Radeon 550 vs ATI HD 5850

Place in the ranking	618	612
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.59	4.37
Power efficiency	2.37	7.30
Architecture	TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)	GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)
GPU code name	Cypress	Lexa
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	30 September 2009 (15 years ago)	20 April 2017 (7 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$299	$79

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

Radeon 550 has 641% better value for money than ATI HD 5850.

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	1440	512
Core clock speed	725 MHz	1100 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	1183 MHz
Number of transistors	2,154 million	2,200 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	151 Watt	50 Watt
Texture fill rate	52.20	37.86
Floating-point processing power	2.088 TFLOPS	1.211 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	16
TMUs	72	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 2.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x8
Length	241 mm	145 mm
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	2x 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	GDDR5	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	2 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	64 Bit
Memory clock speed	1000 MHz	1750 MHz
Memory bandwidth	128.0 GB/s	56 GB/s

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 HDMI, 1x DisplayPort	1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, 1x DisplayPort 1.4a
HDMI	+	+

API compatibility

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

DirectX	11.2 (11_0)	12 (12_0)
Shader Model	5.0	6.7
OpenGL	4.4	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	2.1
Vulkan	N/A	1.3

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 5850 5.15

Radeon 550 5.25
+1.9%

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 5850 1988

Radeon 550 2027
+2%

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 −1.7%	60−65 +1.7%
Full HD	56 +1.8%	55−60 −1.8%

Cost per frame, $

1080p

5.34

1.44

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

9−10

+0%

9−10
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Battlefield 5	12−14 +8.3%	12−14 −8.3%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10−12 +10%	10−11 −10%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Far Cry 5	10−12 +10%	10−11 −10%
Far Cry New Dawn	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	30−35 +10%	30−33 −10%
Hitman 3	10−12 +10%	10−11 −10%
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−35 +10%	30−33 −10%
Metro Exodus	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 +4.4%	45−50 −4.4%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Battlefield 5	12−14 +8.3%	12−14 −8.3%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10−12 +10%	10−11 −10%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Far Cry 5	10−12 +10%	10−11 −10%
Far Cry New Dawn	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	30−35 +10%	30−33 −10%
Hitman 3	10−12 +10%	10−11 −10%
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−35 +10%	30−33 −10%
Metro Exodus	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 +4.4%	45−50 −4.4%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10−12 +10%	10−11 −10%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Far Cry 5	10−12 +10%	10−11 −10%
Forza Horizon 4	30−35 +10%	30−33 −10%
Hitman 3	10−12 +10%	10−11 −10%
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−35 +10%	30−33 −10%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 +4.4%	45−50 −4.4%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

14−16

+0%

14−16
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	0−1	0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Far Cry 5	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Hitman 3	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Metro Exodus	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 +6.7%	30−33 −6.7%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

9−10

+0%

9−10
+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Hitman 3	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Metro Exodus	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	0−1	0−1
Far Cry 5	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

6−7

+0%

6−7
+0%

This is how ATI HD 5850 and Radeon 550 compete in popular games:

Radeon 550 is 2% faster in 900p
ATI HD 5850 is 2% faster in 1080p

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	5.15	5.25
Recency	30 September 2009	20 April 2017
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	2 GB
Chip lithography	40 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	151 Watt	50 Watt

Radeon 550 has a 1.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 7 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 185.7% more advanced lithography process, and 202% lower power consumption.

Given the minimal performance differences, no clear winner can be declared between Radeon HD 5850 and Radeon 550.

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