AMD Radeon RX 6550M vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile Comparison

# AMD Radeon RX 6550M vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile

The benchmark data presents a clear hierarchy: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile is the dominant performer in every head-to-head comparison, while the AMD Radeon RX 6550M occupies a fundamentally different market segment. With an average benchmark score of 46,702 for the AMD part versus 45,152 for the NVIDIA part, the aggregate numbers look close, but that is misleading—the RTX 5090 Mobile’s average is dragged down by multiple PassMark tests where it scores in the low hundreds, while its flagship compute and graphics scores are nearly 5x higher than the RX 6550M’s. The percentile rankings tell a similar story: both sit near the 85th percentile of all GPUs (85 for AMD, 84 for NVIDIA), but that reflects the fact that the RTX 5090 Mobile is a mobile part competing in a database dominated by desktop cards, not that the two are peers.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head results are unambiguous. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 5090 Mobile scores 201,834 against the RX 6550M’s 42,536, a delta of -78.9% for the AMD card. That is not a marginal gap; the NVIDIA part delivers roughly 4.7 times the OpenCL compute throughput. The Geekbench Vulkan test shows a similar pattern: the RTX 5090 Mobile reaches 198,405 while the RX 6550M manages 50,867, a -74.4% delta. In both tests, the NVIDIA card wins by a factor of approximately four.

These are the only two directly comparable benchmark results in the data, and the RTX 5090 Mobile wins both, giving it a 2-0 record in head-to-head matchups. The RX 6550M has zero wins. The magnitude of these deltas is worth emphasizing: a 78.9% deficit in OpenCL and a 74.4% deficit in Vulkan are not incremental differences—they represent entirely different performance tiers.

For context, the RX 6550M’s nearest rivals are the Intel Arc A530M (average score 46,614, delta 0.2%), the AMD Radeon RX 5600M (46,601, delta 0.2%), the NVIDIA RTX A2000 (46,043, delta 1.4%), and the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation (45,972, delta 1.6%). The RTX 5090 Mobile’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT (45,384, delta -0.5%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti (44,795, delta 0.8%), the Intel Arc A730M (45,592, delta -1%), and the RTX 5880 Ada Generation (45,972, delta -1.8%). Notice that the RTX 5880 Ada Generation appears in both lists—it is a reference point that brackets both cards, but the RX 6550M is 1.6% above it while the RTX 5090 Mobile is 1.8% below it.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide is stark. The RX 6550M uses the Navi 24 chip built on RDNA 2.0 architecture, fabricated on a 6 nm process at TSMC with 5,400 million transistors on a 107 mm² die. The RTX 5090 Mobile uses the GB203 chip on Blackwell 2.0 architecture, also from TSMC but on a 5 nm process, packing 45,600 million transistors into a 378 mm² die. That is an 8.4x transistor count advantage for NVIDIA and a 3.5x die size advantage.

Transistor density reflects the process and design differences: the RX 6550M achieves 50.5 million transistors per mm², while the RTX 5090 Mobile reaches 120.6 million per mm²—more than double. The RTX 5090 Mobile also features a much wider memory interface at 256 bit versus 64 bit, and uses GDDR7 memory instead of GDDR6. The RX 6550M has 4 GB of memory; the RTX 5090 Mobile has 24 GB, a sixfold increase.

Compute resources are similarly lopsided. The RX 6550M has 1,024 shading units, 64 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and 16 ray tracing cores. The RTX 5090 Mobile has 10,496 shading units (10.25x more), 328 TMUs (5.1x more), 112 ROPs (3.5x more), 82 RT cores (5.1x more), and adds 328 tensor cores that the AMD part lacks entirely. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so feature-level API support is identical. The RTX 5090 Mobile’s FP32 throughput is 31.80 TFLOPS versus 5.816 TFLOPS for the RX 6550M—a 5.5x gap. FP16 performance is also divergent: the AMD card does 11.63 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio, while the NVIDIA card matches its FP32 at 31.80 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio.

Where Each One Wins

Based on the data, the RTX 5090 Mobile wins in every measured benchmark. There is no test in the head-to-head set where the RX 6550M comes out ahead. The NVIDIA card’s strengths are most pronounced in compute-heavy workloads: its OpenCL score of 201,834 and Vulkan score of 198,405 indicate strong general-purpose GPU compute and graphics API performance. The RX 6550M’s scores of 42,536 and 50,867, respectively, place it in a much lower tier, suitable for lighter workloads or 1080p-class gaming at modest settings.

The RTX 5090 Mobile’s additional benchmark results (not available for the RX 6550M) show a wide spread: PassMark G3D scores 30,034, PassMark GPU Compute scores 13,401, and PassMark G2D scores 1,057. The DirectX tests range from 138 (DirectX 12) to 324 (DirectX 9), which are odd results—likely reflecting driver or test variance—but they do not change the overall picture. For the RX 6550M, the only benchmarks available are the two Geekbench tests, so the comparison is limited to those.

