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AMD Instinct MI210 vs AMD Radeon RX 550: Comparison
AMD Instinct MI210 and AMD Radeon RX 550 separate most on memory bus width: AMD Instinct MI210 at 4,096 bit, AMD Radeon RX 550 at 128 bit, 97% in favor of AMD Instinct MI210. Memory Bandwidth splits them by another 93%, again favoring AMD Instinct MI210.
Which is better, AMD Instinct MI210 or AMD Radeon RX 550?
On paper, AMD Instinct MI210 has the edge on memory bus width, at 4,096 bit vs AMD Radeon RX 550 at 128 bit.
What is the main difference between AMD Instinct MI210 and AMD Radeon RX 550?
The AMD Instinct MI210 is the stronger choice on paper: it has 14.3x the memory bandwidth (1,600 GB/s vs 112 GB/s), which feeds the GPU faster at high resolutions.
Specs and benchmarks
GPU Brand
- AMD Instinct MI210
- AMD
- AMD Radeon RX 550
- AMD
Series
- AMD Instinct MI210
- Instinct MI200
- AMD Radeon RX 550
- Legacy
Board Partner
- AMD Instinct MI210
- AMD Reference (PCIe dual-slot card, data center/OEM only)
- AMD Radeon RX 550
- Reference
Memory Type
- AMD Instinct MI210
- HBM2E
- AMD Radeon RX 550
- GDDR5Best
Boost Clock
- AMD Instinct MI210
- 1700 MHzBest
- AMD Radeon RX 550
- 1183 MHz-30%
Architecture
- AMD Instinct MI210
- CDNA 2 (single Graphics Compute Die)
- AMD Radeon RX 550
- GCN
Memory Bus Width
- AMD Instinct MI210
- 4096 bitBest
- AMD Radeon RX 550
- 128 bit-97%
Memory Bandwidth
- AMD Instinct MI210
- 1600 GB/sBest
- AMD Radeon RX 550
- 112 GB/s-93%
PCIe Generation
- AMD Instinct MI210
- PCIe 4.0 x16
- AMD Radeon RX 550
- PCIe 3.0
Launch Date
- AMD Instinct MI210
- 2022-03
- AMD Radeon RX 550
- 4/18/2017
Which one should you pick?
Choose AMD Instinct MI210 if you want the higher boost clock (1700 MHz vs 1183 MHz), the higher memory bus width (4096 bit vs 128 bit) and the higher memory bandwidth (1600 GB/s vs 112 GB/s).
Choose AMD Radeon RX 550 if you already have it on hand or find it at a lower price.
Verdict
AMD Instinct MI210
7.3 / 10 Expert Rating
A practical, PCIe-slot-friendly way to get CDNA 2 compute into a standard server, useful for smaller HPC and AI deployments, but clearly the entry point of its generation next to the dual-die MI250X and now well behind the MI300 series.