Radeon RX 550 vs GeForce GTX 980 Mobile

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GTX 965M 4 GB GTX 970M GTX 980 Mobile GTX 980M GTX 980MX
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Radeon 540 Radeon 550 Radeon 550X Radeon RX 550 Radeon RX 550X

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 980 Mobile with Radeon RX 550, including specs and performance data.

GTX 980 Mobile
2015
4 GB GDDR5, 100 Watt
21.58
+205%

GTX 980 Mobile outperforms RX 550 by a whopping 205% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Contents

GTX 980 Mobile GTX 980
RX 550 RX 550

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking265563
Place by popularitynot in top-10022
Cost-effectiveness evaluation20.092.92
Power efficiency7.409.69
ArchitectureMaxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)
GPU code nameGM204Lexa
Market segmentLaptopDesktop
Release date21 September 2015 (9 years ago)20 April 2017 (7 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$395.82 $79

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.

GTX 980 Mobile has 588% better value for money than RX 550.

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 cores2048512
Core clock speed1064 MHz1100 MHz
Boost clock speed1216 MHz1183 MHz
Number of transistors5,200 million2,200 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)100-200 Watt50 Watt
Texture fill rate136.237.86
Floating-point processing power4.358 TFLOPS1.211 TFLOPS
ROPs6416
TMUs12832

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).

Laptop sizelargeno data
Bus supportPCI Express 3.0no data
InterfaceMXM-B (3.0)PCIe 3.0 x8
Lengthno data145 mm
Widthno data2-slot
Supplementary power connectorsno dataNone
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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount4 GB4 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit128 Bit
Memory clock speed7.0 GB/s1750 MHz
Memory bandwidth224 GB/s112.0 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 ConnectorsDual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.21x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
Multi monitor support4 displaysno data
VGA аnalog display support+no data
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support+no data
HDMI++
HDCP+-
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
G-SYNC support+-
Audio input for HDMIInternalno data

Supported technologies

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

GameStream+-
GeForce ShadowPlay+-
GPU Boost2.0no data
GameWorks+-
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder+-
Optimus+-
BatteryBoost+-

API and SDK compatibility

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

DirectX12 (12_1)12 (12_0)
Shader Model6.46.4
OpenGL4.54.6
OpenCL1.22.0
Vulkan1.1.1261.2.131
CUDA+-

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:

Full HD99
+230%
30−35
−230%
4K46
+229%
14−16
−229%

Cost per frame, $

1080p4.00
−51.8%
2.63
+51.8%
4K8.60
−52.5%
5.64
+52.5%
  • RX 550 has 52% lower cost per frame in 1080p
  • RX 550 has 52% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Atomic Heart 50−55
+238%
16−18
−238%
Counter-Strike 2 35−40
+217%
12−14
−217%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+207%
14−16
−207%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Atomic Heart 50−55
+238%
16−18
−238%
Battlefield 5 80−85
+207%
27−30
−207%
Counter-Strike 2 35−40
+217%
12−14
−217%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+207%
14−16
−207%
Far Cry 5 65−70
+224%
21−24
−224%
Fortnite 100−110
+250%
30−33
−250%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+242%
24−27
−242%
Forza Horizon 5 55−60
+217%
18−20
−217%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 75−80
+221%
24−27
−221%
Valorant 140−150
+229%
45−50
−229%

Full HD
High Preset

Atomic Heart 50−55
+238%
16−18
−238%
Battlefield 5 80−85
+207%
27−30
−207%
Counter-Strike 2 35−40
+217%
12−14
−217%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 230−240
+216%
75−80
−216%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+207%
14−16
−207%
Dota 2 110−120
+220%
35−40
−220%
Far Cry 5 65−70
+224%
21−24
−224%
Fortnite 100−110
+250%
30−33
−250%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+242%
24−27
−242%
Forza Horizon 5 55−60
+217%
18−20
−217%
Grand Theft Auto V 84
+211%
27−30
−211%
Metro Exodus 40−45
+214%
14−16
−214%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 75−80
+221%
24−27
−221%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 84
+211%
27−30
−211%
Valorant 140−150
+229%
45−50
−229%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 80−85
+207%
27−30
−207%
Counter-Strike 2 35−40
+217%
12−14
−217%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+207%
14−16
−207%
Dota 2 110−120
+220%
35−40
−220%
Far Cry 5 65−70
+224%
21−24
−224%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+242%
24−27
−242%
Forza Horizon 5 55−60
+217%
18−20
−217%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 75−80
+221%
24−27
−221%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 44
+214%
14−16
−214%
Valorant 140−150
+229%
45−50
−229%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Fortnite 100−110
+250%
30−33
−250%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 140−150
+222%
45−50
−222%
Grand Theft Auto V 35−40
+250%
10−11
−250%
Metro Exodus 24−27
+225%
8−9
−225%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 170−180
+215%
55−60
−215%
Valorant 180−190
+210%
60−65
−210%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 55−60
+217%
18−20
−217%
Counter-Strike 2 20−22
+233%
6−7
−233%
Cyberpunk 2077 18−20
+217%
6−7
−217%
Far Cry 5 45−50
+229%
14−16
−229%
Forza Horizon 4 50−55
+219%
16−18
−219%
Forza Horizon 5 35−40
+260%
10−11
−260%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
+230%
10−11
−230%

