AMD Radeon PRO W7700 vs NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data splits these two workstation GPUs almost perfectly down the middle, with each card taking one decisive victory in the two recorded tests. The AMD Radeon PRO W7700 claims the Geekbench Vulkan test with a score of 129,706, while the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile takes the Geekbench OpenCL test with 124,287. That is a clean 1-1 split in raw win counts, but the margin of victory is not symmetrical. The AMD card wins its Vulkan test by a substantial 25.2% margin, whereas the NVIDIA card wins OpenCL by a more modest 12.9%. For a builder deciding between these two, the choice hinges heavily on which API your workload actually uses.

The Vulkan result is the headline story for AMD. A 25.2% lead in that test is a commanding gap, suggesting the RDNA 3.0 architecture handles Vulkan workloads with particular efficiency. This matters for applications that leverage Vulkan for compute or rendering, and the margin is large enough that it should be the primary deciding factor for anyone whose software stack is Vulkan-centric. The OpenCL result for NVIDIA is less dramatic but still definitive — a 12.9% edge that shows the Ampere architecture remains highly competitive in that API. When you average both tests together, the AMD card lands at 118,976 average benchmark score, which is 4.4% ahead of the RTX A5500 Mobile's 113,944 average. The AMD card also sits at the 95th percentile among all GPUs, one point higher than NVIDIA's 94th percentile.

The practical takeaway is straightforward: if your rendering or compute pipeline runs through Vulkan, the AMD W7700 offers a significant performance advantage. If your software prefers OpenCL, the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile is the stronger pick. For mixed workloads, the AMD card's higher average score gives it a slight overall edge, but the per-API differences are large enough that matching the card to your dominant API matters more than the aggregate number.

Architecture Differences

These two cards come from fundamentally different design philosophies and manufacturing generations. The AMD Radeon PRO W7700 uses the Navi 32 chip built on RDNA 3.0 architecture, manufactured by TSMC on a 5 nm process. It packs 28,100 million transistors into a 346 mm² die, giving it a transistor density of 81.2 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile uses the GA103 chip on the older Ampere architecture, built by Samsung on an 8 nm process. It has 22,000 million transistors spread across a larger 496 mm² die, resulting in a much lower density of 44.4 million per square millimeter. The AMD chip is smaller and denser, reflecting the newer manufacturing process.

The core configurations tell a different story. NVIDIA's Ampere chip has 7,424 shading units, 232 texture mapping units, and 232 tensor cores, along with 58 ray tracing cores. AMD's RDNA 3.0 chip has 3,072 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 48 ray tracing cores, with no tensor core equivalent listed. Despite having fewer than half the shading units, AMD still achieves higher raw throughput in some metrics. The AMD card delivers 31.95 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 63.90 TFLOPS of FP16 (at 2:1 ratio), while the NVIDIA card manages 22.27 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16 (at 1:1 ratio). AMD's FP32 figure is 43% higher, and its FP16 performance is nearly 3x higher thanks to the 2:1 ratio.

Clock speeds also diverge sharply. The AMD card runs at a 1900 MHz base clock and boosts to 2600 MHz, while the NVIDIA card starts at 975 MHz and boosts to only 1500 MHz. That 1100 MHz boost clock difference explains much of the AMD performance advantage despite fewer cores. Memory configurations are similar in size — both have 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus — but AMD runs its memory at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) for 576.0 GB/s bandwidth, while NVIDIA runs at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) for 512.0 GB/s. AMD's memory bandwidth advantage is 12.5%. Both support PCIe 4.0 x16, DX12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Power and physical design differ substantially. The AMD card draws 190 W TDP, uses a dual-slot cooler, requires a single 8-pin power connector, and needs a 450 W suggested PSU. The NVIDIA card is a mobile part with 165 W TDP, no power connectors listed, and dimensions dependent on the portable device it ships in. The AMD card measures 241 mm long and 111 mm tall with four DisplayPort 2.1 outputs; the NVIDIA card has display outputs described simply as "Portable Device Dependent."

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two benchmark results are the entire head-to-head comparison, and they are remarkably polarized. In Geekbench OpenCL, the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile scores 124,287 against the AMD Radeon PRO W7700's 108,245. That is a 12.9% delta in NVIDIA's favor. This is a solid, workmanlike win — nothing spectacular, but enough to make NVIDIA the clear choice for OpenCL-centric workflows. Interestingly, the RTX A5500 Mobile's OpenCL score is also higher than its own average benchmark score of 113,944 by about 9%, indicating that OpenCL is a strength for this NVIDIA card.

The Geekbench Vulkan result flips the script entirely. The AMD Radeon PRO W7700 scores 129,706, while the RTX A5500 Mobile manages only 103,601. That 25.2% delta is nearly double NVIDIA's OpenCL advantage, making it the single most important data point in this comparison. AMD's Vulkan score is also higher than its own average of 118,976, showing that Vulkan is where this card truly shines. The NVIDIA card's Vulkan score is actually below its average, suggesting Vulkan is a relative weakness for the Ampere mobile architecture.

