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AMD Radeon RX 6550S

AMD Radeon RX 6550S: A Balance of Price and Performance for Gamers and Enthusiasts

Updated: April 2025

Architecture and Key Features: RDNA 3 in a Compact Form Factor

The AMD Radeon RX 6550S is built on the updated RDNA 3 architecture, optimized for mobile and compact systems. The chip is manufactured using TSMC's 5-nanometer process, ensuring high energy efficiency and reduced heat output.

Unique Features:

- FidelityFX Super Resolution 3.0 — AI-driven upscaling technology that boosts FPS by 40-50% in 4K mode.

- Hybrid Ray Tracing — A hybrid ray tracing technology that combines hardware and software acceleration for smooth gameplay in titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Alan Wake 2.

- Smart Access Memory — Improved compatibility with Ryzen 5000/7000 processors, speeding up data exchange between CPU and GPU.

Supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.3, and OpenGL 4.6, making the card versatile for modern projects.

Memory: GDDR6 and Optimization for 1080p Gaming

The RX 6550S is equipped with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 128-bit bus. The bandwidth reaches 256 GB/s thanks to a clock speed of 16 Gbps. This is sufficient for comfortable gaming at 1080p and 1440p, but 4K performance may be limited due to the amount of VRAM.

Impact on Performance:

- In games with high textures (e.g., Horizon Forbidden West), 8 GB of memory allows for stable FPS at high settings.

- When ray tracing and FSR 3.0 are enabled, memory load increases, so it is recommended to reduce detail settings for 4K.

Gaming Performance: Stability in Full HD and QHD

The RX 6550S is positioned as a solution for 1080p@60-100 FPS and 1440p@40-60 FPS (depending on the game).

Examples of Average FPS (Ultra Settings, no FSR):

- Cyberpunk 2077: 72 FPS (1080p), 48 FPS (1440p).

- Call of Duty: Warzone: 95 FPS (1080p), 65 FPS (1440p).

- Elden Ring: 68 FPS (1080p), 52 FPS (1440p).

Ray Tracing:

With Hybrid Ray Tracing enabled, FPS drops by 25-35%, but with FSR 3.0 Quality, performance can be restored up to 80%. For example, in Fortnite with RT and FSR, the card delivers a stable 60 FPS at 1440p.

For 4K gaming, this model is only suitable for lighter titles (CS2, Valorant) or when using FSR 3.0 Performance.

Professional Tasks: Moderate Capabilities

The RX 6550S is not designed for heavy workloads, but it is adequate for basic tasks:

- Video Editing: Accelerates rendering in DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro via OpenCL. Exporting a 4K video will take 15-20% longer compared to an RTX 4060.

- 3D Modeling: In Blender and Maya, the card shows modest results — rendering a mid-complexity scene will take 2-3 hours.

- Scientific Calculations: Support for OpenCL and ROCm 5.0 allows for GPU use in machine learning, but the lack of specialized cores (like CUDA in NVIDIA) limits speed.

Recommendation: For professional work, better to opt for models with 12+ GB of memory and support for hardware AI acceleration (e.g., Radeon Pro W7800).

Power Consumption and Heat Output: Compactness Without Overheating

- TDP: 100W — one of the most energy-efficient cards in the segment.

- Cooling: The reference version uses a dual-fan system, keeping temperatures under load in the range of 65-75°C.

- Case Recommendations: A compact case with 2-3 fans is suitable. Minimum volume — 25 liters (e.g., Fractal Design Terra).

You will need a power supply of 450-500W with an 8-pin connector.

Comparison with Competitors: The Budget Battle

AMD Radeon RX 6550S vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti (8 GB):

- Advantages of AMD: Lower price ($249 vs. $299), better energy efficiency, FSR 3.0 vs. DLSS 2.0.

- Advantages of NVIDIA: More stable ray tracing performance, CUDA support for professional tasks.

AMD Radeon RX 6550S vs Intel Arc A580:

- Advantages of AMD: Optimization for older games, fewer driver issues.

- Advantages of Intel: Better performance in Vulkan projects, price $229.

Practical Tips: How to Avoid Mistakes

1. Power Supply: Don't skimp on the PSU — choose models from Corsair CX550 or be quiet! Pure Power 11 (500W).

2. Compatibility: Ensure that the motherboard supports PCIe 4.0 for maximum performance.

3. Drivers: Use Adrenalin Edition 2025.4.1 or newer — which includes improved stability in DirectX 12 Ultimate.

4. Overclocking: The card has limited overclocking potential — increasing the frequency by 5-7% will yield a boost of 3-5 FPS.

