AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM vs AMD Radeon RX 6550M Comparison

The Verdict

The benchmark data separates these two AMD GPUs clearly. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM is the stronger performer in both recorded tests. It wins the OpenCL test with 62,427 points versus 42,536 points for the RX 6550M, a 46.8% advantage. The Vulkan test is closer, but the RX 5600 OEM still leads with 53,743 points against 50,867 points, a 5.7% margin. The average benchmark score reflects this gap: 58,085 for the RX 5600 OEM versus 46,702 for the RX 6550M.

The RX 5600 OEM sits at the 87th percentile of all GPUs in the database, while the RX 6550M sits at the 85th percentile. That two-percentile difference understates the actual performance gap, because the RX 5600 OEM is surrounded by much faster competition in its nearest rival list. Its closest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT, which scores 58,392 and trails by only 0.5%, and the NVIDIA P102-100 at 58,528, which trails by 0.8%. The Intel Arc A570M at 58,239 is only 0.3% behind. The RX 5600 OEM is effectively trading blows with high-end desktop parts.

The RX 6550M, by contrast, competes in a lower tier. Its nearest rivals are the Intel Arc A530M at 46,614 (0.2% ahead), the AMD Radeon RX 5600M at 46,601 (0.2% ahead), the NVIDIA RTX A2000 at 46,043 (1.4% behind), and the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation at 45,972 (1.6% behind). This places the RX 6550M in the same performance class as a previous-generation mobile GPU and workstation cards, not desktop flagships.

Who should pick which? The RX 5600 OEM is the choice for raw compute throughput and desktop workloads. It delivers nearly half again as much OpenCL performance as the RX 6550M and a solid lead in Vulkan. The RX 6550M is the choice when the platform demands a compact, low-power mobile part with modern API support, but the performance data shows it gives up a significant amount of compute capability. The RX 6550M is an active product aimed at portable devices; the RX 5600 OEM is end-of-life desktop hardware. Buyers prioritizing performance select the RX 5600 OEM, while those constrained to a mobile form factor have only the RX 6550M option.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different generations of AMD's RDNA architecture. The RX 5600 OEM uses RDNA 1.0, built on the Navi 10 chip, and belongs to the Radeon RX 5000 series. The RX 6550M uses RDNA 2.0, built on the Navi 24 chip, and belongs to the Radeon RX 6000 series. The process nodes differ as well: the RX 5600 OEM is fabbed on TSMC's 7 nm process, while the RX 6550M uses TSMC's 6 nm process.

The transistor counts tell a story of design philosophy. The Navi 10 chip packs 10,300 million transistors on a 251 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 41.0 million per mm². The Navi 24 chip is much smaller: 5,400 million transistors on a 107 mm² die, but with a higher density of 50.5 million per mm². The RX 5600 OEM has a larger, more complex chip, while the RX 6550M achieves higher density on a smaller die.

The feature set diverges on ray tracing. The RX 6550M includes 16 ray tracing cores; the RX 5600 OEM has none. This aligns with their API support: the RX 6550M supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the RX 5600 OEM supports DirectX 12 (12_1). Both cards support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. The RX 6550M's RDNA 2.0 architecture brings the ray tracing hardware that RDNA 1.0 lacks, which is a meaningful capability difference for modern game workloads that use DirectX 12 Ultimate features.

The memory subsystem differs substantially. The RX 5600 OEM uses 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 6550M uses 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus, delivering 144.0 GB/s, exactly half the bandwidth. The RX 6550M compensates with much higher clock speeds, but the narrow bus is a structural limitation.

The RX 5600 OEM is a dual-slot desktop card with a 1x 8-pin power connector and a 300 W suggested PSU. The RX 6550M is an IGP (integrated graphics processor) class part with no power connectors, designed for portable devices, and its display outputs are device-dependent. The RX 5600 OEM offers 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has more shading units?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM has 2,048 shading units, double the 1,024 shading units in the AMD Radeon RX 6550M. The RX 5600 OEM also has 128 texture mapping units and 64 ROPs, versus 64 TMUs and 32 ROPs for the RX 6550M.

Q: Does the RX 6550M support ray tracing?

A: Yes. The RX 6550M has 16 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2). The RX 5600 OEM has no ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 (12_1).

Q: Which card has higher memory bandwidth?

A: The RX 5600 OEM has 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth from 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus. The RX 6550M has 144.0 GB/s from 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus. The RX 5600 OEM delivers exactly double the bandwidth.

Q: How do the clock speeds compare?

A: The RX 6550M runs significantly faster. Its base clock is 2000 MHz, its game clock is 2560 MHz, and its boost clock is 2840 MHz. The RX 5600 OEM has a base clock of 1130 MHz, a game clock of 1375 MHz, and a boost clock of 1560 MHz. The RX 6550M also runs its memory at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) versus 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) for the RX 5600 OEM.

Q: Which GPU is faster in OpenCL?