1440p
Epic Preset

Fortnite 45−50
+236%
14−16
−236%

4K
High Preset

Atomic Heart 16−18
+220%
5−6
−220%
Counter-Strike 2 10−11
+233%
3−4
−233%
Grand Theft Auto V 60
+233%
18−20
−233%
Metro Exodus 16−18
+240%
5−6
−240%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30
+233%
9−10
−233%
Valorant 110−120
+231%
35−40
−231%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 30−35
+210%
10−11
−210%
Counter-Strike 2 10−11
+233%
3−4
−233%
Cyberpunk 2077 8−9
+300%
2−3
−300%
Dota 2 65−70
+229%
21−24
−229%
Far Cry 5 21−24
+214%
7−8
−214%
Forza Horizon 4 35−40
+250%
10−11
−250%
Forza Horizon 5 18−20
+260%
5−6
−260%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 20−22
+233%
6−7
−233%

4K
Epic Preset

Fortnite 21−24
+250%
6−7
−250%

This is how GTX 980 Mobile and RX 550 compete in popular games:

  • GTX 980 Mobile is 230% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 980 Mobile is 229% faster in 4K

Pros & cons summary

Performance score 21.58 7.07
Recency 21 September 2015 20 April 2017
Chip lithography 28 nm 14 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 100 Watt 50 Watt

GTX 980 Mobile has a 205.2% higher aggregate performance score.

RX 550, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 1 year, a 100% more advanced lithography process, and 100% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 980 Mobile is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon RX 550 in performance tests.

Be aware that GeForce GTX 980 Mobile is a notebook card while Radeon RX 550 is a desktop one.

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Mobile
GeForce GTX 980
AMD Radeon RX 550
Radeon RX 550
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Other comparisons

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

GTX 980 Mobile GeForce GTX 980 Mobile
vs
GTX 880M SLI GeForce GTX 880M SLI
RX 550 Radeon RX 550
vs
GTX 570 Rev. 2 GeForce GTX 570 Rev. 2
GTX 980 Mobile GeForce GTX 980 Mobile
vs
Radeon 890M Radeon 890M
UHD Graphics 600 UHD Graphics 600
vs
GTX 980 Mobile GTX 980 Mobile
GTX 1060 Max-Q 3 GB 1060 Max-Q 3 GB
vs
GTX 980 Mobile 980 Mobile
Pro 560 Pro 560
vs
GTX 980 Mobile GTX 980 Mobile
Tesla C1060 Tesla C1060
vs
GTX 980 Mobile GTX 980 Mobile
GTX 750 750
vs
GTX 980 Mobile 980 Mobile
HD 7770 HD 7770
vs
GTX 980 Mobile GTX 980 Mobile
R9 380 R9 380
vs
GTX 980 Mobile GTX 980 Mobile
HD Graphics 2500 HD Graphics 2500
vs
GTX 980 Mobile GTX 980 Mobile
HD Graphics 4000 HD Graphics 4000
vs
GTX 980 Mobile GTX 980 Mobile
GeForce 910M 910M
vs
GTX 980 Mobile GTX 980 Mobile

Community ratings

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

3.4 81 vote

Rate GeForce GTX 980 Mobile on a scale of 1 to 5:

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3.6 6998 votes

Rate Radeon RX 550 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
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  • 5

Questions & comments

Here you can give us your opinion about GeForce GTX 980 Mobile or Radeon RX 550, agree or disagree with our ratings, or report errors or inaccuracies on the site.