GPU Comparison

FAQ

Q: How does the NVIDIA CMP 50HX compare to the AMD Radeon RX 6550M in average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA CMP 50HX has an average benchmark score of 51,790, which is 10.9% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6550M's 46,702. The CMP 50HX sits at the 86th percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 6550M sits just behind at the 85th percentile.

Q: Which GPU wins in OpenCL and Vulkan workloads?

A: The NVIDIA CMP 50HX wins Geekbench OpenCL with a score of 56,135 versus 42,536 for the AMD Radeon RX 6550M, a 32% advantage. The AMD Radeon RX 6550M wins Geekbench Vulkan with 50,867 versus 47,445 for the CMP 50HX, a 6.7% advantage. Each card takes one benchmark win.

Q: What are the closest rivals to each card based on average score?

A: For the NVIDIA CMP 50HX, the nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT at 50,951 (1.6% behind), followed by the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 at 50,001 (3.6% behind). For the AMD Radeon RX 6550M, the closest rival is the Intel Arc A530M at 46,614 (0.2% behind), with the AMD Radeon RX 5600M at 46,601 (0.2% behind).

Q: What are the major architectural differences between these two GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA CMP 50HX uses the Turing architecture with the TU102 chip on a 12 nm process, while the AMD Radeon RX 6550M uses RDNA 2.0 with the Navi 24 chip on a 6 nm process. The CMP 50HX has 18,600 million transistors on a 754 mm² die, whereas the RX 6550M has 5,400 million transistors on a 107 mm² die.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference between the two cards?

A: The NVIDIA CMP 50HX has 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus with 560.0 GB/s bandwidth. The AMD Radeon RX 6550M has 4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 64-bit bus with 144.0 GB/s bandwidth. This represents a 3.9x bandwidth advantage for the CMP 50HX.

Q: Which card is more suitable for compute-heavy workloads?

A: The NVIDIA CMP 50HX has significantly higher compute throughput with 11.07 TFLOPS FP32 and 22.15 TFLOPS FP16, compared to 5.816 TFLOPS FP32 and 11.63 TFLOPS FP16 for the AMD Radeon RX 6550M. The CMP 50HX also features 448 tensor cores, which the RX 6550M lacks entirely.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA CMP 50HX and AMD Radeon RX 6550M represent fundamentally different design philosophies. The CMP 50HX is built on the Turing architecture using the TU102 chip, manufactured on TSMC's 12 nm process. This is a massive chip with 18,600 million transistors packed into a 754 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 24.7 million transistors per square millimeter. The RX 6550M, by contrast, uses AMD's RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 24 chip on TSMC's 6 nm process, which is a much smaller design at 5,400 million transistors on a 107 mm² die, achieving a higher density of 50.5 million transistors per square millimeter.

The compute resources differ dramatically. The CMP 50HX features 3,584 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 80 ROPs. It also includes 56 RT cores and 448 tensor cores, giving it dedicated hardware for ray tracing and AI acceleration. The RX 6550M has 1,024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, along with 16 RT cores but no tensor cores. This means the NVIDIA card has roughly 3.5x the shading units and 3x the TMUs of the AMD part.

The memory subsystems are also worlds apart. The CMP 50HX uses 10 GB of GDDR6 on a 320-bit interface, achieving 560.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 6550M has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit interface, providing 144.0 GB/s. The clock speeds tell a different story: the RX 6550M has a base clock of 2000 MHz and a boost clock of 2840 MHz, while the CMP 50HX operates at 1350 MHz base and 1545 MHz boost. The AMD card also has a game clock of 2560 MHz, a feature the NVIDIA card lacks.

Power and physical design differ as well. The CMP 50HX has a 250 W TDP, requires dual-slot cooling, and needs 2x 8-pin power connectors with a 600 W suggested PSU. The RX 6550M is an IGP (integrated graphics processor) with an 80 W TDP, no power connectors, and no specified PSU requirement. The CMP 50HX measures 267 mm in length, 116 mm in height, and 35 mm in width, while the RX 6550M has no listed dimensions. The CMP 50HX has no display outputs, while the RX 6550M's outputs are portable device dependent.

Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The CMP 50HX uses a PCIe 1.0 x4 bus interface, while the RX 6550M uses PCIe 4.0 x4. The CMP 50HX was released on 2021-06-23 and is end-of-life, while the RX 6550M was released on 2023-01-03 and is still active, with the AMD Radeon RX 5600M's predecessor being Polaris Mobile.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark results show a split decision between these two GPUs. In Geekbench OpenCL, the NVIDIA CMP 50HX delivers a score of 56,135 against the AMD Radeon RX 6550M's 42,536. That is a 32% advantage for the NVIDIA card, a massive margin that reflects the CMP 50HX's far larger compute core count and memory bandwidth. This result aligns with the CMP 50HX's position relative to its nearest rivals: it sits 1.6% above the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT and 3.6% above the Radeon RX Vega 64.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the tables turn. The AMD Radeon RX 6550M scores 50,867, beating the NVIDIA CMP 50HX's 47,445 by 6.7%. This is notable because the RX 6550M's average score is only 46,702, meaning its Vulkan performance punches well above its overall average. The RX 6550M's nearest rivals in average score are the Intel Arc A530M at 46,614 and the AMD Radeon RX 5600M at 46,601, both within 0.2% of its average, but the Vulkan result shows the card excels in this specific API.

The OpenCL result for the CMP 50HX is also above its average benchmark score of 51,790, indicating that OpenCL workloads are a strength for the NVIDIA card. The Vulkan result for the CMP 50HX is below its average, suggesting Vulkan is a relatively weaker area for it. For the RX 6550M, the pattern is inverted: its OpenCL score of 42,536 is below its 46,702 average, while its Vulkan score of 50,867 is well above.

