AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT vs Intel Arc A550M Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher OpenCL benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT scores 76,904 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the Intel Arc A550M scores 49,894. The AMD part leads by 54.1% in this specific test.

Q: How do these GPUs compare to their nearest rivals?

A: The RX 6650M XT sits at the 91st percentile of all GPUs and is 1% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, 2.6% behind the RX 6850M XT, and 3.1% behind the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB. The Arc A550M sits at the 86th percentile, with a score 0.4% behind the RTX 5070 Ti and 0.5% behind the RX Vega 64, while running 2.6% ahead of the RX 6800 XT.

Q: Do both GPUs support the same API feature set?

A: Yes, both list DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 in the database, so their API compatibility profiles are identical.

Q: What is the memory configuration of each card?

A: Both have 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus. The AMD card runs at 16 Gbps effective with 256.0 GB/s bandwidth; the Intel card runs at 14 Gbps effective with 224.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has the higher pixel and texture throughput?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT records 154.6 GPixel/s and 309.2 GTexel/s, while the Intel Arc A550M records 131.2 GPixel/s and 262.4 GTexel/s. AMD leads in both categories.

Q: What is the power draw difference between the two?

A: The AMD part has a TDP of 120 W, whereas the Intel part is rated at 60 W, making the Intel GPU the lower-power option by half.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT is built on the Navi 23 chip using RDNA 2.0 architecture, produced on a 7 nm process at TSMC with 11,060 million transistors on a 237 mm² die. The Intel Arc A550M uses the DG2-512 chip with Xe-HPG architecture, manufactured on a 6 nm process at TSMC with 21,700 million transistors on a 406 mm² die. The Intel die is substantially larger and packs nearly twice the transistor count, with a higher transistor density of 53.4M per mm² versus 46.7M per mm² for AMD.

Clock behavior differs sharply. The AMD GPU has a base clock of 2068 MHz, a boost clock of 2416 MHz, and a game clock of 2162 MHz. The Intel GPU starts much lower at 900 MHz base but boosts to 2050 MHz, which is still below AMD's base clock. The memory clocks also differ: AMD runs at 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective, while Intel runs at 1750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective.

Both cards share the same shading unit count of 2048, the same TMU count of 128, and the same ROP count of 64. The key architectural divergence is in ray tracing hardware: the AMD chip has 32 RT cores, while the Intel chip has 16 RT cores. Neither lists tensor cores. The bus interface differs as well, with AMD using PCIe 4.0 x8 and Intel using PCIe 4.0 x16.

The AMD part is part of the Radeon RX 6000 series within the Navi Mobile (RX 6000M) generation, with a predecessor listed as Polaris Mobile. The Intel part belongs to the Alchemist (Arc 5 Mobile) generation. Both are marked end-of-life, and neither has a listed successor. The AMD GPU has a release date of January 2022, while the Intel GPU has no recorded release date.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct head-to-head benchmark recorded in the database is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is decisive. The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT scores 76,904 against 49,894 for the Intel Arc A550M, a 54.1% advantage for AMD. That is not a marginal gap; it places the two cards in distinctly different performance tiers.

Context from the nearest rival data reinforces the separation. The AMD card operates near the top of the database at the 91st percentile, with its closest competitor, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, only 1% ahead at 77,712. The AMD part also trails the RX 6850M XT by 2.6% and the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB by 3.1%, showing that it is competitive with high-end desktop and mobile parts. The Intel Arc A550M, by contrast, sits at the 86th percentile with an average score of 49,737 across its two recorded benchmarks. Its nearest rival, the RTX 5070 Ti, is only 0.4% ahead, and the RX Vega 64 is 0.5% ahead. The Intel card does manage to beat the RX 6800 XT by 2.6%, but that win is far smaller than the margin AMD holds over Intel in the direct comparison.

