Radeon RX 550 Mobile vs GeForce GTX 980M

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Aggregate performance score

GTX 980M
2014
8 GB GDDR5
18.99
+174%

GeForce GTX 980M outperforms Radeon RX 550 Mobile by a whopping 174% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in performance ranking275525
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation9.814.77
ArchitectureMaxwell (2014−2018)Polaris (2016−2019)
GPU code nameGM204Polaris 12
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date7 October 2014 (9 years ago)21 March 2017 (7 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)no data$79.99
Current price$583 $294 (3.7x MSRP)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 980M has 106% better value for money than RX 550 Mobile.

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 cores1536640
CUDA cores1536no data
Core clock speed1038 MHz1287 MHz
Boost clock speed1127 MHz1476 MHz
Number of transistors5,200 million2,200 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)unknown50 Watt
Texture fill rate51.8451.48
Floating-point performance3,462 gflops1,647 gflops

Form factor & compatibility

Information on GeForce GTX 980M and Radeon RX 550 Mobile compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. 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 sizelargelarge
Bus supportPCI Express 3.0no data
InterfaceMXM-B (3.0)PCIe 3.0 x8
Supplementary power connectorsNoneno data
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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount8 GB4 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit128 Bit
Memory clock speed2500 MHz6000 MHz
Memory bandwidth160 GB/s96 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 ConnectorsNo outputsNo outputs
VGA аnalog display support+no data
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support+no data
HDMI+no data
G-SYNC support+no data

Supported technologies

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

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

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (12_1)12 (12_0)
Shader Model6.46.4
OpenGL4.54.6
OpenCL1.12.0
Vulkan1.1.1261.2.131
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.

GTX 980M 18.99
+174%
RX 550 Mobile 6.92

GeForce GTX 980M outperforms Radeon RX 550 Mobile by 174% based on our aggregate benchmark results.


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%

GTX 980M 12517
+175%
RX 550 Mobile 4559

GeForce GTX 980M outperforms Radeon RX 550 Mobile by 175% in 3DMark 11 Performance GPU.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

GTX 980M 9682
+166%
RX 550 Mobile 3645

GeForce GTX 980M outperforms Radeon RX 550 Mobile by 166% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

GTX 980M 65241
+183%
RX 550 Mobile 23050

GeForce GTX 980M outperforms Radeon RX 550 Mobile by 183% in 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU.

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Ice Storm Graphics is an obsolete benchmark, part of 3DMark suite. Ice Storm was used to measure entry level laptops and Windows-based tablets performance. It utilizes DirectX 11 feature level 9 to display a battle between two space fleets near a frozen planet in 1280x720 resolution. Discontinued in January 2020, it is now superseded by 3DMark Night Raid.

Benchmark coverage: 8%

GTX 980M 327632
+36.9%
RX 550 Mobile 239256

GeForce GTX 980M outperforms Radeon RX 550 Mobile by 37% in 3DMark Ice Storm 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:

900p173
+188%
60−65
−188%
Full HD72
+350%
16
−350%
1440p35
+192%
12−14
−192%
4K29
+190%
10−12
−190%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
+200%
10
−200%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 51
+264%
14−16
−264%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 30−35
+300%
8
−300%
Battlefield 5 67
+235%
20−22
−235%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 40−45
+173%
14−16
−173%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
+173%
10−12
−173%
Far Cry 5 62
+182%
21−24
−182%
Far Cry New Dawn 59
+228%
18−20
−228%
Forza Horizon 4 74
+196%
24−27
−196%
Hitman 3 45−50
+221%
14
−221%
Horizon Zero Dawn 60−65
+148%
24−27
−148%
Metro Exodus 65
+261%
18−20
−261%
Red Dead Redemption 2 50−55
+174%
18−20
−174%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 50−55
+92.9%
28
−92.9%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
+250%
10
−250%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 44
+214%
14−16
−214%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 30−35
+300%
8
−300%
Battlefield 5 57
+185%
20−22
−185%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 40−45
+173%
14−16
−173%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
+173%
10−12
−173%
Far Cry 5 45−50
+69%
29
−69%
Far Cry New Dawn 51
+183%
18−20
−183%
Forza Horizon 4 68
+172%
24−27
−172%
Hitman 3 45−50
+650%
6
−650%
Horizon Zero Dawn 60−65
+148%
24−27
−148%
Metro Exodus 56
+211%
18−20
−211%
Red Dead Redemption 2 50−55
+174%
18−20
−174%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 20
+66.7%
12
−66.7%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 61
+259%
17
−259%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
+338%
8
−338%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 26
+85.7%
14−16
−85.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 30−35
+300%
8−9
−300%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 40−45
+173%
14−16
−173%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
+173%
10−12
−173%
Far Cry 5 38
+72.7%
21−24
−72.7%
Forza Horizon 4 47
+88%
24−27
−88%
Horizon Zero Dawn 60−65
+148%
24−27
−148%
Metro Exodus 51
+183%
18−20
−183%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 33
+37.5%
24
−37.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
+775%
4
−775%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 50−55
+174%
18−20
−174%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 33
+154%
12−14
−154%
Far Cry New Dawn 35
+250%
10−11
−250%
Hitman 3 27−30
+250%
8−9
−250%
Red Dead Redemption 2 14−16
+250%
4−5
−250%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 20
+300%
5−6
−300%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 16−18
+750%
2−3
−750%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 24−27
+167%
9−10
−167%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−12
+267%
3−4
−267%
Far Cry 5 34
+209%
10−12
−209%
Forza Horizon 4 39
+225%
12−14
−225%
Horizon Zero Dawn 35−40
+160%
14−16
−160%
Metro Exodus 38
+443%
7−8
−443%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 35−40
+850%
4−5
−850%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 21−24
+250%
6−7
−250%
Watch Dogs: Legion 12−14
+333%
3−4
−333%

4K
High Preset

Far Cry 5 35−40
+111%
18−20
−111%
Far Cry New Dawn 18
+260%
5−6
−260%
Hitman 3 14−16
+367%
3−4
−367%
Horizon Zero Dawn 21−24
+200%
7−8
−200%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 12
+300%
3−4
−300%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 22
+633%
3−4
−633%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 12
+200%
4−5
−200%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−11
+233%
3−4
−233%
Battlefield 5 23
+667%
3−4
−667%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
+367%
3−4
−367%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
+300%
1−2
−300%
Forza Horizon 4 26
+271%
7−8
−271%
Horizon Zero Dawn 21−24
+200%
7−8
−200%
Metro Exodus 20
+150%
8−9
−150%
Watch Dogs: Legion 8−9
+300%
2−3
−300%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 16−18
+143%
7−8
−143%

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

  • GTX 980M is 188% faster in 900p
  • GTX 980M is 350% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 980M is 192% faster in 1440p
  • GTX 980M is 190% faster in 4K

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

  • in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GTX 980M is 850% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, GTX 980M surpassed RX 550 Mobile in all 72 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 18.99 6.92
Recency 7 October 2014 21 March 2017
Maximum RAM amount 8 GB 4 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 14 nm

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


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

Vote for your favorite

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M
GeForce GTX 980M
AMD Radeon RX 550 Mobile
Radeon RX 550 Mobile

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.


4.1 318 votes

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3.2 28 votes

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Questions & comments

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