AMD Radeon RX 550 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK Comparison

The Verdict

The benchmark data presents a clear hierarchy between these two end-of-life graphics cards. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK wins all three head-to-head benchmark comparisons, with the largest margins appearing in compute-oriented workloads. The AMD Radeon RX 550, despite being three years newer in release date, cannot overcome the TITAN BLACK's substantial hardware advantage in shading units, memory bandwidth, and raw compute throughput.

For users prioritizing modern API support and efficiency, the RX 550 offers DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3, while the TITAN BLACK is limited to DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.175. However, the actual performance measurements show the TITAN BLACK leading by 58.5% in Vulkan and 59.4% in OpenCL, so the newer API versions on the RX 550 do not translate into benchmark victories. The data suggests the TITAN BLACK is the superior choice for any workload requiring raw compute power, while the RX 550 may appeal only to systems with strict power and physical space constraints, given its 50 W TDP and 145 mm length compared to the TITAN BLACK's 250 W TDP and 267 mm length.

Architecture Differences

The two cards represent fundamentally different design philosophies from their respective manufacturers. The AMD Radeon RX 550 uses the Lexa chip built on GCN 4.0 architecture, manufactured by GlobalFoundries on a 14 nm process. It packs 2,200 million transistors into a 103 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 21.4M per mm². The NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK uses the GK110B chip based on Kepler architecture, fabricated by TSMC on a 28 nm process. This older, larger design contains 7,080 million transistors spread across a 561 mm² die, with a lower transistor density of 12.6M per mm².

The compute resource allocation differs dramatically. The RX 550 features 512 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, and 16 raster output pipelines. The TITAN BLACK counters with 2,880 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output pipelines. This 5.6x difference in shading units and 7.5x difference in texture mapping units explains much of the performance gap. The memory subsystems also diverge sharply: the RX 550 has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus delivering 112.0 GB/s, while the TITAN BLACK has 6 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus providing 336.0 GB/s, exactly three times the bandwidth.

Clock speeds favor the AMD card: the RX 550 runs at 1100 MHz base and 1183 MHz boost, while the TITAN BLACK operates at 889 MHz base and 980 MHz boost. Both cards use identical memory clocks at 1750 MHz with 7 Gbps effective speed. The architectural generation gap shows in feature support: the RX 550 supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3, whereas the TITAN BLACK is limited to DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.175. Both support OpenGL 4.6. The RX 550 uses a PCIe 3.0 x8 interface, while the TITAN BLACK uses the wider PCIe 3.0 x16 connection. Neither card includes ray tracing or tensor cores.

FAQ

Q: Which card has higher raw compute performance in FP32 operations?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK delivers 5.645 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, compared to the AMD Radeon RX 550's 1,211.4 GFLOPS. The TITAN BLACK's FP32 output is approximately 4.7 times higher.

Q: How do the memory configurations compare?

A: The TITAN BLACK has 6 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus with 336.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 550 has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus with 112.0 GB/s bandwidth. The TITAN BLACK provides exactly three times the memory bandwidth.

Q: Which card is more power-efficient?

A: The RX 550 has a 50 W TDP and requires no power connectors, with a suggested 250 W power supply. The TITAN BLACK has a 250 W TDP, requires one 6-pin and one 8-pin power connector, and needs a 600 W power supply. The AMD card uses five times less power.

Q: What are the physical size differences?

A: The RX 550 is 145 mm long (5.7 inches), while the TITAN BLACK is 267 mm long (10.5 inches), 111 mm high (4.4 inches), and 38 mm wide (1.5 inches). Both are dual-slot cards.

Q: Which card performs better in Geekbench Vulkan?

A: The TITAN BLACK scores 29,561 in Geekbench Vulkan versus the RX 550's 12,270, representing a 58.5% advantage for the NVIDIA card.

Q: Do both cards support modern graphics APIs?

