AMD Radeon RX 560 XT vs NVIDIA T550 Mobile Comparison

AMD Radeon RX 560 XT and NVIDIA T550 Mobile are two very different GPUs that happen to land in a similar performance bracket. The data shows a near-total split in benchmark victories: the AMD card wins decisively in Vulkan, while the NVIDIA card takes a solid lead in OpenCL. This makes the choice between them less about raw speed and more about which workload you prioritize.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two GPUs split their head-to-head tests exactly, with each winning one benchmark by a significant margin. In Geekbench Vulkan, the AMD Radeon RX 560 XT scores 36,879, which is a full 19.7% ahead of the NVIDIA T550 Mobile’s 30,801. That is a substantial gap, indicating the AMD card has a notable advantage in Vulkan-based workloads — a result that aligns with its GCN architecture’s mature driver support for this API. This is the single largest performance difference between the two cards in any test.

Conversely, the NVIDIA T550 Mobile strikes back hard in Geekbench OpenCL, scoring 35,521 versus the AMD card’s 31,387. That translates to an 11.6% lead for NVIDIA. This is not a small win; it flips the overall picture, suggesting that the two cards are not just trading blows but are genuinely optimized for different compute environments. The OpenCL result is particularly relevant for productivity and professional applications, where OpenCL is more commonly used than Vulkan.

Looking at the average benchmark scores, the AMD Radeon RX 560 XT posts an average of 34,133, which is 2.9% higher than the NVIDIA T550 Mobile’s 33,161. However, this average is heavily influenced by the AMD card’s massive Vulkan advantage. The NVIDIA card’s OpenCL win is real but smaller in percentage terms, so the AMD card ends up with a slight edge in overall average performance. Still, the fact that both cards sit within 3% of each other on average means that real-world differences will depend almost entirely on the specific software you run.

In terms of absolute scores, the AMD card’s 36,879 Vulkan result is its standout figure, while the NVIDIA card’s 35,521 OpenCL score is its best. The gap between the two cards’ best scores is only about 3.8%, but the direction of the wins could not be more clear-cut. If a workload uses Vulkan, the AMD card is the clear pick; if it uses OpenCL, the NVIDIA card is just as clearly the better option.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 560 XT wins where Vulkan API performance matters. The 19.7% lead in Geekbench Vulkan is not a marginal difference — it is a decisive advantage that will translate into faster frame rates in Vulkan-based games and compute tasks. The data also shows the AMD card holds a higher average benchmark score (34,133 vs 33,161), which means that in a mixed workload environment, it tends to come out ahead overall. This makes it the stronger choice for users who run a variety of applications and want the best general-purpose performance.

The NVIDIA T550 Mobile wins where OpenCL performance is the priority. Its 11.6% lead in Geekbench OpenCL is substantial, and this matters for many professional and scientific applications that rely on OpenCL for GPU acceleration. The NVIDIA card also benefits from a much lower TDP (23 W vs 150 W), which makes it a far more practical option for laptops and compact systems. While the AMD card is a desktop part requiring a 6-pin power connector and a 450 W power supply, the NVIDIA card is an IGP (integrated GPU) with no power connector, making it drop-in ready for portable devices.

For gaming specifically, the Vulkan advantage of the AMD card is likely to be more relevant, as modern game engines increasingly support Vulkan. For productivity, the NVIDIA card’s OpenCL strength is more useful, especially in legacy or specialized software that has not migrated to Vulkan. The choice is essentially: pick AMD for modern API performance and a higher average score; pick NVIDIA for OpenCL-heavy workloads and drastically lower power consumption.

Architecture Differences

The architectural split between these two GPUs is stark. The AMD Radeon RX 560 XT uses the Ellesmere chip, based on GCN 4.0 architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It packs 5,700 million transistors into a 232 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 24.6 million per mm². In contrast, the NVIDIA T550 Mobile uses the TU117 chip, based on Turing architecture, built on a 12 nm process at TSMC. It contains 4,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die, with a slightly lower transistor density of 23.5 million per mm².

The AMD card is part of the Polaris (RX 500) generation, while the NVIDIA card belongs to the Quadro Turing-M (Tx000) generation. This generational difference is reflected in API support: the NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12_1 and Vulkan 1.4, while the AMD card is limited to DirectX 12_0 and Vulkan 1.3. The higher Vulkan version on the NVIDIA card does not translate to better Vulkan performance in the data — the AMD card wins that test by a wide margin — but it does indicate more modern API feature support on NVIDIA’s side.

