AMD Radeon Pro W5500 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in raw compute performance?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER leads in every recorded benchmark. Its average benchmark score is 18,093 versus 15,679 for the AMD Radeon Pro W5500. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the NVIDIA card scores 76,957 against 45,615 for the AMD card, a 68.7% advantage.

Q: How do the two cards compare in DirectX 12 performance?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER wins the Passmark DirectX 12 test with a score of 61, compared to 39 for the Radeon Pro W5500, a 56.4% margin. This is one of the narrower gaps between the two, but the NVIDIA card still holds a decisive lead.

Q: Is there any benchmark where the AMD card wins?

A: No. Across all nine head-to-head benchmark results, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER wins every single test. The closest the Radeon Pro W5500 comes is the Passmark G2D test, where it scores 806 versus 854, a 6% difference.

Q: What is the performance class of each card according to the database?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER sits in the 62nd percentile of all GPUs, while the Radeon Pro W5500 is in the 58th percentile. The NVIDIA card's nearest rivals include the GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile (0.4% behind) and the Radeon Pro 5700 (0.5% behind), while the AMD card's closest competitor is the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, which trails by only 0.8%.

Q: Do both cards have the same memory capacity?

A: Yes, both have 8 GB of GDDR6 memory. However, the memory buses differ significantly: the RTX 2060 SUPER uses a 256-bit interface providing 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the Radeon Pro W5500 uses a 128-bit interface delivering 224.0 GB/s.

Q: Which card supports hardware ray tracing?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER includes 34 RT cores for hardware ray tracing. The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 has no RT cores listed, and its DirectX support is capped at 12 (12_1), whereas the NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2).

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from fundamentally different architectures and process nodes. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER uses the TU106 chip built on Turing architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 12 nm process. It packs 10,800 million transistors into a 445 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 24.3 million per square millimeter. In contrast, the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 uses the Navi 14 chip with RDNA 1.0 architecture, also made by TSMC but on a more advanced 7 nm node. This chip contains 6,400 million transistors on a much smaller 158 mm² die, resulting in a higher density of 40.5 million per square millimeter.

The compute resources differ substantially. The NVIDIA card has 2,176 shading units, 136 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. It also includes 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores, enabling hardware ray tracing and AI acceleration. The AMD card has 1,408 shading units, 88 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with no dedicated RT or tensor cores. This structural difference translates directly into the FP32 throughput: the RTX 2060 SUPER delivers 7.181 TFLOPS, while the Radeon Pro W5500 manages 5.224 TFLOPS.

Clock speeds tell a different story. The AMD card has a higher base clock of 1744 MHz and boost clock of 1855 MHz, compared to 1470 MHz and 1650 MHz for the NVIDIA card. However, the NVIDIA card's larger execution resource pool more than compensates for its lower clocks. Both cards run memory at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective), and both feature 8 GB of GDDR6, but the memory subsystem is where the gap widens: the RTX 2060 SUPER has a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the Radeon Pro W5500 has a 128-bit bus with 224.0 GB/s.

The API support also differs. NVIDIA's card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the AMD card tops out at DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. The power and physical profiles diverge as well: the RTX 2060 SUPER has a 175 W TDP, requires a dual-slot cooler and a 1x 8-pin power connector, and needs a 450 W power supply. The Radeon Pro W5500 is more modest with a 125 W TDP, single-slot design, 1x 6-pin connector, and a 300 W suggested PSU. The AMD card also uses PCIe 4.0 x8, while the NVIDIA card uses PCIe 3.0 x16.

Where Each One Wins

Based on the recorded data, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER wins in every workload category tested. That said, the margin of victory varies, and that variation reveals where each card has relative strengths.

The RTX 2060 SUPER dominates compute-heavy workloads. In Passmark GPU Compute, it scores 6,721 against 4,804, a 39.9% lead. This advantage extends to OpenCL and Vulkan compute, where the NVIDIA card leads by 68.7% and 84.2% respectively. For users running GPU-accelerated rendering, scientific simulations, or machine learning tasks, the NVIDIA card is clearly the stronger choice.

In legacy DirectX workloads, the NVIDIA card's lead is even more pronounced. The Passmark DirectX 10 test shows a 136.2% advantage (111 vs 47), and DirectX 11 shows a 132.1% lead (130 vs 56). These older APIs often rely more on raw fill rate and shading throughput, where the RTX 2060 SUPER's 105.6 GPixel/s pixel rate and 224.4 GTexel/s texture rate dwarf the Radeon Pro W5500's 59.36 GPixel/s and 163.2 GTexel/s.

The closest contest is in 2D performance. The Passmark G2D test shows only a 6% difference (854 vs 806), suggesting that for desktop 2D workloads, the two cards are nearly equivalent. This is the only benchmark where the AMD card comes close to closing the gap.

For modern gaming and DirectX 12 workloads, the NVIDIA card leads by 56.4%, a substantial but not overwhelming margin. This suggests that the Radeon Pro W5500 can still handle DirectX 12 titles, but the RTX 2060 SUPER will provide higher frame rates. The overall 3D performance gap, shown in Passmark G3D, is 83.4% in favor of NVIDIA (16,462 vs 8,978), which is the headline number for gamers.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every major specification category. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER uses a 12 nm process, while the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 uses 7 nm. The transistor counts are 10,800 million versus 6,400 million, and die sizes are 445 mm² versus 158 mm². Transistor density favors AMD at 40.5M per mm² versus 24.3M per mm² for NVIDIA.