Looking at the broader competitive context reinforces these findings. The AMD card's average score of 118,976 puts it 4.4% ahead of the RTX A5500 Mobile's 113,944. In the AMD card's nearest rivals list, the RTX A5500 Mobile appears at a 4.4% delta, meaning the AMD card is 4.4% faster on average. In the NVIDIA card's nearest rivals list, the AMD W7700 does not appear directly, but the NVIDIA card is 2.9% behind the Radeon PRO W7900 and 2.7% behind the RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation. The AMD card, by contrast, is only 1.3% behind the NVIDIA GB10 and 1.6% behind the RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation. These rival comparisons show the AMD card sitting slightly higher in the overall performance hierarchy.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W7700 has an average benchmark score of 118,976, which is 4.4% higher than the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile's 113,944 average.

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

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W7700 scores 129,706 in Geekbench Vulkan, which is 25.2% higher than the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile's 103,601 score in the same test.

Q: Does the NVIDIA card win any benchmark?

A: Yes, the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 124,287, beating the AMD card's 108,245 by 12.9%.

Q: What are the transistor counts and die sizes for each card?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W7700 has 28,100 million transistors on a 346 mm² die, while the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile has 22,000 million transistors on a 496 mm² die.

Q: Which card has higher FP32 compute performance?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W7700 delivers 31.95 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, compared to the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile's 22.27 TFLOPS, making AMD about 43% faster in this metric.

Q: How do the memory bandwidth figures compare?

A: The AMD card has 576.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth from its 2250 MHz GDDR6 memory, while the NVIDIA card has 512.0 GB/s from 2000 MHz GDDR6 memory, giving AMD a 12.5% advantage.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every major specification category. The process node is a clear generational split: AMD uses TSMC's 5 nm process, while NVIDIA uses Samsung's 8 nm process. Transistor counts are 28,100 million for AMD versus 22,000 million for NVIDIA, and die sizes are 346 mm² versus 496 mm², respectively. Transistor density is 81.2M per mm² for AMD and 44.4M per mm² for NVIDIA. Clock speeds show AMD at 1900 MHz base and 2600 MHz boost, compared to NVIDIA's 975 MHz base and 1500 MHz boost. Memory clocks run at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) for AMD versus 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) for NVIDIA, producing 576.0 GB/s versus 512.0 GB/s bandwidth.

The compute unit counts differ dramatically. AMD has 3,072 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, while NVIDIA has 7,424 shading units, 232 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. Ray tracing cores number 48 for AMD and 58 for NVIDIA, and NVIDIA adds 232 tensor cores where AMD lists none. Pixel rates are 249.6 GPixel/s for AMD versus 144.0 GPixel/s for NVIDIA, and texture rates are 499.2 GTexel/s versus 348.0 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput is 31.95 TFLOPS for AMD and 22.27 TFLOPS for NVIDIA; FP16 is 63.90 TFLOPS (2:1) for AMD and 22.27 TFLOPS (1:1) for NVIDIA.

Power and physical specifications also diverge. The AMD card has a 190 W TDP, dual-slot cooler, single 8-pin connector, and 450 W suggested PSU, with dimensions of 241 mm length and 111 mm height. The NVIDIA card has a 165 W TDP, no listed slot width, no power connectors, no suggested PSU, and no dimensions — it is a mobile part. Display outputs are 4x DisplayPort 2.1 for AMD versus "Portable Device Dependent" for NVIDIA. The AMD card's launch MSRP is 999 USD, while no MSRP is listed for NVIDIA. Release dates are 2023-11-12 for AMD and 2022-03-21 for NVIDIA. The AMD card's predecessor is Radeon Pro Vega, while NVIDIA's predecessor is Quadro Turing-M and its successor is Ada-MW. NVIDIA's production status is listed as "End-of-life."

The Verdict

The data supports a clear decision framework based on your software stack. If your workloads rely on Vulkan, the AMD Radeon PRO W7700 is the unequivocal choice — its 25.2% lead in that benchmark is the largest performance gap between these two cards in any metric. The AMD card also wins on raw compute specifications: higher FP32 and FP16 throughput, faster memory bandwidth, higher pixel and texture rates, and a smaller, denser chip on a more advanced process node. It has a 4.4% higher average benchmark score and sits at the 95th percentile versus NVIDIA's 94th. The AMD card is also the newer product, released in late 2023 against NVIDIA's early 2022 launch, and it carries a 999 USD launch MSRP.

If your workloads are OpenCL-centric, the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile is the better performer, with a 12.9% advantage in that specific test. The NVIDIA card also has far more shading units (7,424 versus 3,072), tensor cores that AMD lacks, more ray tracing cores, and a lower 165 W TDP, which is relevant for mobile or power-constrained deployments. However, the NVIDIA card is listed as "End-of-life" production status, has no launch MSRP, and its Vulkan performance is a notable weakness at 103,601 — nearly 20% below its own average score.

The verdict is not a blanket recommendation for either card. It is a targeted one. For Vulkan rendering, GPU compute in Vulkan-based applications, or anyone who wants the highest average performance and newest architecture, the AMD Radeon PRO W7700 is the data-backed pick. For OpenCL workloads or environments where lower power draw and a mobile form factor are necessary, the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile is the justified choice. The 1-1 win split is honest — neither card dominates the other across the board, so matching the card to your dominant API is the only rational strategy.