AMD Radeon RX 6700 vs NVIDIA GeForce MX550 Comparison

AMD Radeon RX 6700 vs NVIDIA GeForce MX550

The recorded data places the AMD Radeon RX 6700 and the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 in very different performance tiers. The AMD card, a desktop-class part from the Radeon RX 6000 series, posts an average benchmark score of 30,433, placing it in the 75th percentile of all GPUs. The NVIDIA MX550, a portable integrated part built on the Turing architecture, averages 26,421, which places it in the 72nd percentile. While the percentile gap appears modest, the raw benchmark deltas in the shared tests reveal a dominant performance advantage for the AMD card, making the comparison less about close competition and more about confirming the scale of the separation.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database includes two directly comparable benchmark results for these GPUs: Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan. In both cases, the AMD Radeon RX 6700 wins decisively.

In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the AMD Radeon RX 6700 scores 97,841 points, while the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 scores 20,372 points. This represents a delta of 380.3% in favor of the AMD card. To put that in perspective, the AMD GPU delivers nearly five times the compute performance of the MX550 in this API. The OpenCL workload is typically a strong indicator of raw compute throughput, and the data reflects the massive difference in shading units, memory bandwidth, and overall chip scale.

The Geekbench Vulkan test shows a similar but slightly narrower gap. The AMD Radeon RX 6700 achieves 83,974 points, while the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 manages 32,469 points. The delta here is 158.6% in favor of AMD. Vulkan is a lower-level API that can sometimes reduce overhead and allow smaller chips to perform closer to their theoretical limits, but even so, the MX550 trails by a wide margin. The AMD card's higher score in Vulkan compared to its OpenCL result relative to the MX550 suggests that the NVIDIA part's architecture does not compensate for its smaller resource pool.

The head-to-head record is 2 wins for the AMD Radeon RX 6700 and 0 wins for the NVIDIA GeForce MX550. There are no benchmark tests in the database where the MX550 outperforms the RX 6700. The margin of victory in both tests is substantial, and the data shows no scenario in which the portable NVIDIA GPU closes the gap to a competitive level.

Where Each One Wins

Given the benchmark results, the use-case split is straightforward. The AMD Radeon RX 6700 wins in every measured category. Its strengths lie in compute-heavy workloads, as evidenced by the 380.3% lead in OpenCL. This makes it the clear choice for any task that relies on general-purpose GPU compute, such as rendering, video encoding, or scientific simulations. The 11.29 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 320.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth in the specifications support this, though the benchmark scores alone are sufficient to establish dominance.

The NVIDIA GeForce MX550 does not win any benchmark in this comparison. However, the data does indicate where its relative strengths lie. Its best showing is in the Vulkan test, where the delta is 158.6% compared to 380.3% in OpenCL. This suggests that the MX550's Turing architecture is relatively more efficient in Vulkan workloads than in OpenCL, likely due to driver optimization or API overhead characteristics. For users constrained to a portable device with an integrated GPU, the MX550 can handle lighter graphics tasks, but the database does not provide any score that puts it ahead of the RX 6700.

The percentile data reinforces this split. The RX 6700 sits at the 75th percentile of all GPUs, while the MX550 sits at the 72nd. Although these are close, the delta in their average scores (30,433 versus 26,421) shows that the MX550 is closer to the median GPU than to the RX 6700. The nearest rivals for the RX 6700 include the NVIDIA CMP 70HX (average score 30,476, delta -0.1%), the NVIDIA Tesla M60 (30,490, delta -0.2%), and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 (30,095, delta 1.1%). The MX550's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon 860M (26,401, delta 0.1%) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (26,331, delta 0.3%). This shows that the RX 6700 competes in the upper mid-range desktop tier, while the MX550 is positioned among entry-level integrated and low-power parts.

The Verdict

The data dictates a clear verdict: the AMD Radeon RX 6700 is the superior GPU in every benchmark recorded. For any user comparing these two, the RX 6700 offers a 380.3% advantage in OpenCL and a 158.6% advantage in Vulkan. There is no metric in the database where the MX550 wins, and no workload category where the portable NVIDIA part is recommended based on performance.

