AMD Radeon Pro W5500 vs AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT Comparison

The benchmark data is unequivocal: the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is the dominant performer, winning 9 of 10 head-to-head tests against the AMD Radeon Pro W5500. The RX 5700 XT delivers substantially higher scores across nearly every workload, with advantages ranging from 14.4% in 2D graphics to a massive 107.1% in DirectX 11. The Pro W5500’s single victory, a 79.1% lead in the Geekbench OpenCL test, is a notable outlier but does not offset the RX 5700 XT’s overwhelming overall superiority. For any user prioritizing raw graphics throughput, the RX 5700 XT is the clear choice, while the Pro W5500’s appeal is limited to specific compute-oriented scenarios.

The Verdict

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is the definitive winner for general-purpose and gaming-oriented workloads. Its average benchmark score of 16361 places it in the 59th percentile of all GPUs, while the Pro W5500’s average of 15679 sits at the 58th percentile. The RX 5700 XT’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (deltaPct -0.3%) and the AMD Radeon PRO W7500 (deltaPct -0.3%), indicating it trades blows with professional-class cards. In contrast, the Pro W5500’s nearest rivals are older gaming cards like the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (deltaPct 0.8%) and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 (deltaPct -1.1%), showing it competes in a lower performance tier.

The RX 5700 XT wins decisively in every API benchmark that matters for gaming and general 3D rendering. Its 81.3% lead in Passmark G3D and 62.6% lead in Geekbench Vulkan demonstrate a massive gap in raw rasterization power. The Pro W5500, despite its professional branding, offers no compelling performance advantage in these tests. Its only win comes in Geekbench OpenCL, where it scores 45615 versus the RX 5700 XT’s 9524 — a 79.1% advantage that suggests specialized compute optimization. However, this single win does not compensate for losses of 106.4% in DirectX 10, 107.1% in DirectX 11, and 64.1% in DirectX 12.

For professional users, the Pro W5500’s workstation features (4x DisplayPort 1.4a, single-slot design) may justify its existence, but the data shows no performance reason to choose it over the RX 5700 XT. The RX 5700 XT is the pick for anyone who wants the highest frame rates and fastest 3D rendering, while the Pro W5500 is only worth considering for niche OpenCL compute workloads. The RX 5700 XT’s 225 W TDP and dual-slot footprint are the trade-offs for its superior performance.

Architecture Differences

Both cards share the RDNA 1.0 architecture and are fabricated on TSMC’s 7 nm process, but they use different chips with significantly different configurations. The RX 5700 XT is built on the Navi 10 chip, which contains 10,300 million transistors on a 251 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 41.0M / mm². The Pro W5500 uses the smaller Navi 14 chip, with 6,400 million transistors on a 158 mm² die and a density of 40.5M / mm². This difference in chip size translates directly into compute resources: the RX 5700 XT has 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, while the Pro W5500 has 1408 shading units, 88 TMUs, and 32 ROPs.

The memory subsystems also differ substantially. Both cards feature 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, but the RX 5700 XT uses a 256-bit bus width delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, whereas the Pro W5500 is limited to a 128-bit bus and 224.0 GB/s. This 2x bandwidth advantage is a key factor in the RX 5700 XT’s superior performance in memory-intensive workloads. Clock speeds are closer: the RX 5700 XT has a base clock of 1605 MHz and boost of 1905 MHz, while the Pro W5500 has a higher base clock of 1744 MHz but a lower boost of 1855 MHz. The RX 5700 XT also features a "game" clock of 1755 MHz, which the Pro W5500 lacks.

The RX 5700 XT is a dual-slot card requiring 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin power connectors and a 550 W suggested PSU, while the Pro W5500 is a single-slot card with a single 6-pin connector and a 300 W PSU recommendation. The RX 5700 XT uses a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface and offers 1x HDMI 2.0b plus 3x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. The Pro W5500 uses a PCIe 4.0 x8 interface and provides 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, making it more suitable for multi-display professional setups. Neither card has ray tracing or tensor cores, and both support DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The RX 5700 XT’s most dominant victory comes in Passmark DirectX 11, where it scores 116 versus the Pro W5500’s 56, a 107.1% advantage. This is closely followed by a 106.4% win in DirectX 10 (97 vs 47). The pattern continues across all DirectX versions: the RX 5700 XT leads by 64.1% in DirectX 12 (64 vs 39) and 79.4% in DirectX 9 (226 vs 126). These results indicate that the RX 5700 XT is vastly more capable across legacy and modern graphics APIs alike.

In the Passmark G3D test, the RX 5700 XT scores 16277 against the Pro W5500’s 8978, an 81.3% lead that represents the overall 3D graphics performance gap. The Geekbench Vulkan test shows a 62.6% advantage for the RX 5700 XT (68310 vs 42021), while the Geekbench Metal test shows a 37.5% lead (74647 vs 54302). The RX 5700 XT also wins the Passmark GPU Compute test by 59.2% (7650 vs 4804) and the Passmark G2D test by 14.4% (922 vs 806).

