AMD Radeon RX 550 vs AMD Radeon RX 580 Comparison

The Verdict

The data splits these two AMD cards into clearly different roles. The RX 580 is the performance pick, winning all four recorded head-to-head benchmarks by a wide margin. The RX 550 is the low-power, small-size option for basic tasks. If you need to drive modern games at reasonable settings, the RX 580 is the only choice here. If you need a quiet, low-power card for a small chassis or a display-only role, the RX 550 has its place. The RX 580 sits at the 53rd percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 550 sits at the 50th, meaning both are mid-pack overall, but the RX 580's average benchmark score of 12,928 is 16.7% higher than the RX 550's 11,075.

The RX 580's closest rivals in the database are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (0.1% faster), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER (0.4% faster), the AMD Radeon 740M (0.5% slower), and the AMD FirePro W5100 (0.6% slower). The RX 550's closest rivals are the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q (0.1% faster), another NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q (0.1% faster), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER (0.3% faster), and the AMD FirePro W4300 (1.3% faster). These rival deltas are small, meaning both cards sit in competitive performance bands for their respective tiers. The RX 580 is effectively a peer of the GTX 1660 SUPER, while the RX 550 trades blows with the GTX 1650 SUPER. Neither card is a leader in its neighborhood, but both are solid mid-tier options.

Where Each One Wins

The RX 580 wins every single recorded benchmark. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 1,005 against the RX 550's 127, a 691.3% advantage. This is the largest gap in the data. In Geekbench Vulkan, the RX 580 scores 45,173 versus 12,270, a 268.2% lead. In Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 37,453 versus 11,063, a 238.5% lead. In Geekbench Metal, it scores 45,235 versus 20,838, a 117.1% lead. The RX 550 has no benchmark wins, zero out of four. The RX 580 also has a much higher average score, 12,928 against 11,075, so even in tests not shared directly, the RX 580's overall database standing is stronger.

The RX 550's only wins are in non-performance metrics. It draws no auxiliary power connectors, where the RX 580 requires one 8-pin. It has a 50 W TDP against the RX 580's 185 W. It measures 145 mm (5.7 inches) long, versus the RX 580's 241 mm (9.5 inches). It uses a PCIe 3.0 x8 interface, while the RX 580 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Its suggested PSU is 250 W, versus 450 W for the RX 580. For a small form factor build or a secondary machine, the RX 550 is the practical pick. For anything demanding, the RX 580 is the winner.

Architecture Differences

Both cards use the same GCN 4.0 architecture and the same 14 nm process node from GlobalFoundries. They belong to the same Polaris (RX 500) generation. The differences are in scale. The RX 580 uses the Polaris 20 chip, which has 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 24.6 million per mm². The RX 550 uses the Lexa chip, which has 2,200 million transistors on a 103 mm² die, giving a density of 21.4 million per mm². The RX 580 has 2,304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The RX 550 has 512 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, and 16 ROPs. This is a 4.5x difference in shader count and a 4.5x difference in TMUs, but only a 2x difference in ROPs.

The memory subsystem is also very different. The RX 580 has 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. The RX 550 has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 112.0 GB/s. The clock speeds differ as well. The RX 580 runs at a base of 1257 MHz and boosts to 1340 MHz, with memory at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective). The RX 550 runs at a base of 1100 MHz and boosts to 1183 MHz, with memory at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective). The RX 580's higher clocks, combined with more cores, produce a pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 193.0 GTexel/s. The RX 550's rates are 18.93 GPixel/s and 37.86 GTexel/s. The RX 580's FP32 throughput is 6.175 TFLOPS, while the RX 550's is 1,211.4 GFLOPS. Both have FP16 at a 1:1 ratio with FP32, so neither has a half-rate advantage.

Both cards support DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. Neither has ray tracing cores or tensor cores. The RX 580 has 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. The RX 550 has 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a. The RX 580's PCIe x16 interface is a full-bandwidth slot, while the RX 550's x8 interface is half that. For most workloads this matters little, but for data-heavy compute tasks the RX 580's wider interface helps.

FAQ

Q: Which card has better raw performance?

A: The RX 580 wins all four head-to-head benchmarks. Its largest win is 691.3% in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, and its smallest is 117.1% in Geekbench Metal. The RX 550 has zero wins.

Q: What is the power draw difference?

A: The RX 580 has a TDP of 185 W and requires one 8-pin power connector, with a suggested PSU of 450 W. The RX 550 has a TDP of 50 W, requires no power connector, and has a suggested PSU of 250 W.

Q: Which card is better for a small form factor PC?

