AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT vs AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a definitive, one-sided performance landscape. Across all ten shared benchmark tests, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT emerges victorious, with the RX 5500 XT failing to secure a single win. The margins, however, are far from uniform, revealing distinct strengths in different workloads.

The most dramatic separation occurs in the legacy DirectX 11 test. Here, the RX 7600 XT scores 167, while the RX 5500 XT manages only 56. This translates to a delta of 198.2%, meaning the newer card delivers nearly triple the performance in this API. This is a substantial generational leap, not just an incremental improvement.

DirectX 12 performance also shows a significant gap, though smaller in percentage terms. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test sees the RX 7600 XT score 2348, against 1032 for the RX 5500 XT, a 127.5% advantage. This confirms that the architectural advantages of the newer GPU extend to modern, low-level APIs, not just legacy ones. The Passmark DirectX 12 test shows a similar, if less pronounced, delta of 62.5% (65 vs. 40 points).

Compute workloads further highlight the performance disparity. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the RX 7600 XT posts a score of 92426, which is 96.8% higher than the RX 5500 XT's 46965. The Passmark GPU Compute test tells a similar story, with a delta of 102.1% (8987 vs. 4446). This near-doubling of compute throughput is a clear indicator of the raw processing power difference between the two architectures.

The gap narrows considerably in the Vulkan API. The Geekbench Vulkan test shows the RX 7600 XT scoring 48366, only 9.4% ahead of the RX 5500 XT's 44191. This is by far the closest result in the data set, suggesting that Vulkan's efficient multi-threading and low overhead can partially mitigate the older card's hardware limitations. It is an outlier, and not indicative of overall performance parity.

Other legacy DirectX tests show consistent, substantial wins for the RX 7600 XT. In DirectX 9, the newer card is 71.4% faster (228 vs. 133). DirectX 10 shows an 84.8% lead (85 vs. 46). The 2D graphics test, Passmark G2D, shows the smallest win for the RX 7600 XT at 33.1% (1030 vs. 774), a reminder that even in less demanding tasks, the newer architecture holds a clear edge.

The overall 3D performance metric, Passmark G3D, sums up the situation: the RX 7600 XT scores 17132, an 88.6% improvement over the RX 5500 XT's 9083. This is the headline number for gaming, and it paints a picture of a GPU that is in a completely different performance class.

It is also worth contextualizing these results against the broader database. The RX 7600 XT's average benchmark score of 17083 places it at the 60th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (avg score 17208, which is 0.7% higher) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (avg score 17037, which is 0.3% lower). The RX 5500 XT, with an average score of 14692, sits at the 57th percentile, with its nearest rival being the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 (avg score 14747, which is 0.4% higher). While both cards are in a similar percentile band, the absolute difference in their scores is what matters most for real-world performance.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous. For any user prioritizing raw performance, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is the superior choice. It wins every single benchmark in the comparison, often by margins exceeding 80%. The RX 5500 XT is not competitive on a performance basis.

The RX 7600 XT's average benchmark score of 17083 is substantially higher than the RX 5500 XT's 14692. This is not a marginal victory; it is a generational leap. The RX 7600 XT's percentile ranking of 60 versus 57 for the RX 5500 XT is a minor distinction, but the underlying score difference is what drives the real-world experience.

Given the data, the RX 7600 XT is the only logical pick for gaming, content creation, or any GPU-accelerated workload where the benchmark scores are indicative of performance. The RX 5500 XT, being end-of-life, holds no advantage in any measured category. Its sole virtue would be if a user has a hard constraint that the RX 7600 XT cannot meet, but based on the recorded data, there is no such performance-related constraint that favors the older card.

Where Each One Wins

Based strictly on the benchmark data, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT wins in every category. There are no exceptions.

• Modern APIs (DX12, Vulkan): The RX 7600 XT wins here. Its lead in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 (127.5%) is massive, while its lead in Vulkan (9.4%) is the smallest of any test. This indicates that while both cards can handle modern APIs, the RX 7600 XT has significantly more headroom.

• Legacy APIs (DX9, DX10, DX11): The RX 7600 XT dominates. The delta in DX11 (198.2%) is the single largest win in the entire comparison. The RX 5500 XT is particularly weak here, suggesting its architecture is less efficient at handling older draw call methods.