Clock speeds: the AMD card has a base clock of 1744 MHz and boost of 1855 MHz, while the NVIDIA card has 1470 MHz base and 1650 MHz boost. Memory bandwidth heavily favors NVIDIA at 448.0 GB/s versus 224.0 GB/s, due to the 256-bit versus 128-bit bus width.

Compute resources: NVIDIA has 2,176 shading units, 136 TMUs, and 64 ROPs; AMD has 1,408 shading units, 88 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The NVIDIA card includes 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores; the AMD card has none. FP32 performance is 7.181 TFLOPS for NVIDIA and 5.224 TFLOPS for AMD. Pixel rate is 105.6 GPixel/s versus 59.36 GPixel/s, and texture rate is 224.4 GTexel/s versus 163.2 GTexel/s.

Power and physical design: TDP is 175 W for NVIDIA versus 125 W for AMD. The NVIDIA card is dual-slot with a 1x 8-pin connector and 450 W suggested PSU; the AMD card is single-slot with 1x 6-pin and 300 W suggested PSU. Dimensions: the NVIDIA card is 229 mm long, 113 mm high, and 35 mm wide; the AMD card is 241 mm long and 111 mm high, with no width listed. Display outputs: NVIDIA has 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, 2x DisplayPort 1.4a, and 1x USB Type-C; AMD has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a. Bus interface: PCIe 3.0 x16 versus PCIe 4.0 x8. DirectX support: 12 Ultimate (12_2) versus 12 (12_1). Both have 8 GB GDDR6, both use TSMC as foundry, and both use a 1750 MHz memory clock (14 Gbps effective).

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER wins all nine recorded comparisons. The largest single margin comes in Passmark DirectX 10, where the NVIDIA card scores 111 versus 47, a 136.2% advantage. This is followed closely by DirectX 11, with 130 versus 56, a 132.1% lead. These results indicate that the NVIDIA card has a massive edge in legacy DirectX performance, likely due to its higher shading unit count and fill rate.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the NVIDIA card scores 77,402 against 42,021, an 84.2% lead. This is the largest compute-side margin and suggests that Vulkan workloads, whether gaming or compute, strongly favor the NVIDIA architecture. The Passmark G3D result shows a similar magnitude: 16,462 versus 8,978, an 83.4% difference. This is the broadest 3D performance indicator and confirms that the RTX 2060 SUPER is in a different performance class.

The Geekbench OpenCL test shows a 68.7% lead (76,957 vs 45,615), which is notable because OpenCL is often used in professional rendering and compute applications. The Passmark DirectX 9 test shows a 73% lead (218 vs 126), while DirectX 12 shows a 56.4% lead (61 vs 39). The compute test, Passmark GPU Compute, shows a 39.9% lead (6,721 vs 4,804), the smallest of the compute-oriented benchmarks.

The narrowest margin is in Passmark G2D, where the NVIDIA card leads by just 6% (854 vs 806). This is the only benchmark where the two cards are close, indicating that 2D desktop performance is not a differentiator. Every other benchmark shows at least a 39.9% lead for NVIDIA, and several exceed 80%.

The Verdict

The data leaves no ambiguity: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the superior GPU in every measured category. For gaming, the 83.4% lead in Passmark G3D and the 56.4% lead in DirectX 12 mean the NVIDIA card will deliver markedly higher frame rates in modern titles. For compute workloads, the 68.7% OpenCL and 84.2% Vulkan advantages make it the clear choice for rendering, simulation, or AI tasks. The inclusion of 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores gives it capabilities the AMD card simply does not have.

The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 is not without its virtues. Its 125 W TDP, single-slot design, and 300 W suggested PSU make it a more power-efficient and physically compact option. It uses a newer 7 nm process with higher transistor density, and its PCIe 4.0 x8 interface is more modern than the PCIe 3.0 x16 on the NVIDIA card. For users with strict power or space constraints, or those building a workstation that only needs modest 3D acceleration, the Radeon Pro W5500 is a viable option.

However, the performance gap is too large to ignore. The NVIDIA card's average benchmark score of 18,093 places it in the 62nd percentile, while the AMD card's 15,679 sits in the 58th percentile. Even the AMD card's nearest rival, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, outperforms it by 0.8%, meaning the Radeon Pro W5500 is effectively trading blows with older, high-end cards from a previous generation.

The practical recommendation is straightforward. If the workload involves modern gaming, DirectX 12 Ultimate features, ray tracing, or heavy compute, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the only rational choice from this comparison. If the priority is a low-profile, power-efficient card for basic 3D acceleration and 2D work, the Radeon Pro W5500 can suffice, but the 6% gap in 2D performance and the 39.9% deficit in compute show that even in those areas, the NVIDIA card remains ahead. Both cards are end-of-life, but the RTX 2060 SUPER leaves with a comprehensive sweep of all nine benchmarks.