AMD Radeon Pro W5500X vs AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT Comparison

AMD Radeon Pro W5500X vs AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT

The AMD Radeon Pro W5500X and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT occupy very different positions in AMD’s product stack, and the benchmark data reflects that divide. The single head-to-head benchmark available, Geekbench Metal, shows the RX 6700 XT scoring 130,896 against the Pro W5500X’s 27,973. That is a delta of -78.6%, meaning the RX 6700 XT delivers roughly 4.7 times the Metal performance of the Pro W5500X. The Pro W5500X’s percentile rank among all GPUs is 73, while the RX 6700 XT sits at 72, which is surprising given the massive score gap; this suggests the percentile fields are computed across different benchmark suites or weighting methodologies.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison in the data is Geekbench Metal, and it is a decisive victory for the RX 6700 XT. The RX 6700 XT scores 130,896, while the Pro W5500X scores 27,973. The delta of -78.6% (expressed from the perspective of the Pro W5500X) means the RX 6700 XT outperforms the Pro W5500X by a factor of approximately 4.68. This is not a close contest; the RX 6700 XT’s Metal score is in a completely different performance tier. In terms of nearest rivals, the Pro W5500X’s closest competitors include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (28,020, delta -0.2%), the AMD Radeon RX 7800M (27,883, delta +0.3%), and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 (27,839, delta +0.5%). The RX 6700 XT, by contrast, sits near the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (27,565, delta -0.5%) and the RTX 4070 Mobile (27,435, delta 0%), though those rival scores are from different benchmarks (likely including OpenCL or Vulkan), so the comparison is not apples-to-apples. The RX 6700 XT also has an extensive benchmark suite: 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 at 2,435, Geekbench OpenCL at 44,152, Geekbench Vulkan at 93,500, and Passmark G3D at 19,786. The Pro W5500X has only the single Metal score, so its average benchmark score of 27,973 is identical to that one result. The RX 6700 XT’s average benchmark score across all its tests is 27,425, which is marginally lower than the Pro W5500X’s single-score average, but this is misleading because the RX 6700 XT’s average includes multiple older DirectX tests (Passmark DX9 at 242, DX10 at 124, DX11 at 173, DX12 at 77) that drag the mean down.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on different generations of AMD’s RDNA architecture. The Pro W5500X uses the Navi 14 chip with RDNA 1.0, while the RX 6700 XT uses the Navi 22 chip with RDNA 2.0. Both are fabricated on TSMC’s 7 nm process node, but the transistor counts diverge sharply: the Pro W5500X has 6,400 million transistors on a 158 mm² die, while the RX 6700 XT packs 17,200 million transistors onto a 335 mm² die. This translates to a higher transistor density for the RX 6700 XT (51.3M per mm²) versus the Pro W5500X (40.5M per mm²). The RX 6700 XT also introduces hardware ray tracing, with 40 RT cores, a feature entirely absent from the Pro W5500X. Shader resources are similarly lopsided: the RX 6700 XT has 2,560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, compared to the Pro W5500X’s 1,536 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. Clock speeds are another differentiator: the Pro W5500X runs at a base of 1187 MHz and boost of 1757 MHz, while the RX 6700 XT runs at 2321 MHz base, 2424 MHz game clock, and 2581 MHz boost. Memory configurations differ as well: the Pro W5500X has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 224.0 GB/s bandwidth, whereas the RX 6700 XT has 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus with 384.0 GB/s bandwidth, and faster effective memory speed (16 Gbps vs 14 Gbps). The RX 6700 XT supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Pro W5500X is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. The Pro W5500X uses the Apple MPX bus interface, while the RX 6700 XT uses PCIe 4.0 x16.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher raw compute throughput (FP32)?

A: The RX 6700 XT delivers 13.21 TFLOPS FP32, more than double the Pro W5500X’s 5.398 TFLOPS.

Q: Do both cards support hardware ray tracing?

A: No. The RX 6700 XT has 40 dedicated RT cores, while the Pro W5500X has no RT cores listed.

Q: How do their memory bandwidths compare?

A: The RX 6700 XT offers 384.0 GB/s bandwidth via a 192-bit bus, while the Pro W5500X provides 224.0 GB/s over a 128-bit bus.

Q: Are these cards from the same generation?

A: No. The Pro W5500X is from the Radeon Pro Mac (Navi Series) generation based on RDNA 1.0, while the RX 6700 XT is from the Navi II (RX 6000) generation based on RDNA 2.0.