A: The RX 5600 OEM scores 62,427 in Geekbench OpenCL, a 46.8% advantage over the RX 6550M's 42,536. In Vulkan, the RX 5600 OEM leads 53,743 to 50,867, a 5.7% margin.

Q: What are the power requirements?

A: The RX 5600 OEM has a TDP of 125 W, requires a 1x 8-pin power connector, and needs a 300 W suggested PSU. The RX 6550M has a TDP of 80 W, uses no power connectors, and has no suggested PSU listed.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every major specification category. The RX 5600 OEM uses the Navi 10 chip, while the RX 6550M uses Navi 24. The architecture differs: RDNA 1.0 versus RDNA 2.0. The process node is 7 nm for the RX 5600 OEM and 6 nm for the RX 6550M. The RX 5600 OEM has 10,300 million transistors on a 251 mm² die; the RX 6550M has 5,400 million on 107 mm². Transistor density is 41.0M per mm² for the RX 5600 OEM and 50.5M per mm² for the RX 6550M.

Clock speeds favor the RX 6550M across the board. Base clocks are 1130 MHz versus 2000 MHz. Game clocks are 1375 MHz versus 2560 MHz. Boost clocks are 1560 MHz versus 2840 MHz. Memory clocks are 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) versus 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective).

Memory configuration favors the RX 5600 OEM. It has 6 GB versus 4 GB, a 192-bit bus versus 64-bit, and 288.0 GB/s versus 144.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

Compute resources favor the RX 5600 OEM. It has 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The RX 6550M has 1,024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The RX 6550M adds 16 ray tracing cores; the RX 5600 OEM has none.

Pixel and texture rates favor the RX 5600 OEM. It achieves 99.84 GPixel/s and 199.7 GTexel/s, versus 90.88 GPixel/s and 181.8 GTexel/s for the RX 6550M. FP32 compute is 6.390 TFLOPS for the RX 5600 OEM and 5.816 TFLOPS for the RX 6550M. FP16 is 12.78 TFLOPS (2:1) versus 11.63 TFLOPS (2:1).

Power and form factor differ completely. The RX 5600 OEM is a dual-slot card with a 125 W TDP, a 1x 8-pin connector, and a 300 W suggested PSU. The RX 6550M is an IGP with an 80 W TDP and no power connectors. The bus interface is PCIe 4.0 x16 for the RX 5600 OEM and PCIe 4.0 x4 for the RX 6550M. Display outputs are 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a for the RX 5600 OEM, while the RX 6550M is portable-device dependent. The RX 5600 OEM supports DirectX 12 (12_1); the RX 6550M supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. The RX 5600 OEM is end-of-life; the RX 6550M is active.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data includes two benchmark comparisons. The first is Geekbench OpenCL. The RX 5600 OEM scores 62,427, and the RX 6550M scores 42,536. The RX 5600 OEM wins by 46.8%. This is the largest margin in the comparison and shows the RX 5600 OEM's compute advantage in raw OpenCL throughput. The RX 6550M, despite its higher clock speeds, cannot overcome the RX 5600 OEM's doubling of shading units and memory bandwidth.

The second test is Geekbench Vulkan. The RX 5600 OEM scores 53,743, and the RX 6550M scores 50,867. The RX 5600 OEM wins by 5.7%. The Vulkan gap is much narrower than the OpenCL gap. The RX 6550M's RDNA 2.0 architecture and higher clocks narrow the deficit in this API, but the RX 5600 OEM still holds the lead.

The RX 5600 OEM wins both head-to-head benchmarks, recorded as 2 wins and 0 losses. The average benchmark scores reinforce this: 58,085 for the RX 5600 OEM versus 46,702 for the RX 6550M, a 24.4% gap when comparing their aggregate scores. The RX 5600 OEM's percentile ranking at 87 versus 85 for the RX 6550M confirms that it sits higher in the overall database distribution.

The nearest rival data provides context for where each card sits. The RX 5600 OEM's nearest rivals are the Intel Arc A570M at 58,239, the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT at 58,392, the Intel Arc A580 at 57,756, and the NVIDIA P102-100 at 58,528. All four are within 0.8% of the RX 5600 OEM's score, indicating a tight cluster at this performance level. The RX 6550M's nearest rivals are the Intel Arc A530M at 46,614, the AMD Radeon RX 5600M at 46,601, the NVIDIA RTX A2000 at 46,043, and the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation at 45,972. These are also tightly clustered, with the RX 6550M within 1.6% of all of them.

The data shows that the RX 5600 OEM competes in a performance tier roughly 24% higher than the RX 6550M. The RX 6550M's advantages are architectural: newer RDNA 2.0 design, ray tracing cores, higher clocks, and a smaller, denser chip. The RX 5600 OEM's advantages are structural: more shading units, more memory, double the bandwidth, and a wider bus. In every measured benchmark, the structural advantages win.