AMD unveils Radeon RX 5500 – Navi at 7 nanometers for the middle class

After more than seven years with the Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture and derivatives, AMD chose during the summer to launch a completely new Radeon DNA (RDNA). The first graphics cards with the architecture were the Radeon RX 5700 XT and RX 5700 in the Navi family, where the focus was on the upper middle class.

However, AMD made it clear from the beginning that the duo was only the beginning and that Navi would eventually be released for more price ranges. Since then, there have been rumors ranging from a significantly larger graphics circuit that could take up the fight against Nvidia in the top tier, to a graphics circuit for lower performance segments.

Now AMD is releasing the next part of the Navi saga. It is a new graphics circuit with the architecture Radeon DNA, but in a smaller version than before. The graphics circuit, which has no official name but is believed to be called Navi 14, drops in size from big brother 251 mm² to 158 mm².

Specifications: – AMD Radeon RX 5500

* AMD no longer communicates the base frequency of graphics cards as it is “uninteresting”.

In terms of specifications, the circuit has a total of 24 calculation units, but for the first Radeon RX 5500 graphics card, only 22 of these are activated. This strongly suggests that AMD will in future release another graphics card called the RX 5500 XT with the new circuit in full suspension.

The number of computing units gives the graphics card a total of 1,408 stream processors and 88 texture units, compared to 1,536 and 96 respectively for the full-scale variant AMD is holding. The “guaranteed” game frequency (Game) is at 1,717 MHz while the maximum turbo frequency (Boost) is set at 1,845 MHz.

On the memory front, the bus width is halved to only 128 bits, compared to 256 bits for the Navi 10. The fact that AMD has chosen to equip the graphics card with GDDR6 memory at an efficient clock frequency of 14,000 MHz still makes it possible to reach the bandwidth sufficient for the class. 224 GB / s. The amount of memory is 4 or 8 GB depending on the price.

The power consumption of the graphics card is set to 150 W, which means that in theory it should be possible to operate via the motherboard’s PCI Express connection and a single 6-pin cable. Despite this, in principle, all Radeon RX 5500s from partner manufacturers are expected to be equipped with an 8-pin connector to provide space for overclocking and increased frequencies from the factory.

Although AMD sends pictures of what looks like a reference design, the company’s representative says that one is not released. Instead, it is entirely up to its partner manufacturers to develop their own variants of the Radeon RX 5500, with their own designs for both circuit boards and cooling solutions.

In terms of competition, the newcomer is aimed at Nvidia’s Geforce GTX 1650, which at today’s prices can be considered a graphics card in the lower middle class. According to AMD’s own figures, the Radeon RX 5500 is up to 37 percent faster, while at the same time it is a significantly faster graphics card than the three-year-old RX 480.

Compared to its own graphics cards, AMD does not want to make any current comparisons, but is content to compare the Radeon RX 5500 to the RX 480, where the newcomer is stated to be 12 percent faster. It is worth mentioning then that AMD does not take into account the increased clock frequencies that came with the successor RX 580 and later RX 590, of which the latter can be considered to be more than 12 percent faster than an RX 480.

In conclusion, AMD does not want to go into any details about the price, but given the specifications and performance, the graphics card can be expected to replace the popular Radeon RX 570 and RX 580. Nvidia Geforce GTX 1650, against which the RX 5500 is compared, has a recommended price of 149 USD or about 2,000 kroner in Sweden.

AMD is also unclear about the launch and stops short of the Radeon RX 5500 being released during the “fourth quarter”. However, most indications are that the first models from partner manufacturers will be available in November.

The AMD Radeon RX 5500M takes over laptops

At the same time as AMD announces the Radeon RX 5500 for desktops, the company is taking the opportunity to release the graphics card for laptops as well. These are largely the same specifications, but here the amount of GDDR6 graphics memory is only 4 GB and the clock frequencies are as usual lower.

As usual, the TDP value also steps down, from 150 to 85 W for the portable variant. However, AMD is clear that this is not a fixed value but the maximum of the graphics card. Partner manufacturers have free rein to adjust this – and thereby also performance – further to be able to use the circuit in thinner designs.

The first computer to be released with the Radeon RX 5500M laptop is the new Alpha 15 from MSI, which also uses AMD’s quad-core Ryzen 7 3750H processor. The model will be released later in October and will be followed up by more computer designers shortly thereafter.