AMD Radeon RX 5500M vs NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data for these two GPUs paints a stark picture of generational and market segmentation. The AMD Radeon RX 5500M, a mobile part from the Radeon RX 5000 series, relies on a suite of legacy DirectX and compute tests. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q, a workstation-class chip, has only a single recorded 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result. Direct comparisons are limited, but the available scores reveal the chasm between them.

In the Geekbench tests, the RX 5500M shows its strengths relative to its own generation. Its Metal score of 50,359 is its highest recorded result, followed by OpenCL at 38,725 and Vulkan at 35,693. These numbers indicate a balanced compute profile for a mobile GPU from 2019. However, these scores do not translate into competitiveness against the RTX PRO 6000D, because the NVIDIA card has no corresponding Geekbench entries in the database.

The only shared measurement point is the average benchmark score, which aggregates each card's recorded tests. Here, the RX 5500M posts an average of 13,356, while the RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q posts 11,088. On raw averages, the AMD card appears ahead by roughly 20%. But this is misleading. The averages are not comparable across different test suites. The RX 5500M's average is pulled up by its ten varied tests, including the PassMark G3D score of 5,848 and the PassMark G2D score of 414. The NVIDIA card's average is based solely on its single 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 11,088, a far more demanding modern workload.

Look at the nearest rival data for context. The RX 5500M sits at the 54th percentile of all GPUs, with its closest rivals being the AMD FirePro M6100 (average 13,354, delta 0%), the AMD Radeon HD 8950M (average 13,376, delta -0.1%), and the AMD Radeon Pro 555X (average 13,321, delta 0.3%). These are all older mobile or low-power parts, confirming the RX 5500M's position as a mid-range mobile solution from its era. The RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q, by contrast, sits at the 50th percentile, with its nearest rivals including the AMD Radeon RX 550 (average 11,075, delta 0.1%) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER (average 11,047, delta 0.4%). The delta values are all within a fraction of a percent, meaning the RTX PRO 6000D's single score places it in a cluster of much older, slower cards. This is not a reflection of its true performance; it is an artifact of having only one benchmark result in the database.

The PassMark results for the RX 5500M further illustrate its legacy focus. It scores 100 in DirectX 9, 39 in DirectX 10, 35 in DirectX 11, and 28 in DirectX 12. The DirectX 12 score is notably lower than the older API scores, which is typical for a first-generation RDNA part. Its PassMark GPU Compute score of 2,316 and G3D score of 5,848 are respectable for its class. The RTX PRO 6000D has no PassMark results, so no direct comparison is possible on those tests.

The single 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 11,088 for the RTX PRO 6000D is the only modern, high-end workload in the dataset. Steel Nomad is a demanding test designed for current-generation hardware. A score in the low five figures indicates strong raw performance, but without a corresponding RX 5500M score in that test, the database cannot produce a head-to-head delta. The head-to-head benchmark array is empty, meaning the recorded wins for each card are both zero. The verdict must rely on architectural and specification differences rather than direct benchmark deltas.

The Verdict

From the recorded data alone, these two GPUs are not competitors. The AMD Radeon RX 5500M is an end-of-life mobile graphics chip aimed at 1080p gaming laptops from several years ago. Its benchmark profile shows a balanced but modest performer, with its best results in older API tests. The data indicates it was a capable mid-range mobile part, but one that is now thoroughly surpassed.

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q is an active, workstation-class GPU with a single modern benchmark result. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 11,088, while clustered near much older cards in the percentile ranking, should be understood as a data limitation, not a performance indictment. A single test cannot capture the full capabilities of a chip with this specification sheet.

Who should pick which? Strictly from the data, the choice depends entirely on workload relevance. If the target workload involves the legacy DirectX 9 through 11 APIs or general OpenCL and Metal compute, the RX 5500M has recorded scores that demonstrate functional capability. It also has a higher average benchmark score, but that is due to test count, not performance parity. If the target workload is modern DirectX 12 with ray tracing and tensor operations, the RTX PRO 6000D is the only one with relevant hardware and a recorded Steel Nomad score.

The RX 5500M is for users running older software stacks or needing a low-power mobile solution. The RTX PRO 6000D is for professionals requiring massive memory capacity and current-generation compute features. The data does not support any claim of the AMD card outperforming the NVIDIA card in modern workloads. It simply lacks the benchmark coverage to prove otherwise.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is vast, spanning nearly six years of development. The AMD Radeon RX 5500M is built on the RDNA 1.0 architecture, manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC. The chip, codenamed Navi 14, contains 6,400 million transistors on a die size of 158 mm². This yields a transistor density of 40.5 million per square millimeter. It is a mobile-first design with a 128-bit memory bus and a power envelope of 85 W.

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q uses the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, also fabricated by TSMC but on a 5 nm process. The GB202 chip is a monumental piece of silicon: 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die, giving a density of 122.9 million per square millimeter. That is more than 14 times the transistor count and nearly five times the die area of the Navi 14. The power draw is 300 W, nearly four times that of the RX 5500M.

The memory subsystems are in different leagues. The RX 5500M has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX PRO 6000D has 96 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s. That is 24 times the memory capacity and roughly eight times the bandwidth.

The compute resources show a similar disparity. The RX 5500M has 1,408 shading units, 88 texture mapping units, and 32 render output units. It has no dedicated ray tracing cores and no tensor cores. Its FP32 throughput is 4.632 TFLOPS, and its FP16 throughput is 9.265 TFLOPS using a 2:1 ratio. The RTX PRO 6000D has 24,064 shading units, 752 TMUs, and 192 ROPs. It has 188 ray tracing cores and 752 tensor cores. Its FP32 and FP16 throughput are both 110.1 TFLOPS, the latter at a 1:1 ratio. That is nearly 24 times the FP32 compute of the AMD card.

