AMD Radeon PRO W7500 vs AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT Comparison

The Verdict

The data splits this comparison into two distinct personalities. The AMD Radeon PRO W7500 is a modern, power-efficient workstation card defined by its massive OpenCL compute advantage and next-generation feature set. The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is a legacy gaming card that still holds the edge in traditional DirectX and general 3D rasterization workloads. Benchmark results indicate the average score across all tests is nearly identical: the PRO W7500 posts 16415, while the RX 5700 XT posts 16361, a difference of just 0.3% in the PRO's favor. Both cards sit at the 59th percentile of all GPUs, making them peers in overall performance. The PRO W7500 is the pick for professionals running compute-heavy OpenCL applications that can exploit its 511.2% lead in that specific test. The RX 5700 XT is the better choice for legacy DirectX gaming, where it wins 5 of the 9 head-to-head benchmarks, including a 17.9% advantage in Passmark G3D. If your workload is modern, compute-oriented, and power-sensitive, the PRO W7500 is the clear choice. If you need raw rasterization throughput in older APIs, the RX 5700 XT remains relevant despite being end-of-life.

Architecture Differences

The generation gap between these two AMD cards is stark. The PRO W7500 uses the Navi 33 chip built on RDNA 3.0 architecture, codenamed Hotpink Bonefish, fabricated on a 6 nm TSMC process. The RX 5700 XT uses the Navi 10 chip on the original RDNA 1.0 architecture, built on a 7 nm TSMC process. That process shrink allows the PRO W7500 to pack 13,300 million transistors into a 204 mm² die, giving it a transistor density of 65.2M per mm². The RX 5700 XT has 10,300 million transistors on a much larger 251 mm² die, resulting in a lower density of 41.0M per mm². The PRO W7500 compensates for its smaller chip with fewer but faster cores — it has 1792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, plus 28 dedicated ray tracing cores. The RX 5700 XT has more raw compute units with 2560 shading units and 160 TMUs but lacks ray tracing cores entirely. The PRO W7500 belongs to the Radeon Pro Navi generation, while the RX 5700 XT is part of the Navi (RX 5000) generation. Production status differs significantly: the PRO W7500 is Active, while the RX 5700 XT is End-of-life, with a successor in Navi II. The PRO W7500's predecessor is Radeon Pro Vega, whereas the RX 5700 XT's predecessor is Vega.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The single most dramatic result in this comparison is the Geekbench OpenCL score. The PRO W7500 obliterates the RX 5700 XT with a score of 58213 versus a paltry 9524, a staggering 511.2% advantage. This is the defining metric for the PRO card and explains its workstation positioning. In Geekbench Vulkan, the PRO W7500 wins again, albeit marginally, with 68634 against 68310, a 0.5% edge. The RX 5700 XT fights back in the Passmark suite. It wins Passmark DirectX 10 with a score of 97 versus the PRO's 65, a 33% margin. It takes DirectX 12 with 64 against 46, a 28.1% lead. It also wins DirectX 9 with 226 versus 200, an 11.5% advantage. In the general 3D rasterization test, Passmark G3D, the RX 5700 XT scores 16277 against the PRO W7500's 13368, a decisive 17.9% win. The RX 5700 XT also wins the compute-oriented Passmark GPU Compute test with 7650 versus 5910, a 22.7% difference. The PRO W7500 takes Passmark DirectX 11 with 125 against 116, a 7.8% victory, and dominates the 2D test, scoring 1174 versus 922, a 27.3% improvement. The final tally is 5 wins for the RX 5700 XT and 4 for the PRO W7500, but the magnitude of the PRO's OpenCL victory dwarfs all other deltas combined.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every hardware specification. The process node is 6 nm for the PRO W7500 versus 7 nm for the RX 5700 XT. Transistor count is 13,300 million versus 10,300 million. Die size is 204 mm² versus 251 mm². The PRO W7500 has a base clock of 1500 MHz and boost clock of 1700 MHz, while the RX 5700 XT runs higher at 1605 MHz base and 1905 MHz boost, with a game clock of 1755 MHz. Memory clocks differ: the PRO uses 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective), the RX uses 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). Both have 8 GB of GDDR6, but the bus width differs — 128 bit for the PRO versus 256 bit for the RX. This gives the RX 5700 XT a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s versus 256.0 GB/s for the PRO. Shading units are 1792 versus 2560; TMUs are 112 versus 160; ROPs are identical at 64. The PRO has 28 ray tracing cores, the RX has none. Pixel rates are close: 108.8 GPixel/s for the PRO versus 121.9 GPixel/s for the RX. Texture rates diverge more: 190.4 GTexel/s versus 304.8 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 12.19 TFLOPS for the PRO versus 9.754 TFLOPS for the RX. FP16 is 24.37 TFLOPS versus 19.51 TFLOPS, both at 2:1. The thermal design power is dramatically different: 70 W for the PRO versus 225 W for the RX. The PRO is single-slot with no power connectors and a 250 W suggested PSU; the RX is dual-slot with 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin and a 550 W suggested PSU. The PRO uses PCIe 4.0 x8, the RX uses PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs are 4x DisplayPort 2.1 for the PRO versus 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a for the RX. DirectX support differs: the PRO supports 12 Ultimate (12_2), the RX only 12 (12_1). Vulkan support is 1.4 for both, OpenGL 4.6 for both. Dimensions favor the PRO: 216 mm length, 115 mm height, 20 mm width, versus 272 mm, 111 mm, and 36 mm for the RX. The PRO was released 2023-08-02, the RX on 2019-07-06. The launch MSRP is 429 USD for the PRO W7500 and 399 USD for the RX 5700 XT.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W7500 has a slightly higher average benchmark score of 16415, while the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT scores 16361, putting the PRO card just 0.3% ahead.

Q: How large is the OpenCL performance gap between the two cards?

A: The PRO W7500 scores 58213 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 511.2% higher than the RX 5700 XT's score of 9524, making it the largest performance delta in the entire comparison.

Q: Which card is more power-efficient?

A: The PRO W7500 has a thermal design power of 70 W and requires no power connectors with a 250 W suggested PSU, while the RX 5700 XT has a 225 W TDP and requires 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin connectors with a 550 W suggested PSU.

Q: Does the RX 5700 XT support ray tracing?

A: No, the RX 5700 XT has no ray tracing cores listed in its specifications, while the PRO W7500 includes 28 dedicated ray tracing cores.

Q: What is the DirectX support difference?

A: The PRO W7500 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the RX 5700 XT only supports DirectX 12 (12_1), meaning the newer card has access to the latest DirectX features.

Q: Which card wins in Passmark G3D and what is the margin?

A: The RX 5700 XT wins Passmark G3D with a score of 16277 against the PRO W7500's 13368, giving it a 17.9% advantage in that general 3D rasterization test.