AMD Radeon RX 5300M vs Intel Arc A550M Comparison

The Verdict

The Intel Arc A550M is the clear performance leader in this comparison. The recorded data shows it wins the only direct head-to-head benchmark available, Geekbench OpenCL, by 36.6%. Its average benchmark score of 49,737 places it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, while the AMD Radeon RX 5300M sits at 36,529 and the 80th percentile.

For a laptop buyer prioritizing raw compute performance, the Intel Arc A550M is the straightforward choice. It delivers substantially higher FP32 throughput (8.397 TFLOPS versus 4.069 TFLOPS), double the pixel rate, and more than double the texture rate. The Arc part also carries hardware ray tracing cores, which the AMD part lacks entirely.

The AMD Radeon RX 5300M does have one practical advantage: it is an older, established design. It launched on November 12, 2019, whereas the Arc A550M has no recorded release date. Its predecessor was Polaris Mobile, meaning it has a direct lineage in AMD's mobile GPU lineup. The Arc A550M, by contrast, represents Intel's first-generation Alchemist architecture with no predecessor listed.

However, the RX 5300M's 3 GB VRAM and 96-bit memory bus are significant limitations in modern workloads. The Arc A550M offers 8 GB on a 128-bit bus with 224.0 GB/s bandwidth versus 168.0 GB/s. For any task involving large datasets, textures, or compute buffers, the Intel part has a decisive capacity advantage.

The verdict is simple: pick the Intel Arc A550M for performance, VRAM capacity, and modern feature support. Pick the AMD Radeon RX 5300M only if you specifically need a lower-power, older-generation part with a smaller footprint in the driver ecosystem, or if the host laptop platform dictates AMD compatibility.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural generations with different design priorities. The Intel Arc A550M uses the DG2-512 chip built on TSMC's 6 nm process, implementing the Xe-HPG architecture from the Alchemist generation (Arc 5 Mobile). The AMD Radeon RX 5300M uses the Navi 14 chip on TSMC's 7 nm process, implementing RDNA 1.0 from the Navi Mobile (RX 5000M) generation.

The transistor counts reveal the scale difference. Intel packs 21,700 million transistors into a 406 mm² die, yielding a density of 53.4M transistors per mm². AMD's Navi 14 contains 6,400 million transistors on a 158 mm² die, at 40.5M per mm². The Intel chip is nearly 3.4 times larger in die area and holds more than 3.3 times the transistor count.

The compute configuration differs substantially. The Arc A550M has 2,048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation pipelines. It also includes 16 dedicated ray tracing cores. The RX 5300M has 1,408 shading units, 88 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with no ray tracing cores listed.

Clock behavior also differs. The AMD part lists a game clock of 1,181 MHz, which is a meaningful figure for sustained gaming workloads. The Intel part has no game clock listed, only base at 900 MHz and boost at 2,050 MHz. The RX 5300M's base clock of 1,000 MHz is higher than Intel's 900 MHz base, but the Arc part boosts much higher, 2,050 MHz versus 1,445 MHz.

API support is another differentiator. The Intel GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), which includes the full feature set of modern DXR ray tracing and mesh shaders. The AMD part supports DirectX 12 (12_1), a lower-tier feature level. Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

Finally, the bus interface differs: PCIe 4.0 x16 for Intel versus PCIe 4.0 x8 for AMD. This gives the Arc part twice the available bus lanes, though both are PCIe 4.0 generation.

Where Each One Wins

The Intel Arc A550M wins in nearly every measurable category. In the single recorded head-to-head benchmark, Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 49,894 against 36,529, a 36.6% advantage. Its FP32 compute is 8.397 TFLOPS versus 4.069 TFLOPS, more than double. FP16 is similarly doubled: 16.79 TFLOPS versus 8.138 TFLOPS.

Memory capacity is a major win for Intel. The Arc A550M has 8 GB GDDR6, while the RX 5300M has only 3 GB. Bandwidth also favors Intel: 224.0 GB/s versus 168.0 GB/s, a 33% difference. Both use GDDR6 at 14 Gbps effective, but the wider 128-bit bus on Intel versus 96-bit on AMD creates the gap.

Pixel and texture throughput strongly favor Intel. The Arc A550M achieves 131.2 GPixel/s and 262.4 GTexel/s. The RX 5300M manages 46.24 GPixel/s and 127.2 GTexel/s. These figures indicate the Intel part can drive higher resolutions and more complex texture filtering.

The AMD Radeon RX 5300M's wins are narrower. It has a higher base clock, 1,000 MHz versus 900 MHz, and it carries a game clock of 1,181 MHz, a specification Intel does not provide. Its TDP is 85 W versus 60 W for the Intel part, which means the AMD GPU is allowed a higher power draw. However, higher power does not translate to higher performance here, the Intel part delivers far more compute per watt based on the recorded figures.

