GeForce 8600 GS vs Radeon HD 6550A
Aggregate performance score
We've compared Radeon HD 6550A with GeForce 8600 GS, including specs and performance data.
HD 6550A outperforms 8600 GS by a whopping 295% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Contents
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 1001 | 1332 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Power efficiency | 3.76 | 0.71 |
| Architecture | TeraScale 2 (2009−2015) | Tesla (2006−2010) |
| GPU code name | Pinewood | G84 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Desktop |
| Release date | 7 February 2011 (15 years ago) | 17 April 2007 (19 years ago) |
Detailed specifications
General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Real power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially if overclocked.
| Pipelines / CUDA cores | 480 | 16 |
| Core clock speed | 550 MHz | 540 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 627 million | 289 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 40 nm | 80 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 35 Watt | 47 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 13.20 | 4.320 |
| Floating-point processing power | 0.528 TFLOPS | 0.03808 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 8 | 8 |
| TMUs | 24 | 8 |
| L1 Cache | 48 KB | no data |
| L2 Cache | 256 KB | 32 KB |
Form factor & compatibility
Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).
| Interface | MXM-A (3.0) | PCIe 1.0 x16 |
| Width | no data | 1-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | no data | None |
VRAM capacity and type
Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.
| Memory type | GDDR3 | DDR2 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 2 GB | 512 MB |
| Memory bus width | 128 Bit | 128 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 800 MHz | 400 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 25.6 GB/s | 12.8 GB/s |
Connectivity and outputs
This section shows the types and number of video connectors on each GPU. The data applies specifically to desktop reference models (for example, NVIDIA’s Founders Edition). OEM partners often modify both the number and types of ports. On notebook GPUs, video‐output options are determined by the laptop’s design rather than the graphics chip itself.
| Display Connectors | No outputs | 1x DVI, 1x VGA, 1x S-Video |
API and SDK support
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 11.2 (11_0) | 11.1 (10_0) |
| Shader Model | 5.0 | 4.0 |
| OpenGL | 4.4 | 3.3 |
| OpenCL | 1.2 | 1.1 |
| Vulkan | N/A | N/A |
| CUDA | - | 1.1 |
Synthetic benchmarks
Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.
Combined synthetic benchmark score
This is our combined benchmark score.
Passmark
This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.
Gaming performance
Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 1.70 | 0.43 |
| Recency | 7 February 2011 | 17 April 2007 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 2 GB | 512 MB |
| Chip lithography | 40 nm | 80 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 35 Watt | 47 Watt |
HD 6550A has a 295% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 3 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 100% more advanced lithography process, and 34% lower power consumption.
The Radeon HD 6550A is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce 8600 GS in performance tests.
Be aware that Radeon HD 6550A is a notebook graphics card while GeForce 8600 GS is a desktop one.
Other comparisons
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