AMD Radeon RX 550 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The recorded data splits cleanly by workload type. The AMD Radeon RX 550 takes the single most dramatic victory in the head-to-head set, winning the Geekbench Metal test by a massive 360.6% margin. That score, 20,838 versus 4,524, indicates the RX 550 has a decisive advantage in Apple-centric compute environments that leverage the Metal API. This is not a marginal win; it is a category-level blowout that defines the RX 550's profile as a compute-oriented card for specific ecosystems.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760, meanwhile, wins the other two recorded head-to-head tests, but by much narrower margins. In Geekbench OpenCL, the GTX 760 scores 11,299 against the RX 550's 11,063, a 2.1% edge. In Geekbench Vulkan, the GTX 760 scores 12,551 against 12,270, a 2.2% lead. These are statistical near-ties, well within typical run-to-run variance, but they do show that the older Kepler card retains a slight edge in general-purpose compute APIs that are not tied to Metal.

Looking at the broader database picture, the RX 550 sits at the 50th percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 11,075. Its closest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q at 11,088 (0.1% slower delta, meaning the RX 550 is effectively tied), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER at 11,047 (0.3% ahead of that card), and the AMD FirePro W4300 at 11,225 (1.3% behind). The GTX 760, by contrast, sits at the 46th percentile with an average score of 9,458, putting it below the RX 550 in the overall ranking. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK at 9,474 (0.2% behind), the AMD Radeon R7 M380 at 9,313 (1.6% ahead), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M at 9,302 (1.7% ahead).

What this means in practice: the RX 550 wins where the API is Metal, and it wins decisively. The GTX 760 wins where the API is OpenCL or Vulkan, but only by a hair. For any workload that runs through Metal, the RX 550 is the clear choice. For OpenCL and Vulkan compute tasks, the two cards are effectively interchangeable, with the GTX 760 holding a slight but consistent edge.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different eras and different foundries, and the architectural gap is substantial. The AMD Radeon RX 550 is built on GCN 4.0 architecture using the Lexa chip, fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It packs 2,200 million transistors into a 103 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 21.4 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 uses the older Kepler architecture with the GK104 chip, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It contains 3,540 million transistors across a much larger 294 mm² die, giving a lower density of 12.0 million per square millimeter.

The RX 550 belongs to the Polaris (RX 500) generation and was released on 2017-04-19, with its predecessor being Arctic Islands and its successor Vega. The GTX 760 belongs to the GeForce 700 generation, released on 2013-06-24, with its predecessor being GeForce 600 and its successor GeForce 900. This four-year gap explains the process node advantage: the RX 550's 14 nm node allows far greater transistor density, meaning more compute per square millimeter despite having fewer total transistors.

The shader and texture configurations differ sharply. The RX 550 has 512 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, and 16 ROPs. The GTX 760 has 1,152 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The GTX 760 has more than double the shading units and triple the TMUs, which explains its higher texture rate of 99.07 GTexel/s versus 37.86 GTexel/s. However, the RX 550's FP32 compute of 1,211.4 GFLOPS is roughly half of the GTX 760's 2.378 TFLOPS, a smaller gap than the shader count alone would suggest, indicating architectural efficiency improvements in GCN 4.0.

The RX 550 supports FP16 at a 1:1 ratio with FP32, also 1,211.4 GFLOPS, while the GTX 760 has no recorded FP16 support. The RX 550 also supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3, while the GTX 760 supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175. Both cards lack ray tracing and tensor cores, as neither supports those features.

Power delivery is another major split. The RX 550 has a 50 W TDP, requires no external power connectors, and recommends a 250 W PSU. The GTX 760 has a 170 W TDP, requires two 6-pin power connectors, and recommends a 450 W PSU. The RX 550 also uses a PCIe 3.0 x8 interface versus the GTX 760's PCIe 3.0 x16, and the RX 550 is shorter at 145 mm (5.7 inches) versus 241 mm (9.5 inches). Both are dual-slot cards.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 550 has an average benchmark score of 11,075, placing it at the 50th percentile among all GPUs. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 has an average score of 9,458, placing it at the 46th percentile.

Q: How large is the RX 550's win in the Metal benchmark?

A: The RX 550 scores 20,838 in Geekbench Metal versus the GTX 760's 4,524, a 360.6% advantage. This is the largest delta recorded in the head-to-head tests.

Q: Does the GTX 760 win any benchmark?

