AMD Radeon RX 550 reviews: Cost-wise, there is undoubtedly a real concern, and the RX 550X Mobile’s price is outlandish. The RX 550X Mobile currently has 2048 MB RAM, which might cause major memory-related difficulties in more recent games.
AMD Radeon RX 550 reviews
The cooling system on the RX 550X Mobile does a great job at keeping the maximum load temperature cool and under control. The RX 550X Mobile can play more recent games with little to no memory-related issues thanks to its current 2048 MB RAM.
The Radeon RX 550
The Radeon RX 550’s complete technical specifications are shown in the table below, although overall, they are significantly less powerful than the $100 RX 560, the last model in AMD’s new Radeon RX 500 series, which will be released in early May. Its GPU is only one-fourth that of the $170 Radeon RX 570.
Specs for the AMD Radeon RX 550 graphics card
Even though the Polaris GPU in the Radeon RX 550 only has 8 compute units, and 512 stream processors, e-sports or home theater PCs don’t require a lot of power. With 2GB of GDDR5 memory connected to a 128-bit bus, it runs at a 1,100MHz base and 1,183MHz boost. There will be a few 4GB variants available as well. However, that underpowered internals merely requires underpowered power. There are no additional power cables needed; the Radeon RX 550 receives all its power from the PCIe slot on your motherboard. That’s a major thing for people who want their existing PCs to have more power—likely a sizable chunk of the target market for this card.
AMD’s Polaris GPU includes media functions
The Radeon RX 550 supports contemporary media technologies in addition to e-sports gaming capabilities, which are enhanced by compatibility with inexpensive Free Sync variable refresh rate displays. While the GPU is capable of HEVC encoding and decoding, the HDMI 2.0b and DisplayPort 1.4 connectors can handle 4K quality and high-dynamic-range video. Because of this, using this little graphics card in a home theater PC is an intriguing choice.
Low-profile variants of the Radeon RX 550 are expected “shortly after” debut, according to AMD, and they would undoubtedly fit tiny HTPCs.
Test version
Today’s test version is not a covert one. It’s not even as compact as the majority of 3GB GeForce GTX 1060 cards. Instead, the Power Color Red Devil Radeon RX 550 has a single fan and a plastic cover over a tiny heatsink resembling a stock CPU cooler, which is the same basic cooling setup as Power Color’s RX 460. That is not unexpected. Given that the Radeon RX 550 is so inexpensive, AMD did not produce a reference model for any of the Radeon RX 500 series graphics cards. As a result, we anticipate that manufacturers will reuse coolers extensively, particularly in the initial wave of goods.
Port statement
There are single connections for the DisplayPort and HDMI as well as DVI-D, which is no longer part of AMD’s reference lineup but is still quite useful for older and budget-friendly displays in this price range.
Overview of the Radeon RX 550X 4GB Game Requirement Analysis
An OEM version of the existing RX 500 series is the new AMD Radeon RX 500X series. The 4th Generation of the Graphics Core Next (GCN) Architecture is the foundation of the Middle-Class Graphics Card Radeon RX 550X 4GB. The Radeon RX 500X series graphics cards have the same specifications as the Radeon RX 500 series.
GPU
It has a graphics processing unit (GPU) called Baffin XT that has 14 compute units enabled, resulting in 896 Shader Processing Units, 56 TMUs, and 16 ROPs.
Memory
The GPU uses a 128-bit memory interface to access a 4GB frame buffer of Fast GDDR5, with a memory clock of 1750 MHz
Consumption of energy
With a board TDP of 75W, it needs at least a 350W power supply and only uses the PCI slot for power, so no additional connectors are needed.
Performance
The competitive MOBO gamers were the target market for this graphics card’s design and marketing. a portable, lightweight, small-form-factor GPU solution that enables gamers to transport more compact, less expensive gaming equipment to events. Most modern games can be played with the Radeon RX 550X 4GB at medium graphics settings and 1600p screen resolution with an average frame rate of 45+FPS. It performs identically to the Radeon RX 550.
System Recommendations
The best resolutions for the Radeon RX 550X 4GB are up to and including 1600×900. For Optimal Performance, we advise a Performance Processor and 8GB of RAM.
AMD Radeon RX 550 test results
I regrettably lack a PC with integrated graphics to evaluate the AMD Radeon RX 550 against. However, I tested an AMD A10-7860K APU-powered system with quite powerful integrated graphics last year, and while it was unquestionably capable of running e-sports games, it necessitated some significant trade-offs. How well that PC performed in the games we are evaluating today is shown below. Pay great attention to the resolution and graphical settings provided next to each game because that is the combination that was necessary to make the games run nearly at the revered 60 fps per second standard.
How the Power Color AMD Radeon RX 550 performed in those same games as a comparison?
All games were evaluated using High graphics settings and a resolution of 1900 x 1200. To examine how the card performs outside of e-sports, we also tested two classic AAA titles on Low graphics settings.
As you can see, AMD Radeon RX 550 provides a significantly better experience than even the Radeon integrated graphics on a more expensive AMD APU, exceeding 100 frames per second at even higher resolutions and visual settings in the tested games. Not bad at all! The Radeon RX 550’s ability to play The Division and Rise of the Tomb Raider, two of the most beautiful games in recent memory, even on low settings, is also not too shabby. If you intend to play anything other than e-sports on a regular basis, you will undoubtedly need a more powerful graphics card. But in a crunch, the Radeon RX 550 can hold its own.
Even better, this energy-efficient card produces less heat and requires little power. (Clarification update: Power metrics reflect the power of the entire system, not just the GPU.)
Pros of AMD Radeon RX 550
- Large performance improvement over integrated graphics for e-sports
- Offers a contemporary ecosystem and media features
Cons of AMD Radeon RX 550
- No small form size variants available at launch; too expensive
Conclusion
Is a card this little still valuable? The benchmarks categorically state that yes, if your consumption is covered by its scope.
AMD Radeon RX 550 undoubtedly delivers if you’re using a PC with integrated graphics and want to enhance your e-sports experience (and dabble in other games) without spending more than $100. Since streaming capabilities are already included in AMD’s Radeon Software Crimson, you won’t have any trouble broadcasting your adventures to Twitch thanks to Polaris’s deep encoding support. The speed difference is night and day. It appears this card was created just for e-sports.
