AMD Radeon RX 5500M vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti and AMD Radeon RX 5500M occupy different corners of the GPU landscape: the former is a desktop Pascal part from 2017 aimed at high-refresh 1440p gaming, while the latter is a 2019 mobile Navi chip built for thin-and-light laptops. Benchmark data shows a lopsided rivalry—the GTX 1070 Ti wins 9 of 10 head-to-head tests—but the RX 5500M’s single victory is a decisive one, and the underlying architectures tell a story of two very different design philosophies. This analysis breaks down where each card excels, how their silicon differs, and what the numbers mean for real-world use.

Where Each One Wins

The GTX 1070 Ti is the clear performance leader across nearly every workload category. In the head-to-head benchmark suite, it dominates DirectX 10, 11, and 12 tests, OpenCL compute, Vulkan rendering, and even 2D graphics throughput. Its largest margins come in GPU compute (209.4% ahead) and DirectX 11 (205.7% ahead), indicating a substantial advantage in both raw shader throughput and legacy API optimization. For users running desktop applications, modern games, or compute tasks, the GTX 1070 Ti is the unequivocal choice.

The RX 5500M, however, wins the single most important mobile workload: Geekbench Metal. Its score of 50,359 crushes the GTX 1070 Ti’s 22,180—a 56% advantage. This is a macOS-centric benchmark, and the result suggests the AMD card is far better suited for Metal-accelerated apps and games on Apple platforms. Beyond that, the RX 5500M’s 4 GB of GDDR6 memory and 85 W TDP make it a more practical fit for portable systems, even if its raw scores are lower. The data shows a clear split: the GTX 1070 Ti for raw performance, the RX 5500M for specific API efficiency and mobile integration.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on fundamentally different process nodes and microarchitectures. The GTX 1070 Ti uses NVIDIA’s Pascal architecture on TSMC’s 16 nm process, packing 7,200 million transistors into a 314 mm² die—a transistor density of 22.9M per mm². The RX 5500M employs AMD’s RDNA 1.0 architecture on TSMC’s 7 nm node, squeezing 6,400 million transistors into just 158 mm², yielding a density of 40.5M per mm². The 7 nm process gives AMD a density advantage, but the GTX 1070 Ti’s larger die and higher transistor count translate into more raw compute resources.

Core configurations differ sharply. The GTX 1070 Ti features 2,432 shading units, 152 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, while the RX 5500M has 1,408 shading units, 88 TMUs, and just 32 ROPs. This explains the GTX 1070 Ti’s massive lead in pixel rate (107.7 GPixel/s vs. 52.64 GPixel/s) and texture rate (255.8 GTexel/s vs. 144.8 GTexel/s). FP32 compute tells the same story: 8.186 TFLOPS for NVIDIA versus 4.632 TFLOPS for AMD. Interestingly, the RX 5500M has a 2:1 FP16 ratio (9.265 TFLOPS), while the GTX 1070 Ti’s FP16 is a negligible 127.9 GFLOPS (1:64), but this does not appear in the benchmark results.

Memory subsystems also diverge. The GTX 1070 Ti uses 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 5500M has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, with 224.0 GB/s bandwidth. Despite the newer memory type, the RX 5500M’s narrower bus limits its bandwidth to 12.6% less than the GTX 1070 Ti. Clock speeds are closer—the GTX 1070 Ti boosts to 1683 MHz, while the RX 5500M boosts to 1645 MHz—but the NVIDIA card’s higher core count and wider memory bus provide the decisive edge.

Power and physical design highlight their different purposes. The GTX 1070 Ti is a dual-slot desktop card with a 180 W TDP, requiring a single 8-pin power connector and a 450 W PSU. The RX 5500M is a mobile chip with an 85 W TDP, no external power connectors, and portable-device-dependent display outputs. The GTX 1070 Ti also offers 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, whereas the RX 5500M’s outputs are entirely dependent on the laptop design. Both support DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, but the GTX 1070 Ti uses PCIe 3.0 x16 while the RX 5500M uses PCIe 4.0 x8.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The GTX 1070 Ti’s dominance is most pronounced in compute and legacy APIs. In Passmark GPU Compute, it scores 7,165 versus 2,316—a 209.4% lead. DirectX 11 shows a 205.7% margin (107 vs. 35), and DirectX 9 yields a 107% advantage (207 vs. 100). These results indicate that the GTX 1070 Ti’s 2,432 shading units provide an overwhelming advantage in shader-heavy workloads, regardless of API generation.

