AMD Radeon RX 6550M vs AMD Radeon VII Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records two direct comparisons between the AMD Radeon VII and the AMD Radeon RX 6550M, and both go decisively to the older, desktop-class part. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Radeon VII scores 91,947 against 42,536 for the RX 6550M, a delta of 116.2%. That is more than double the mobile chip's raw compute result, which aligns with the substantial difference in FP32 throughput: 13.44 TFLOPS for the Radeon VII versus 5.816 TFLOPS for the RX 6550M. The OpenCL test tends to stress raw shader and texture throughput, and the Radeon VII's 3,840 shading units and 240 texture mapping units dwarf the RX 6550M's 1,024 and 64, respectively.

The second recorded test, Geekbench Vulkan, shows a smaller but still decisive gap. The Radeon VII posts 91,788, while the RX 6550M manages 50,867, a delta of 80.4%. Vulkan workloads often reward driver efficiency and memory bandwidth, and the Radeon VII's 1.02 TB/s HBM2 implementation is over seven times the RX 6550M's 144.0 GB/s GDDR6 pipe. The RX 6550M does have a higher boost clock at 2840 MHz versus 1750 MHz, but the Radeon VII's wider architecture simply moves more data per cycle.

In terms of overall standings, the Radeon VII sits at the 90th percentile among all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 66,004. The RX 6550M sits at the 85th percentile with an average of 46,702. That percentile gap of five points understates the raw score difference, which is roughly 41% in favor of the Radeon VII. The nearest rival data places the Radeon VII within 1.1% of the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (66,733) and 1.4% above the Tesla P40 (65,095). The RX 6550M, by contrast, trades blows with the Intel Arc A530M (46,614, delta 0.2%) and the AMD Radeon RX 5600M (46,601, delta 0.2%). The RX 6550M is 1.4% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX A2000 and 1.6% ahead of the RTX 5880 Ada Generation, which shows it is competitive with mid-range workstation mobile parts, but it is not in the same tier as the Radeon VII.

The win tally is 2 for the Radeon VII, 0 for the RX 6550M. There is no benchmark in the database where the RX 6550M closes the gap enough to take a victory. The closest result is the Vulkan test, where the Radeon VII leads by 80.4%, which is still a commanding margin. In absolute terms, the Radeon VII's scores are 49,411 points higher in OpenCL and 40,921 points higher in Vulkan.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon VII has an average benchmark score of 66,004, while the AMD Radeon RX 6550M averages 46,702. This places the Radeon VII at the 90th percentile of all GPUs and the RX 6550M at the 85th percentile.

Q: How large is the performance gap in the Geekbench OpenCL test?

A: The Radeon VII scores 91,947 in OpenCL, which is 116.2% higher than the RX 6550M's 42,536. This is the larger of the two recorded deltas.

Q: Does the RX 6550M win any head-to-head benchmark?

A: No. The database records two head-to-head comparisons, Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan, and the RX 6550M loses both. The Radeon VII wins 2, the RX 6550M wins 0.

Q: How does the RX 6550M compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 6550M is essentially tied with the Intel Arc A530M (delta 0.2%) and the AMD Radeon RX 5600M (delta 0.2%). It is 1.4% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX A2000 and 1.6% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation.

Q: What memory configuration does each GPU use?

A: The Radeon VII uses 16 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus with 1.02 TB/s bandwidth. The RX 6550M uses 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus with 144.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has more shading units?

A: The Radeon VII has 3,840 shading units, compared to 1,024 for the RX 6550M. The Radeon VII also has 240 TMUs and 64 ROPs, versus 64 TMUs and 32 ROPs for the RX 6550M.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous for raw compute: the AMD Radeon VII wins both recorded benchmarks by margins of 80.4% and 116.2%. Anyone selecting a GPU strictly on measured performance in OpenCL or Vulkan should choose the Radeon VII. It also holds a higher percentile ranking (90th versus 85th) and a higher average score (66,004 versus 46,702).

However, the RX 6550M is not without reason for existence. It is an active, current product from the Radeon RX 6000 series, whereas the Radeon VII is end-of-life. The RX 6550M is built on a 6 nm process with a base clock of 2000 MHz and a boost of 2840 MHz, which are substantially higher than the Radeon VII's 1400 MHz base and 1750 MHz boost. It also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Radeon VII is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1). It has 16 ray tracing cores, which the Radeon VII lacks entirely.

