Radeon RX 6500M vs Iris Graphics 550

Place in the ranking	707	270
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	17.07	27.87
Architecture	Generation 9.0 (2015−2016)	RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code name	Skylake GT3e	Navi 24
Market segment	Desktop	Laptop
Release date	1 September 2015 (9 years ago)	4 January 2022 (2 years ago)

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	384	1024
Core clock speed	300 MHz	2000 MHz
Boost clock speed	1000 MHz	2400 MHz
Number of transistors	189 million	5,400 million
Manufacturing process technology	14 nm+	6 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	15 Watt	50 Watt
Texture fill rate	48.00	153.6
Floating-point processing power	0.768 TFLOPS	4.915 TFLOPS
ROPs	6	32
TMUs	48	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	no data	medium sized
Interface	Ring Bus	PCIe 4.0 x4
Width	IGP	no data
Supplementary power connectors	no data	None

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	System Shared	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	System Shared	4 GB
Memory bus width	System Shared	64 Bit
Memory clock speed	System Shared	2250 MHz
Memory bandwidth	no data	144.0 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

No outputs

Supported technologies

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

Quick Sync

no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_1)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	6.4	6.6
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	3.0	2.2
Vulkan	1.3	1.3

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.

Iris Graphics 550 3.70

RX 6500M 20.13
+444%

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.

Iris Graphics 550 1427

RX 6500M 7767
+444%

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.

Iris Graphics 550 2534

RX 6500M 17889
+606%

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.

Iris Graphics 550 9761

RX 6500M 52161
+434%

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

Iris Graphics 550 1648

RX 6500M 14018
+751%

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

Iris Graphics 550 12986

RX 6500M 88601
+582%

3DMark Time Spy Graphics

Iris Graphics 550 561

RX 6500M 4372
+680%

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:

Full HD	18 −250%	63 +250%
1440p	28 −436%	150−160 +436%
4K	50 −440%	270−280 +440%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

6−7

−1000%

66
+1000%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−11 −350%	45−50 +350%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 −3000%	62 +3000%
Battlefield 5	7−8 −857%	65−70 +857%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	8−9 −413%	40−45 +413%
Cyberpunk 2077	6−7 −1017%	67 +1017%
Far Cry 5	7−8 −571%	45−50 +571%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−11 −440%	50−55 +440%
Forza Horizon 4	21−24 −495%	120−130 +495%
Hitman 3	7 −771%	61 +771%
Horizon Zero Dawn	24−27 −292%	95−100 +292%
Metro Exodus	6−7 −1067%	70−75 +1067%
Red Dead Redemption 2	9−10 −500%	50−55 +500%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	14−16 −379%	65−70 +379%
Watch Dogs: Legion	40−45 −124%	90−95 +124%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−11 −350%	45−50 +350%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 −2150%	45 +2150%
Battlefield 5	7−8 −857%	65−70 +857%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	8−9 −413%	40−45 +413%
Cyberpunk 2077	6−7 −433%	32 +433%
Far Cry 5	7−8 −571%	45−50 +571%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−11 −440%	50−55 +440%
Forza Horizon 4	21−24 −495%	120−130 +495%
Hitman 3	9−10 −544%	58 +544%
Horizon Zero Dawn	24−27 −292%	95−100 +292%
Metro Exodus	6−7 −1067%	70−75 +1067%
Red Dead Redemption 2	9−10 −500%	50−55 +500%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	12 −692%	95 +692%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	19 −137%	45−50 +137%
Watch Dogs: Legion	40−45 −124%	90−95 +124%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−11 −350%	45−50 +350%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 −1850%	39 +1850%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	8−9 −413%	40−45 +413%
Cyberpunk 2077	6−7 −383%	29 +383%
Far Cry 5	7−8 −571%	45−50 +571%
Forza Horizon 4	21−24 −495%	120−130 +495%
Hitman 3	9−10 −511%	55 +511%
Horizon Zero Dawn	24−27 −292%	95−100 +292%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	15 −453%	83 +453%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 −160%	39 +160%
Watch Dogs: Legion	40−45 +64%	25 −64%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

9−10

−500%

50−55
+500%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	6−7 −550%	35−40 +550%
Far Cry New Dawn	5−6 −520%	30−35 +520%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4 −600%	21−24 +600%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	3−4 −667%	21−24 +667%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 −500%	12−14 +500%
Far Cry 5	4−5 −475%	21−24 +475%
Forza Horizon 4	2−3 −5600%	110−120 +5600%
Hitman 3	8−9 −200%	24−27 +200%
Horizon Zero Dawn	9−10 −367%	40−45 +367%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	3−4 −667%	21−24 +667%
Watch Dogs: Legion	21−24 −445%	120−130 +445%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

7−8

−386%

30−35
+386%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	2−3 −900%	20−22 +900%
Far Cry New Dawn	2−3 −650%	14−16 +650%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3 −500%	12−14 +500%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	1−2 −900%	10−11 +900%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2 −1000%	10−12 +1000%
Cyberpunk 2077	0−1	4−5
Far Cry 5	2−3 −450%	10−12 +450%
Forza Horizon 4	2−3 −1300%	27−30 +1300%
Watch Dogs: Legion	1−2 −800%	9−10 +800%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

4−5

−350%

18−20
+350%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Metro Exodus	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%

4K
High Preset

Hitman 3	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	100−110 +0%	100−110 +0%
Metro Exodus	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

21−24

+0%

21−24

+0%

This is how Iris Graphics 550 and RX 6500M compete in popular games:

RX 6500M is 250% faster in 1080p
RX 6500M is 436% faster in 1440p
RX 6500M is 440% faster in 4K

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

in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the Iris Graphics 550 is 64% faster.
in Forza Horizon 4, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RX 6500M is 5600% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

Iris Graphics 550 is ahead in 1 test (1%)
RX 6500M is ahead in 62 tests (87%)
there's a draw in 8 tests (11%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	3.70	20.13
Recency	1 September 2015	4 January 2022
Chip lithography	14 nm	6 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	15 Watt	50 Watt

Iris Graphics 550 has 233.3% lower power consumption.

RX 6500M, on the other hand, has a 444.1% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 6 years, and a 133.3% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 6500M is our recommended choice as it beats the Iris Graphics 550 in performance tests.

Be aware that Iris Graphics 550 is a desktop card while Radeon RX 6500M is a notebook one.

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