AMD Radeon RX 6550M vs NVIDIA Tesla P4 Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data splits cleanly between these two GPUs, with the AMD Radeon RX 6550M taking both recorded wins. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the RX 6550M scores 42,536 against the Tesla P4's 34,947, a 21.7% advantage. The Vulkan gap is even wider: 50,867 versus 40,309, a 26.2% lead for the AMD part. That means the RX 6550M is not just faster, it is consistently faster across two different compute APIs, and the margin grows when moving from OpenCL to Vulkan.

The NVIDIA Tesla P4, however, wins in a different arena: memory capacity. It carries 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, while the RX 6550M has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus. For workloads that need large working sets, the Tesla P4's double the memory is a structural advantage, even if its raw compute scores trail. The Tesla P4 also has a longer physical footprint at 168 mm (6.6 inches), making it a single-slot card, whereas the RX 6550M is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with no slot width, meaning it is portable-device dependent for display output.

The RX 6550M wins on architectural modernity and efficiency. It is built on TSMC's 6 nm process with 5,400 million transistors in a 107 mm² die, while the Tesla P4 uses TSMC's 16 nm node with 7,200 million transistors on a 314 mm² die. That translates to a transistor density of 50.5 million per mm² for AMD versus 22.9 million per mm² for NVIDIA. The RX 6550M also has a much higher boost clock at 2840 MHz versus 1114 MHz for the Tesla P4, which helps explain its compute lead despite having fewer shading units (1024 versus 2560).

Architecture Differences

The architectural gulf between these two is generational. The RX 6550M uses RDNA 2.0 with the Navi 24 chip, part of the Navi Mobile generation (RX 6000M). The Tesla P4 uses Pascal with the GP104 chip, part of the Tesla Pascal generation (Pxx). The RX 6550M launched on January 3, 2023, while the Tesla P4 launched on September 12, 2016, and is now marked end-of-life. The RX 6550M remains active in production.

Process technology tells the story. The RX 6550M is on a 6 nm node with a 107 mm² die and 5,400 million transistors, yielding a density of 50.5M per mm². The Tesla P4 is on a 16 nm node with a 314 mm² die and 7,200 million transistors, yielding 22.9M per mm². The AMD part packs nearly double the transistor density into a third of the die area.

Memory subsystems differ sharply. The RX 6550M uses 4 GB of GDDR6 at 18 Gbps effective, with a 64-bit bus and 144.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Tesla P4 uses 8 GB of GDDR5 at 6 Gbps effective, with a 256-bit bus and 192.3 GB/s bandwidth. The Tesla P4 has 34% more raw bandwidth, but the AMD part uses faster memory technology. Bus width is the main differentiator: 256-bit for NVIDIA versus 64-bit for AMD.

Compute resources are organized differently. The RX 6550M has 1024 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, 32 ROPs, and 16 ray tracing cores. The Tesla P4 has 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, but no ray tracing cores or tensor cores. The AMD part supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Tesla P4 is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

Clocks are a major point of divergence. The RX 6550M runs at 2000 MHz base, 2560 MHz game, and 2840 MHz boost. The Tesla P4 runs at 886 MHz base and 1114 MHz boost. That is a 155% higher boost clock for the AMD part, which compensates for its lower shading unit count. Pixel rate favors AMD at 90.88 GPixel/s versus 71.30 GPixel/s, while texture rate is nearly identical: 181.8 GTexel/s versus 178.2 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput is close, 5.816 TFLOPS for AMD versus 5.704 TFLOPS for NVIDIA, but FP16 is a different story: 11.63 TFLOPS (2:1) for AMD versus 89.12 GFLOPS (1:64) for NVIDIA, a 130x advantage for the RDNA 2.0 part.

Power and form factor differ. The RX 6550M has a TDP of 80 W with no power connectors and no suggested PSU, while the Tesla P4 has a TDP of 75 W, no power connectors, but a suggested PSU of 250 W. The Tesla P4 is single-slot and 168 mm long; the RX 6550M is an IGP. Bus interface also differs: PCIe 4.0 x4 for AMD versus PCIe 3.0 x16 for NVIDIA.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The Geekbench OpenCL test shows the RX 6550M scoring 42,536 against the Tesla P4's 34,947. That is a 21.7% delta, and it puts the AMD part ahead in raw compute throughput. The Vulkan test shows an even larger margin: 50,867 versus 40,309, a 26.2% delta. Both tests run in the same direction, with the AMD part winning by a growing margin in the newer API.

