AMD Radeon Pro 5600M

The AMD Radeon Pro 5600M is a mobile graphics processor built on the RDNA 1.0 architecture, fabricated on TSMC's 7 nm process. It is part of the Radeon Pro Mac (Navi Mobile) generation and features 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units. The GPU operates at a base clock of 822 MHz and a boost clock of 1144 MHz, with memory clocked at 770 MHz (1540 Mbps effective). It is equipped with 8 GB of HBM2 memory across a 2048-bit bus, yielding a memory bandwidth of 394.2 GB/s. The card is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with a 50 W TDP and no power connectors, making it suited for portable systems. Benchmark data places it at the 58th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16351.

Memory Subsystem

The Radeon Pro 5600M's memory configuration is a defining characteristic. It carries 8 GB of HBM2 memory, which is a high-bandwidth, low-power memory type typically found in server or professional GPUs. The 2048-bit bus width is exceptionally wide for a mobile part, and combined with the 770 MHz memory clock (1540 Mbps effective), the card achieves a memory bandwidth of 394.2 GB/s. This figure is critical for high-resolution workloads, as large textures and frame buffers require rapid data transfer to avoid bottlenecks. For 4K or multi-monitor setups, the available bandwidth allows the GPU to stream geometry and texture data efficiently, reducing stutter and improving frame pacing in memory-intensive scenarios. The 8 GB capacity also provides ample headroom for high-resolution textures and complex scenes, though the specific resolution limits are not defined by the benchmark data. The memory subsystem's bandwidth is a key differentiator for this GPU, as it exceeds what typical GDDR6 configurations in similar mobile parts would offer at comparable power envelopes, though direct comparisons to rival memory types are not available in the data.

Who Should Consider It

Based on the benchmark scores, the Radeon Pro 5600M is positioned for users who need solid performance in professional or creative applications rather than raw gaming frame rates. The Geekbench Metal score of 55030 and OpenCL score of 47783 indicate strong compute capability, which is useful for rendering, video editing, and GPU-accelerated workflows. The Vulkan score of 46425 further supports cross-platform compatibility. The PassMark G3D score of 9279 suggests it can handle moderately demanding graphical tasks, but the DirectX 12 score of 39 and DirectX 11 score of 59 are low, implying that traditional gaming benchmarks are not its forte. The 58th percentile ranking means it sits above the median but is not a top-tier performer. Users targeting 1080p or 1440p gaming at medium to high settings might find it adequate, but those seeking high-refresh-rate 4K gaming would likely need more powerful hardware. The 8 GB HBM2 memory and high bandwidth make it particularly suited for high-resolution productivity tasks, such as editing large images or video timelines, where memory capacity and bandwidth are more critical than raw pixel throughput. Its mobile form factor and 50 W TDP also make it suitable for thin-and-light laptops that prioritize battery life over maximum performance.

Benchmark Performance

The Radeon Pro 5600M's average benchmark score across all tests is 16351. This places it exactly level with the AMD Radeon Pro 5700, which also scores 16351, indicating a performance parity between the two. Against the AMD Radeon PRO W7500, the 5600M is 0.2% slower, with the W7500 achieving 16388. Similarly, the AMD Radeon 680M scores 16407, putting it 0.3% ahead, and the NVIDIA T400 scores 16486, leading by 0.8%. These deltas are marginal, meaning the 5600M performs within a tight band of these rivals. In specific benchmarks, the Geekbench Metal result of 55030 is the highest among the listed scores, suggesting that Apple's Metal API is well-optimized for this GPU. The OpenCL score of 47783 is about 13% lower than Metal, and Vulkan at 46425 is about 16% lower, indicating API-specific performance variations. The PassMark G3D score of 9279 is a composite measure that reflects overall 3D rendering capability, while the compute score of 4031 shows moderate general-purpose compute throughput. The low DirectX scores (39 for DX12, 59 for DX11, 62 for DX10, 118 for DX9) are notable; they suggest that the GPU is not optimized for legacy DirectX titles, which may be due to its RDNA 1.0 architecture and driver focus on Metal and OpenCL. Overall, the performance profile is consistent with a professional mobile GPU that excels in compute and Metal-accelerated workloads but lags in conventional gaming benchmarks.

