AMD Radeon Pro W5500X vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile Comparison

FAQ

Q: How does the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X compare to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile in raw compute performance?

A: The RTX 4070 Mobile delivers 15.62 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, which is roughly 2.9x the 5.398 TFLOPS offered by the W5500X. This is a decisive margin in the NVIDIA card's favor, and it also matches its FP16 output at 15.62 TFLOPS (1:1), whereas the AMD card's FP16 of 10.80 TFLOPS (2:1) is lower than its own FP32 rate doubled.

Q: Which GPU has a higher benchmark percentile ranking?

A: Both GPUs share the same 73rd percentile vs all GPUs. However, the W5500X has a higher average benchmark score of 27973 compared to the RTX 4070 Mobile's 27435, meaning the AMD card edges out the NVIDIA part in overall average performance despite the NVIDIA card's much higher peak FP32 throughput.

Q: What are the memory specifications for each card?

A: Both cards feature 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus. The RTX 4070 Mobile has a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s, which is higher than the W5500X's 224.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA card also runs its memory at 16 Gbps effective, while the AMD card operates at 14 Gbps effective.

Q: How do the pixel and texture rates compare?

A: The RTX 4070 Mobile achieves a pixel rate of 81.36 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 244.1 GTexel/s. The W5500X trails significantly with 56.22 GPixel/s and 168.7 GTexel/s, respectively. This indicates the NVIDIA card has a substantial advantage in fill-rate-bound workloads.

Q: Which GPU has a larger die and more transistors?

A: The RTX 4070 Mobile's AD106 chip has 22,900 million transistors on a 188 mm² die, while the W5500X's Navi 14 has only 6,400 million transistors on a 158 mm² die. The NVIDIA chip also uses a more advanced 5 nm process compared to the AMD card's 7 nm node, leading to a much higher transistor density of 121.8M / mm² vs 40.5M / mm².

Q: What is the production status and release timeframe for each?

A: The W5500X is end-of-life and was released in December 2019 with a launch MSRP of 599 USD. The RTX 4070 Mobile is an active product released in January 2023, with its predecessor being GeForce 30 Mobile and its successor being GeForce 50 Mobile.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile is the far superior GPU for almost any compute or graphics workload. Its FP32 performance of 15.62 TFLOPS is nearly three times that of the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X's 5.398 TFLOPS. The RTX 4070 Mobile also wins decisively in pixel rate (81.36 vs 56.22 GPixel/s), texture rate (244.1 vs 168.7 GTexel/s), and memory bandwidth (256.0 vs 224.0 GB/s).

However, the W5500X holds a narrow lead in the average benchmark score (27973 vs 27435) and in its nearest-rival deltas. The W5500X sits 0.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7800M and 0.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20, while the RTX 4070 Mobile is 1.1% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell but 1.5% behind the Radeon Pro Vega 20. This suggests the AMD card has more consistent performance across its tested benchmarks, while the NVIDIA card's advantage is concentrated in peak throughput metrics.

Pick the RTX 4070 Mobile if you need maximum raw compute, modern ray tracing (36 RT cores), or AI acceleration (144 tensor cores), and you are working in a portable or mobile environment where its 115 W TDP and IGP form factor fit. Pick the W5500X if you require a desktop workstation card with Apple MPX bus interface and dual HDMI 2.0b outputs, and you prioritize the slightly higher average benchmark score and end-of-life stability over peak performance. The RTX 4070 Mobile is the clear winner for anyone who does not specifically need the AMD card's Mac-specific interface.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head benchmark table is empty, so the comparison relies on the individual benchmark suites and average scores. The most striking difference is in the Geekbench results: the RTX 4070 Mobile scores 109,197 in Geekbench OpenCL and 108,367 in Geekbench Vulkan, while the W5500X only has a single Geekbench Metal score of 27,973. While these are different APIs, the magnitude of the NVIDIA card's OpenCL/Vulkan scores—nearly four times the AMD card's Metal score—demonstrates a massive compute advantage in heterogeneous workloads.

The Passmark suite for the RTX 4070 Mobile shows its strengths and weaknesses. In Passmark G3D, it scores 19,587, which is a strong result, and its Passmark GPU Compute score is 8,399. However, its DirectX 12 score is only 85, while its DirectX 11 score is 179, and its DirectX 9 score is 223. The DirectX 10 score is 116, and the 2D score is 763. These numbers indicate that while the NVIDIA card excels in modern 3D rendering, its legacy DirectX performance is relatively modest compared to its raw compute capabilities.

The average benchmark scores tell a nuanced story. The W5500X's average of 27,973 places it 0.2% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (28,020) and 0.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7800M (27,883). The RTX 4070 Mobile's average of 27,435 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (27,425, 0% delta) and 0.5% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (27,565). This suggests that despite the NVIDIA card's raw power, its averaged benchmark performance is not dramatically higher than the AMD card's, likely due to thermal or power constraints in mobile form.

In terms of closest rivals, the W5500X is bracketed by the GTX 980 Ti and FirePro S7150, while the RTX 4070 Mobile sits near the RX 6700 XT and RTX 3090. This indicates that the RTX 4070 Mobile is competing with desktop-class GPUs from a generation prior, whereas the W5500X is positioned among older workstation and desktop parts.

Specification Differences

The specification differences between these two GPUs are extensive and largely explain the performance gap.