The compute capabilities differ notably. The AMD card has 1,792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, delivering 4.394 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. Its FP16 performance is identical at 4.394 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio), which is unusual and reflects its older GCN design. The NVIDIA card has 1,024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, delivering 3.410 TFLOPS of FP32. However, its FP16 performance is 6.820 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio), more than double its FP32 rate. This suggests the NVIDIA card is better suited for workloads that leverage FP16 precision, such as certain AI or image-processing tasks, despite having lower raw FP32 throughput.

Neither card has ray tracing cores or tensor cores, so both are limited to traditional rasterization and compute. The AMD card’s higher TMU count (112 vs 64) gives it a texture fill rate of 137.3 GTexel/s, versus 106.6 GTexel/s for the NVIDIA card. However, the NVIDIA card has a higher pixel rate at 53.28 GPixel/s, versus 39.23 GPixel/s for AMD, thanks to its higher boost clock.

Specification Differences

The most obvious specification difference is power and form factor. The AMD Radeon RX 560 XT has a TDP of 150 W, requires a dual-slot cooler, and a single 6-pin power connector, with a suggested power supply of 450 W. The NVIDIA T550 Mobile has a TDP of just 23 W, is an IGP (integrated form factor), requires no power connector, and has no suggested PSU rating. This makes the NVIDIA card dramatically more power-efficient and physically smaller, suitable for laptops, while the AMD card is a full-size desktop card.

Memory configurations also diverge sharply. Both cards have 4 GB of memory, but the AMD card uses GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA card uses GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus, delivering only 96.00 GB/s. The AMD card has more than double the memory bandwidth, which is a critical advantage for high-resolution textures and bandwidth-sensitive workloads. The NVIDIA card compensates with faster effective memory speed (12 Gbps vs 7 Gbps), but the narrow bus limits its overall throughput.

Clock speeds differ as well. The AMD card runs at a base clock of 1074 MHz and a boost of 1226 MHz. The NVIDIA card has a lower base clock of 1065 MHz but a much higher boost clock of 1665 MHz. This higher boost clock explains why the NVIDIA card achieves a higher pixel rate despite having the same number of ROPs (32). The memory clock also differs: 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) for AMD versus 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) for NVIDIA.

The AMD card has a defined physical length of 241 mm (9.5 inches), while the NVIDIA card has no listed dimensions since it is an IGP designed for portable devices. Display outputs also differ: the AMD card offers 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the NVIDIA card’s outputs are listed as "Portable Device Dependent," meaning they vary by laptop implementation. Both use PCIe 3.0 x16, and both support DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan (with version differences noted above).

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 560 XT has an average benchmark score of 34,133, which is 2.9% higher than the NVIDIA T550 Mobile’s 33,161.

Q: How big is the Vulkan performance gap between the two?

A: The AMD card wins Geekbench Vulkan with a score of 36,879, which is 19.7% higher than the NVIDIA card’s 30,801.

Q: Does the NVIDIA card win any benchmark?

A: Yes, the NVIDIA T550 Mobile wins Geekbench OpenCL with a score of 35,521, beating the AMD card’s 31,387 by 11.6%.

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The AMD card has 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth thanks to its 256-bit bus and GDDR5 memory, while the NVIDIA card has only 96.00 GB/s on a 64-bit bus with GDDR6.

Q: What is the power consumption difference?

A: The AMD card has a TDP of 150 W and requires a 6-pin power connector and a 450 W PSU, while the NVIDIA card has a TDP of just 23 W and needs no power connector.

Q: Which card supports a newer version of Vulkan?

A: The NVIDIA T550 Mobile supports Vulkan 1.4, while the AMD Radeon RX 560 XT supports Vulkan 1.3.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear split based on your priorities. If you need Vulkan performance, the AMD Radeon RX 560 XT is the definitive choice — its 19.7% lead in Geekbench Vulkan is the largest margin in any test, and it also holds a slight edge in average benchmark score. This makes it the better card for modern gaming and Vulkan-based compute workloads. Its higher memory bandwidth (224.0 GB/s) and larger TMU count (112) also suggest it will handle texture-heavy tasks better.

If you need OpenCL performance, the NVIDIA T550 Mobile is the card to pick. Its 11.6% lead in Geekbench OpenCL is significant, and its dramatically lower TDP (23 W vs 150 W) makes it the only viable option for laptops or compact builds. The NVIDIA card also offers a higher boost clock (1665 MHz) and superior FP16 throughput (6.820 TFLOPS), which could be beneficial in specific professional applications.

For a desktop system with a power supply to spare, the AMD card’s higher average score and Vulkan dominance make it the stronger all-rounder. For a portable system or any workload that relies heavily on OpenCL, the NVIDIA card’s efficiency and OpenCL lead are compelling. The two cards are evenly matched in benchmark wins (1 each), but the direction of those wins could not be more different. Choose based on the API you use, not on general specs — the data shows that is where the real difference lies.