A: Yes, the GTX 760 wins two of the three recorded head-to-head tests. It scores 11,299 in Geekbench OpenCL (2.1% ahead) and 12,551 in Geekbench Vulkan (2.2% ahead), both against the RX 550's 11,063 and 12,270 respectively.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The RX 550 has a 50 W TDP with no power connectors and a suggested 250 W PSU. The GTX 760 has a 170 W TDP with two 6-pin connectors and a suggested 450 W PSU.

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The GTX 760 has 1,152 shading units, more than double the RX 550's 512. The GTX 760 also has 96 TMUs versus 32, and 32 ROPs versus 16.

Q: When was each card released?

A: The RX 550 was released on 2017-04-19. The GTX 760 was released on 2013-06-24, nearly four years earlier.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every core specification. The RX 550 uses a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries; the GTX 760 uses a 28 nm process at TSMC. Transistor counts are 2,200 million versus 3,540 million, and die sizes are 103 mm² versus 294 mm², giving densities of 21.4M per mm² versus 12.0M per mm².

Clock speeds favor the RX 550. It runs at a base of 1100 MHz and boosts to 1183 MHz. The GTX 760 runs at a base of 980 MHz and boosts to 1032 MHz. Memory clocks also differ: the RX 550 uses 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) while the GTX 760 uses 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective).

Memory configurations are similar in capacity but different in bus width. Both have 2 GB of GDDR5. The RX 550 uses a 128-bit bus with 112.0 GB/s bandwidth; the GTX 760 uses a 256-bit bus with 192.3 GB/s bandwidth. The wider bus gives the GTX 760 a 71.7% bandwidth advantage.

Compute resources favor the GTX 760. It has 1,152 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 32 ROPs versus the RX 550's 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. Pixel rates are 24.77 GPixel/s for the GTX 760 versus 18.93 GPixel/s for the RX 550. Texture rates are 99.07 GTexel/s versus 37.86 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 2.378 TFLOPS versus 1,211.4 GFLOPS. The RX 550 offers FP16 at 1,211.4 GFLOPS (1:1), while the GTX 760 has no recorded FP16 capability.

Power and physical specifications diverge sharply. The RX 550 has a 50 W TDP, no power connectors, a 250 W suggested PSU, PCIe 3.0 x8, and a 145 mm (5.7 inch) length. The GTX 760 has a 170 W TDP, two 6-pin connectors, a 450 W suggested PSU, PCIe 3.0 x16, and a 241 mm (9.5 inch) length.

Display outputs also differ. The RX 550 offers 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a. The GTX 760 offers 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.2. The RX 550 supports more modern display standards.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The three recorded head-to-head benchmarks tell a story of one massive win and two narrow losses for the RX 550.

The standout result is Geekbench Metal. The RX 550 scores 20,838, while the GTX 760 scores 4,524. That is a 360.6% delta in favor of the RX 550. To contextualize this, the RX 550's nearest rivals in the database include cards like the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q at 11,088 and the AMD FirePro W4300 at 11,225, and the RX 550's Metal score is nearly double its own average benchmark score of 11,075. This suggests the RX 550 has a specialized strength in Metal workloads that far exceeds its general compute standing. The GTX 760's Metal score of 4,524 is less than half of its average score of 9,458, indicating the GTX 760 is particularly weak in Metal environments.

The other two benchmarks are close contests. In Geekbench OpenCL, the GTX 760 scores 11,299 against the RX 550's 11,063. The delta is 2.1% in favor of the GTX 760. This is a narrow margin, and both scores are near each card's respective average benchmark scores, meaning OpenCL performance is broadly representative of each card's overall standing. The RX 550's OpenCL score of 11,063 is almost exactly its average of 11,075, while the GTX 760's 11,299 is well above its average of 9,458, suggesting OpenCL is a relative strength for the GTX 760.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the GTX 760 again wins, scoring 12,551 against 12,270. The delta is 2.2% in favor of the GTX 760. Both scores are above their respective averages, but the GTX 760's Vulkan score is 32.7% above its average, while the RX 550's Vulkan score is 10.8% above its average. This indicates Vulkan is a particularly strong API for the GTX 760, while the RX 550's Vulkan performance is more modest relative to its baseline.

The win count is 2 for the GTX 760 and 1 for the RX 550, but the magnitude of the RX 550's Metal victory dwarfs the combined margins of the GTX 760's two wins. The GTX 760's total advantage across its two wins is 4.3 percentage points combined, while the RX 550's single win is 360.6 percentage points. In raw score terms, the RX 550's Metal margin is 16,314 points, while the GTX 760's combined OpenCL and Vulkan margins are 236 and 281 points respectively, totaling 517 points. The RX 550's Metal dominance is the single most decisive data point in this comparison.