GeForce RTX 4090 vs Radeon HD 5850

Place in performance ranking	584	1
Place by popularity	not in top-100	7
Value for money	0.79	15.02
Architecture	Terascale 2 (2009−2015)	Ada Lovelace
GPU code name	Cypress	AD102-300-A1
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	30 September 2009 (14 years ago)	20 September 2022 (1 year ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$299	$1,599
Current price	$120 (0.4x MSRP)	$1756 (1.1x MSRP)

Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RTX 4090 has 1801% better value for money than ATI HD 5850.

Technical specs

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	1440	16384
Core clock speed	725 MHz	2235 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	2520 MHz
Number of transistors	2,154 million	76,300 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	151 Watt	450 Watt
Texture fill rate	52.20	1,290
Floating-point performance	2,088.0 gflops	no data

Size and 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 2.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16
Length	241 mm	304 mm
Width	2-slot	3-slot
Supplementary power connectors	2x 6-pin	1x 16-pin

Memory

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	GDDR6X
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	24 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	384 Bit
Memory clock speed	2000 MHz	21000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	128.0 GB/s	1,008 GB/s
Shared memory	no data	-

Video outputs and ports

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 HDMI, 1x DisplayPort	1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
HDMI	+	+

API support

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

DirectX	11.2 (11_0)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	5.0	6.6
OpenGL	4.4	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	3.0
Vulkan	N/A	1.3
CUDA	no data	8.9

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.

ATI HD 5850 5.13

RTX 4090 100.00
+1849%

GeForce RTX 4090 outperforms Radeon HD 5850 by 1849% based on our aggregated benchmark results.

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. 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.

Benchmark coverage: 25%

ATI HD 5850 1988

RTX 4090 38717
+1848%

GeForce RTX 4090 outperforms Radeon HD 5850 by 1848% in Passmark.

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

ATI HD 5850 13267

RTX 4090 137170
+934%

GeForce RTX 4090 outperforms Radeon HD 5850 by 934% in 3DMark Vantage Performance.

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%

ATI HD 5850 3401

RTX 4090 104937
+2985%

GeForce RTX 4090 outperforms Radeon HD 5850 by 2985% in 3DMark 11 Performance 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:

900p	59 −1849%	1150−1200 +1849%
Full HD	57 −365%	265 +365%
1440p	10−12 −2020%	212 +2020%
4K	7−8 −2043%	150 +2043%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

9−10

−2400%

225
+2400%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−11 −2250%	235 +2250%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	5−6 −5640%	287 +5640%
Battlefield 5	14−16 −1187%	190−200 +1187%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	16−18 −1013%	170−180 +1013%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 −2367%	222 +2367%
Far Cry 5	10−12 −1800%	209 +1800%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−12 −1518%	178 +1518%
Forza Horizon 4	16−18 −1735%	300−350 +1735%
Hitman 3	12−14 −1725%	210−220 +1725%
Horizon Zero Dawn	10−11 −2650%	275 +2650%
Red Dead Redemption 2	10−11 −1720%	180−190 +1720%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	12−14 −2162%	294 +2162%
Watch Dogs: Legion	7−8 −2586%	188 +2586%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−11 −2110%	221 +2110%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	5−6 −4860%	248 +4860%
Battlefield 5	14−16 −1187%	190−200 +1187%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	16−18 −1013%	170−180 +1013%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 −2278%	214 +2278%
Far Cry 5	10−12 −1727%	201 +1727%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−12 −1455%	171 +1455%
Forza Horizon 4	16−18 −1735%	300−350 +1735%
Hitman 3	12−14 −1725%	210−220 +1725%
Horizon Zero Dawn	10−11 −2400%	250 +2400%
Metro Exodus	7−8 −3129%	226 +3129%
Red Dead Redemption 2	10−11 −1720%	180−190 +1720%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	12−14 −2115%	288 +2115%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−12 −5109%	573 +5109%
Watch Dogs: Legion	7−8 −2371%	173 +2371%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−11 −1690%	179 +1690%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	5−6 −4300%	220 +4300%
Battlefield 5	14−16 −1187%	190−200 +1187%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 −2233%	210 +2233%
Far Cry 5	10−12 −1600%	187 +1600%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−12 −1300%	154 +1300%
Forza Horizon 4	16−18 −1735%	300−350 +1735%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−12 −2673%	305 +2673%
Watch Dogs: Legion	7−8 −2086%	153 +2086%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	8−9 −1763%	140−150 +1763%
Hitman 3	9−10 −2267%	210−220 +2267%
Horizon Zero Dawn	10−12 −2055%	237 +2055%
Metro Exodus	3−4 −5800%	177 +5800%
Red Dead Redemption 2	3−4 −3000%	90−95 +3000%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	8−9 −3288%	271 +3288%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4 −5067%	155 +5067%
Battlefield 5	1−2 −19500%	190−200 +19500%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 −7600%	154 +7600%
Far Cry 5	8−9 −2225%	186 +2225%
Far Cry New Dawn	5−6 −2940%	152 +2940%
Forza Horizon 4	7−8 −3957%	280−290 +3957%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	5−6 −5260%	268 +5260%
Watch Dogs: Legion	1−2 −15100%	152 +15100%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −2300%	95−100 +2300%
Hitman 3	5−6 −2460%	120−130 +2460%
Horizon Zero Dawn	8−9 −2238%	187 +2238%
Red Dead Redemption 2	3−4 −2033%	60−65 +2033%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	1−2 −18500%	186 +18500%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	1−2 −27900%	280 +27900%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4 −3900%	120 +3900%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 −5900%	120 +5900%
Cyberpunk 2077	0−1	80
Far Cry 5	5−6 −3360%	173 +3360%
Far Cry New Dawn	7−8 −1971%	145 +1971%
Forza Horizon 4	3−4 −8400%	250−260 +8400%
Watch Dogs: Legion	0−1	117

This is how ATI HD 5850 and RTX 4090 compete in popular games:

RTX 4090 is 1849% faster than ATI HD 5850 in 900p
RTX 4090 is 365% faster than ATI HD 5850 in 1080p
RTX 4090 is 2020% faster than ATI HD 5850 in 1440p
RTX 4090 is 2043% faster than ATI HD 5850 in 4K

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

in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the RTX 4090 is 27900% faster than the ATI HD 5850.

All in all, in popular games:

Without exception, RTX 4090 surpassed ATI HD 5850 in all 63 of our tests.

Advantages and disadvantages

Performance score	5.13	100.00
Recency	30 September 2009	20 September 2022
Cost	$299	$1599
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	24 GB
Chip lithography	40 nm	5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	151 Watt	450 Watt