AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT vs AMD Radeon RX 7700 Comparison

# AMD Radeon RX 7700 vs AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is decisively the faster card, winning all nine head-to-head benchmark comparisons against the RX 5500 XT, often by triple-digit percentages. The RX 5500 XT, an end-of-life product from 2019, is outclassed in every measurable category, from raw compute (25.18 TFLOPS vs 5.196 TFLOPS FP32) to memory bandwidth (624.1 GB/s vs 224.0 GB/s). The data leaves no ambiguity: the RX 7700 is for modern gaming and compute workloads, while the RX 5500 XT should only be considered for legacy systems or extremely light duties where its lower 130 W TDP and compact 180 mm length are advantages.

The Verdict

The RX 7700 commands a 177.6% lead in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test (2865 vs 1032), a 130.9% lead in Passmark G3D (20974 vs 9083), and a 146.6% lead in Passmark GPU Compute (10963 vs 4446). Its average benchmark score of 15852 sits in the 58th percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 5500 XT's 14692 average places it in the 57th percentile — a narrow percentile gap that masks the enormous raw performance difference. The RX 7700's closest rivals by average score are the AMD Radeon R9 370X (15862, within 0.1%), the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (16014, 1% higher), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16129, 1.7% higher), placing it in solid mid-range company. The RX 5500 XT, by contrast, trades blows with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 (14747, 0.4% higher) and Quadro M2000 (14532, 1.1% lower), showing it is firmly in the older-generation performance tier. Users seeking current AAA gaming should choose the RX 7700; those with a legacy PCIe 4.0 x8 slot and a 300 W PSU may find the RX 5500 XT acceptable for 1080p esports, but nothing more.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gulf between these two is generational. The RX 7700 uses the Navi 32 chip on RDNA 3.0 architecture (codename "Wheat Nas", Navi III generation), fabricated on a 5 nm TSMC process with 28,100 million transistors on a 346 mm² die. The RX 5500 XT uses the Navi 14 chip on RDNA 1.0 architecture (Navi generation), built on a 7 nm TSMC process with only 6,400 million transistors on a 158 mm² die. Transistor density nearly doubles: 81.2M per mm² for the RX 7700 versus 40.5M per mm² for the RX 5500 XT.

Compute resources scale accordingly. The RX 7700 packs 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units (TMUs), 96 render output units (ROPs), and 40 ray tracing cores. The RX 5500 XT has 1408 shading units, 88 TMUs, and 32 ROPs — and no ray tracing cores at all. The RX 7700 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. The RX 7700's FP16 output matches its FP32 at 25.18 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio), whereas the RX 5500 XT's FP16 is 10.39 TFLOPS but at a 2:1 ratio, indicating a different compute path.

Memory architecture also diverges sharply. The RX 7700 offers 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 624.1 GB/s bandwidth; the RX 5500 XT offers 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 224.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 7700's pixel rate is 236.1 GPixel/s versus 59.04 GPixel/s for the RX 5500 XT, and its texture rate is 393.4 GTexel/s versus 162.4 GTexel/s.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The RX 7700 wins every single comparison, but the margin varies by workload. The largest gap appears in Passmark DirectX 11, where the RX 7700 scores 186 versus the RX 5500 XT's 56 — a 232.1% difference. This suggests the RX 7700's driver and architecture excel in legacy DirectX 11 titles, making it an excellent choice for older game libraries. The second-largest win is in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, at 177.6% (2865 vs 1032), a modern API stress test where the RX 7700's 40 ray tracing cores and RDNA 3.0 features shine.

Passmark GPU Compute shows a 146.6% advantage (10963 vs 4446), reflecting the RX 7700's 25.18 TFLOPS FP32 throughput. In Passmark DirectX 12, the gap is 140% (96 vs 40). Passmark G3D, a broad gaming proxy, shows 130.9% (20974 vs 9083). Geekbench OpenCL shows 125.8% (106028 vs 46965). Passmark DirectX 10 shows 100% (92 vs 46). Passmark DirectX 9 shows 96.2% (261 vs 133). Even the smallest win — Passmark G2D at 55.8% (1206 vs 774) — is substantial, indicating the RX 7700 handles 2D desktop workloads nearly twice as fast.