• Process Node: The W5500X uses a 7 nm TSMC process, while the RTX 4070 Mobile uses a smaller 5 nm TSMC process. This contributes to the NVIDIA card's higher transistor density.
• Transistors: The RTX 4070 Mobile has 22,900 million transistors versus 6,400 million for the W5500X—a 3.6x difference.
• Die Size: The NVIDIA die is 188 mm², larger than AMD's 158 mm², but with the smaller node it packs far more transistors per square millimeter (121.8M vs 40.5M).
• Base Clock: The RTX 4070 Mobile has a base clock of 1395 MHz, higher than the W5500X's 1187 MHz. However, the AMD card's boost clock of 1757 MHz is higher than the NVIDIA card's 1695 MHz.
• Memory Clock: The RTX 4070 Mobile's memory runs at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective), while the W5500X's memory runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective).
• Memory Bandwidth: The NVIDIA card has 256.0 GB/s versus 224.0 GB/s for AMD.
• Shading Units: The RTX 4070 Mobile has 4608 shading units, exactly three times the W5500X's 1536.
• TMUs and ROPs: The NVIDIA card has 144 TMUs and 48 ROPs, compared to 96 TMUs and 32 ROPs on the AMD card.
• RT and Tensor Cores: The RTX 4070 Mobile includes 36 RT cores and 144 tensor cores; the W5500X has none.
• TDP: The W5500X is rated at 125 W, while the RTX 4070 Mobile is rated at 115 W—the AMD card consumes slightly more power despite far lower performance.
• Slot Width: The W5500X is dual-slot, while the RTX 4070 Mobile is IGP (integrated into a laptop).
• Power Connectors: The NVIDIA card has none (powered via motherboard), while the AMD card's connectors are unspecified.
• Suggested PSU: The W5500X recommends a 300 W PSU; the RTX 4070 Mobile has no suggested PSU.
• Bus Interface: The W5500X uses Apple MPX, while the RTX 4070 Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x8.
• Display Outputs: The AMD card has 2x HDMI 2.0b; the NVIDIA card's outputs are portable-device dependent.
• DirectX Support: The W5500X supports DirectX 12 (12_1), while the RTX 4070 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2).
• Release Date: The W5500X was released in December 2019; the RTX 4070 Mobile in January 2023.

Architecture Differences

The architectural dissimilarities are fundamental and define each card's character. The W5500X is built on AMD's RDNA 1.0 architecture, using the Navi 14 chip, and belongs to the "Radeon Pro Mac (Navi Series)" generation. This is a workstation-oriented design optimized for Apple MPX bus compatibility, with no ray tracing or tensor cores whatsoever. Its FP16 performance of 10.80 TFLOPS is achieved at a 2:1 ratio, meaning it uses shader packing rather than dedicated hardware.

In contrast, the RTX 4070 Mobile uses NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace architecture, built on the AD106 chip, and is part of the GeForce 40 Mobile generation. It features 36 dedicated RT cores for ray tracing and 144 tensor cores for AI workloads, enabling features like DLSS that the AMD card cannot support. Its FP16 performance matches its FP32 at 15.62 TFLOPS (1:1), meaning it has native FP16 throughput without any rate penalty. The NVIDIA card also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, which includes hardware ray tracing and mesh shaders, while the W5500X is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1) with no ray tracing support.

The process technology difference is also significant: the 5 nm node on the RTX 4070 Mobile allows for a transistor density of 121.8M / mm², which is three times the density of the 7 nm W5500X (40.5M / mm²). This density advantage, combined with a larger die, explains how NVIDIA fits 4608 shading units, 144 TMUs, 48 ROPs, 36 RT cores, and 144 tensor cores into a mobile part that still consumes only 115 W. The W5500X, despite its lower core count and older architecture, has a higher TDP of 125 W, indicating less power efficiency per unit of work.

The memory architectures differ only in speed: both use 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, but the RTX 4070 Mobile runs at 16 Gbps effective versus 14 Gbps for the W5500X, yielding a 14% bandwidth advantage.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile wins decisively in:

• Raw Compute: 15.62 TFLOPS FP32 is 2.9x the W5500X's 5.398 TFLOPS. This is the single biggest differentiator.
• Ray Tracing and AI: With 36 RT cores and 144 tensor cores, the RTX 4070 Mobile can handle workloads the W5500X cannot attempt.
• Fill Rate: Pixel rate of 81.36 GPixel/s (vs 56.22) and texture rate of 244.1 GTexel/s (vs 168.7) make it markedly faster in rasterization-heavy scenes.
• Memory Bandwidth: 256.0 GB/s vs 224.0 GB/s gives a 14% advantage in bandwidth-bound tasks.
• Modern API Support: DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) vs 12 (12_1) enables newer rendering features.
• Portability: At 115 W TDP and IGP form factor, it fits in laptops, whereas the W5500X is dual-slot desktop card.
• Geekbench Compute: Its OpenCL score of 109,197 and Vulkan score of 108,367 dwarf the W5500X's Metal score of 27,973.

The AMD Radeon Pro W5500X wins narrowly in:

• Average Benchmark Score: 27,973 vs 27,435, a 2% advantage.
• Nearest-Rival Positioning: It sits 0.5% ahead of the Radeon Pro Vega 20 (27,839), while the RTX 4070 Mobile is 1.5% behind that same GPU. This suggests better consistency in its tested metrics.
• Boost Clock: 1757 MHz vs 1695 MHz, a minor 3.7% edge.
• Mac Compatibility: With Apple MPX bus and 2x HDMI 2.0b outputs, it is designed for Mac Pro systems.
• Production Status: While end-of-life, it has a defined launch MSRP of 599 USD, making its positioning clearer than the NVIDIA card, which has no MSRP listed.

Verdict for use cases: For gaming, AI, ray tracing, or any modern compute workload, the RTX 4070 Mobile is the only choice. For Mac-specific workstation tasks where the Apple MPX interface is required, or where average benchmark consistency matters more than peak performance, the W5500X remains viable—but the RTX 4070 Mobile's raw power advantage is simply too large to ignore in most scenarios.