Context from the database's nearest rival lists reinforces these results. The RX 6550M has an average benchmark score of 46,702, placing it at the 85th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc A530M at 46,614 (0.2% behind), the AMD Radeon RX 5600M at 46,601 (0.2% behind), the NVIDIA RTX A2000 at 46,043 (1.4% behind), and the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation at 45,972 (1.6% behind). The RX 6550M sits at the top of this tight cluster, edging out each rival by a small margin.

The Tesla P4 has an average benchmark score of 37,628, placing it at the 81st percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 at 37,648 (0.1% ahead), the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 at 37,507 (0.3% behind), the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 at 37,157 (1.3% behind), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile at 38,135 (1.3% ahead). The Tesla P4 is effectively bracketed by modern GPUs, sitting between the RTX 4070 and the RTX 4080 Mobile in average score, despite being a 2016 product.

The head-to-head delta of 21.7% in OpenCL and 26.2% in Vulkan is substantial. For comparison, the RX 6550M's nearest rivals are all within 1.6% of its average score, and the Tesla P4's nearest rivals are within 1.3%. The gap between these two GPUs is more than an order of magnitude larger than the gaps within their respective rival clusters. This is not a close race; the RX 6550M is clearly the faster GPU in both recorded tests.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear conclusion: the AMD Radeon RX 6550M is the faster GPU in compute benchmarks, winning both head-to-head tests by margins of 21.7% and 26.2%. Its average benchmark score of 46,702 is 24.1% higher than the Tesla P4's 37,628. The RX 6550M also holds a percentile advantage, ranking in the 85th percentile of all GPUs versus the Tesla P4's 81st percentile.

The Tesla P4's case rests on memory capacity and bandwidth. It offers 8 GB of GDDR5 with 192.3 GB/s bandwidth, versus 4 GB of GDDR6 with 144.0 GB/s for the RX 6550M. For workloads that require large model fits or high-bandwidth data movement, the Tesla P4 has a structural edge. Additionally, the Tesla P4 uses a PCIe 3.0 x16 interface, while the RX 6550M uses PCIe 4.0 x4, which may matter for certain data-transfer patterns.

Who should pick which? From the recorded data, users prioritizing raw compute performance in OpenCL or Vulkan should choose the RX 6550M. It is faster, newer, more power-efficient per transistor, and supports ray tracing and DirectX 12 Ultimate. Users who need 8 GB of memory or a single-slot, no-output server accelerator with a longer physical footprint may prefer the Tesla P4, despite its older Pascal architecture and end-of-life status. The RX 6550M is the better choice for gaming-adjacent or modern compute workloads; the Tesla P4 is the better choice for memory-constrained inference or legacy server deployments.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6550M has an average benchmark score of 46,702, while the NVIDIA Tesla P4 scores 37,628. The RX 6550M is ahead by 24.1%.

Q: How large is the performance gap in Vulkan?

A: The RX 6550M scores 50,867 in Geekbench Vulkan, while the Tesla P4 scores 40,309. The AMD part wins by 26.2%.

Q: Does the Tesla P4 have any memory advantage?

A: Yes, the Tesla P4 has 8 GB of GDDR5 with a 256-bit bus and 192.3 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 6550M has 4 GB of GDDR6 with a 64-bit bus and 144.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: What are the architecture differences?

A: The RX 6550M uses RDNA 2.0 on a 6 nm process with 5,400 million transistors, while the Tesla P4 uses Pascal on a 16 nm process with 7,200 million transistors. The RX 6550M has ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate; the Tesla P4 has no ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 (12_1).

Q: Which GPU has higher clock speeds?

A: The RX 6550M boosts to 2840 MHz, while the Tesla P4 boosts to 1114 MHz. The RX 6550M also has a base clock of 2000 MHz versus 886 MHz for the Tesla P4.

Q: Is the Tesla P4 still in production?

A: No, the Tesla P4 is end-of-life. The RX 6550M is active in production. The Tesla P4 launched on September 12, 2016, while the RX 6550M launched on January 3, 2023.