?

A: The T550 Mobile has a TDP of 23 W, while the Radeon Pro Vega 20 has a TDP of 100 W, making the AMD part significantly more power-hungry.

Q: Which GPU has more shading units?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 has 1280 shading units, compared to 1024 on the NVIDIA T550 Mobile, yet the NVIDIA part still achieves higher FP32 throughput.

Q: Are there any benchmarks where the Radeon Pro Vega 20 wins?

A: In the shared tests (OpenCL and Vulkan), the Radeon Pro Vega 20 wins none. It does have a Geekbench Metal score of 30,427, but the T550 Mobile has no recorded Metal result for comparison.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear verdict: the NVIDIA T550 Mobile is the superior GPU for the measured workloads. It wins both head-to-head tests, holds a higher average benchmark score, and does so while consuming only 23 W compared to the Radeon Pro Vega 20's 100 W. The 33.1% OpenCL lead is substantial and suggests that compute-heavy applications will run markedly better on the NVIDIA part. The Vulkan margin of 16.6% is smaller but still decisive.

The Radeon Pro Vega 20's strengths lie in memory bandwidth, where its HBM2 configuration delivers 189.4 GB/s versus 96.00 GB/s, and in raw shader count, where it has 1280 units versus 1024. However, these advantages do not translate into benchmark wins in this database. The AMD part also supports Vulkan 1.3, one version behind NVIDIA's 1.4, which could matter for future software compatibility.

For users selecting a mobile workstation GPU based on these benchmarks, the T550 Mobile is the recommended choice for general compute and graphics tasks. Its lower TDP also makes it more suitable for thin-and-light laptops without compromising on performance. The Radeon Pro Vega 20, released on 2018-11-13, remains a capable part for systems where its HBM2 bandwidth is heavily utilized, but the recorded data shows no scenario where it outperforms the T550 Mobile in the shared tests. Both GPUs are end-of-life products, so availability may be limited, but among these two, the NVIDIA T550 Mobile is the stronger performer in every measured category.

Specification Differences

The following fields differ between the two GPUs:

• Manufacturer: NVIDIA versus AMD
• Chip: TU117 versus Vega 12
• Architecture: Turing versus GCN 5.0
• Generation: Quadro Turing-M (Tx000) versus Radeon Pro Mac (Vega Series)
• Process Node: 12 nm versus 14 nm
• Foundry: TSMC versus GlobalFoundries
• Transistors: 4,700 million versus not recorded
• Die Size: 200 mm² versus not recorded
• Transistor Density: 23.5M / mm² versus not recorded
• Base Clock: 1065 MHz versus 815 MHz
• Boost Clock: 1665 MHz versus 1283 MHz
• Memory Clock: 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) versus 740 MHz (1480 Mbps effective)
• Memory Type: GDDR6 versus HBM2
• Memory Bus Width: 64 bit versus 1024 bit
• Memory Bandwidth: 96.00 GB/s versus 189.4 GB/s
• Shading Units: 1024 versus 1280
• Texture Mapping Units: 64 versus 80
• Pixel Rate: 53.28 GPixel/s versus 41.06 GPixel/s
• Texture Rate: 106.6 GTexel/s versus 102.6 GTexel/s
• FP32 Performance: 3.410 TFLOPS versus 3.284 TFLOPS
• FP16 Performance: 6.820 TFLOPS versus 6.569 TFLOPS
• TDP: 23 W versus 100 W
• Vulkan Version: 1.4 versus 1.3
• Release Date: not recorded versus 2018-11-13
• Predecessor: Quadro Pascal-M versus not recorded
• Successor: Ampere-MW versus not recorded
• Benchmark Scores: OpenCL 35,521 versus 26,679; Vulkan 30,801 versus 26,410
• Average Benchmark Score: 33,161 versus 27,839
• Percentile vs All GPUs: 77 versus 73

Both GPUs share the same 4 GB memory size, 32 ROPs, PCIe 3.0 x16 interface, DirectX 12 (12_1) and OpenGL 4.6 support, IGP slot width, and "Portable Device Dependent" display outputs. Neither has a launch MSRP or a suggested PSU listed in the database.