AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 Comparison

# FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins the only head-to-head benchmark available?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT wins the sole direct comparison, the Geekbench OpenCL test, by a wide margin. The RX 5500 XT scores 46,965 against the GTX 580's 15,283, a delta of -67.5% from the NVIDIA card's perspective.

Q: How do the two cards rank against all other GPUs?

A: The GTX 580 sits at the 58th percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 5500 XT sits just below at the 57th percentile. Despite the massive OpenCL gap, their overall percentile rankings are nearly identical, differing by only one percentage point.

Q: What are the closest rivals for each card according to the data?

A: The GTX 580's nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060, with an average score of 15,290 versus the GTX 580's 15,283 (0% delta). The RX 5500 XT's nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770, which scores 14,747 against the RX card's 14,692 average (-0.4% delta).

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each GPU?

A: The GTX 580 has an average benchmark score of 15,283, while the RX 5500 XT averages 14,692. Interestingly, the RX 5500 XT's average is actually lower than its OpenCL score, suggesting other benchmarks drag its average down considerably.

Q: How do the architectures differ in terms of manufacturing process?

A: The GTX 580 uses a 40 nm process from TSMC, while the RX 5500 XT uses TSMC's 7 nm process. This is a generational leap—the 7 nm node allows 6,400 million transistors in a 158 mm² die (40.5M/mm²), versus 3,000 million transistors in a 520 mm² die (5.8M/mm²) for the GTX 580.

Q: Which card has a higher power draw, and what does that suggest about efficiency?

A: The GTX 580 has a TDP of 244 W and requires a 550 W power supply, while the RX 5500 XT has a 130 W TDP and needs only a 300 W PSU. The RX 5500 XT delivers over three times the FP32 throughput (5.196 TFLOPS vs 1.581 TFLOPS) at roughly half the power draw.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs spans nearly a decade of evolution. The GTX 580 is built on Fermi 2.0, NVIDIA's second iteration of the Fermi architecture, using the GF110 chip fabricated on TSMC's 40 nm process. In contrast, the RX 5500 XT employs AMD's RDNA 1.0 architecture with the Navi 14 chip, manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm node.

The transistor counts tell a dramatic story of miniaturization. The GF110 packs 3,000 million transistors into a massive 520 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of just 5.8 million per square millimeter. The Navi 14, meanwhile, crams 6,400 million transistors into a much smaller 158 mm² die, achieving a density of 40.5 million per square millimeter—roughly seven times denser.

Compute resources differ fundamentally. The GTX 580 features 512 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, and 48 ROPs. The RX 5500 XT counters with 1,408 shading units, 88 TMUs, and only 32 ROPs. This means the AMD card has nearly three times the shader count and 37.5% more texture units, but 33% fewer ROPs.

Clock speeds reveal another generational leap. The GTX 580's base and boost clocks are not listed in the data, but its memory runs at 1002 MHz (4 Gbps effective). The RX 5500 XT operates at a 1607 MHz base clock, 1717 MHz game clock, and 1845 MHz boost clock, with memory at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The GDDR6 memory on the RX card is a substantial upgrade over the GTX 580's GDDR5.

API support differs notably. The GTX 580 supports DirectX 12 at feature level 11_0, while the RX 5500 XT supports DirectX 12 at feature level 12_1. Both support OpenGL 4.6, but only the RX 5500 XT lists Vulkan support (version 1.4). The GTX 580's Vulkan support is listed as null, indicating it may lack or not fully support the API.

Memory configuration follows different philosophies. The GTX 580 has 1536 MB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, yielding 192.4 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 5500 XT has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, producing 224.0 GB/s bandwidth—higher despite the narrower bus, thanks to faster memory.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct benchmark comparison available is Geekbench OpenCL, and it is decisively one-sided. The RX 5500 XT scores 46,965, while the GTX 580 manages just 15,283. This represents a 67.5% deficit for the NVIDIA card—the RX 5500 XT achieves over three times the OpenCL performance.

This result aligns with the raw compute specifications. The RX 5500 XT's FP32 throughput of 5.196 TFLOPS dwarfs the GTX 580's 1.581 TFLOPS, a 3.29x advantage. The texture fill rate tells a similar story: the RX card hits 162.4 GTexel/s versus 49.41 GTexel/s for the GTX 580, again roughly a 3.3x difference.

However, the pixel rate inverts the trend. The GTX 580 outputs 24.70 GPixel/s, while the RX 5500 XT outputs 59.04 GPixel/s. Wait—that's actually a 2.39x advantage for AMD, not an inversion. The GTX 580's higher ROP count (48 vs 32) is offset by the RX card's much higher clock speeds.

The average benchmark scores provide context beyond OpenCL. The GTX 580 averages 15,283, while the RX 5500 XT averages 14,692. Despite the RX card's OpenCL dominance, its average is actually 3.9% lower than the GTX 580's. This suggests the RX 5500 XT's other benchmark results—such as PassMark scores of 9,083 in G3D and 4,446 in GPU compute—bring its average down relative to its OpenCL peak.

