Radeon RX 6500 XT vs GeForce GT 550M

Place in the ranking	974	216
Place by popularity	not in top-100	84
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	no data	58.29
Power efficiency	2.94	16.11
Architecture	Fermi (2010−2014)	RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code name	GF108	Navi 24
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	5 January 2011 (13 years ago)	19 January 2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$199

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores	96	1024
Core clock speed	475 MHz	2610 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	2815 MHz
Number of transistors	585 million	5,400 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	6 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	35 Watt	107 Watt
Texture fill rate	7.600	180.2
Floating-point processing power	0.1824 TFLOPS	5.765 TFLOPS
ROPs	4	32
TMUs	16	64
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	16

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Laptop size	large	no data
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x4
Width	no data	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	None	1x 6-pin

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory type	DDR3	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	8 GB
Memory bus width	128 Bit	64 Bit
Memory clock speed	900 MHz	2248 MHz
Memory bandwidth	28.8 GB/s	143.9 GB/s
Shared memory	-	-

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectors	Portable Device Dependent	1x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 1.4a
HDMI	-	+

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

Optimus

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX	12 API	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	5.1	6.6
OpenGL	4.5	4.6
OpenCL	1.1	2.2
Vulkan	N/A	1.3
CUDA	+	-

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

GT 550M 1.48

RX 6500 XT 24.79
+1575%

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

GT 550M 573

RX 6500 XT 9567
+1570%

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

GT 550M 974

RX 6500 XT 22954
+2258%

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

GT 550M 4782

RX 6500 XT 76445
+1499%

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

900p	15 −1567%	250−260 +1567%
Full HD	24 −175%	66 +175%
1440p	2−3 −1600%	34 +1600%
4K	0−1	16

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

4−5

−1700%

72
+1700%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	6−7 −800%	50−55 +800%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −1150%	50−55 +1150%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 −1250%	54 +1250%
Far Cry 5	2−3 −2750%	55−60 +2750%
Far Cry New Dawn	4−5 −1525%	65−70 +1525%
Forza Horizon 4	4−5 −3525%	140−150 +3525%
Hitman 3	6−7 −733%	50−55 +733%
Horizon Zero Dawn	14−16 −660%	110−120 +660%
Red Dead Redemption 2	3−4 −2033%	60−65 +2033%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	8−9 −950%	80−85 +950%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 −212%	100−110 +212%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	6−7 −800%	50−55 +800%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −1150%	50−55 +1150%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 −750%	34 +750%
Far Cry 5	2−3 −2750%	55−60 +2750%
Far Cry New Dawn	4−5 −1525%	65−70 +1525%
Forza Horizon 4	4−5 −3525%	140−150 +3525%
Hitman 3	6−7 −733%	50−55 +733%
Horizon Zero Dawn	14−16 −660%	110−120 +660%
Red Dead Redemption 2	3−4 −2033%	60−65 +2033%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	8−9 −1238%	107 +1238%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−12 −382%	50−55 +382%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 −212%	100−110 +212%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	6−7 −800%	50−55 +800%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −1150%	50−55 +1150%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 −650%	30 +650%
Far Cry 5	2−3 −2750%	55−60 +2750%
Forza Horizon 4	4−5 −3525%	140−150 +3525%
Hitman 3	6−7 −733%	50−55 +733%
Horizon Zero Dawn	14−16 −513%	92 +513%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	8−9 −938%	83 +938%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−12 −391%	54 +391%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 +32%	25 −32%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

3−4

−2033%

60−65
+2033%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	2−3 −2250%	45−50 +2250%
Far Cry New Dawn	2−3 −1800%	35−40 +1800%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	1−2 −2500%	24−27 +2500%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	0−1	27−30
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −1600%	17 +1600%
Far Cry 5	2−3 −1300%	27−30 +1300%
Hitman 3	7−8 −314%	27−30 +314%
Horizon Zero Dawn	5−6 −1220%	66 +1220%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	1−2 −2900%	30−33 +2900%
Watch Dogs: Legion	7−8 −1900%	140−150 +1900%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

4−5

−925%

40−45
+925%

4K
High Preset

Far Cry New Dawn

1−2

−1800%

18−20
+1800%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	1−2 −1400%	14−16 +1400%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	1−2 −500%	6 +500%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	0−1	14−16
Far Cry 5	0−1	14−16

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

3−4

−600%

21−24
+600%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	51 +0%	51 +0%
Battlefield 5	80−85 +0%	80−85 +0%
Metro Exodus	85−90 +0%	85−90 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	43 +0%	43 +0%
Battlefield 5	80−85 +0%	80−85 +0%
Metro Exodus	85−90 +0%	85−90 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla

+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	23 +0%	23 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	140−150 +0%	140−150 +0%
Metro Exodus	57 +0%	57 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	56 +0%	56 +0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Hitman 3	10 +0%	10 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	120−130 +0%	120−130 +0%
Metro Exodus	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	28 +0%	28 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Cyberpunk 2077	4 +0%	4 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	25 +0%	25 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	10 +0%	10 +0%

This is how GT 550M and RX 6500 XT compete in popular games:

RX 6500 XT is 1567% faster in 900p
RX 6500 XT is 175% faster in 1080p
RX 6500 XT is 1600% faster in 1440p

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GT 550M is 32% faster.
in Forza Horizon 4, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the RX 6500 XT is 3525% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

GT 550M is ahead in 1 test (1%)
RX 6500 XT is ahead in 48 tests (70%)
there's a draw in 20 tests (29%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	1.48	24.79
Recency	5 January 2011	19 January 2022
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	8 GB
Chip lithography	40 nm	6 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	35 Watt	107 Watt

GT 550M has 205.7% lower power consumption.

RX 6500 XT, on the other hand, has a 1575% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 11 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 566.7% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 6500 XT is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GT 550M in performance tests.

Be aware that GeForce GT 550M is a notebook card while Radeon RX 6500 XT is a desktop one.

Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.