Notably, the RX 5500 XT has Geekbench Metal (54842) and Vulkan (44191) scores, but the RX 7700 has no comparable Metal or Vulkan entries in its benchmark set; its OpenCL score of 106028 dwarfs the RX 5500 XT's OpenCL of 46965, which is the only cross-comparable compute metric. The RX 7700 also holds a 100% advantage in DirectX 10, meaning it doubles the older card's performance in that API.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon RX 7700 | AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT |

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

| Process Node | 5 nm | 7 nm |

| Transistors | 28,100 million | 6,400 million |

| Die Size | 346 mm² | 158 mm² |

| Base Clock | 1900 MHz | 1607 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 2459 MHz | 1845 MHz |

| Game Clock | 2041 MHz | 1717 MHz |

| Memory Speed | 2438 MHz (19.5 Gbps effective) | 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) |

| Memory Size | 16 GB | 4 GB |

| Memory Bus | 256 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 624.1 GB/s | 224.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 2560 | 1408 |

| TMUs | 160 | 88 |

| ROPs | 96 | 32 |

| Ray Tracing Cores | 40 | None |

| Pixel Rate | 236.1 GPixel/s | 59.04 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 393.4 GTexel/s | 162.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 25.18 TFLOPS | 5.196 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 25.18 TFLOPS (1:1) | 10.39 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 200 W | 130 W |

| Power Connectors | 2x 8-pin | 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 550 W | 300 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 4.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x8 |

| Display Outputs | 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, 1x USB Type-C | 1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |

| DirectX Support | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | 12 (12_1) |

| Length | 267 mm (10.5 inches) | 180 mm (7.1 inches) |

| Production Status | Active | End-of-life |

| Release Date | 2025-09-17 | 2019-12-11 |

The RX 7700 is also longer (267 mm vs 180 mm) and wider (50 mm vs unspecified), but both are dual-slot cards. The RX 7700's launch MSRP is not listed; the RX 5500 XT had a launch MSRP of 169 USD.

FAQ

Q: Which card has more ray tracing capability?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7700 has 40 dedicated ray tracing cores, while the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT has none. This aligns with the RX 7700's DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) support versus the RX 5500 XT's DirectX 12 (12_1).

Q: How much faster is the RX 7700 in the newest DirectX 12 benchmark?

A: In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, the RX 7700 scores 2865 versus the RX 5500 XT's 1032, a 177.6% advantage.

Q: Is the RX 5500 XT still in production?

A: No. The RX 5500 XT is marked end-of-life, with a release date of 2019-12-11 and a successor of Navi II. The RX 7700 is active, released 2025-09-17, with a successor of Navi IV.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference?

A: The RX 7700 has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 624.1 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 5500 XT has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 224.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card requires a more powerful power supply?

A: The RX 7700 has a 200 W TDP and requires a suggested 550 W PSU with 2x 8-pin connectors. The RX 5500 XT has a 130 W TDP, requires a suggested 300 W PSU, and uses a single 8-pin connector.

Q: Are there any benchmarks where the RX 5500 XT wins?

A: No. Across all nine head-to-head benchmarks — including 3DMark Steel Nomad, Geekbench OpenCL, and all Passmark tests (DX9 through DX12, G2D, G3D, GPU Compute) — the RX 7700 wins every comparison. The RX 5500 XT's win count is 0.

Where Each One Wins

The RX 7700 wins in every performance category tested, but the degree of dominance varies by workload type, which informs use-case recommendations.

DirectX 11 gaming: The RX 7700's 232.1% lead in Passmark DX11 (186 vs 56) is its largest margin, making it the clear choice for older titles that rely on this API. Users with extensive legacy game libraries will see the biggest relative uplift.

Modern DX12 and ray tracing: The 177.6% win in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 and the 140% win in Passmark DX12 (96 vs 40) show the RX 7700 is built for current-gen engines. Its 40 ray tracing cores provide hardware acceleration the RX 5500 XT completely lacks.

Compute and productivity: The 146.6% lead in Passmark GPU Compute and 125.8% in Geekbench OpenCL (106028 vs 46965) make the RX 7700 suitable for rendering, video encoding, and other GPGPU tasks. The RX 5500 XT's FP16 advantage (2:1 ratio vs 1:1) is irrelevant given the 5x FP32 deficit.

Memory-heavy workloads: The RX 7700's 16 GB VRAM and 624.1 GB/s bandwidth versus 4 GB and 224.0 GB/s means the newer card can handle 4K textures and large datasets, while the RX 5500 XT would hit capacity limits quickly.

The RX 5500 XT's only niche: Its 130 W TDP, 180 mm length, single 8-pin connector, and 300 W PSU requirement make it suitable for small-form-factor or low-power builds where the RX 7700's 200 W TDP, 267 mm length, and 550 W PSU requirement are prohibitive. Its 57th percentile ranking and proximity to the GTX 770 and Quadro M2000 confirm it as a legacy-tier card.

Desktop and 2D workloads: Even here, the RX 7700 wins by 55.8% in Passmark G2D (1206 vs 774), so there is no productivity scenario where the RX 5500 XT outperforms it. The only rational reason to pick the RX 5500 XT is physical or power constraints, not performance.