AMD Radeon Pro W5500 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head benchmark data presents a starkly one-sided picture. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti secures victories in 9 of the 10 recorded tests, while the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 manages a single, albeit decisive, win.

The W5500's sole triumph comes in the Geekbench Metal test, where it scores 54302 against the GTX 1070 Ti's 22180. This represents a 144.8% advantage, an extraordinary margin that suggests a fundamental architectural affinity for Metal workloads. This is not a marginal lead; it is a near-tripling of the rival's score, indicating that in Metal-centric environments, the AMD card operates in a different performance class entirely.

Outside of Metal, the GTX 1070 Ti dominates. In Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 49219 versus 45615, a 7.3% lead. The Vulkan API shows a much larger gap, with the NVIDIA card scoring 61006 against 42021, a 31.1% advantage. This pattern continues across the Passmark suite. The DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 tests show the GTX 1070 Ti at 90 and 107 points respectively, against the W5500's 47 and 56 points, translating to 47.8% and 47.7% leads. The DirectX 12 test is closer but still favors NVIDIA, 51 to 39, a 23.5% difference. DirectX 9 shows a 39.1% lead for the GTX 1070 Ti, with scores of 207 and 126.

The 2D and 3D performance gaps are also substantial. In Passmark G2D, the NVIDIA card edges ahead with 876 points versus 806, an 8% lead. The Passmark G3D test reveals a significant performance chasm, with the GTX 1070 Ti scoring 14674 against the W5500's 8978, a 38.8% deficit for the AMD card. Compute workloads follow the same trend: Passmark GPU Compute shows the GTX 1070 Ti at 7165, which is 33% higher than the W5500's 4804.

The average benchmark scores reinforce this hierarchy. The W5500 has an average score of 15679, while the GTX 1070 Ti averages 14277. However, these averages are skewed by the W5500's exceptional Metal result. The W5500's percentile rank among all GPUs is 58, slightly higher than the GTX 1070 Ti's 56, but this appears to be a function of the Metal outlier. The nearest rival data for the W5500 includes the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, with an average score of 15548 and a delta of 0.8%, placing the W5500's average firmly in that performance tier. The GTX 1070 Ti's nearest rivals, such as the Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics with a delta of -0.3%, show its average score is competitive with a different, often lower, set of hardware.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on fundamentally different architectures, which explains the divergent benchmark results. The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 uses the Navi 14 chip based on RDNA 1.0 architecture, fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. This process allows for a transistor count of 6,400 million on a die size of 158 mm², yielding a transistor density of 40.5 million per mm². In contrast, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti uses the GP104 chip with the older Pascal architecture, built on a 16 nm process. This results in 7,200 million transistors on a much larger die of 314 mm², with a density of only 22.9 million per mm².

These architectural differences lead to distinct resource allocations. The W5500 has 1408 shading units, 88 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The GTX 1070 Ti is configured with 2432 shading units, 152 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The higher counts on the NVIDIA card directly contribute to its superior pixel rate of 107.7 GPixel/s and texture rate of 255.8 GTexel/s, compared to the W5500's 59.36 GPixel/s and 163.2 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance also favors NVIDIA, with 8.186 TFLOPS versus 5.224 TFLOPS.

Clock speeds and memory subsystems also differ. The W5500 has a base clock of 1744 MHz and a boost clock of 1855 MHz, while the GTX 1070 Ti operates at 1607 MHz base and 1683 MHz boost. However, the NVIDIA card compensates with a wider 256-bit memory bus versus the W5500's 128-bit bus. Both cards have 8 GB of memory, but the W5500 uses GDDR6 with an effective speed of 14 Gbps, while the GTX 1070 Ti uses GDDR5 at 8 Gbps. The resulting memory bandwidth is 256.3 GB/s for the GTX 1070 Ti, slightly higher than the W5500's 224.0 GB/s.