How It Compares

AMD Radeon Pro 5700

The Radeon Pro 5600M and the Radeon Pro 5700 have identical average benchmark scores of 16351, indicating a perfect performance parity. This suggests that the two GPUs are effectively interchangeable in terms of overall throughput, despite any architectural differences. The 5700 is likely a desktop or higher-power variant, but the data shows no measurable performance gap in the benchmark suite.

AMD Radeon PRO W7500

The PRO W7500 edges out the 5600M by a tiny margin, scoring 16388 versus 16351, a difference of 0.2%. This is within run-to-run variance and effectively negligible. Users comparing the two would see no practical difference in real-world performance, though the W7500 may have different driver optimizations or feature sets not captured by these benchmarks.

AMD Radeon 680M

The Radeon 680M, an integrated GPU found in newer AMD APUs, scores 16407, which is 0.3% higher than the 5600M. The 680M benefits from newer RDNA 2 or RDNA 3 architecture (not specified in the data), but the performance delta is so small that the 5600M remains competitive, especially given its dedicated HBM2 memory and higher bandwidth.

NVIDIA T400

The NVIDIA T400 leads the group with a score of 16486, 0.8% ahead of the 5600M. This is still a marginal difference, but the T400 is a low-profile professional card that may have different strengths in specific applications. The 5600M's higher memory bandwidth (394.2 GB/s vs. unspecified for T400) could offset the small score gap in bandwidth-sensitive workloads.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The Radeon Pro 5600M does not include dedicated ray tracing cores (rtCores is null) or tensor cores (tensorCores is null). This means hardware-accelerated ray tracing is not available on this GPU; any ray tracing would have to be performed via compute shaders, which is generally less efficient. The architecture is RDNA 1.0, which predates AMD's ray tracing implementation in RDNA 2. As such, the card is not designed for real-time ray tracing workloads. On the API front, it supports DirectX 12 (feature level 12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. This broad API support ensures compatibility with modern applications, but the lack of ray tracing hardware limits its utility in next-generation games that rely on DXR or Vulkan ray tracing. The FP32 performance is 5.857 TFLOPS, and FP16 performance is 11.71 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio), indicating that the GPU can handle half-precision compute tasks at double the rate, which is beneficial for machine learning inference or certain graphics effects that use FP16. The pixel rate is 73.22 GPixel/s and texture rate is 183.0 GTexel/s, providing a baseline for fill-rate performance. The absence of tensor cores also means no dedicated AI acceleration, though FP16 compute can still be used for some AI workloads. Overall, the feature set is competent for professional applications that rely on OpenCL, Metal, and Vulkan, but it lacks the specialized hardware found in more recent GPUs.

FAQ

Q: What is the memory bandwidth of the Radeon Pro 5600M?

A: The memory bandwidth is 394.2 GB/s, achieved through 8 GB of HBM2 memory on a 2048-bit bus.

Q: Does the Radeon Pro 5600M support hardware ray tracing?

A: No. The GPU has no dedicated ray tracing cores (rtCores is null), so hardware-accelerated ray tracing is not supported.

Q: What is the FP32 compute performance?

A: The FP32 performance is 5.857 TFLOPS, while FP16 performance is 11.71 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio).

Q: How does the Radeon Pro 5600M compare to the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 in average benchmark score?

A: They are exactly equal, both scoring 16351 on average.

Q: What API versions does the Radeon Pro 5600M support?

A: It supports DirectX 12 (feature level 12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3.

Q: What is the TDP of the Radeon Pro 5600M?

A: The TDP is 50 W, and it is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with no power connectors.