The RX 6700 should be selected by anyone who needs desktop-class compute performance. Its 75th percentile ranking and an average score of 30,433 put it in the same league as the NVIDIA CMP 70HX and the AMD Radeon RX 6800, both of which are within 1.1% of its average score. The MX550, with its 72nd percentile and average score of 26,421, is a different class of hardware, closer to the AMD Radeon 860M and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, both within 0.3% of its score.

The MX550 is only a sensible choice in the context of portability and power constraints. Its 25 W TDP and integrated form factor (IGP) make it suitable for thin laptops where a discrete desktop GPU cannot physically fit. The RX 6700, by contrast, is a dual-slot card with a 175 W TDP and a 1x 8-pin power connector, requiring a 450 W power supply. But strictly from benchmark performance, the MX550 cannot match the RX 6700 in any test, and the data offers no reason to choose it for raw speed.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the AMD Radeon RX 6700 than the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 in OpenCL?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6700 scores 97,841 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 scores 20,372. This is a delta of 380.3% in favor of the AMD card.

Q: Does the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 win any benchmark against the RX 6700?

A: No. The head-to-head record is 2 wins for the AMD Radeon RX 6700 and 0 wins for the NVIDIA GeForce MX550. The MX550 trails in both Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan.

Q: What is the average benchmark score difference between the two GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6700 has an average benchmark score of 30,433, while the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 has an average of 26,421. The RX 6700 is higher by approximately 4,012 points.

Q: How do the two GPUs compare in the Geekbench Vulkan test?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6700 scores 83,974 in Geekbench Vulkan, and the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 scores 32,469, giving the AMD card a 158.6% advantage.

Q: What percentile ranking does each GPU hold?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6700 is in the 75th percentile of all GPUs, while the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 is in the 72nd percentile.

Q: Which GPUs are closest in performance to the AMD Radeon RX 6700?

A: The nearest rivals to the RX 6700 are the NVIDIA CMP 70HX (average score 30,476, delta -0.1%), the NVIDIA Tesla M60 (30,490, delta -0.2%), and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 (30,095, delta 1.1%).

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 is built on the Navi 22 chip using the RDNA 2.0 architecture, fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It contains 17,200 million transistors on a 335 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 51.3 million per mm². The NVIDIA GeForce MX550 uses the TU117SB chip with the Turing architecture, also fabricated at TSMC but on a 12 nm process. It has 4,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die, for a density of 23.5 million per mm². The RX 6700 has nearly four times the transistor count and a higher density, reflecting its larger, more complex design.

The memory subsystems differ significantly. The RX 6700 has 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, delivering 320.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The MX550 has 2 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus, delivering 96.00 GB/s. The RX 6700's memory clock is 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective), while the MX550's is 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective). These figures explain the compute gap, as the AMD card has over three times the memory bandwidth.

Core configurations show a similar disparity. The RX 6700 has 2,304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. It also includes 36 ray tracing cores. The MX550 has 1,024 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs, with no ray tracing cores. The pixel rate for the RX 6700 is 156.8 GPixel/s versus 21.12 GPixel/s for the MX550. The texture rate is 352.8 GTexel/s versus 42.24 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 11.29 TFLOPS for the AMD card and 2.703 TFLOPS for the NVIDIA part. Notably, the RX 6700 achieves FP16 at 22.58 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio), while the MX550 maintains a 1:1 ratio at 2.703 TFLOPS.

Clock speeds also differ. The RX 6700 has a base clock of 1941 MHz, a boost clock of 2450 MHz, and a game clock of 2174 MHz. The MX550 has a base clock of 1065 MHz and a boost clock of 1320 MHz. Power draw reflects the performance gap: the RX 6700 has a TDP of 175 W, while the MX550 is rated at 25 W. The RX 6700 is a dual-slot card requiring a 1x 8-pin power connector and a 450 W suggested PSU, while the MX550 is an integrated part (IGP) with no power connectors.

API support differs in DirectX version. The RX 6700 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the MX550 supports DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. The RX 6700 uses a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface, whereas the MX550 uses PCIe 4.0 x8. Display outputs also differ, with the RX 6700 offering 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the MX550 is described as "Portable Device Dependent." The RX 6700 was released in June 2021, and the MX550 in December 2021, both now end-of-life.