The API support is identical for DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The FP16 capabilities are starkly different: the W5500 offers 10.45 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio, while the GTX 1070 Ti is limited to 127.9 GFLOPS with a 1:64 ratio. This indicates the AMD card is much more capable in workloads that leverage FP16 arithmetic. Power requirements and physical design also separate them. The W5500 has a TDP of 125 W with a single 6-pin connector and a suggested PSU of 300 W, while the GTX 1070 Ti draws 180 W, requires an 8-pin connector, and a suggested 450 W PSU. The W5500 is a single-slot card measuring 241 mm in length, while the GTX 1070 Ti is dual-slot and 267 mm long. The W5500 also uses a PCIe 4.0 x8 interface, whereas the GTX 1070 Ti uses PCIe 3.0 x16.

The Verdict

The data presents a clear choice based on workload. For any environment that relies on the Metal API, the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 is the definitive option. The 144.8% lead in Geekbench Metal is not a minor advantage; it indicates a specialized capability that the NVIDIA card cannot match. This is a decisive factor for users whose software stack is built around Metal.

For everything else, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti is the superior performer. The benchmark results show consistent and often large leads across DirectX 9, 10, 11, and 12, as well as in Vulkan, OpenCL, and general compute. The 47.8% and 47.7% leads in DirectX 10 and 11, respectively, and the 38.8% lead in Passmark G3D, demonstrate a broadly stronger GPU. The GTX 1070 Ti also wins in 2D performance, albeit by a smaller margin.

The choice depends entirely on the primary application. If the workload is Metal-centric, the W5500 is the only rational pick. If the workload spans general graphics, compute, or other APIs, the GTX 1070 Ti's superior scores make it the more capable card. The W5500's higher average benchmark score of 15679 versus 14277 is misleading, as it is inflated by the Metal outlier. The GTX 1070 Ti's consistency across a wider range of tests makes it the more versatile option.

FAQ

Q: Which card is better for Geekbench Metal performance?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 is far superior, scoring 54302 compared to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti's 22180, a 144.8% difference.

Q: Does the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti win in Vulkan?

A: Yes, the GTX 1070 Ti scores 61006 in Geekbench Vulkan, which is 31.1% higher than the W5500's 42021.

Q: How does the memory configuration compare?

A: Both cards have 8 GB of memory. The W5500 uses GDDR6 with a 128-bit bus and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the GTX 1070 Ti uses GDDR5 with a 256-bit bus and 256.3 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The W5500 has a TDP of 125 W and requires a 300 W PSU with a single 6-pin connector. The GTX 1070 Ti has a TDP of 180 W, requires a 450 W PSU, and uses a single 8-pin connector.

Q: Which card has a higher FP32 performance?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti has a higher FP32 performance at 8.186 TFLOPS, compared to the AMD Radeon Pro W5500's 5.224 TFLOPS.

Q: How do the average benchmark scores compare?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 has an average score of 15679, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti has an average of 14277. However, the W5500's average is heavily influenced by its exceptional Metal score.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 is the clear winner in Metal-based workloads. This is its only benchmark victory, but it is a significant one. The 144.8% lead over the GTX 1070 Ti in Geekbench Metal suggests that systems running macOS or applications that heavily utilize Metal will see substantially better performance with the W5500. Its higher FP16 throughput of 10.45 TFLOPS also indicates a potential advantage in compute tasks that can leverage FP16 precision, even if no specific benchmark in this dataset isolates that workload.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti is the winner in every other scenario. Its wins span all major graphics APIs, including DirectX 9, 10, 11, and 12, as well as Vulkan. The consistent 23.5% to 47.8% leads in these tests make it the superior choice for gaming and general DirectX-based applications. Its 38.8% lead in Passmark G3D and 33% lead in GPU compute further establish it as the stronger card for 3D rendering and general-purpose compute on OpenCL. The GTX 1070 Ti also wins in 2D tasks, with an 8% lead in Passmark G2D. For users working with Windows-based software, traditional game engines, or OpenCL compute, the GTX 1070 Ti is the better performer. The data shows that the W5500 is a specialized tool, while the GTX 1070 Ti is a general-purpose workhorse.