The interface and output capabilities also differ. The RX 5500M uses PCIe 4.0 x8 and has display outputs that are dependent on the portable device. The RTX PRO 6000D uses PCIe 5.0 x16 and has four DisplayPort 2.1b outputs. The NVIDIA card is dual-slot, 267 mm long, 111 mm tall, and 40 mm wide, requiring a 1x 16-pin power connector and a 700 W suggested PSU. The AMD card has no power connectors listed, reinforcing its low-power mobile design.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has more memory?

A: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q has 96 GB of GDDR7, while the AMD Radeon RX 5500M has 4 GB of GDDR6.

Q: What is the process node difference?

A: The AMD RX 5500M uses a 7 nm TSMC process, while the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D uses a 5 nm TSMC process.

Q: Do either of these cards support ray tracing?

A: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D has 188 dedicated ray tracing cores. The AMD RX 5500M has no ray tracing cores listed in the database.

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each?

A: The AMD RX 5500M has an average benchmark score of 13,356 across ten tests. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D has an average of 11,088 from a single 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test.

Q: Which card has a higher transistor density?

A: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D has a transistor density of 122.9 million per square millimeter, versus 40.5 million per square millimeter for the AMD RX 5500M.

Q: What is the production status of each?

A: The AMD RX 5500M is end-of-life, with a release date of October 2019. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D is active, with a release date of March 2025.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 5500M wins in the domain of legacy software compatibility. Its PassMark DirectX 9 score of 100 is its strongest API result, and DirectX 10 and 11 scores of 39 and 35, respectively, show functional support for older titles and applications. Its Geekbench Metal score of 50,359 indicates solid performance in Apple's Metal API, which could matter for macOS-based workflows. The card's low 85 W power draw and lack of external power connectors make it suited for thin-and-light laptops where thermal and power budgets are tight. Its 7 nm process and 158 mm² die size reflect a design optimized for efficiency rather than raw throughput.

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D Blackwell Max-Q wins decisively in every modern compute category. Its 110.1 TFLOPS of FP32 and FP16 performance dwarfs the AMD card's 4.632 and 9.265 TFLOPS. The 96 GB of GDDR7 memory with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth is essential for large datasets, AI training, and high-resolution rendering. The 188 ray tracing cores and 752 tensor cores enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing and deep learning features that the RX 5500M cannot perform at all. The PCIe 5.0 x16 interface provides double the bandwidth of the RX 5500M's PCIe 4.0 x8 connection. The four DisplayPort 2.1b outputs support modern high-refresh-rate and high-resolution displays.

The single recorded benchmark, 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, is a modern stress test. The RTX PRO 6000D's score of 11,088, while artificially clustered with old cards in the percentile ranking, is the only data point that reflects current-generation gaming or professional 3D workloads. The RX 5500M has no such result in the database. For any workload that demands DirectX 12 Ultimate features, massive memory pools, or tensor and ray tracing acceleration, the NVIDIA card is the only choice supported by the data.

The RX 5500M wins only in scenarios where the workload is old, compute-light, or power-constrained. For a user running legacy DirectX 9 applications or needing basic OpenCL compute in a battery-powered device, the AMD card has recorded scores that show it can handle those tasks. For everything else, the RTX PRO 6000D is the superior hardware, even if the database lacks the direct benchmark comparisons to quantify the margin.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every specification field. The AMD Radeon RX 5500M uses the Navi 14 chip on RDNA 1.0 architecture, while the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000D uses the GB202 chip on Blackwell 2.0. The process node is 7 nm versus 5 nm, both from TSMC. Transistor count is 6,400 million versus 92,200 million. Die size is 158 mm² versus 750 mm². Transistor density is 40.5 million per square millimeter versus 122.9 million.

Clock speeds differ significantly. The RX 5500M has a base clock of 1375 MHz and a boost clock of 1645 MHz, with a game clock of 1448 MHz. The RTX PRO 6000D has a base clock of 1590 MHz and a boost clock of 2288 MHz, with no game clock listed. Memory clocks are 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) for the AMD card and 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective) for the NVIDIA card.

Memory configuration is a major differentiator. The RX 5500M has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, yielding 224.0 GB/s. The RTX PRO 6000D has 96 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus, yielding 1.79 TB/s. Shading units are 1,408 versus 24,064. TMUs are 88 versus 752. ROPs are 32 versus 192. The NVIDIA card has 188 RT cores and 752 tensor cores; the AMD card has none.

Pixel rate is 52.64 GPixel/s versus 439.3 GPixel/s. Texture rate is 144.8 GTexel/s versus 1,720.6 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 4.632 TFLOPS versus 110.1 TFLOPS. FP16 compute is 9.265 TFLOPS (2:1) versus 110.1 TFLOPS (1:1). TDP is 85 W versus 300 W. The NVIDIA card is dual-slot, 267 mm long, 111 mm tall, 40 mm wide, with a 1x 16-pin power connector and a 700 W suggested PSU. The AMD card has no slot width, dimensions, or power connector data.

Bus interface is PCIe 4.0 x8 versus PCIe 5.0 x16. Display outputs are portable device dependent for the AMD card, versus 4x DisplayPort 2.1b for the NVIDIA card. DirectX support is 12 (12_1) for AMD versus 12 Ultimate (12_2) for NVIDIA. OpenGL is 4.6 for both. Vulkan is 1.4 for both. Production status is end-of-life versus active. Release dates are October 2019 versus March 2025. The RTX PRO 6000D has a launch MSRP of 8,565 USD; the RX 5500M has no listed MSRP.