The nearest rival data reinforces the closeness of these cards' overall standing. The GTX 580's nearest rival, the RTX 2060, scores 15,290—a mere 0.05% higher. The RX 5500 XT's nearest rival, the GTX 770, scores 14,747, which is 0.37% higher. Both cards sit in a tight performance cluster where a few points can shift rankings.

Specification Differences

| Specification | GTX 580 | RX 5500 XT |

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

| Process Node | 40 nm | 7 nm |

| Transistors | 3,000 million | 6,400 million |

| Die Size | 520 mm² | 158 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 5.8M / mm² | 40.5M / mm² |

| Base Clock | — | 1607 MHz |

| Boost Clock | — | 1845 MHz |

| Game Clock | — | 1717 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1002 MHz (4 Gbps) | 1750 MHz (14 Gbps) |

| Memory Size | 1536 MB | 4 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus | 384 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 192.4 GB/s | 224.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 512 | 1408 |

| TMUs | 64 | 88 |

| ROPs | 48 | 32 |

| Pixel Rate | 24.70 GPixel/s | 59.04 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 49.41 GTexel/s | 162.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 1.581 TFLOPS | 5.196 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | — | 10.39 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 244 W | 130 W |

| Power Connectors | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin | 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 550 W | 300 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 2.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x8 |

| Display Outputs | 2x DVI, 1x mini-HDMI | 1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |

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

| Vulkan | — | 1.4 |

| Release Date | 2010-11-08 | 2019-12-11 |

| Launch MSRP | 499 USD | 169 USD |

| Length | 267 mm | 180 mm |

The Verdict

The data paints a clear picture: the RX 5500 XT is the superior GPU by nearly every measurable specification, yet the overall standings tell a more nuanced story. The RX card wins the only head-to-head benchmark decisively, with a 67.5% OpenCL advantage. It also dominates in raw compute metrics—FP32, texture rate, pixel rate, and memory bandwidth—while consuming significantly less power (130 W vs 244 W).

However, the percentile rankings are nearly identical: 58th for the GTX 580 versus 57th for the RX 5500 XT. The average benchmark scores are also close, with the GTX 580 actually edging ahead (15,283 vs 14,692). This suggests that in general-purpose workloads, the older NVIDIA card remains competitive, likely due to its wide 384-bit memory bus and high ROP count.

The GTX 580's launch MSRP was 499 USD, while the RX 5500 XT launched at 169 USD. But the RX card's advantages extend beyond cost: it supports modern APIs like Vulkan 1.4 and DirectX 12_1, has four times the memory (4 GB vs 1.5 GB), and offers higher bandwidth despite a narrower bus.

For modern gaming and compute workloads, the RX 5500 XT is the clear choice. For legacy applications that favor NVIDIA's architecture or rely on the GTX 580's specific feature set, the older card may still hold value. The data does not support the GTX 580 as a general recommendation—the RX 5500 XT wins on performance, efficiency, and feature support.

Where Each One Wins

AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT wins in:

• Compute performance: The OpenCL benchmark shows a 3.07x advantage (46,965 vs 15,283). The FP32 throughput of 5.196 TFLOPS versus 1.581 TFLOPS reinforces this dominance.
• Memory capacity and bandwidth: 4 GB GDDR6 at 224.0 GB/s versus 1536 MB GDDR5 at 192.4 GB/s. The RX card offers more capacity and higher bandwidth.
• Efficiency: A 130 W TDP versus 244 W, with a suggested PSU of 300 W versus 550 W. The RX card delivers more performance per watt.
• Modern features: DirectX 12_1 support (versus 11_0), Vulkan 1.4 support (versus none listed), and newer display outputs including 3x DisplayPort 1.4a.
• Texture throughput: 162.4 GTexel/s versus 49.41 GTexel/s—a 3.29x advantage.
• Pixel throughput: 59.04 GPixel/s versus 24.70 GPixel/s—a 2.39x advantage.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 wins in:

• ROP count: 48 ROPs versus 32, which may benefit certain rasterization-heavy workloads despite the lower clocks.
• Memory bus width: A 384-bit bus versus 128-bit, offering potential latency advantages in specific access patterns.
• Average benchmark score: 15,283 versus 14,692—a 4% advantage in the aggregate metric.
• Physical size: At 267 mm length, it's longer than the RX card's 180 mm, but this is not an advantage—it reflects the older, less dense design.
• Launch MSRP: The 499 USD launch price is higher than the RX card's 169 USD, which is not a win for consumers.

The GTX 580's wins are limited to legacy-specific scenarios. Its higher ROP count and wider memory bus may provide advantages in older games or applications optimized for those characteristics. But the RX 5500 XT's overwhelming lead in compute, efficiency, and modern API support makes it the recommended choice for virtually any current use case.