ATI Radeon HD 5550

The ATI Radeon HD 5550, built on AMD’s TeraScale 2 architecture with the Redwood chip, is an end-of-life entry-level graphics card that occupies the 50th percentile among all GPUs in the database. With 320 shading units, 16 texture mapping units, and 8 render output units, this 40 nm TSMC part delivers a peak FP32 throughput of 352.0 GFLOPS, a texture rate of 8.800 GTexel/s, and a pixel rate of 4.400 GPixel/s. Its 512 MB GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus yields 51.20 GB/s of bandwidth, and with a 39 W TDP it requires no auxiliary power connectors and only a 200 W suggested PSU. The benchmark scores for this card are zero, and the nearestRivals list is empty, so all comparative analysis below relies on the card’s absolute specifications and architectural position rather than direct measured deltas.

How It Compares

The HD 5550’s lack of nearestRivals data means direct percentage comparisons against specific cards are unavailable. However, its position at the 50th percentile of all GPUs indicates it sits exactly at the median of the database’s performance distribution—neither a standout nor a laggard. This implies that in a typical benchmark suite, roughly half of all GPUs would outperform it and half would underperform, making it a baseline reference point for entry-level performance in its generation. The card’s 352.0 GFLOPS FP32 throughput and 8.800 GTexel/s texture rate place it in a class where modern integrated graphics or low-end discrete parts would likely compete, though no numeric rival scores exist to quantify that gap. The 51.20 GB/s memory bandwidth, while modest by current standards, was adequate for the 512 MB frame buffer at the card’s intended resolutions. Without rival scores, the analysis must treat the HD 5550 as a standalone data point—its percentile ranking is the only comparative metric available, and it suggests a balanced, middling performance profile.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The HD 5550 does not include dedicated ray tracing cores or tensor cores, as these are absent from the FACT PACK’s fields for this card. Instead, it relies on the TeraScale 2 architecture’s traditional shader-based rendering pipeline, with 320 unified shading units handling all compute and graphics workloads. For API support, the card exposes DirectX 11.2 (feature level 11_0), which was forward-looking at its 2010 release, and OpenGL 4.4. Vulkan support is not listed, meaning the card predates that API’s standardization and cannot run Vulkan titles. The absence of hardware ray tracing means any ray-traced effects would fall back to compute shaders or be entirely unsupported, but this was standard for the era—dedicated RT hardware did not exist in consumer GPUs until much later. The feature set is therefore defined by legacy DirectX 11 and OpenGL support, with no modern acceleration for ray tracing or AI-driven tensor operations. The card’s 16 TMUs and 8 ROPs cap its ability to handle high-resolution textures and post-processing effects, but the architecture’s strength lies in its power efficiency rather than raw feature breadth.

Power and Cooling

The HD 5550 is exceptionally power-efficient, with a TDP of just 39 W. This low thermal envelope allows for a single-slot cooler design, as indicated by the slotWidth field. The card requires no power connectors—it draws all its power from the PCIe 2.0 x16 slot—and the suggested PSU is a modest 200 W, making it suitable for pre-built systems with small power supplies. The 40 nm process node from TSMC contributes to this efficiency; with 627 million transistors on a 104 mm² die, the transistor density is 6.0M / mm², which was typical for the era’s mid-range parts. The card’s length is 165 mm (6.5 inches), a compact size that fits most chassis, including small form factor cases. Cooling requirements are minimal given the 39 W heat output, so a passive or low-speed fan design would suffice, though the FACT PACK does not specify the cooler’s specifics. The lack of power connectors simplifies installation, but the 200 W PSU recommendation underscores that this card was aimed at office desktops or HTPCs rather than gaming rigs with high-wattage components. Thermal performance should be benign, but no temperature data is provided for verification.

Who Should Consider It

Given the HD 5550’s 50th percentile ranking and its specifications, this card is suited for legacy systems or basic display output rather than modern gaming. The 512 MB GDDR5 frame buffer and 51.20 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 1080p video playback and 2D desktop workloads, but 3D gaming at that resolution would strain the 352.0 GFLOPS compute throughput and 4.400 GPixel/s fill rate. Users running older DirectX 11 titles at low settings and 720p or lower resolutions might find acceptable performance, but the card is not recommended for any current AAA game. The absence of Vulkan support further limits compatibility with modern game engines that rely on that API. For productivity tasks like office suites, web browsing, or legacy software that uses OpenGL 4.4, the HD 5550 is more than adequate. Its 39 W power draw and single-slot design make it an ideal candidate for upgrading an old office PC that lacks a discrete GPU, as long as the system’s PSU meets the 200 W recommendation. However, the card’s end-of-life status means driver support has ceased, and users should not expect optimizations for new titles. The 50th percentile score suggests balanced performance, but that balance is relative to a database that includes many weaker integrated solutions—it is a floor, not a ceiling.

Benchmark Performance

The HD 5550’s benchmark data shows an average score of 0, and the nearestRivals list is empty, so no percentage deltas can be computed against specific competitors. The percentileVsAllGpus value of 50 is the sole quantitative comparative metric, indicating that the card’s performance (were it measured) would fall exactly at the median of all GPUs in the database. This is a peculiar outcome because the card’s raw specifications—320 shading units, 8.800 GTexel/s texture rate, and 352.0 GFLOPS—are low by modern standards, yet the percentile suggests it outperforms half of all GPUs ever tested. This could reflect a database that includes many older or integrated parts, where the HD 5550’s dedicated memory and shader count give it an edge. The memory clock of 800 MHz (3.2 Gbps effective) yields 51.20 GB/s bandwidth, which is a bottleneck for the 320 shaders in fill-rate-heavy scenes but acceptable for compute-light workloads. The FP32 throughput of 352.0 GFLOPS translates to roughly 1.1 GFLOPS per shading unit, a figure that places it below any modern discrete GPU but above many iGPUs. The pixel rate of 4.400 GPixel/s caps 1080p fill at about 44 frames per second in a worst-case overdraw scenario, but real-world games rarely hit that limit. In the absence of rival scores, the analysis can only infer that the HD 5550 is a median performer—adequate for its intended era and resolution class, but with no headroom for future demands. The 16 TMUs and 8 ROPs are the hard limits for texturing and blending, and they align with the 50th percentile ranking: not embarrassing, not impressive. Ultimately, the benchmark section must conclude that without nearestRivals data, the HD 5550’s performance is defined by its specifications alone, and those specifications describe a card that was entry-level at launch and remains so in the database’s historical context.