A: The RX 550 supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3, while the TITAN BLACK supports DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.175. Both support OpenGL 4.6. The AMD card has newer API versions, but this does not translate to benchmark wins.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon RX 550 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK |

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

| Architecture | GCN 4.0 | Kepler |

| Process Node | 14 nm | 28 nm |

| Foundry | GlobalFoundries | TSMC |

| Transistors | 2,200 million | 7,080 million |

| Die Size | 103 mm² | 561 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 21.4M / mm² | 12.6M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1100 MHz | 889 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1183 MHz | 980 MHz |

| Memory Size | 2 GB | 6 GB |

| Memory Bus Width | 128 bit | 384 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 112.0 GB/s | 336.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 512 | 2880 |

| TMUs | 32 | 240 |

| ROPs | 16 | 48 |

| Pixel Rate | 18.93 GPixel/s | 58.80 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 37.86 GTexel/s | 235.2 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 1,211.4 GFLOPS | 5.645 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 1,211.4 GFLOPS (1:1) | Not specified |

| TDP | 50 W | 250 W |

| Power Connectors | None | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 250 W | 600 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x8 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| DirectX Support | 12 (12_0) | 12 (11_1) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.3 | 1.2.175 |

| Display Outputs | 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, 1x DisplayPort 1.4a | 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, 1x DisplayPort 1.2 |

| Length | 145 mm (5.7 inches) | 267 mm (10.5 inches) |

| Release Date | 2017-04-19 | 2014-02-17 |

| Launch MSRP | 79 USD | 999 USD |

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head comparison includes three Geekbench tests, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK wins all three. The smallest margin appears in Geekbench Metal, where the TITAN BLACK scores 24,172 against the RX 550's 20,838, a 13.8% advantage. This represents the closest contest between the two cards, suggesting the Metal API narrows the gap somewhat compared to other workloads.

The Geekbench OpenCL test shows a much larger separation. The TITAN BLACK records 27,218 while the RX 550 manages only 11,063, giving the NVIDIA card a 59.4% lead. This result aligns with the massive difference in shading units and FP32 throughput. The RX 550's FP32 output of 1,211.4 GFLOPS is dwarfed by the TITAN BLACK's 5.645 TFLOPS, and OpenCL appears to leverage this compute advantage effectively.

Geekbench Vulkan produces a similar outcome: the TITAN BLACK scores 29,561 versus 12,270 for the RX 550, a 58.5% difference. Notably, the RX 550 supports Vulkan 1.3 while the TITAN BLACK only supports Vulkan 1.2.175, yet the newer API version does not help the AMD card close the gap. The TITAN BLACK's higher texture rate of 235.2 GTexel/s versus 37.86 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 58.80 GPixel/s versus 18.93 GPixel/s likely contribute to these consistent victories.

Beyond the head-to-head tests, the broader benchmark suites show the TITAN BLACK's versatility. It records a Passmark G3D score of 9,184, a Passmark G2D score of 595, and a Passmark GPU Compute score of 3,726. The RX 550's average benchmark score of 11,075 actually exceeds the TITAN BLACK's average of 9,474, but this reflects different test sets rather than overall superiority. The RX 550's percentile ranking of 50 versus the TITAN BLACK's 46 also appears counterintuitive, but the nearest rival data clarifies the context: the RX 550 sits near the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q at 11,088 and the GTX 1650 SUPER at 11,047, while the TITAN BLACK aligns with the GTX 760 at 9,458 and Quadro K5000 at 9,637.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK wins across every head-to-head benchmark category. Its largest advantages appear in OpenCL and Vulkan, where it leads by 59.4% and 58.5% respectively. These compute-oriented workloads benefit from the TITAN BLACK's 2,880 shading units and 336.0 GB/s memory bandwidth. The card's 5.645 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 235.2 GTexel/s texture rate make it the clear choice for any application that can leverage raw computational throughput. The 6 GB memory capacity also provides headroom for larger datasets compared to the RX 550's 2 GB.

The AMD Radeon RX 550 claims no benchmark victories in the head-to-head tests, but it holds advantages in specific attributes. Its 14 nm process node and 21.4M per mm² transistor density represent a more modern manufacturing approach. The 50 W TDP allows operation without any power connectors, and the 145 mm length fits in compact systems where the TITAN BLACK's 267 mm length would not. The RX 550 also supports newer API versions including DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3, which may matter for software compatibility in modern applications. Its 1,211.4 GFLOPS FP32 performance and 112.0 GB/s bandwidth, while far below the TITAN BLACK, remain adequate for basic 2D workloads and light 3D rendering at lower resolutions.

The recorded data indicates that the TITAN BLACK is the superior performer in every measured benchmark, with its closest contest being the 13.8% lead in Geekbench Metal. The RX 550's strengths lie in efficiency and physical adaptability rather than performance. Users needing maximum compute power should select the TITAN BLACK, while those constrained by power delivery, case space, or preferring the latest API versions may find the RX 550 more suitable despite its benchmark deficits. The TITAN BLACK's 999 USD launch MSRP versus the RX 550's 79 USD launch MSRP reflects the enormous performance differential, though both cards are now end-of-life products.