AMD pits its Radeon RX 5500 against Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1650 in leaked sales guide benchmarks

If you were wondering how to sell the Radeon RX 5500 Graphics solution then AMD has kindly provided the answer: It’s for mainstream gamers, esports gamers, and those who possess AMD Radeon FreeSync-capable monitors, and it’s apparently much better for gaming than the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650. The leaked sales guide (see below) compares the RX 5500 with the GTX 1650 in numerous games, and the former product beats down the latter product consistently in every benchmark. But that’s to be expected in a marketing guide, although some may be disappointed that AMD didn’t pit the RX 5500 against a tougher Nvidia competitor (e.g. GTX 1660 Ti).

Of course, AMD’s marketing team would have to carefully select a rival card that makes the Radeon RX 5500 look as good as possible. So Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1650 it is then. There’s no denying that in 1080p gaming, the AMD card performs admirably. Up to 75% more frames per second (fps) were recorded in Battlefield 5 and up to 85% more were measured for World War Z. Over the range of titles, which also included Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and Grand Theft Auto V, the AMD card managed up to 49% more performance than Nvidia’s SKU. The RX 5500 reached over 60 fps in all of the games listed, and it even achieved over 100 fps in some of them (high to ultra high settings, depending on the title).

The esports-related gaming benchmarks tell a similar story. The Radeon RX 5500 can churn out 90 fps or above for Fortnite (high), Apex Legends (ultra high), and PUBG (high) while the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 struggles to keep up. The AMD card scores up to 37% more than the green team competitor over the range, seemingly justifying the pitch that the RX 5500 is a great choice for esports fans. Of course the guide has been constructed in a manner that shows the AMD Radeon RX 5500 in the best light possible, but it certainly comes across as a compelling product.

The RDNA-based Radeon RX 5500 is listed in the performance section of AMD’s product stack, alongside its mobile counterpart, the RX 5500M. AMD recommends a 550 W PSU for the Radeon RX 5500 (110 W power draw, although AMD's website states 150 W TBP) while just 300 W has been suggested for Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1650 (75 W power draw); the considerable power requirement discrepancy makes the gaming comparison seem quite unfair. The price of the RX 5500 is not mentioned in the guide, but if AMD keeps it inexpensive then it should find plenty of buyers regardless of its flaws. It will be interesting to see how the rumored Radeon RX 5500 XT performs though, if it ever sees the light of day.