Radeon RX 550X vs 520

Place in the ranking	883	587
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	2.83	8.36
Architecture	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)	GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)
GPU code name	Banks	Lexa
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	18 April 2017 (7 years ago)	16 December 2018 (6 years ago)

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 cores	320	512
Core clock speed	1030 MHz	1100 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	1183 MHz
Number of transistors	690 million	2,200 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	50 Watt	50 Watt
Texture fill rate	20.60	37.86
Floating-point processing power	0.6592 TFLOPS	1.211 TFLOPS
ROPs	8	16
TMUs	20	32

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).

Interface	PCIe 3.0 x8	PCIe 3.0 x8
Length	no data	145 mm
Width	no data	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	None	None

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	GDDR5	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	4 GB
Memory bus width	64 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	1125 MHz	1500 MHz
Memory bandwidth	36 GB/s	96 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 DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
HDMI	-	+

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (11_1)	12 (12_0)
Shader Model	5.1	6.4
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	2.0
Vulkan	1.2.131	1.2.131

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.

Radeon 520 2.05

RX 550X 6.06
+196%

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.

Radeon 520 787

RX 550X 2331
+196%

GeekBench 5 OpenCL

Geekbench 5 is a widespread graphics card benchmark combined from 11 different test scenarios. All these scenarios rely on direct usage of GPU's processing power, no 3D rendering is involved. This variation uses OpenCL API by Khronos Group.

Radeon 520 5324

RX 550X 11306
+112%

GeekBench 5 Vulkan

Radeon 520 4434

RX 550X 12473
+181%

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 HD

−169%

35−40
+169%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	10−11 −170%	27−30 +170%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 −180%	14−16 +180%
Elden Ring	3−4 −167%	8−9 +167%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 −150%	10−11 +150%
Counter-Strike 2	10−11 −170%	27−30 +170%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 −180%	14−16 +180%
Forza Horizon 4	10−12 −173%	30−33 +173%
Metro Exodus	2−3 −150%	5−6 +150%
Red Dead Redemption 2	8−9 −163%	21−24 +163%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 −150%	10−11 +150%
Counter-Strike 2	10−11 −170%	27−30 +170%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 −180%	14−16 +180%
Dota 2	6 −167%	16−18 +167%
Elden Ring	3−4 −167%	8−9 +167%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −169%	35−40 +169%
Fortnite	10−11 −170%	27−30 +170%
Forza Horizon 4	10−12 −173%	30−33 +173%
Grand Theft Auto V	4−5 −150%	10−11 +150%
Metro Exodus	2−3 −150%	5−6 +150%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	18 −178%	50−55 +178%
Red Dead Redemption 2	8−9 −163%	21−24 +163%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	9−10 −167%	24−27 +167%
World of Tanks	35−40 −182%	110−120 +182%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 −150%	10−11 +150%
Counter-Strike 2	10−11 −170%	27−30 +170%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 −180%	14−16 +180%
Dota 2	18 −178%	50−55 +178%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −169%	35−40 +169%
Forza Horizon 4	10−12 −173%	30−33 +173%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	20−22 −175%	55−60 +175%

1440p
High Preset

Elden Ring	1−2 −100%	2−3 +100%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	14−16 −186%	40−45 +186%
Red Dead Redemption 2	1−2 −100%	2−3 +100%
World of Tanks	12−14 −169%	35−40 +169%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	0−1	0−1
Counter-Strike 2	9−10 −167%	24−27 +167%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −167%	8−9 +167%
Far Cry 5	6−7 −167%	16−18 +167%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	3−4 −167%	8−9 +167%
Valorant	8−9 −163%	21−24 +163%

4K
High Preset

Dota 2	16−18 −181%	45−50 +181%
Elden Ring	1−2 −100%	2−3 +100%
Grand Theft Auto V	14−16 −167%	40−45 +167%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	6−7 −167%	16−18 +167%
Red Dead Redemption 2	1−2 −100%	2−3 +100%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 −167%	40−45 +167%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	2−3 −150%	5−6 +150%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −100%	2−3 +100%
Dota 2	16−18 −181%	45−50 +181%
Far Cry 5	2−3 −150%	5−6 +150%
Fortnite	0−1	0−1
Valorant	2−3 −150%	5−6 +150%

This is how Radeon 520 and RX 550X compete in popular games:

RX 550X is 169% faster in 1080p

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	2.05	6.06
Recency	18 April 2017	16 December 2018
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	4 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	14 nm

RX 550X has a 195.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 100% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 550X is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon 520 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon 520 is a notebook card while Radeon RX 550X is a desktop one.

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