A: The RX 550 is much shorter at 145 mm (5.7 inches), while the RX 580 is 241 mm (9.5 inches). The RX 550 also needs no auxiliary power connectors, which simplifies cabling in tight cases.

Q: Do both cards support the same APIs?

A: Yes. Both support DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. Neither has hardware ray tracing or tensor cores.

Q: How do these cards compare to their closest rivals?

A: The RX 580 is within 0.6% of its nearest rivals, with the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile and GTX 1660 SUPER slightly ahead, and the Radeon 740M and FirePro W5100 slightly behind. The RX 550 is within 1.3% of its nearest rivals, with the two RTX PRO 6000 variants and FirePro W4300 slightly ahead, and the GTX 1650 SUPER slightly behind.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The RX 580 has 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 256.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 550 has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus with 112.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 580 also runs its memory at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective), while the RX 550 runs at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective).

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The biggest win for the RX 580 is in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, where it scores 1,005 versus the RX 550's 127. That is a 691.3% delta, the most lopsided result in the data. This test is a DX12 workload, so it stresses the RX 580's 2,304 shading units and 256-bit memory bus heavily. The RX 550's 512 shading units and 128-bit bus simply cannot keep up. The 8x difference in shader count translates directly into this massive score gap.

The second-largest win is in Geekbench Vulkan, 45,173 versus 12,270, a 268.2% delta. Vulkan is a low-level API, and the RX 580's higher fill rates (42.88 GPixel/s versus 18.93 GPixel/s) and texture rates (193.0 GTexel/s versus 37.86 GTexel/s) give it a large advantage. The RX 580's boost clock of 1340 MHz versus 1183 MHz also helps in this test.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 580 scores 37,453 versus 11,063, a 238.5% delta. This compute-oriented test favors the RX 580's 6.175 TFLOPS FP32 throughput against the RX 550's 1,211.4 GFLOPS. That is a 5x difference in raw compute, and the score gap reflects it. The RX 580's wider 256-bit memory bus also helps feed the compute units faster.

The smallest win is in Geekbench Metal, 45,235 versus 20,838, a 117.1% delta. This is still a decisive win, but the gap is narrower. Metal is Apple's API, and this test may be less sensitive to memory bandwidth and more sensitive to driver optimization. Even so, the RX 580's higher core count and clock speed give it a clear edge. The RX 580's FP16 performance is also 1:1 with FP32, so it does not get a half-rate penalty, which helps in compute-heavy Metal workloads.

The RX 580 also has a higher average benchmark score overall, 12,928 versus 11,075, a 16.7% difference. This average includes tests not shared between the two cards, like PassMark 3D and Geekbench Metal, so it confirms that the RX 580's advantage is consistent across a broader set of workloads. The RX 550's only comparable result is in Geekbench Metal, where it is closer, but still loses by over 100%. No benchmark in the data shows the RX 550 winning or even coming close.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every major specification. The RX 580 uses a larger chip (Polaris 20, 232 mm²) with 5,700 million transistors, while the RX 550 uses a smaller chip (Lexa, 103 mm²) with 2,200 million. The RX 580 has a higher transistor density at 24.6M per mm² versus 21.4M per mm². The RX 580 has 2,304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, versus the RX 550's 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs.

The RX 580's base clock is 1257 MHz and boost is 1340 MHz, against the RX 550's 1100 MHz base and 1183 MHz boost. The RX 580's memory runs at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective) on a 256-bit bus, giving 256.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 550's memory runs at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) on a 128-bit bus, giving 112.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 580 has 8 GB of GDDR5, the RX 550 has 2 GB.

The RX 580's pixel rate is 42.88 GPixel/s and texture rate is 193.0 GTexel/s, versus 18.93 GPixel/s and 37.86 GTexel/s for the RX 550. The RX 580's FP32 is 6.175 TFLOPS, the RX 550's is 1,211.4 GFLOPS. The RX 580's TDP is 185 W with a 450 W suggested PSU, while the RX 550's TDP is 50 W with a 250 W suggested PSU. The RX 580 has one 8-pin power connector, the RX 550 has none. The RX 580 is 241 mm (9.5 inches) long and uses PCIe 3.0 x16. The RX 550 is 145 mm (5.7 inches) long and uses PCIe 3.0 x8. The RX 580 has 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs; the RX 550 has 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a. Both are dual-slot cards, both are end-of-life, and both were released in April 2017 (the RX 580 on the 17th, the RX 550 on the 19th). The RX 580's launch MSRP was 229 USD, the RX 550's was 79 USD.