• Compute and OpenCL: The RX 7600 XT is nearly twice as fast in both Geekbench OpenCL (96.8% lead) and Passmark GPU Compute (102.1% lead). This points to a major advantage in non-gaming workloads like rendering or data processing.

• 2D and General Graphics: The RX 7600 XT wins, but with the smallest margin (33.1% in Passmark G2D). This shows that even in less intensive tasks, the newer GPU is faster, though the gap is less pronounced.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the RX 7600 XT than the RX 5500 XT in overall 3D performance?

A: The RX 7600 XT scores 17132 in Passmark G3D, which is 88.6% higher than the RX 5500 XT's score of 9083.

Q: Which GPU is better for modern DirectX 12 games?

A: The RX 7600 XT is significantly better. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, it scores 2348 versus 1032, a 127.5% advantage.

Q: Is there any benchmark where the RX 5500 XT is faster?

A: No. The RX 7600 XT wins all ten head-to-head benchmark comparisons. The RX 5500 XT does not win a single test.

Q: What is the smallest performance difference between the two cards?

A: The smallest gap is in the Geekbench Vulkan test, where the RX 7600 XT is only 9.4% faster (48366 vs. 44191).

Q: What is the largest performance difference between the two cards?

A: The largest gap is in the Passmark DirectX 11 test, where the RX 7600 XT is 198.2% faster (167 vs. 56).

Q: How do these cards compare to other GPUs in the database?

A: The RX 7600 XT has an average score of 17083, placing it at the 60th percentile, near the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070. The RX 5500 XT has an average score of 14692, placing it at the 57th percentile, near the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770.

Architecture Differences

The performance disparity is rooted in substantial architectural and specification differences between the two GPUs. The RX 7600 XT is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture (chip codename "Hotpink Bonefish"), while the RX 5500 XT uses the older RDNA 1.0 architecture. This generational shift alone accounts for significant efficiency and feature improvements.

The manufacturing process also differs. The RX 7600 XT is fabricated on a 6 nm process at TSMC, whereas the RX 5500 XT uses a 7 nm process. The newer node allows for a denser transistor layout: the RX 7600 XT packs 13,300 million transistors into a 204 mm² die (a density of 65.2M per mm²), while the RX 5500 XT has 6,400 million transistors on a 158 mm² die (40.5M per mm²). The RX 7600 XT is not just a bigger chip; it is a more efficiently packed one.

Core configuration is a major differentiator. The RX 7600 XT features 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation pipelines. The RX 5500 XT has 1408 shading units, 88 TMUs, and only 32 ROPs. The RX 7600 XT also includes 32 dedicated ray tracing cores, a feature entirely absent from the RX 5500 XT. These raw resource differences are directly reflected in the compute and 3D rendering benchmark results.

Clock speeds further widen the gap. The RX 7600 XT has a base clock of 1980 MHz, a game clock of 2470 MHz, and a boost clock of 2755 MHz. The RX 5500 XT operates at significantly lower frequencies: 1607 MHz base, 1717 MHz game, and 1845 MHz boost. Combined with the higher core count, this results in a theoretical FP32 throughput of 22.57 TFLOPS for the RX 7600 XT versus 5.196 TFLOPS for the RX 5500 XT. This is a 4.3x difference in raw compute capability, which explains the near-doubling in many benchmark scores.

Memory is another crucial point of separation. The RX 7600 XT comes with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, four times the 4 GB found on the RX 5500 XT. While both use a 128-bit memory bus, the newer card's memory runs at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective), yielding a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The RX 5500 XT's memory runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective), providing 224.0 GB/s. The combination of higher capacity and greater bandwidth gives the RX 7600 XT a significant advantage in texture-heavy and high-resolution workloads.

Feature support also differs. The RX 7600 XT supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the RX 5500 XT is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. Display output capabilities differ as well, with the RX 7600 XT offering HDMI 2.1a and DisplayPort 2.1, versus the RX 5500 XT's HDMI 2.0b and DisplayPort 1.4a. Finally, the RX 7600 XT has a higher TDP of 190 W with a suggested 450 W PSU, compared to the RX 5500 XT's 130 W TDP and 300 W suggested PSU. The RX 7600 XT is also physically larger, at 204 mm in length, compared to the RX 5500 XT's 180 mm.