GeForce MX230 vs ATI Radeon HD 4850

Place in the ranking	811	645
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.26	no data
Power efficiency	1.66	32.56
Architecture	TeraScale (2005−2013)	Pascal (2016−2021)
GPU code name	RV770	GP108
Market segment	Desktop	Laptop
Release date	25 June 2008 (16 years ago)	21 February 2019 (5 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$199	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 cores	800	256
Core clock speed	625 MHz	1519 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	1582 MHz
Number of transistors	956 million	1,800 million
Manufacturing process technology	55 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	110 Watt	10 Watt
Texture fill rate	25.00	25.31
Floating-point processing power	1 TFLOPS	0.81 TFLOPS
ROPs	16	16
TMUs	40	16

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 size	no data	medium sized
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x16
Length	246 mm	no data
Width	1-slot	no data
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin	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	GDDR3	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	512 MB	2 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	64 Bit
Memory clock speed	993 MHz	1502 MHz
Memory bandwidth	63.55 GB/s	48.06 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

2x DVI, 1x S-Video

No outputs

Supported technologies

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

Optimus

API compatibility

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

DirectX	10.1 (10_1)	12 (12_1)
Shader Model	4.1	6.4
OpenGL	3.3	4.6
OpenCL	1.1	1.2
Vulkan	N/A	1.2.131
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.

ATI HD 4850 2.66

GeForce MX230 4.75
+78.6%

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.

ATI HD 4850 1026

GeForce MX230 1830
+78.4%

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.

ATI HD 4850 11272

GeForce MX230 15797
+40.1%

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.

ATI HD 4850 72891

GeForce MX230 183041
+151%

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:

900p	29 −72.4%	50−55 +72.4%
Full HD	40 +90.5%	21 −90.5%
1200p	19 −57.9%	30−35 +57.9%

Cost per frame, $

1080p

4.98

no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

5−6

−60%

8−9
+60%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	9−10 −44.4%	13 +44.4%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	0−1	5−6
Battlefield 5	4−5 −375%	19 +375%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	7−8 −100%	14 +100%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 −60%	8−9 +60%
Far Cry 5	5−6 −180%	14 +180%
Far Cry New Dawn	7−8 −143%	17 +143%
Forza Horizon 4	12−14 −354%	59 +354%
Hitman 3	7−8 −42.9%	10−11 +42.9%
Horizon Zero Dawn	21−24 −47.6%	30−35 +47.6%
Metro Exodus	2−3 −800%	18 +800%
Red Dead Redemption 2	6−7 −117%	12−14 +117%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−12 −109%	23 +109%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 −18.4%	45−50 +18.4%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	9−10 −77.8%	16 +77.8%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	0−1	5−6
Battlefield 5	4−5 −225%	13 +225%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	7−8 −85.7%	13 +85.7%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 −60%	8−9 +60%
Far Cry 5	5−6 −140%	12 +140%
Far Cry New Dawn	7−8 −71.4%	12 +71.4%
Forza Horizon 4	12−14 −308%	53 +308%
Hitman 3	7−8 −42.9%	10−11 +42.9%
Horizon Zero Dawn	21−24 −47.6%	30−35 +47.6%
Metro Exodus	2−3 −550%	13 +550%
Red Dead Redemption 2	6−7 −117%	12−14 +117%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−12 −54.5%	16−18 +54.5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 −30.8%	16−18 +30.8%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 −18.4%	45−50 +18.4%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	9−10 +50%	6 −50%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	0−1	5−6
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	7−8 −28.6%	9 +28.6%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 −60%	8−9 +60%
Far Cry 5	5−6 −40%	7 +40%
Forza Horizon 4	12−14 +8.3%	12 −8.3%
Hitman 3	7−8 −42.9%	10−11 +42.9%
Horizon Zero Dawn	21−24 −47.6%	30−35 +47.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−12 −54.5%	16−18 +54.5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 +44.4%	9 −44.4%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 −18.4%	45−50 +18.4%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

6−7

−117%

12−14
+117%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 −125%	9−10 +125%
Far Cry New Dawn	4−5 −75%	7−8 +75%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3 −100%	4−5 +100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	2−3 −100%	4−5 +100%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −100%	2−3 +100%
Far Cry 5	3−4 −66.7%	5−6 +66.7%
Hitman 3	8−9 −12.5%	9−10 +12.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn	7−8 −57.1%	10−12 +57.1%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	2−3 −100%	4−5 +100%
Watch Dogs: Legion	16−18 −87.5%	30−33 +87.5%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

6−7

−50%

9−10
+50%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	1−2 −200%	3−4 +200%
Far Cry New Dawn	1−2 −200%	3−4 +200%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3 −50%	3−4 +50%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	1−2 −100%	2−3 +100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2 −100%	2−3 +100%
Far Cry 5	1−2 −100%	2−3 +100%
Watch Dogs: Legion	0−1	1−2

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

4−5

−25%

5−6
+25%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Forza Horizon 4	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Metro Exodus	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%

4K
High Preset

Hitman 3	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Metro Exodus	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Cyberpunk 2077	0−1	0−1
Forza Horizon 4	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%

This is how ATI HD 4850 and GeForce MX230 compete in popular games:

GeForce MX230 is 72% faster in 900p
ATI HD 4850 is 90% faster in 1080p
GeForce MX230 is 58% faster in 1200p

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

in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the ATI HD 4850 is 50% faster.
in Metro Exodus, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the GeForce MX230 is 800% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

ATI HD 4850 is ahead in 3 tests (5%)
GeForce MX230 is ahead in 54 tests (84%)
there's a draw in 7 tests (11%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	2.66	4.75
Recency	25 June 2008	21 February 2019
Maximum RAM amount	512 MB	2 GB
Chip lithography	55 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	110 Watt	10 Watt

GeForce MX230 has a 78.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 10 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 292.9% more advanced lithography process, and 1000% lower power consumption.

The GeForce MX230 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 4850 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 4850 is a desktop card while GeForce MX230 is a notebook one.

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