AMD Radeon Pro W5500 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and AMD Radeon Pro W5500 are both end-of-life workstation-class GPUs from 2020, launched with identical MSRPs but built for different corners of the market. The data shows a decisive performance gap, with the RTX 3060 Ti winning all nine head-to-head benchmark comparisons, yet the W5500 maintains a distinct profile in power, size, and API support that may suit specific professional workflows.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark results are unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti outperforms the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 in every single test recorded. The largest margin appears in legacy DirectX 11 workloads, where the RTX 3060 Ti scores 163 versus the W5500’s 56, a 191.1% advantage. Similarly, in DirectX 10, the NVIDIA card leads by 180.9% (132 vs 47). These are not marginal differences; they represent a generational leap in raw rasterization throughput for older API paths.

The gap narrows considerably in Vulkan, where the RTX 3060 Ti scores 47,784 against the W5500’s 42,021, a 13.7% lead. This suggests that the W5500’s RDNA architecture is relatively stronger in modern, low-overhead APIs, though it still trails. In OpenCL, the NVIDIA card’s advantage expands to 73%, with scores of 78,927 versus 45,615. This is a critical metric for compute-oriented professional tasks, as OpenCL remains a common language for GPU-accelerated rendering and simulation.

The most striking overall result is in PassMark G3D, where the RTX 3060 Ti scores 20,349 compared to the W5500’s 8,978 — a 126.7% win. This aggregate metric reflects sustained gaming and graphics performance, confirming that the NVIDIA card is in a different class. The compute-focused PassMark GPU Compute test shows a similar 108.3% advantage (10,006 vs 4,804). Even in 2D graphics, a workload where the W5500 might be expected to compete given its workstation pedigree, the RTX 3060 Ti leads by 22.7% (989 vs 806).

The average benchmark scores reinforce this hierarchy: the RTX 3060 Ti posts an average of 16,129 across all tests, while the W5500 averages 15,679. The percentile rankings are close — 59th for NVIDIA versus 58th for AMD — but this is misleading, as the head-to-head deltas show the NVIDIA card is often more than twice as fast. The W5500’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (0.8% ahead) and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 (1.1% behind), placing it in a performance tier well below the RTX 3060 Ti, which trades blows with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (0.7% ahead) and RX 5700 XT (1.4% behind).

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins in raw compute performance?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti dominates. In OpenCL, it scores 78,927 versus 45,615 for the AMD Radeon Pro W5500, a 73% advantage. PassMark GPU Compute shows a 108.3% lead (10,006 vs 4,804).

Q: Is the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 competitive in any modern API?

A: The closest margin is in Vulkan, where the W5500 trails by only 13.7% (42,021 vs 47,784). This indicates the RDNA architecture handles Vulkan efficiently, but it still loses.

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

A: The NVIDIA card wins decisively. In DirectX 9, it leads by 85.7% (234 vs 126). In DirectX 10, the lead is 180.9% (132 vs 47), and in DirectX 11, it is 191.1% (163 vs 56). Even in DirectX 12, the NVIDIA card is exactly 100% faster (78 vs 39).

Q: What is the difference in average benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 3060 Ti averages 16,129 across all recorded benchmarks, while the W5500 averages 15,679. This is a modest 2.9% overall difference, masking the fact that the NVIDIA card wins every individual test by much larger margins.

Q: Which GPU has higher pixel and texture throughput?

A: The RTX 3060 Ti has a pixel rate of 133.2 GPixel/s versus 59.36 GPixel/s for the W5500. Its texture rate is 253.1 GTexel/s versus 163.2 GTexel/s.

Q: Are there any benchmarks where the AMD card wins?

A: No. Across all nine head-to-head tests — including OpenCL, Vulkan, DirectX 9/10/11/12, 2D, 3D, and compute — the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti wins every single one.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is the clear choice for any workload that demands peak throughput. Its 16.20 TFLOPS of FP32 performance dwarfs the W5500’s 5.224 TFLOPS, making it suitable for high-resolution rendering, complex simulations, and GPU-accelerated compute tasks. The data shows it is 126.7% faster in PassMark G3D, which translates to significantly better performance in interactive 3D applications, whether for design review, virtual prototyping, or content creation. The 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth, enabled by a 256-bit bus, gives it a massive advantage in memory-bound scenarios like large texture sets or deep learning inference.

The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 wins in physical integration. It is a single-slot card with a 125 W TDP, consuming 37.5% less power than the RTX 3060 Ti’s 200 W. It requires only a 300 W suggested PSU versus the NVIDIA card’s 550 W, and uses a single 6-pin connector instead of a 12-pin. For compact workstations, multi-GPU server builds, or systems with limited power budgets, the W5500 is the only viable option here. Its four DisplayPort 1.4a outputs also outnumber the RTX 3060 Ti’s three DisplayPort and one HDMI, making it preferable for multi-monitor professional setups. In Vulkan, the W5500’s 13.7% deficit is its closest performance gap, suggesting it can handle modern API workloads with only a moderate penalty.

Specification Differences

The two cards diverge sharply on memory architecture. The RTX 3060 Ti uses a 256-bit bus to achieve 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the W5500 has a 128-bit bus for 224.0 GB/s — exactly half the throughput. Both have 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and the same 1750 MHz memory clock (14 Gbps effective), but the bus width difference is decisive. The NVIDIA card’s shading unit count is 4,864 versus 1,408 for the AMD card, a 3.5x difference. Its texture mapping units (152 vs 88) and ROPs (80 vs 32) are also far higher.

Clock speeds tell a different story. The W5500 has a higher base clock at 1744 MHz versus 1410 MHz, and a higher boost clock at 1855 MHz versus 1665 MHz. This reflects the AMD card’s more efficient 7 nm process, but it cannot compensate for the NVIDIA card’s larger chip. The RTX 3060 Ti measures 392 mm² with 17,400 million transistors, while the W5500 is 158 mm² with 6,400 million. Power requirements differ substantially: the RTX 3060 Ti is a dual-slot card with a 200 W TDP, while the W5500 is single-slot with a 125 W TDP. The bus interface also differs, with the NVIDIA card using PCIe 4.0 x16 and the AMD card using PCIe 4.0 x8. Both are 242 mm and 241 mm long, respectively, with identical height of 112 mm.

Architecture Differences

The architectural split is fundamental. The RTX 3060 Ti is built on NVIDIA’s Ampere architecture using an 8 nm process at Samsung, while the W5500 uses AMD’s RDNA 1.0 architecture on a 7 nm process at TSMC. The NVIDIA card includes 38 ray tracing cores and 152 tensor cores, features entirely absent from the W5500, which lists no RT or tensor core support. This makes the RTX 3060 Ti capable of hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI-accelerated workloads, while the W5500 lacks both.

The transistor density is similar — 44.4M per mm² for the NVIDIA card versus 40.5M for the AMD card — but the NVIDIA chip is far larger. The FP16 performance differs in approach: the RTX 3060 Ti offers 16.20 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio to FP32, while the W5500 offers 10.45 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio, meaning its FP16 throughput is half its FP32 rate. The NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the W5500 is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1), a difference that affects advanced features like mesh shaders and variable rate shading. Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4, but the NVIDIA card’s broader API feature set, combined with its dedicated RT and tensor cores, positions it as the more future-proof option despite both being end-of-life products.