The Intel part also has a Vulkan score of 49,580, which is very close to its OpenCL score of 49,894, suggesting consistent performance across these two APIs. The AMD part has no Vulkan score recorded, so no cross-API comparison is possible for it. The overall win count stands at 1 for AMD and 0 for Intel in head-to-head tests, with the single test being OpenCL.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every physical and performance specification. The process node differs: AMD uses 7 nm, Intel uses 6 nm, both at TSMC. Transistor counts are 11,060 million for AMD and 21,700 million for Intel, and die sizes are 237 mm² versus 406 mm². Transistor density is 46.7M per mm² for AMD and 53.4M per mm² for Intel.

Clock specifications show AMD at 2068 MHz base, 2416 MHz boost, and 2162 MHz game clock, while Intel runs at 900 MHz base and 2050 MHz boost with no game clock listed. Memory clocks are 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective for AMD versus 1750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective for Intel. Memory bandwidth is 256.0 GB/s for AMD and 224.0 GB/s for Intel, despite both using 8 GB GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus.

Compute throughput differs: AMD records 9.896 TFLOPS FP32 and 19.79 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1), while Intel records 8.397 TFLOPS FP32 and 16.79 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1). Pixel rate is 154.6 GPixel/s for AMD versus 131.2 GPixel/s for Intel, and texture rate is 309.2 GTexel/s versus 262.4 GTexel/s. Ray tracing cores number 32 on AMD and 16 on Intel.

Power consumption is a major differentiator: AMD is rated at 120 W TDP, Intel at 60 W TDP. The power connector field shows "None" for AMD and no value for Intel. The bus interface differs: PCIe 4.0 x8 for AMD, PCIe 4.0 x16 for Intel. The AMD card has a recorded release date of January 2022 and a predecessor of Polaris Mobile; the Intel card has no release date and no predecessor listed. Both are IGP slot width and both are end-of-life. Neither has a listed launch MSRP.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT wins in raw compute performance, as shown by its 54.1% OpenCL lead over the Intel Arc A550M. It also wins in every throughput metric: pixel rate, texture rate, FP32, and FP16. Its higher clock speeds, both base and boost, support this advantage. The AMD card's 32 RT cores double Intel's 16, which suggests stronger ray tracing capability, though no ray tracing benchmark is recorded in the database. The AMD card also holds a higher percentile ranking at 91 versus 86, and its nearest rivals are all higher-performing parts than Intel's nearest rivals, confirming its placement in a faster tier.

The Intel Arc A550M wins in power efficiency. At 60 W TDP, it draws exactly half the power of the AMD card's 120 W TDP while still delivering 8.397 TFLOPS FP32, which is about 85% of AMD's FP32 throughput. That means the Intel part delivers a substantial portion of the performance at half the power envelope, which could matter in thermally constrained or battery-focused portable designs. The Intel card also uses a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface, double the lane width of AMD's x8, which may provide more headroom for data transfer in some workloads, though no bandwidth benchmark is recorded. The Intel card's Vulkan score of 49,580 is close to its OpenCL score, indicating stable cross-API behavior.

For use-case split: the AMD card is the choice for maximum frame rates, compute-heavy tasks, and workloads that leverage higher FP32 and FP16 throughput. The Intel card is the choice for power-sensitive laptops where the 60 W envelope is a priority and where the user accepts a lower performance ceiling in exchange for efficiency.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous. The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT is the faster GPU by a wide margin, leading the Intel Arc A550M by 54.1% in OpenCL and winning the only recorded head-to-head benchmark. It also carries higher pixel, texture, and compute rates, more RT cores, and a higher percentile rank. Anyone prioritizing raw performance should select the AMD part.

The Intel Arc A550M is the more power-efficient option at 60 W TDP, half of AMD's 120 W. It also offers a wider PCIe interface at x16. However, its performance ceiling is significantly lower, and its nearest rivals in the database are all slower relative to AMD's nearest rivals. Users whose primary constraint is power draw, such as thin-and-light designs with limited cooling, may prefer the Intel part. Users who want the highest recorded scores in this comparison should choose the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT. The Intel Arc A550M is a reasonable lower-power alternative, but the benchmark data shows it is not a performance competitor to the AMD card.