AMD Radeon Pro W5500X vs AMD Radeon RX 6800 Comparison

# AMD Radeon RX 6800 vs AMD Radeon Pro W5500X

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 and AMD Radeon Pro W5500X occupy different tiers of AMD’s graphics lineup, separated by architecture generation, market positioning, and raw performance. The RX 6800, built on RDNA 2.0 with the Navi 21 chip, is a consumer enthusiast card, while the Pro W5500X, based on RDNA 1.0 with Navi 14, targets professional Mac workflows. Benchmark data shows a decisive performance gap, but the comparison reveals distinct design philosophies and use-case suitability.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6800 scores 30095 on average, versus 27973 for the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X. This places the RX 6800 at the 75th percentile of all GPUs, while the Pro W5500X sits at the 73rd percentile.

Q: How do the two compare in the Geekbench Metal benchmark?

A: The RX 6800 delivers 153635 points in Geekbench Metal, which is 449.2% higher than the Pro W5500X’s 27973 points. This is the only head-to-head benchmark available, and the RX 6800 wins decisively.

Q: What are the nearest rivals for each card based on average score?

A: The RX 6800’s closest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, with an average score of 29945 and a delta of 0.5%. For the Pro W5500X, the nearest competitor is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti, scoring 28020, with a delta of -0.2%.

Q: Which card has more memory and bandwidth?

A: The RX 6800 features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 512.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Pro W5500X has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, yielding 224.0 GB/s. The RX 6800 doubles both capacity and bandwidth.

Q: Do both cards support the same DirectX version?

A: No. The RX 6800 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Pro W5500X supports DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

Q: What is the launch MSRP for each?

A: The RX 6800 launched with an MSRP of 579 USD, and the Pro W5500X at 599 USD. Despite the higher price, the Pro card offers substantially lower performance.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is fundamental. The RX 6800 uses the Navi 21 chip built on RDNA 2.0, while the Pro W5500X relies on Navi 14 with RDNA 1.0. Both are fabricated on TSMC’s 7 nm process, but the transistor counts diverge sharply: the RX 6800 packs 26,800 million transistors across a 520 mm² die, yielding a density of 51.5M per mm². The Pro W5500X has just 6,400 million transistors on a 158 mm² die, with a lower density of 40.5M per mm². This means the RX 6800 has over four times the transistor budget, directly enabling its larger compute configuration.

Clock speeds also favor the RX 6800. It operates at a base of 1700 MHz and boosts to 2105 MHz, with a game clock of 1815 MHz. The Pro W5500X runs at 1187 MHz base and 1757 MHz boost. Memory clocks differ as well: the RX 6800 uses 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective), while the Pro W5500X runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The RX 6800’s higher clocks, combined with its larger silicon, produce vastly greater throughput.

Compute resources are where the architectures truly separate. The RX 6800 features 3840 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 96 raster operation pipelines. It also includes 60 dedicated ray tracing cores, a feature entirely absent from the Pro W5500X, which has no ray tracing hardware. The Pro card offers 1536 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. This 2.5x advantage in shading units and 3x advantage in ROPs translates directly to pixel and texture rates: the RX 6800 achieves 202.1 GPixel/s and 505.2 GTexel/s, compared to 56.22 GPixel/s and 168.7 GTexel/s for the Pro W5500X.

Power and interface also differ. The RX 6800 is rated at 250 W TDP with a suggested 600 W PSU and dual 8-pin connectors, using PCIe 4.0 x16. The Pro W5500X draws 125 W, suggests a 300 W PSU, and uses Apple MPX bus interface, reflecting its Mac-centric design. Display outputs confirm this: the RX 6800 offers 1x HDMI 2.1, 2x DisplayPort 1.4a, and 1x USB Type-C, while the Pro W5500X has only 2x HDMI 2.0b. The RX 6800’s FP32 throughput is 16.17 TFLOPS and FP16 is 32.33 TFLOPS (2:1), versus 5.398 TFLOPS and 10.80 TFLOPS for the Pro card.

The Verdict

The benchmark data is unambiguous: the AMD Radeon RX 6800 is the superior performer by a wide margin. Its average benchmark score of 30095 is 7.6% higher than the Pro W5500X’s 27973, and the Geekbench Metal result shows a 449.2% advantage. The RX 6800 also holds a higher percentile rank (75th vs 73rd), indicating it outperforms a larger share of the GPU population. For any workload where raw graphics performance matters — gaming, rendering, or compute — the RX 6800 is the clear choice.