For use cases: the Arc A550M is the pick for ray-traced workloads, large VRAM buffers, high-resolution rendering, and compute-heavy applications. The RX 5300M is the pick for legacy driver environments, systems where a 60 W slot is unavailable but 85 W is fine, or AMD-specific host platforms that prefer its PCIe 4.0 x8 interface.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has more VRAM?

A: The Intel Arc A550M has 8 GB of GDDR6, while the AMD Radeon RX 5300M has 3 GB. The Intel part also has a 128-bit memory bus versus 96-bit, giving it 224.0 GB/s bandwidth compared to 168.0 GB/s.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon RX 5300M support ray tracing?

A: No. The RX 5300M lists no ray tracing cores, and its DirectX support is 12 (12_1). The Intel Arc A550M has 16 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2).

Q: How much faster is the Intel Arc A550M in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The Intel Arc A550M scores 49,894 versus 36,529 for the RX 5300M, a 36.6% advantage in the recorded head-to-head result.

Q: What is the power draw of each GPU?

A: The Intel Arc A550M has a TDP of 60 W, and the AMD Radeon RX 5300M has a TDP of 85 W.

Q: Which GPU has the higher boost clock?

A: The Intel Arc A550M boosts to 2,050 MHz, while the AMD Radeon RX 5300M boosts to 1,445 MHz. The AMD part has a higher base clock at 1,000 MHz versus 900 MHz.

Q: Are both GPUs still in production?

A: No. Both are recorded as end-of-life. The AMD Radeon RX 5300M has a release date of November 12, 2019, while the Intel Arc A550M has no recorded release date.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains one direct benchmark comparison between these two GPUs: Geekbench OpenCL. The Intel Arc A550M scores 49,894, and the AMD Radeon RX 5300M scores 36,529. The delta is 36.6% in favor of Intel.

To contextualize the Intel part's standing, its average benchmark score of 49,737 places it near the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (49,957, a 0.4% gap) and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 (50,001, a 0.5% gap). It sits 2.4% behind the RX 6900 XT and 2.6% ahead of the RX 6800 XT. This means the Arc A550M is competitive with high-end desktop GPUs from previous generations, despite being a mobile part with a 60 W TDP.

The RX 5300M's average score of 36,529 puts it exactly level with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN X (36,530, 0% delta). It is 0.7% ahead of the NVIDIA T1000 and 1.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro Duo, while sitting 1.7% behind the AMD Radeon PRO W6400. These rivals are older or workstation-oriented parts, confirming the RX 5300M's mid-range positioning.

The FP32 compute gap is the most telling raw specification. At 8.397 TFLOPS, the Intel part delivers more than double the 4.069 TFLOPS of the AMD part. Texture rate follows the same pattern: 262.4 GTexel/s versus 127.2 GTexel/s. Pixel rate is nearly three times higher on Intel: 131.2 GPixel/s versus 46.24 GPixel/s.

Memory bandwidth favors Intel by 56.0 GB/s, and the 8 GB VRAM capacity is a 5 GB advantage. In any workload that scales with memory capacity, such as large texture sets, machine learning inference batches, or high-resolution framebuffers, the Intel part has a substantial buffer.

The only category where AMD shows a specification advantage is TDP, where its 85 W exceeds Intel's 60 W. This is not a performance win; it simply means the AMD GPU is allowed to consume more power while delivering less compute.

Specification Differences

The table below lists only the fields where the two GPUs differ, according to the database.

| Specification | Intel Arc A550M | AMD Radeon RX 5300M |

|---|---|---|

| Manufacturer | Intel | AMD |

| Chip | DG2-512 | Navi 14 |

| Architecture | Xe-HPG | RDNA 1.0 |

| Generation | Alchemist (Arc 5 Mobile) | Navi Mobile (RX 5000M) |

| Process Node | 6 nm | 7 nm |

| Transistors | 21,700 million | 6,400 million |

| Die Size | 406 mm² | 158 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 53.4M / mm² | 40.5M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 900 MHz | 1000 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 2050 MHz | 1445 MHz |

| Game Clock | None listed | 1181 MHz |

| Memory Size | 8 GB | 3 GB |

| Memory Bus Width | 128 bit | 96 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 224.0 GB/s | 168.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 2048 | 1408 |

| TMUs | 128 | 88 |

| ROPs | 64 | 32 |

| Ray Tracing Cores | 16 | None |

| Pixel Rate | 131.2 GPixel/s | 46.24 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 262.4 GTexel/s | 127.2 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 8.397 TFLOPS | 4.069 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 16.