Skip to main content

AMD raises the bar for 1080p gaming with new Radeon 5500 graphics

AMD Radeon RX 5700 and 5700 XT review
Dan Baker/Digital Trends

Based on the same 7nm technology that AMD recently brought to its new Radeon 5700 graphics family this year at E3, the new entry-level Radeon 5500 graphics card is built for 1080p gaming. Whereas the 57800 series was designed for 1440p gameplay, the 5500 series is designed to bring responsive gameplay to 1080p gaming, including 60 frames-per-second (fps) on high-end AAA titles and 90 fps performance for esports games. Like its premium sibling, the 5500 series is built on AMD’s Navi platform using the 7nm manufacturing process and the company’s RDNA architecture. AMD’s Radeon 5500 series graphics will be available on both desktops and laptops. With the launch of the Radeon 5500 series, AMD is working with OEM partners to make its graphics cards more accessible. While the 5700 series is now available on Alienware, HP Omen, and Lenovo Legion configurations, systems with Radeon 5500 will be coming in the fourth quarter from Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, ASRock, PowerColor, XFX, and Sapphire.

Recommended Videos

The Radeon 5500 boasts a design with 22 compute units and 1,408 stream processors that is capable of 5.2 teraflops on desktop or 4.6 teraflops on mobile. The gaming clock speed is 1.448 GHz on mobile or 1.717 GHz on desktop. The card supports up to 8GB of GDDR6 memory on laptops and that amount is doubled for desktops. With support for PCIe 4.0 and GDDR6 memory, AMD claimed that its new 5500 series delivers twice the performance and bandwidth in these key areas as the preceding PCIe 3.0 standard and GGDR5 class memory.

AMD benchmarked performance of the new Radeon 5500 graphics against its older RX480 and rival Nvidia’s GTX 1060 graphics because that is where most users will be upgrading from, according to company executives. The new GPU performs well, delivering a 1.6X performance per watt jump and a 1.7X performance per area boost. The new part gets a 20% absolute performance boost compared to the RX480 while consuming 27% less power. During a web presentation, AMD showed that its new 5500 series is capable of delivering 92 fps on Gears 5, 82 fps on Borderlands 3, and 60 fps on Ghost Recon, performance that places the card well ahead of Nvidia’s GTX 1650, which performed at 61 fps, 61 fps, and 47 fps, respectively. In epic mode on Overwatch, for example, frame rates went as high as 135 fps with the Radeon 5500, compared to just 89 fps on Nvidia’s card. The Radeon 5500M for laptops delivered similar results, and AMD expects its part to deliver up to 30% faster performance than Nvidia’s GTX 1650 Mobile graphics.

As a bonus to gamers who buy an OEM system with 5500 or 5700 graphics, AMD is throwing in either Borderlands 3 or Ghost Recon for free as part of a promotion. 5500 graphics will work with FreeSync, so be sure to pair your new system with a capable monitor for tear-free graphics.

Along with zero-day drivers, AMD is also working with game developers to optimize games for Radeon GPUs, bringing technologies like FidelityFX, Anit-Lag, and image sharpening that debuted on the 5700 series to the new mainstream 5500 graphics. Anti-Lag improves response time by as much as 23%, according to AMD’s tests, and the feature is noted as being important for gamers in the esports arena. Image sharpening also improves graphics rendering details in scene, making game play more visually immersive. As a subtle dig to Nvidia, AMD claimed that it was committed to bringing all of its new graphics features to every member of its Navi graphics family.

Chuong Nguyen
Silicon Valley-based technology reporter and Giants baseball fan who splits his time between Northern California and Southern…
AMD may have a solution for your VRAM hungry games
Gigabyte's RX 9070 XT GPU.

Following a rocky road to AMD's RX 9000 series GPU launch, rumors circulating on the Chiphell forums suggest that AMD is planning to release a Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card variant equipped with 32GB of GDDR6 memory. If true, this would make it one of the most VRAM-heavy GPUs in AMD’s next-generation lineup, catering to both gamers and AI enthusiasts who require large memory capacities. Reports indicate that this variant could launch by the second quarter of 2025, although AMD has yet to confirm any official details.

The standard RX 9070 XT is expected to feature 16GB of GDDR6 memory, which aligns with previous AMD GPUs in the high-end gaming segment. As pointed out by Techpowerup, to reach the rumored 32GB capacity, AMD would need to use 16 memory modules, each with a 2GB capacity, since there are no GDDR6 memory modules offering higher capacity.

Read more
AMD’s new integrated graphics are almost 70% faster than an RTX 4070
AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su holding up a chip at Computex 2024.

AMD's new integrated graphics look mighty powerful. According to AMD's marketing materials, the upcoming Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip with Radeon 8060S integrated graphics is upwards of 68.1% faster than a laptop RTX 4070, which is currently our pick for the best graphics card for laptops.

You can see the results below. AMD tested the Radeon 8060S in a variety of games at 1080p with the High graphics preset. In most games, the margins are tight. However, you can see some significant leads for AMD in titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Baulder's Gate 3, Hitman 3, and especially Borderlands 3, where that 68.1% increase comes from, as highlighted by Notebookcheck.

Read more
AMD might’ve already lost the war with the RX 9070 XT
Various AMD RX 9000 series graphics cards.

It looks like I may have played myself again. I was genuinely excited about AMD's RX 9070 XT, but now, I'm starting to worry about its future. I always knew that the new AMD flagship wouldn't be able to compete against some of Nvidia's best graphics cards, but I had a lot of hope that it'd still be a great competitor for a number of other reasons.

I'm not doubting the performance of the RX 9070 XT. I have no reason to, as we don't know a thing about it -- and that's exactly why I'm worried. Not only are the GPUs still a complete mystery, but they've also reportedly been delayed. At this rate, I fear that AMD may have lost the war before it even started, and I'm not alone.
What's going on with RDNA 4?

Read more