However, the Pro W5500X is not without purpose. Its 125 W TDP and Apple MPX interface make it suitable for specific professional Mac environments where power efficiency and form factor compatibility are priorities. The Pro card’s closest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 (delta 0.5%) and the AMD FirePro S7150 (delta -0.5%), showing it sits in a professional tier with modest performance expectations. The RX 6800, by contrast, competes with high-end consumer cards like the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (delta 1%) and RTX 3070 Ti (delta 0.5%).

The verdict depends on context. For general-purpose high-performance computing, the RX 6800 wins outright. For a professional Mac workstation requiring a dual-slot, 125 W card with HDMI outputs and no external power connectors, the Pro W5500X may be the only viable option despite its lower scores. But the data shows no scenario where the Pro W5500X outperforms the RX 6800 in raw benchmarks. The RX 6800’s 16 GB memory, 512 GB/s bandwidth, and ray tracing support make it the more future-proof and versatile product.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every specification category. The RX 6800 uses the Navi 21 chip with RDNA 2.0 architecture, while the Pro W5500X uses Navi 14 with RDNA 1.0. Transistors: 26,800 million vs 6,400 million. Die size: 520 mm² vs 158 mm². Transistor density: 51.5M/mm² vs 40.5M/mm². Base clock: 1700 MHz vs 1187 MHz. Boost clock: 2105 MHz vs 1757 MHz. The RX 6800 has a game clock of 1815 MHz; the Pro W5500X has none. Memory clock: 2000 MHz (16 Gbps) vs 1750 MHz (14 Gbps). Memory: 16 GB GDDR6 vs 8 GB GDDR6. Bus width: 256-bit vs 128-bit. Bandwidth: 512.0 GB/s vs 224.0 GB/s. Shading units: 3840 vs 1536. TMUs: 240 vs 96. ROPs: 96 vs 32. Ray tracing cores: 60 vs none. Pixel rate: 202.1 GPixel/s vs 56.22 GPixel/s. Texture rate: 505.2 GTexel/s vs 168.7 GTexel/s. FP32: 16.17 TFLOPS vs 5.398 TFLOPS. FP16: 32.33 TFLOPS vs 10.80 TFLOPS. TDP: 250 W vs 125 W. Power connectors: 2x 8-pin vs none. Suggested PSU: 600 W vs 300 W. Bus interface: PCIe 4.0 x16 vs Apple MPX. Display outputs: 1x HDMI 2.1, 2x DisplayPort 1.4a, 1x USB Type-C vs 2x HDMI 2.0b. DirectX support: 12 Ultimate (12_2) vs 12 (12_1). The RX 6800 has dimensions of 267 mm length, 120 mm height, and 40 mm width; the Pro W5500X has no listed dimensions. Release dates: 2020-10-27 vs 2019-12-10. Launch MSRP: 579 USD vs 599 USD.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The sole head-to-head benchmark is Geekbench Metal, and the result is lopsided. The AMD Radeon RX 6800 scores 153635, while the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X manages 27973. This represents a delta of 449.2% in favor of the RX 6800. To contextualize, the Pro W5500X’s score is closer to its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (28020, delta -0.2%), than it is to the RX 6800’s score. The RX 6800’s nearest rivals — the RTX 3070 Ti (29945), RTX 5070 Mobile (29928), and RTX 2080 Ti (29783) — all fall within 1% of its average score, highlighting that the Pro W5500X operates in a completely different performance class.

The RX 6800 wins this head-to-head with a 1-0 record. Its Geekbench Metal score of 153635 is not just higher; it is more than five times the Pro W5500X’s output. This aligns with the architectural differences: the RX 6800’s 3840 shading units, 60 ray tracing cores, and 512 GB/s bandwidth dwarf the Pro W5500X’s 1536 shading units and 224 GB/s bandwidth. Even accounting for the Pro card’s lower TDP and professional orientation, the performance gap is too large to bridge. The data suggests that for Metal-based workloads, the RX 6800 is in a league above, while the Pro W5500X competes with older and mid-range GPUs like the GTX 980 Ti and Radeon Pro Vega 20.