Overall, the head-to-head data shows one win each. The CMP 50HX wins with a 32% margin in OpenCL, while the RX 6550M wins with a 6.7% margin in Vulkan. The average scores favor the CMP 50HX by about 10.9%, but the Vulkan result demonstrates that the RX 6550M is not simply outclassed across the board.

Specification Differences

The specification tables reveal stark contrasts between the two GPUs. The process node differs: the NVIDIA CMP 50HX uses 12 nm, while the AMD Radeon RX 6550M uses 6 nm. Transistor counts are 18,600 million for the CMP 50HX versus 5,400 million for the RX 6550M. Die size is 754 mm² for the NVIDIA card and 107 mm² for the AMD card, making the CMP 50HX roughly seven times larger.

Clock speeds favor the AMD card. The RX 6550M has a base clock of 2000 MHz and a boost clock of 2840 MHz, compared to 1350 MHz base and 1545 MHz boost for the CMP 50HX. The RX 6550M also has a game clock of 2560 MHz, which has no equivalent on the NVIDIA card. Memory clock is 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) for the CMP 50HX and 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) for the RX 6550M.

Memory capacity and bandwidth heavily favor the NVIDIA card. The CMP 50HX has 10 GB versus 4 GB for the RX 6550M. Bus width is 320 bit versus 64 bit. Bandwidth is 560.0 GB/s versus 144.0 GB/s. These are massive differences that directly impact throughput in memory-bound workloads.

Compute resources also differ significantly. Shading units: 3,584 for the CMP 50HX versus 1,024 for the RX 6550M. TMUs: 192 versus 64. ROPs: 80 versus 32. RT cores: 56 versus 16. Tensor cores: 448 for the CMP 50HX, none for the RX 6550M. The pixel rate is 123.6 GPixel/s for the NVIDIA card and 90.88 GPixel/s for the AMD card. Texture rate is 296.6 GTexel/s versus 181.8 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput is 11.07 TFLOPS versus 5.816 TFLOPS, and FP16 is 22.15 TFLOPS versus 11.63 TFLOPS.

Power and physical specifications are equally divergent. TDP is 250 W for the CMP 50HX and 80 W for the RX 6550M. The NVIDIA card is dual-slot with 2x 8-pin power connectors and a 600 W suggested PSU; the AMD card is an IGP with no power connectors and no suggested PSU. The CMP 50HX has dimensions of 267 mm x 116 mm x 35 mm, while the RX 6550M has none listed. Bus interface is PCIe 1.0 x4 for NVIDIA and PCIe 4.0 x4 for AMD. Display outputs are absent on the CMP 50HX and portable device dependent on the RX 6550M.

The Verdict

The data presents a clear choice based on workload priorities. The NVIDIA CMP 50HX is the stronger overall performer with an average benchmark score of 51,790 versus 46,702 for the AMD Radeon RX 6550M. It wins decisively in OpenCL by 32% and has overwhelming advantages in memory bandwidth (560.0 GB/s versus 144.0 GB/s), FP32 compute (11.07 TFLOPS versus 5.816 TFLOPS), and shading units (3,584 versus 1,024). Its 86th percentile ranking versus the RX 6550M's 85th confirms its edge in the broader GPU landscape.

The AMD Radeon RX 6550M, however, wins in Vulkan by 6.7% and does so with far lower power consumption at 80 W versus 250 W. It also has a much higher boost clock at 2840 MHz versus 1545 MHz, and it uses a more modern 6 nm process. The RX 6550M is an active product with a successor lineage, while the CMP 50HX is end-of-life.

The practical verdict depends on the use case. For compute-heavy tasks that leverage OpenCL, the CMP 50HX is the obvious choice given its 32% lead and superior memory subsystem. For Vulkan-based workloads or scenarios where power efficiency and modern process technology matter, the RX 6550M holds the advantage. The CMP 50HX's lack of display outputs makes it unsuitable for traditional graphics use, while the RX 6550M's portable device dependent outputs suggest it is designed for laptop integration.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA CMP 50HX wins in scenarios that demand raw compute throughput and high memory bandwidth. Its 560.0 GB/s bandwidth is nearly four times that of the RX 6550M, making it far better suited for large dataset processing and memory-intensive compute tasks. The 32% OpenCL advantage confirms this strength. Its 448 tensor cores provide dedicated AI acceleration hardware that the RX 6550M completely lacks. The CMP 50HX also has 10 GB of memory versus 4 GB, which matters for workloads that exceed the RX 6550M's capacity. The higher pixel rate of 123.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 296.6 GTexel/s further support its compute-oriented design.

The AMD Radeon RX 6550M wins in Vulkan-based applications, as shown by its 6.7% lead in the Geekbench Vulkan test. Its higher clock speeds, 2840 MHz boost versus 1545 MHz boost, help it excel in latency-sensitive workloads that benefit from rapid instruction execution rather than massive parallel throughput. The RX 6550M's 80 W TDP makes it dramatically more power-efficient, consuming less than a third of the CMP 50HX's 250 W. Its smaller 107 mm² die and 6 nm process represent a more modern, compact design. The RX 6550M also supports PCIe 4.0 x4, which is newer than the CMP 50HX's PCIe 1.0 x4 interface. Its active production status and release date of 2023-01-03 make it a current product, whereas the CMP 50HX is end-of-life. For mobile or portable applications, the RX 6550M's IGP form factor with no power connectors is clearly the intended fit.