Where would each card realistically be chosen? The RX 6550M, with its 80 W TDP and IGP slot width, is suited to thin-and-light laptops where power is constrained. The RTX 5090 Mobile, at 95 W TDP and also IGP slot width, is a higher-power part but still mobile-class. Neither card has external power connectors, and both are marked “Portable Device Dependent” for display outputs. The RTX 5090 Mobile’s PCIe 5.0 x16 interface (versus PCIe 4.0 x4 for the RX 6550M) gives it substantially more bandwidth headroom for future workloads.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every specification. The process node is 6 nm for AMD versus 5 nm for NVIDIA. Transistor count is 5,400 million versus 45,600 million. Die size is 107 mm² versus 378 mm². Transistor density is 50.5M per mm² versus 120.6M per mm². Base clock is 2000 MHz versus 990 MHz, but boost clock is 2840 MHz versus 1515 MHz—the AMD card runs at higher clocks, but the NVIDIA card’s massive compute resource advantage overcomes that.

Game clock is listed only for the RX 6550M at 2560 MHz; the RTX 5090 Mobile has no game clock listed. Memory size is 4 GB versus 24 GB. Memory type is GDDR6 versus GDDR7. Bus width is 64 bit versus 256 bit. Bandwidth is 144.0 GB/s versus 896.0 GB/s. Memory clock is 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) for AMD versus 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective) for NVIDIA.

Shading units: 1,024 versus 10,496. TMUs: 64 versus 328. ROPs: 32 versus 112. RT cores: 16 versus 82. Tensor cores: none versus 328. Pixel rate: 90.88 GPixel/s versus 169.7 GPixel/s. Texture rate: 181.8 GTexel/s versus 496.9 GTexel/s. FP32: 5.816 TFLOPS versus 31.80 TFLOPS. FP16: 11.63 TFLOPS (2:1) versus 31.80 TFLOPS (1:1). TDP: 80 W versus 95 W. Bus interface: PCIe 4.0 x4 versus PCIe 5.0 x16. Release date: January 2023 versus March 2025.

The only fields where they match are slot width (both IGP), power connectors (both None), display outputs (both Portable Device Dependent), and the three API versions. The RX 6550M’s predecessor is Polaris Mobile; the RTX 5090 Mobile’s predecessor is GeForce 40 Mobile. Both are listed as Active production status, and neither has a successor listed.

FAQ

Q: Which card has higher raw compute performance?

A: The RTX 5090 Mobile. Its FP32 throughput is 31.80 TFLOPS versus 5.816 TFLOPS for the RX 6550M, and it wins the Geekbench OpenCL test 201,834 to 42,536 (-78.9% delta in NVIDIA’s favor).

Q: Do both cards support the same graphics APIs?

A: Yes. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Q: How much memory does each card have, and what type?

A: The RX 6550M has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus with 144.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 5090 Mobile has 24 GB of GDDR7 on a 256-bit bus with 896.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Are these desktop or laptop parts?

A: Both are mobile parts. The RX 6550M is from the Navi Mobile (RX 6000M) generation, and the RTX 5090 Mobile is from the GeForce 50 Mobile generation. Both have IGP slot width and no external power connectors.

Q: Which card has more ray tracing cores?

A: The RTX 5090 Mobile has 82 RT cores, while the RX 6550M has 16. The NVIDIA card also adds 328 tensor cores, which the AMD card lacks entirely.

Q: What is the release date difference?

A: The RX 6550M was released on January 3, 2023. The RTX 5090 Mobile was released on March 26, 2025.

The Verdict

The data is decisive: the RTX 5090 Mobile outperforms the RX 6550M in every comparable benchmark, with deltas of -78.9% and -74.4% in the two head-to-head tests. If you need maximum compute performance, the RTX 5090 Mobile is the only choice—its 24 GB GDDR7 memory, 896.0 GB/s bandwidth, and 31.80 TFLOPS FP32 are in a completely different class. The RX 6550M’s 4 GB GDDR6 and 5.816 TFLOPS are adequate for lighter workloads but cannot compete in demanding compute or high-end gaming.

The RX 6550M is a lower-power part (80 W versus 95 W) with a smaller die (107 mm² versus 378 mm²) and far fewer transistors (5,400 million versus 45,600 million). It belongs in budget-minded laptops where power efficiency and cost are primary concerns. The RTX 5090 Mobile, despite its higher TDP, still fits the IGP form factor and has no external power connectors, making it a flagship mobile solution.

Given the benchmark results, the recommendation is clear: the RTX 5090 Mobile for anyone who prioritizes performance, and the RX 6550M only for scenarios where the lower power draw and smaller footprint are non-negotiable. The percentile rankings (85 versus 84) are misleading in this matchup—the RTX 5090 Mobile’s average is skewed by low PassMark scores, but its Geekbench results show it is the superior card by a wide margin. Choose accordingly.