Radeon RX 6800 vs RX 550

Place in the ranking	550	42
Place by popularity	21	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	2.92	51.06
Power efficiency	9.70	15.77
Architecture	GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)	RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code name	Lexa	Navi 21
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	20 April 2017 (7 years ago)	28 October 2020 (4 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$79	$579

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 6800 has 1649% better value for money than RX 550.

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	512	3840
Core clock speed	1100 MHz	1700 MHz
Boost clock speed	1183 MHz	2105 MHz
Number of transistors	2,200 million	26,800 million
Manufacturing process technology	14 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	50 Watt	250 Watt
Texture fill rate	37.86	505.2
Floating-point processing power	1.211 TFLOPS	16.17 TFLOPS
ROPs	16	96
TMUs	32	240
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	60

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).

Interface	PCIe 3.0 x8	PCIe 4.0 x16
Length	145 mm	267 mm
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	None	2x 8-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	GDDR5	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	16 GB
Memory bus width	128 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1750 MHz	2000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	112.0 GB/s	512.0 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	1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort	1x HDMI, 2x DisplayPort, 1x USB Type-C
HDMI	+	+

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_0)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	6.4	6.5
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	2.0	2.1
Vulkan	1.2.131	1.2

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.

RX 550 7.08

RX 6800 57.54
+713%

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.

RX 550 2728

RX 6800 22173
+713%

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	21−24 −738%	176 +738%
1440p	12−14 −733%	100 +733%
4K	7−8 −757%	60 +757%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	3.76	3.29
1440p	6.58	5.79
4K	11.29	9.65

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

135

+0%

135

+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	120−130 +0%	120−130 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	205 +0%	205 +0%
Battlefield 5	180−190 +0%	180−190 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	100−110 +0%	100−110 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	115 +0%	115 +0%
Far Cry 5	100−110 +0%	100−110 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	130−140 +0%	130−140 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	220−230 +0%	220−230 +0%
Hitman 3	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	210−220 +0%	210−220 +0%
Metro Exodus	150−160 +0%	150−160 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	230−240 +0%	230−240 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	140−150 +0%	140−150 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	120−130 +0%	120−130 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	172 +0%	172 +0%
Battlefield 5	180−190 +0%	180−190 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	100−110 +0%	100−110 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	104 +0%	104 +0%
Far Cry 5	100−110 +0%	100−110 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	130−140 +0%	130−140 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	220−230 +0%	220−230 +0%
Hitman 3	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	210−220 +0%	210−220 +0%
Metro Exodus	150−160 +0%	150−160 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	341 +0%	341 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	120−130 +0%	120−130 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	140−150 +0%	140−150 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	120−130 +0%	120−130 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	162 +0%	162 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	100−110 +0%	100−110 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	99 +0%	99 +0%
Far Cry 5	100−110 +0%	100−110 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	220−230 +0%	220−230 +0%
Hitman 3	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	237 +0%	237 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	295 +0%	295 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	152 +0%	152 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	88 +0%	88 +0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

110−120

+0%

110−120

+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	120−130 +0%	120−130 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	90−95 +0%	90−95 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	65−70 +0%	65−70 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	144 +0%	144 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	65−70 +0%	65−70 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	74 +0%	74 +0%
Far Cry 5	65−70 +0%	65−70 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	270−280 +0%	270−280 +0%
Hitman 3	80−85 +0%	80−85 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	186 +0%	186 +0%
Metro Exodus	138 +0%	138 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	215 +0%	215 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	95−100 +0%	95−100 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	220−230 +0%	220−230 +0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

95−100

+0%

95−100

+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	65−70 +0%	65−70 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%
Hitman 3	70 +0%	70 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	210−220 +0%	210−220 +0%
Metro Exodus	80−85 +0%	80−85 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	99 +0%	99 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	99 +0%	99 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	34 +0%	34 +0%
Far Cry 5	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	85−90 +0%	85−90 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	127 +0%	127 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45 +0%	45 +0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

55−60

+0%

55−60

+0%

This is how RX 550 and RX 6800 compete in popular games:

RX 6800 is 738% faster in 1080p
RX 6800 is 733% faster in 1440p
RX 6800 is 757% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	7.08	57.54
Recency	20 April 2017	28 October 2020
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	16 GB
Chip lithography	14 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	50 Watt	250 Watt

RX 550 has 400% lower power consumption.

RX 6800, on the other hand, has a 712.7% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 3 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 100% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 6800 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon RX 550 in performance tests.

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