HD Graphics 520 vs GeForce GTX 590

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 590 and HD Graphics 520, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX 590
2011
3072 MB (1536 MB per GPU) GDDR5, 365 Watt
8.66
+303%

GTX 590 outperforms HD Graphics 520 by a whopping 303% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking490857
Place by popularitynot in top-10043
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.74no data
Power efficiency1.649.93
ArchitectureFermi 2.0 (2010−2014)Generation 9.0 (2015−2016)
GPU code nameGF110Skylake GT2
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date24 March 2011 (13 years ago)1 September 2015 (9 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$699 no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores1024192
Core clock speed607 MHz300 MHz
Boost clock speedno data900 MHz
Number of transistors3,000 million189 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm14 nm+
Power consumption (TDP)365 Watt15 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature97 °Cno data
Texture fill rate38.9121.60
Floating-point processing power1.244 TFLOPS0.3456 TFLOPS
ROPs483
TMUs6424

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).

Bus support16x PCI-E 2.0no data
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16Ring Bus
Length279 mmno data
Height4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slotIGP
Supplementary power connectors2x 8-pinno data
SLI options+-

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 typeGDDR5DDR3L/LPDDR3/DDR4
Maximum RAM amount3072 MB (1536 MB per GPU)32 GB
Memory bus width768-bit (384-bit per GPU)System Shared
Memory clock speed1707 MHzSystem Shared
Memory bandwidth327.7 GB/sno data
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 ConnectorsThree Dual Link DVI-IMini DisplayPortPortable Device Dependent
Multi monitor support+no data
HDMI+-
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
Audio input for HDMIInternalno data

Supported technologies

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

Quick Syncno data+

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX12 (11_0)12 (12_1)
Shader Model5.16.4
OpenGL4.24.6
OpenCL1.13.0
VulkanN/A+
CUDA+-

Synthetic benchmark performance

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. 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.

GTX 590 8.66
+303%
HD Graphics 520 2.15

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.

GTX 590 3341
+302%
HD Graphics 520 831

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.

GTX 590 9167
+609%
HD Graphics 520 1294

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.

GTX 590 25720
+349%
HD Graphics 520 5722

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

GTX 590 6680
+731%
HD Graphics 520 804

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:

900p47
+135%
20
−135%
Full HD109
+990%
10
−990%
1200p112
+315%
27−30
−315%

Cost per frame, $

1080p6.41no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+180%
5−6
−180%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 21−24
+200%
7−8
−200%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
+500%
2−3
−500%
Battlefield 5 24−27
+1200%
2−3
−1200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 18−20
+200%
6−7
−200%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+180%
5−6
−180%
Far Cry 5 20−22
+300%
5
−300%
Far Cry New Dawn 24−27
+300%
6−7
−300%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
+544%
9−10
−544%
Hitman 3 16−18
+143%
7−8
−143%
Horizon Zero Dawn 45−50
+172%
18−20
−172%
Metro Exodus 24−27 0−1
Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
+380%
5−6
−380%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 27−30
+190%
10−11
−190%
Watch Dogs: Legion 55−60
+63.9%
35−40
−63.9%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 21−24
+200%
7−8
−200%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
+500%
2−3
−500%
Battlefield 5 24−27
+1200%
2−3
−1200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 18−20
+200%
6−7
−200%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+180%
5−6
−180%
Far Cry 5 20−22
+400%
4−5
−400%
Far Cry New Dawn 24−27
+300%
6−7
−300%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
+544%
9−10
−544%
Hitman 3 16−18
+143%
7−8
−143%
Horizon Zero Dawn 45−50
+172%
18−20
−172%
Metro Exodus 24−27 0−1
Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
+380%
5−6
−380%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 27−30
+190%
10−11
−190%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24−27
+84.6%
13
−84.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion 55−60
+63.9%
35−40
−63.9%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 21−24
+200%
7−8
−200%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
+500%
2−3
−500%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 18−20
+200%
6−7
−200%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+180%
5−6
−180%
Far Cry 5 20−22
+400%
4−5
−400%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
+544%
9−10
−544%
Hitman 3 16−18
+143%
7−8
−143%
Horizon Zero Dawn 45−50
+172%
18−20
−172%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 27−30
+190%
10−11
−190%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24−27
+84.6%
12−14
−84.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion 55−60
+63.9%
35−40
−63.9%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
+380%
5−6
−380%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 16−18
+467%
3−4
−467%
Far Cry New Dawn 12−14
+333%
3−4
−333%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 8−9
+300%
2−3
−300%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 4−5 0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 9−10
+800%
1−2
−800%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
+300%
1−2
−300%
Far Cry 5 10−11
+400%
2−3
−400%
Forza Horizon 4 35−40
+350%
8−9
−350%
Hitman 3 12−14
+71.4%
7−8
−71.4%
Horizon Zero Dawn 18−20
+200%
6−7
−200%
Metro Exodus 10−12
+450%
2−3
−450%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 9−10
+350%
2−3
−350%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 8−9
+700%
1−2
−700%
Watch Dogs: Legion 55−60
+358%
12−14
−358%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 14−16
+180%
5−6
−180%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 8−9 0−1
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%
Hitman 3 5−6
+400%
1−2
−400%
Horizon Zero Dawn 30−35
+325%
8−9
−325%
Metro Exodus 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 5−6
+150%
2−3
−150%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 4−5
+300%
1−2
−300%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4−5
+300%
1−2
−300%
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2 0−1
Far Cry 5 5−6
+400%
1−2
−400%
Forza Horizon 4 10−11
+400%
2−3
−400%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 4−5 0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion 3−4 0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 8−9
+167%
3−4
−167%

This is how GTX 590 and HD Graphics 520 compete in popular games:

  • GTX 590 is 135% faster in 900p
  • GTX 590 is 990% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 590 is 315% faster in 1200p

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

  • in Battlefield 5, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the GTX 590 is 1200% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, GTX 590 surpassed HD Graphics 520 in all 54 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 8.66 2.15
Recency 24 March 2011 1 September 2015
Maximum RAM amount 3072 MB (1536 MB per GPU) 32 GB
Chip lithography 40 nm 14 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 365 Watt 15 Watt

GTX 590 has a 302.8% higher aggregate performance score.

HD Graphics 520, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 4 years, a 966.7% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 185.7% more advanced lithography process, and 2333.3% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 590 is our recommended choice as it beats the HD Graphics 520 in performance tests.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590
GeForce GTX 590
Intel HD Graphics 520
HD Graphics 520

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


3.8 49 votes

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Questions & comments

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