Q: What is the DirectX feature level difference?

A: The RX 6700 XT supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), whereas the Pro W5500X supports only DirectX 12 (12_1).

Q: Which card has a higher pixel fill rate?

A: The RX 6700 XT’s pixel rate is 165.2 GPixel/s, nearly three times the Pro W5500X’s 56.22 GPixel/s.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every specification field. The Pro W5500X uses the Navi 14 chip (RDNA 1.0), while the RX 6700 XT uses Navi 22 (RDNA 2.0). Transistor count is 6,400 million vs 17,200 million; die size is 158 mm² vs 335 mm². Base clock is 1187 MHz vs 2321 MHz; boost clock is 1757 MHz vs 2581 MHz; the RX 6700 XT also has a game clock of 2424 MHz, which the Pro W5500X lacks. Memory speed is 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) vs 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective). Memory size is 8 GB vs 12 GB; bus width is 128-bit vs 192-bit; bandwidth is 224.0 GB/s vs 384.0 GB/s. Shading units are 1536 vs 2560; TMUs are 96 vs 160; ROPs are 32 vs 64. The RX 6700 XT has 40 RT cores; the Pro W5500X has none. Pixel rate is 56.22 GPixel/s vs 165.2 GPixel/s; texture rate is 168.7 GTexel/s vs 413.0 GTexel/s; FP32 is 5.398 TFLOPS vs 13.21 TFLOPS; FP16 is 10.80 TFLOPS vs 26.43 TFLOPS. TDP is 125 W vs 230 W; suggested PSU is 300 W vs 550 W. Bus interface is Apple MPX vs PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs are 2x HDMI 2.0b vs 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The RX 6700 XT has power connectors (1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin), while the Pro W5500X lists none. The RX 6700 XT has physical dimensions (267 mm length, 110 mm height, 40 mm width); the Pro W5500X has none listed. Launch MSRP is 599 USD for the Pro W5500X and 479 USD for the RX 6700 XT. Release dates are December 2019 for the Pro W5500X and March 2021 for the RX 6700 XT.

Where Each One Wins

The RX 6700 XT wins the only head-to-head benchmark (Geekbench Metal) by a margin of 78.6%. Beyond that, it wins on every architectural metric: higher core counts, faster clocks, more memory, wider bus, higher bandwidth, and the addition of ray tracing. It also has a broader benchmark portfolio, including 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 (2,435), Geekbench OpenCL (44,152), Geekbench Vulkan (93,500), and Passmark G3D (19,786). The Pro W5500X has no benchmark wins in the data. However, the Pro W5500X holds advantages in power efficiency: its TDP of 125 W is nearly half the RX 6700 XT’s 230 W, and its suggested PSU of 300 W is substantially lower than the RX 6700 XT’s 550 W. The Pro W5500X also uses the Apple MPX interface, making it suited for specific Mac Pro configurations, while the RX 6700 XT is a standard PCIe 4.0 x16 card. The Pro W5500X’s nearest-rival deltas are all within ±0.5%, meaning it sits in a tight performance cluster, whereas the RX 6700 XT’s rival deltas range from -1.5% to +1.1%, indicating a more scattered competitive field.

The Verdict

Based strictly on the data, the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is the superior performer in almost every measurable way. It delivers roughly 4.7 times the Geekbench Metal score of the Pro W5500X, has more than double the shading units, texture units, and ROPs, and offers ray tracing that the Pro W5500X cannot provide. Its 12 GB memory buffer and 384.0 GB/s bandwidth dwarf the Pro W5500X’s 8 GB and 224.0 GB/s. For users prioritizing raw graphics performance, particularly in DirectX 12 Ultimate workloads or Vulkan applications, the RX 6700 XT is the clear choice. The Pro W5500X, however, has its niche: it draws only 125 W versus 230 W, requires a 300 W PSU versus 550 W, and is built for the Apple MPX bus. If the target system is a Mac Pro requiring that interface, or if power draw is a hard constraint, the Pro W5500X is the only option that fits. For any general-purpose or gaming workload on a standard PCIe platform, the RX 6700 XT wins decisively. The percentile rankings (73 for the Pro W5500X, 72 for the RX 6700 XT) are close, but that appears to be an artifact of different benchmark aggregations rather than evidence of comparable performance. The verdict is clear: the RX 6700 XT is the higher-performance part, while the Pro W5500X is a lower-power, Mac-specific alternative.