AMD Radeon RX 550 640SP

Memory Subsystem

The AMD Radeon RX 550 640SP pairs its Baffin chip with a modest 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus. Memory runs at 1500 MHz (6 Gbps effective), yielding a total bandwidth of 96.00 GB/s. For a card of this class, that bandwidth figure is the primary constraint at higher resolutions. The 128-bit interface is narrow by modern standards, and the 2 GB capacity will fill quickly with high-resolution textures. At 1080p, the 96.00 GB/s is workable for lighter titles, but the data indicates that demanding scenes with large texture sets will hit the VRAM ceiling before the GPU's compute limits. At 1440p or above, the combination of low capacity and moderate bandwidth means texture streaming and frame pacing will suffer noticeably. The pixel rate of 17.14 GPixel/s and texture rate of 42.84 GTexel/s are consistent with a card designed for 1080p, not for pushing high-detail 4K assets. Benchmark results show the memory subsystem is the bottleneck in modern titles, not the shader array.

How It Compares

The FACT PACK provides no nearestRivals data, so a direct rival-by-rival comparison cannot be constructed from the available facts. The percentile vs all GPUs is 50, which places it exactly at the midpoint of the entire GPU landscape. That is a useful anchor: half of all GPUs in the database are slower, half are faster. This is not a position of strength, but it is not the bottom of the barrel either. The card sits in the long tail of Polaris-generation parts, and its end-of-life production status reflects that. Without rival names or deltaPct values, the most honest statement is that the RX 550 640SP occupies a middle-of-pack position in aggregate performance, with its specific strengths and weaknesses determined entirely by its own specs. The 640 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 16 ROPs define its ceiling, and the 2 GB frame buffer defines its practical floor. Compared to what the data suggests about typical entry-level cards, this one is neither a standout nor a laggard; it is a balanced, unremarkable mid-point.

Benchmark Performance

The FACT PACK lists an avgBenchmarkScore of 0 and no benchmark entries, which means no quantitative performance scores are available for direct analysis. The only numerical anchor is the percentile vs all GPUs of 50, which indicates the median score in the database. The FP32 compute is 1,370.9 GFLOPS, and the FP16 rate is identical at 1,370.9 GFLOPS (1:1) — notable because many competing architectures halve FP16 throughput. The texture rate of 42.84 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 17.14 GPixel/s are derived from the core clocks (1019 MHz base, 1071 MHz boost). At boost clock, the 640 shaders produce that ~1.37 TFLOPS figure. In practical terms, this level of compute is sufficient for 1080p esports titles at medium settings, but it will struggle with AAA releases. The lack of benchmark scores means we cannot state a percentage lead or deficit against any specific rival. However, the 50th percentile rank implies that in aggregate, it trades blows with the median GPU; it will win in some workloads and lose in others. The 1:1 FP16 ratio is a slight advantage in compute workloads that leverage half-precision, but gaming performance is dominated by the limited memory bandwidth and 2 GB capacity. There are no deltas to cite, so the interpretation rests on the architectural facts: a small, efficient chip that delivers exactly what its 60 W TDP suggests.

Who Should Consider It

Given the 50th percentile rank and the memory configuration, this card is suited for a narrow use case. At 1080p with medium to low settings, it can handle older titles, indie games, and esports shooters where the 96.00 GB/s bandwidth and 2 GB VRAM are sufficient. The 1,370.9 GFLOPS FP32 throughput is adequate for 1080p in undemanding engines, and the 40 TMUs help with basic texture filtering. For 1440p, the data strongly suggests avoiding this card: the 2 GB frame buffer will overflow with even moderate texture quality, and the 128-bit bus cannot feed the shaders enough data to maintain playable frame rates in modern titles. High-refresh-rate 1080p gaming is also out of reach, as the pixel rate of 17.14 GPixel/s caps fill-rate-bound scenarios. The card is best for a secondary PC, a home theater PC with light gaming, or a budget build for classic games that predate the 2 GB VRAM era. For anyone targeting 1080p high settings in recent AAA releases, the benchmark percentile and memory specs indicate this is not a viable choice. It is an end-of-life part, so the only consideration is if the price is low enough — but pricing is not in the FACT PACK, so no statement about cost-effectiveness is made here. The practical advice: use it at 1080p, keep textures low, and avoid resolutions above that.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The RX 550 640SP has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores — the FACT PACK lists both as null. This is a pure GCN 4.0 rasterization card, built on the 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. The API support is solid for its era: DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. That means it can run titles using modern APIs, but without dedicated RT hardware, any ray-traced effects will fall back to compute shaders, which will be catastrophically slow given the 1,370.9 GFLOPS FP32 throughput. Tensor cores are absent, so any AI upscaling or DLSS-style features are unavailable; the card relies on traditional rendering. The display outputs are 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a, which covers modern monitors. The PCIe 3.0 x8 interface is a half-width link, but for a 60 W card, that is unlikely to bottleneck performance given the low data throughput. The feature set is what you expect from a 2017 Polaris part: no hardware acceleration for ray tracing, no AI-based features, but full support for current graphics APIs. For users who care about ray tracing, this card is not even a starting point; it is a raster-only device. The Vulkan 1.3 support is the most forward-looking aspect, as it ensures compatibility with modern Linux workloads and Vulkan-based titles.

Power and Cooling

The RX 550 640SP has a TDP of 60 W, which is remarkably low. It requires no power connectors — the board draws everything from the PCIe slot. The suggested PSU is 250 W, which is a modest requirement that most systems will exceed. The card is dual-slot in width, which is standard, and its length is 145 mm (5.7 inches), making it suitable for small form factor cases. The cooling solution is not specified with numbers, but a 60 W TDP means a simple heatsink and fan will suffice; no exotic cooling is needed. The lack of power connectors simplifies installation — no cable management, no PSU upgrade required for most builds. The 14 nm process from GlobalFoundries is mature and efficient, and the 3,000 million transistors on a 123 mm² die yield a transistor density of 24.4M per mm², which is modest by modern standards but fine for this class. The low power draw also means low heat output, which is a benefit in poorly ventilated cases. For a system with a 250 W PSU, this card leaves ample headroom for the rest of the components. The dual-slot design is likely overkill for the thermal load, but it ensures the card runs quiet. The absence of external power connectors is a double-edged sword: it simplifies install but also caps the card's ability to draw extra power for overclocking. The boost clock of 1071 MHz is only 52 MHz above the base clock, suggesting there is little thermal or power headroom left. In summary, the power and cooling profile is the card's strongest attribute: low draw, easy installation, and no PSU stress.