DirectX 12 and 10 also favor NVIDIA, but by smaller margins. The GTX 1070 Ti scores 51 in DX12 against 28 for the RX 5500M (82.1% lead), and 90 in DX10 versus 39 (130.8% lead). Vulkan shows a 70.9% advantage (61,006 vs. 35,693) in Geekbench, while OpenCL favors the GTX 1070 Ti by 27.1% (49,219 vs. 38,725). Even the 2D test falls to NVIDIA: 876 vs. 414, an 111.6% margin.

The RX 5500M’s sole win is Geekbench Metal, where it scores 50,359—more than double the GTX 1070 Ti’s 22,180. This 56% delta is the largest single-test swing in either direction, and it underscores a key architectural difference. Metal is a low-level API optimized for AMD’s GPU design, and the RX 5500M’s RDNA architecture appears to handle it far more efficiently. No other test comes close to this margin for AMD; the next closest is the RX 5500M’s Passmark G3D score of 5,848, but that is 150.9% behind the GTX 1070 Ti’s 14,674.

Aggregate scores reflect the overall gap. The GTX 1070 Ti’s average benchmark score is 14,277, placing it in the 56th percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 5500M averages 13,356 (54th percentile). The GTX 1070 Ti’s nearest rivals include the Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics (14,315, -0.3%), AMD Radeon Vega 11 (14,352, -0.5%), and NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN (14,373, -0.7%). The RX 5500M sits alongside the AMD FirePro M6100 (13,354, 0%), Radeon HD 8950M (13,376, -0.1%), and Radeon Pro 555X (13,321, 0.3%). In short, the GTX 1070 Ti is a mid-pack desktop performer, while the RX 5500M is a mid-pack mobile part—but the head-to-head results show the desktop card is in a different class.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous for desktop users: the GTX 1070 Ti wins 9 of 10 benchmarks, with margins ranging from 27.1% in OpenCL to 209.4% in compute. It is the superior choice for DirectX gaming, Vulkan titles, OpenCL applications, and any workload that stresses raw shader throughput. Its 8 GB GDDR5 memory and 256-bit bus provide ample bandwidth for high-resolution textures, and its 56th percentile standing among all GPUs confirms it as a capable mid-range performer. The launch MSRP was 399 USD.

The RX 5500M is the right pick for a narrower set of use cases. Its Geekbench Metal victory is not an outlier—it is a 56% landslide—so users on Metal-centric platforms (such as macOS) should favor AMD. Its 7 nm process also means lower power draw (85 W vs. 180 W) and a smaller die (158 mm² vs. 314 mm²), making it the only viable option for thin-and-light laptops. However, its 4 GB GDDR6 memory and 128-bit bus limit its bandwidth, and its 54th percentile ranking puts it just below the GTX 1070 Ti in aggregate performance.

Choose the GTX 1070 Ti if you need desktop-class performance across a broad range of APIs and applications. Choose the RX 5500M if you prioritize Metal efficiency, portability, and lower power consumption—and are willing to accept a significant performance deficit in everything else.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins more head-to-head benchmarks?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti wins 9 of 10 head-to-head tests, with the AMD Radeon RX 5500M winning only Geekbench Metal.

Q: How large is the GTX 1070 Ti’s lead in DirectX 11?

A: The GTX 1070 Ti scores 107 in Passmark DirectX 11 versus 35 for the RX 5500M, a 205.7% advantage.

Q: What is the RX 5500M’s best benchmark result?

A: The RX 5500M scores 50,359 in Geekbench Metal, which is 56% higher than the GTX 1070 Ti’s 22,180 in the same test.

Q: How do the two GPUs compare in memory bandwidth?

A: The GTX 1070 Ti has 8 GB GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus for 256.3 GB/s, while the RX 5500M has 4 GB GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus for 224.0 GB/s.

Q: What are the average benchmark scores for each GPU?

A: The GTX 1070 Ti averages 14,277 (56th percentile), while the RX 5500M averages 13,356 (54th percentile).

Q: Are both GPUs end-of-life products?

A: Yes, both the GTX 1070 Ti and RX 5500M are listed as end-of-life production status.