Pros and Cons of RX 6550S

Pros:

- Ideal for 1080p gaming.

- Low power consumption.

- Supports FSR 3.0 and Hybrid Ray Tracing.

- Attractive price ($249).

Cons:

- Only 8 GB of memory.

- Weaker than competitors in ray tracing performance.

- Limited support for professional software.

Conclusion: Who Should Consider the RX 6550S?

This graphics card is an excellent choice for:

- Gamers who want to play in Full HD at high settings without overspending.

- Owners of compact PCs with limited cooling.

- Budget builds — the combination of price and AMD technologies makes it more advantageous than many alternatives.

If you need 4K, advanced rendering, or maximum ray tracing experience — consider the RX 7700 XT or RTX 4070. However, for its intended tasks, the RX 6550S remains one of the best offers of 2025 in the sub-$300 category.

Basic

Label Name

AMD

Platform

Mobile

Launch Date

January 2023

Model Name

Radeon RX 6550S

Generation

Navi Mobile

Base Clock

2000MHz

Boost Clock

2400MHz

Bus Interface

PCIe 4.0 x4

Transistors

5,400 million

RT Cores

Compute Units

TMUs

Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) serve as components of the GPU, which are capable of rotating, scaling, and distorting binary images, and then placing them as textures onto any plane of a given 3D model. This process is called texture mapping.

Foundry

TSMC

Process Size

6 nm

Architecture

RDNA 2.0

Memory Specifications

Memory Size

4GB

Memory Type

GDDR6

Memory Bus

The memory bus width refers to the number of bits of data that the video memory can transfer within a single clock cycle. The larger the bus width, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted instantaneously, making it one of the crucial parameters of video memory. The memory bandwidth is calculated as: Memory Bandwidth = Memory Frequency x Memory Bus Width / 8. Therefore, when the memory frequencies are similar, the memory bus width will determine the size of the memory bandwidth.

64bit

Memory Clock

2000MHz

Bandwidth

Memory bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate between the graphics chip and the video memory. It is measured in bytes per second, and the formula to calculate it is: memory bandwidth = working frequency × memory bus width / 8 bits.

128.0 GB/s

Theoretical Performance

Pixel Rate

Pixel fill rate refers to the number of pixels a graphics processing unit (GPU) can render per second, measured in MPixels/s (million pixels per second) or GPixels/s (billion pixels per second). It is the most commonly used metric to evaluate the pixel processing performance of a graphics card.

76.80 GPixel/s

Texture Rate

Texture fill rate refers to the number of texture map elements (texels) that a GPU can map to pixels in a single second.

153.6 GTexel/s

FP16 (half)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy.

9.830 TFLOPS

FP64 (double)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy, while single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

307.2 GFLOPS

FP32 (float)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

4.817 TFLOPS

Miscellaneous

Shading Units

The most fundamental processing unit is the Streaming Processor (SP), where specific instructions and tasks are executed. GPUs perform parallel computing, which means multiple SPs work simultaneously to process tasks.

1024

L1 Cache

128 KB per Array

L2 Cache

1024KB

TDP

50W

Vulkan Version

Vulkan is a cross-platform graphics and compute API by Khronos Group, offering high performance and low CPU overhead. It lets developers control the GPU directly, reduces rendering overhead, and supports multi-threading and multi-core processors.

1.3

OpenCL Version

2.2

OpenGL

4.6

DirectX

12 Ultimate (12_2)

Power Connectors

None

Shader Model

6.7

ROPs

The Raster Operations Pipeline (ROPs) is primarily responsible for handling lighting and reflection calculations in games, as well as managing effects like anti-aliasing (AA), high resolution, smoke, and fire. The more demanding the anti-aliasing and lighting effects in a game, the higher the performance requirements for the ROPs; otherwise, it may result in a sharp drop in frame rate.

Benchmarks

FP32 (float)

Score

4.817 TFLOPS

Compared to Other GPU

FP32 (float) / TFLOPS

Radeon RX 570X

4.993 +3.7%

GRID M60 4A

4.922 +2.2%

Radeon RX 6550S

4.817

GeForce MX570

4.636 -3.8%

GeForce RTX 2060 Max Q

4.459 -7.4%