Radeon RX 550X 640SP vs GeForce GTX 850M
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in performance ranking | 542 | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 3.98 | no data |
| Architecture | Maxwell (2014−2018) | GCN 4.0 (2016−2020) |
| GPU code name | N15P-GT | Baffin |
| Market segment | Laptop | Desktop |
| Release date | 12 March 2014 (10 years ago) | 11 April 2018 (6 years ago) |
| Current price | $163 | $99 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
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 | 640 | 640 |
| CUDA cores | 640 | no data |
| Core clock speed | Up to 936 MHz | 1019 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | no data | 1071 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 1,870 million | 3,000 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 28 nm | 14 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 45 Watt | 60 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 36.08 | 42.84 |
| Floating-point performance | 1,155 gflops | 1,371 gflops |
Form factor & compatibility
Information on GeForce GTX 850M and Radeon RX 550X 640SP 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 |
| Bus support | PCI Express 2.0, PCI Express 3.0 | no data |
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x8 |
| Length | no data | 145 mm |
| Width | no data | 2-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | no data | None |
| SLI options | + | no data |
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 | DDR3, GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 4 GB | 2 GB |
| Standard memory configuration | DDR3 or GDDR5 | no data |
| Memory bus width | 128 Bit | 128 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | Up to 2500 MHz | 6000 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 80.0 GB/s | 96 GB/s |
| Shared memory | - | no data |
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 DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort |
| eDP 1.2 signal support | Up to 3840x2160 | no data |
| LVDS signal support | Up to 1920x1200 | no data |
| VGA аnalog display support | Up to 2048x1536 | no data |
| DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support | Up to 3840x2160 | no data |
| HDMI | + | + |
| HDCP content protection | + | no data |
| 7.1 channel HD audio on HDMI | + | no data |
| TrueHD and DTS-HD audio bitstreaming | + | no data |
Supported technologies
Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.
| H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder | + | no data |
| Optimus | + | no data |
| Ansel | + | no data |
API compatibility
List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 (11_0) | 12 (12_0) |
| Shader Model | 5.1 | 6.4 |
| OpenGL | 4.5 | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | 1.1 | 2.0 |
| Vulkan | 1.1.126 | 1.2.131 |
| CUDA | + | no data |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 12 March 2014 | 11 April 2018 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 4 GB | 2 GB |
| Chip lithography | 28 nm | 14 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 45 Watt | 60 Watt |
GTX 850M has a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and 33.3% lower power consumption.
RX 550X 640SP, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 4 years, and a 100% more advanced lithography process.
We couldn't decide between GeForce GTX 850M and Radeon RX 550X 640SP. We've got no test results to judge.
Be aware that GeForce GTX 850M is a notebook card while Radeon RX 550X 640SP is a desktop one.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Comparisons with similar GPUs
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