The only benchmark where the Pro W5500 wins is Geekbench OpenCL, where it scores 45615 versus the RX 5700 XT’s 9524 — a 79.1% advantage. This is a striking reversal that suggests the Pro W5500 has significantly better OpenCL compute optimization, despite its smaller chip. However, this single result is insufficient to overcome the RX 5700 XT’s nine other wins. The RX 5700 XT’s average benchmark score of 16361 is 4.3% higher than the Pro W5500’s 15679, and the RX 5700 XT’s Passmark G3D score of 16277 is nearly double the Pro W5500’s 8978.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT has an average benchmark score of 16361, while the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 scores 15679, a difference of 682 points in favor of the RX 5700 XT.

Q: Is the Pro W5500 faster in any test?

A: Yes, the Pro W5500 wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 45615 versus the RX 5700 XT’s 9524, a 79.1% advantage. This is its only head-to-head victory.

Q: How large is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The RX 5700 XT has a 256-bit memory bus providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, while the Pro W5500 has a 128-bit bus providing 224.0 GB/s. This is a 2x difference in favor of the RX 5700 XT.

Q: Do both cards support the same APIs?

A: Yes, both cards support DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Neither card features ray tracing or tensor cores.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The RX 5700 XT has a 225 W TDP and requires a 550 W suggested PSU with 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin power connectors. The Pro W5500 has a 125 W TDP and requires a 300 W suggested PSU with a single 6-pin connector.

Q: Which card is better for multi-display setups?

A: The Pro W5500 offers 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, while the RX 5700 XT offers 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The Pro W5500 has more DisplayPort outputs, but the RX 5700 XT adds an HDMI port.

Where Each One Wins

The RX 5700 XT is the clear winner for nearly every workload category. Its 107.1% lead in DirectX 11 and 106.4% lead in DirectX 10 make it ideal for gaming on older titles and compatibility with legacy software. The 81.3% advantage in Passmark G3D indicates superior overall 3D rendering performance, making it the better choice for gaming, 3D modeling, and real-time visualization. The 62.6% lead in Vulkan and 37.5% lead in Metal ensure strong performance in modern cross-platform APIs. Even in compute-heavy tasks, the RX 5700 XT’s 59.2% lead in Passmark GPU Compute shows it is the more capable card for general-purpose GPGPU work.

The Pro W5500’s only meaningful win is in Geekbench OpenCL, where its 79.1% advantage suggests specialized optimization for OpenCL compute workloads. This could be relevant for professional applications that rely heavily on OpenCL acceleration, such as certain scientific computing or video encoding tools. The Pro W5500 also has a more compact single-slot design and lower power draw (125 W vs 225 W), making it easier to integrate into space-constrained workstation builds. Its 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs provide more display connectivity options for multi-monitor professional setups.

For users who prioritize raw performance, the RX 5700 XT is the only rational choice. Its 9-1 head-to-head record and higher average benchmark score leave no doubt about its superiority. The Pro W5500’s niche advantages in OpenCL compute and its physical form factor are the only reasons to consider it, and even then, the performance gap in every other test makes it a difficult sell. The data shows the RX 5700 XT is the better investment for anyone who needs maximum graphics performance.

Specification Differences

The following specifications differ between the two cards:

• Chip: Navi 10 (RX 5700 XT) vs Navi 14 (Pro W5500)
• Transistors: 10,300 million vs 6,400 million
• Die Size: 251 mm² vs 158 mm²
• Transistor Density: 41.0M / mm² vs 40.5M / mm²
• Base Clock: 1605 MHz vs 1744 MHz
• Boost Clock: 1905 MHz vs 1855 MHz
• Game Clock: 1755 MHz (RX 5700 XT only)
• Memory Bus Width: 256 bit vs 128 bit
• Memory Bandwidth: 448.0 GB/s vs 224.0 GB/s
• Shading Units: 2560 vs 1408
• TMUs: 160 vs 88
• ROPs: 64 vs 32
• Pixel Rate: 121.9 GPixel/s vs 59.36 GPixel/s
• Texture Rate: 304.8 GTexel/s vs 163.2 GTexel/s
• FP32: 9.754 TFLOPS vs 5.224 TFLOPS
• FP16: 19.51 TFLOPS (2:1) vs 10.45 TFLOPS (2:1)
• TDP: 225 W vs 125 W
• Slot Width: Dual-slot vs Single-slot
• Power Connectors: 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin vs 1x 6-pin
• Suggested PSU: 550 W vs 300 W
• Bus Interface: PCIe 4.0 x16 vs PCIe 4.0 x8
• Display Outputs: 1x HDMI 2.0b + 3x DisplayPort 1.4a vs 4x DisplayPort 1.4a
• Dimensions (Length): 272 mm (10.7 inches) vs 241 mm (9.5 inches)
• Dimensions (Width): 36 mm (1.4 inches) vs null
• Release Date: 2019-07-06 vs 2020-02-09
• Launch MSRP: 399 USD (both cards)