Radeon RX 590 vs GeForce GT 420M

Place in performance ranking	1057	207
Place by popularity	not in top-100	99
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.03	32.25
Architecture	Fermi (2010−2014)	Polaris (2016−2019)
GPU code name	N11P-GE	Polaris 30
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	3 September 2010 (13 years ago)	15 November 2018 (5 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$279
Current price	$310	$133 (0.5x MSRP)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 590 has 107400% better value for money than GT 420M.

Detailed specifications

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores	96	2304
CUDA cores	96	no data
Core clock speed	500 MHz	1469 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	1545 MHz
Number of transistors	585 million	5,700 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	12 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	23 Watt	175 Watt
Texture fill rate	6.0 billion/sec	222.5
Floating-point performance	192 gflops	no data

Form factor & compatibility

Information on GeForce GT 420M and Radeon RX 590 compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop video cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility). For notebook video cards it's notebook size, connection slot and bus, if the video card is inserted into a slot instead of being soldered to the notebook motherboard.

Laptop size	medium sized	no data
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x16
Length	no data	241 mm
Width	no data	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	no data	1x 8-pin

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	(G)DDR3	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	8 GB
Memory bus width	128 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	800 MHz	8000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	25.6 GB/s	256.0 GB/s
Shared memory	-	-

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectors	No outputs	1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
HDMI	no data	+

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

FreeSync

no data

API compatibility

List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX	12 API	12 (12_0)
Shader Model	5.1	6.4
OpenGL	4.5	4.6
OpenCL	1.1	2.0
Vulkan	N/A	1.2.131
CUDA	+	no data

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark performance comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

GT 420M 1.05

RX 590 24.45
+2229%

Radeon RX 590 outperforms GeForce GT 420M by 2229% based on our aggregated benchmark results.

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. 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.

Benchmark coverage: 25%

GT 420M 405

RX 590 9462
+2236%

Radeon RX 590 outperforms GeForce GT 420M by 2236% in Passmark.

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

GT 420M 3051

RX 590 48454
+1488%

Radeon RX 590 outperforms GeForce GT 420M by 1488% in 3DMark Vantage Performance.

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

GT 420M 685

RX 590 23363
+3311%

Radeon RX 590 outperforms GeForce GT 420M by 3311% in 3DMark 11 Performance GPU.

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

900p	12 −2150%	270−280 +2150%
Full HD	17 −506%	103 +506%
1440p	2−3 −2900%	60 +2900%
4K	1−2 −3600%	37 +3600%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

3−4

−1233%

40−45
+1233%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	9−10 −1000%	99 +1000%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −1233%	40−45 +1233%
Hitman 3	1−2 −7200%	70−75 +7200%
Horizon Zero Dawn	0−1	73
Red Dead Redemption 2	3−4 −2467%	77 +2467%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	7−8 −1014%	78 +1014%

Full HD
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	9−10 −800%	81 +800%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −1233%	40−45 +1233%
Hitman 3	1−2 −7200%	70−75 +7200%
Horizon Zero Dawn	0−1	55
Metro Exodus	1−2 −5100%	52 +5100%
Red Dead Redemption 2	3−4 −1200%	39 +1200%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	7−8 −914%	71 +914%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	4−5 −2100%	88 +2100%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −1233%	40−45 +1233%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	4−5 −1175%	51 +1175%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	3−4 −1767%	56 +1767%
Hitman 3	3−4 −1267%	40−45 +1267%
Horizon Zero Dawn	8−9 −363%	37 +363%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	5−6 −560%	30−35 +560%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −1500%	16−18 +1500%
Far Cry 5	2−3 −2000%	40−45 +2000%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	1−2 −2800%	27−30 +2800%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2 −3000%	31 +3000%
Hitman 3	1−2 −2200%	21−24 +2200%
Horizon Zero Dawn	7−8 −42.9%	10 +42.9%
Red Dead Redemption 2	0−1	16

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	0−1	19
Far Cry 5	3−4 −700%	24 +700%
Far Cry New Dawn	5−6 −520%	31 +520%

This is how GT 420M and RX 590 compete in popular games:

RX 590 is 2150% faster than GT 420M in 900p
RX 590 is 506% faster than GT 420M in 1080p
RX 590 is 2900% faster than GT 420M in 1440p
RX 590 is 3600% faster than GT 420M in 4K

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

in Hitman 3, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the RX 590 is 7200% faster than the GT 420M.

All in all, in popular games:

Without exception, RX 590 surpassed GT 420M in all 27 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	1.05	24.45
Recency	3 September 2010	15 November 2018
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	8 GB
Chip lithography	40 nm	12 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	23 Watt	175 Watt