Navi goes mass market

It’ll power “world’s most technologically advanced 1080p gaming desktops”

AMD ’s impressive 7nm GPU has reached the mainstream with the release of the RX 5500 and the RX 5500M (M for mobile), based around a new Navi 14 chip. These are aimed squarely at 1080p gaming. The RX 5500 has 22 compute units and 1,408 stream units—about two thirds of an RX 5700. The desktop version has a game frequency of 1,670MHz; the mobile version is clocked at 1,448MHz. Both have 4GB of GDDR6 main memory, with 8GB as an option for the desktop. The memory interface has been dropped from 256-bit to 128-bit; AMD says the RX 5500 has been “tuned” for 1080p. To be fair, the effective memory speed hasn’t suffered—it’s 14Gb/s, the same as the RX 5700. The RX 5500 has all the fancy features of its bigger siblings, too, such as FidelityFX, Image Sharpening, and Anti-Lag. The M version has a TDP of 85W; desktop version 150W.

Initial performance figures show the RX 5500 can crank out frames between an RX 580 or GeForce GTX 1650 and an RX 590 or GTX 1660. AMD quotes the RX 5500 as being 12 percent faster than the RX 480. It was particularly keen to show the RX 5500 against the GTX 1650, where it was “up to 37 percent faster.” The RX 5500 will appear first via OEMs, while standalone cards should be ready for the holiday season. No firm prices yet; we hope about $150.

Nvidia is preparing a GeForce GTX 1650 Super in response, expected to use the same TU116 GPU, but coupled to faster GDDR6. The RX 5500 isn’t groundbreaking, but it’s a vital step for AMD toward breaking into the mass-market system builders arena. We can expect more from Navi soon, too—there’s a highend Navi 12 due, and a closer look at this Navi 14 shows it has 24 compute units on the silicon, so there’s room here, too. ©