For a user who needs maximum compute throughput in legacy or compute-heavy workloads, the Radeon VII is the clear choice. For a user who needs an active, power-efficient mobile GPU with modern API support and ray tracing capability, the RX 6550M is the only viable option between these two. The Radeon VII's 295 W TDP versus the RX 6550M's 80 W TDP is a decisive factor for any system with thermal or power constraints. The database does not record a single test where the RX 6550M wins, so the verdict is performance to the Radeon VII, portability and modern features to the RX 6550M.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every measured specification. The Radeon VII has 16 GB of HBM2 memory on a 4096-bit bus, while the RX 6550M has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus. Memory bandwidth is 1.02 TB/s versus 144.0 GB/s. The Radeon VII has 3,840 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 64 ROPs; the RX 6550M has 1,024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The Radeon VII's pixel rate is 112.0 GPixel/s and texture rate is 420.0 GTexel/s, against 90.88 GPixel/s and 181.8 GTexel/s for the RX 6550M. FP32 compute is 13.44 TFLOPS versus 5.816 TFLOPS.

Clock speeds favor the RX 6550M: base 2000 MHz and boost 2840 MHz, with a game clock of 2560 MHz, versus 1400 MHz base and 1750 MHz boost for the Radeon VII. Memory clocks are 1000 MHz (2 Gbps effective) for the Radeon VII and 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) for the RX 6550M. Power draw is dramatically different: 295 W TDP for the Radeon VII, 80 W for the RX 6550M. The Radeon VII requires dual-slot cooling and 2x 8-pin power connectors, with a suggested PSU of 600 W. The RX 6550M is listed as IGP slot width with no power connectors and no suggested PSU.

Bus interface differs: PCIe 3.0 x16 for the Radeon VII, PCIe 4.0 x4 for the RX 6550M. Display outputs are 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a for the Radeon VII, versus "Portable Device Dependent" for the RX 6550M. API support differs in DirectX (12_1 versus 12 Ultimate) and Vulkan (1.3 versus 1.4), while both support OpenGL 4.6.

Architecture Differences

The Radeon VII uses the Vega 20 chip built on GCN 5.1 architecture, fabricated on TSMC's 7 nm process. It contains 13,230 million transistors on a 331 mm² die, for a transistor density of 40.0M per mm². The RX 6550M uses the Navi 24 chip on RDNA 2.0 architecture, also TSMC, but on a 6 nm process. It packs 5,400 million transistors into a 107 mm² die, achieving a higher density of 50.5M per mm².

The architectural generation gap is significant. GCN 5.1 is an older compute-oriented design, while RDNA 2.0 is a modern gaming-focused architecture with explicit ray tracing support. The RX 6550M has 16 ray tracing cores; the Radeon VII has none. Neither GPU has tensor cores. The Radeon VII's FP16 throughput is 26.88 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio), while the RX 6550M achieves 11.63 TFLOPS (2:1). The Radeon VII's predecessor is listed as Vega, its successor as Navi. The RX 6550M's predecessor is Polaris Mobile, with no successor listed.

The Radeon VII is a desktop discrete card from the Vega II generation, released in 2019. The RX 6550M is a mobile integrated-grade part from the Navi Mobile (RX 6000M) generation, released in 2023. The production statuses reflect this: end-of-life for the Radeon VII, active for the RX 6550M. The RX 6550M's RDNA 2.0 architecture brings hardware-accelerated ray tracing and variable rate shading, features absent from the GCN 5.1 design. The 6 nm process gives the RX 6550M a clock advantage that partially compensates for its smaller core, but not enough to overcome the Radeon VII's massive memory bandwidth and compute resources.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon VII wins in every recorded benchmark. In Geekbench OpenCL, it leads by 116.2%, driven by its 3,840 shading units and 1.02 TB/s HBM2 bandwidth. In Geekbench Vulkan, it leads by 80.4%, still a decisive margin despite the RX 6550M's higher boost clock and newer architecture. The Radeon VII also wins on memory capacity (16 GB versus 4 GB), memory bus width (4096-bit versus 64-bit), and raw compute throughput (13.44 TFLOPS versus 5.816 TFLOPS). It is the clear choice for any application that demands maximum FP32 throughput, large memory footprints, or extremely high bandwidth, such as compute workloads, large dataset processing, or high-resolution texture streaming.

The AMD Radeon RX 6550M wins on portability and efficiency. Its 80 W TDP is less than a third of the Radeon VII's 295 W. It does not require external power connectors or a suggested PSU, and it is classified as IGP slot width, meaning it can be integrated into compact mobile systems. Its higher clocks (base 2000 MHz, boost 2840 MHz) and modern RDNA 2.0 architecture provide ray tracing support with 16 RT cores, which the Radeon VII cannot offer. It also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, newer API versions than the Radeon VII's DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. For a user building a thin-and-light laptop or a system with strict power limits, the RX 6550M is the only sensible pick.

The database shows no scenario where the RX 6550M outperforms the Radeon VII in raw scores. Its nearest rival comparisons place it in the same performance class as the RX 5600M and Arc A530M, not in the class of the Radeon VII, which trades with Tesla-class accelerators. The Radeon VII is 90th percentile, the RX 6550M is 85th. The choice comes down to whether the user needs the Radeon VII's compute dominance or the RX 6550M's modern feature set and mobile form factor.