AMD Radeon HD 7850 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950

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Combined performance score

GTX 950
13.77
+38.5%

GeForce GTX 950 outperforms Radeon HD 7850 by 39% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

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

Place in performance ranking346415
Place by popularity89not in top-100
Value for money6.031.38
ArchitectureMaxwell (2014−2018)GCN 1.0 (2012−2020)
GPU code nameGM206Pitcairn
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designno datareference
Release date20 August 2015 (8 years old)5 March 2012 (12 years old)
Launch price (MSRP)$159 $249
Current price$12.88 (0.1x MSRP)$267 (1.1x MSRP)
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 950 has 337% better value for money than HD 7850.

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 cores7681024
CUDA cores768no data
Core clock speed1024 MHzno data
Boost clock speed1188 MHz1000 MHz
Number of transistors2,940 million2,800 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)90 Watt130 Watt
Texture fill rate49.2 billion/sec55.04
Floating-point performance1,825 gflops1,761 gflops

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).

Bus supportPCI Express 3.0PCIe 2.1 x16
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length7.938" (20.2 cm)210 mm
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot2-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)350 Wattno data
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pins1x 6-pin
SLI options+no data

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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2 GB2 GB
Memory bus width128 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed6.6 GB/s1200 MHz
Memory bandwidth105.6 GB/s153.6 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 ConnectorsDual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.21x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
Multi monitor support4 displaysno data
Eyefinityno data1
HDMI++
HDCP+no data
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
DisplayPort supportno data-
G-SYNC support+no data
Audio input for HDMIInternalno data

Technologies

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

AppAccelerationno data-
CrossFireno data1
Endurono data-
FreeSyncno data1
HD3Dno data-
PowerTuneno data-
TrueAudiono data-
ZeroCoreno data-
GameStream+no data
GeForce ShadowPlay+no data
GPU Boost2.0no data
GameWorks+no data

API support

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

DirectX12 (12_1)12
Shader Model6.45.1
OpenGL4.54.6
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan1.1.126+
Mantleno data-
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 950 13.77
+38.5%
HD 7850 9.94

GeForce GTX 950 outperforms Radeon HD 7850 by 39% in our combined 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%

GTX 950 5339
+38.6%
HD 7850 3853

GeForce GTX 950 outperforms Radeon HD 7850 by 39% in Passmark.

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 950 6208
+19.1%
HD 7850 5210

GeForce GTX 950 outperforms Radeon HD 7850 by 19% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

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 HD52
+48.6%
35−40
−48.6%
4K21
+50%
14−16
−50%

Performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+50%
14−16
−50%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 27−30
+61.1%
18−20
−61.1%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+43.8%
16−18
−43.8%
Battlefield 5 45−50
+56.7%
30−33
−56.7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 35−40
+50%
24−27
−50%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+50%
14−16
−50%
Far Cry 5 35−40
+50%
24−27
−50%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+40.7%
27−30
−40.7%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
+40%
35−40
−40%
Hitman 3 35−40
+54.2%
24−27
−54.2%
Horizon Zero Dawn 27−30
+61.1%
18−20
−61.1%
Red Dead Redemption 2 21−24
+43.8%
16−18
−43.8%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 27−30
+61.1%
18−20
−61.1%
Watch Dogs: Legion 24−27
+44.4%
18−20
−44.4%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 27−30
+61.1%
18−20
−61.1%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+43.8%
16−18
−43.8%
Battlefield 5 45−50
+56.7%
30−33
−56.7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 35−40
+50%
24−27
−50%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+50%
14−16
−50%
Far Cry 5 35−40
+50%
24−27
−50%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+40.7%
27−30
−40.7%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
+40%
35−40
−40%
Hitman 3 35−40
+54.2%
24−27
−54.2%
Horizon Zero Dawn 27−30
+61.1%
18−20
−61.1%
Metro Exodus 21−24
+50%
14−16
−50%
Red Dead Redemption 2 21−24
+43.8%
16−18
−43.8%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 27−30
+61.1%
18−20
−61.1%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 38
+40.7%
27−30
−40.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion 24−27
+44.4%
18−20
−44.4%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 27−30
+61.1%
18−20
−61.1%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+43.8%
16−18
−43.8%
Battlefield 5 45−50
+56.7%
30−33
−56.7%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+50%
14−16
−50%
Far Cry 5 35−40
+50%
24−27
−50%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+40.7%
27−30
−40.7%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
+40%
35−40
−40%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 21
+50%
14−16
−50%
Watch Dogs: Legion 24−27
+44.4%
18−20
−44.4%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 20−22
+42.9%
14−16
−42.9%
Hitman 3 21−24
+50%
14−16
−50%
Horizon Zero Dawn 20−22
+42.9%
14−16
−42.9%
Metro Exodus 12−14
+50%
8−9
−50%
Red Dead Redemption 2 10−11
+42.9%
7−8
−42.9%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 16−18
+41.7%
12−14
−41.7%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
+40%
10−11
−40%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−12
+57.1%
7−8
−57.1%
Battlefield 5 27−30
+55.6%
18−20
−55.6%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+40%
5−6
−40%
Far Cry 5 21−24
+57.1%
14−16
−57.1%
Far Cry New Dawn 24−27
+38.9%
18−20
−38.9%
Forza Horizon 4 27−30
+50%
18−20
−50%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
+40%
10−11
−40%
Watch Dogs: Legion 8−9
+60%
5−6
−60%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 9−10
+50%
6−7
−50%
Hitman 3 12−14
+44.4%
9−10
−44.4%
Horizon Zero Dawn 10−11
+42.9%
7−8
−42.9%
Metro Exodus 7−8
+40%
5−6
−40%
Red Dead Redemption 2 7−8
+40%
5−6
−40%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 8−9
+60%
5−6
−60%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 13
+44.4%
9−10
−44.4%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 8−9
+60%
5−6
−60%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 6−7
+50%
4−5
−50%
Battlefield 5 14−16
+40%
10−11
−40%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%
Far Cry 5 10−12
+57.1%
7−8
−57.1%
Far Cry New Dawn 14−16
+40%
10−11
−40%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
+58.3%
12−14
−58.3%
Watch Dogs: Legion 5−6
+66.7%
3−4
−66.7%

This is how GTX 950 and HD 7850 compete in popular games:

1080p resolution:

  • GTX 950 is 48.6% faster than HD 7850

4K resolution:

  • GTX 950 is 50% faster than HD 7850

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 13.77 9.94
Recency 20 August 2015 5 March 2012
Cost $159 $249
Power consumption (TDP) 90 Watt 130 Watt

The GeForce GTX 950 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 7850 in performance tests.


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

User ratings

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950
GeForce GTX 950
AMD Radeon HD 7850
Radeon HD 7850

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