The NVIDIA GTX 1080 is the objective winner of this comparison, securing victory in seven out of twelve measured specifications. Its most significant advantage over the AMD Radeon RX 550 is its FP32 performance, which is 632% higher. While the AMD Radeon RX 550 holds its own in four categories, the sheer scale of the performance gap in floating-point operations establishes the NVIDIA GTX 1080 as the superior hardware choice for demanding computational tasks.

Users prioritizing raw processing power should select the NVIDIA GTX 1080 to leverage its massive lead in FP32 performance. Conversely, the AMD Radeon RX 550 is the appropriate choice for budget-conscious buyers, as it offers an MSRP that is 87% better than its competitor. Choosing between these two components depends entirely on whether your primary requirement is maximizing computational throughput or minimizing the initial financial investment required for your build.