Radeon RX 6500M vs HD 8550G

Place in the ranking	1089	271
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	2.13	28.12
Architecture	TeraScale 3 (2010−2013)	RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code name	Devastator Lite	Navi 24
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	23 May 2013 (11 years ago)	4 January 2022 (2 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	256	1024
Core clock speed	515 MHz	2000 MHz
Boost clock speed	720 MHz	2400 MHz
Number of transistors	1,303 million	5,400 million
Manufacturing process technology	32 nm	6 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	35 Watt	50 Watt
Texture fill rate	11.52	153.6
Floating-point processing power	0.3686 TFLOPS	4.915 TFLOPS
ROPs	8	32
TMUs	16	64
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	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	medium sized	medium sized
Interface	IGP	PCIe 4.0 x4
Supplementary power connectors	no data	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	System Shared	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	System Shared	4 GB
Memory bus width	System Shared	64 Bit
Memory clock speed	System Shared	2250 MHz
Memory bandwidth	no data	144.0 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

API compatibility

List of supported 3D 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	2.2
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.

HD 8550G 1.07

RX 6500M 20.16
+1784%

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.

HD 8550G 411

RX 6500M 7776
+1792%

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.

HD 8550G 1179

RX 6500M 17889
+1417%

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.

HD 8550G 4174

RX 6500M 52161
+1150%

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.

HD 8550G 792

RX 6500M 14018
+1670%

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.

HD 8550G 6107

RX 6500M 88601
+1351%

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

−288%

62
+288%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

3−4

−2100%

66
+2100%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 −800%	45−50 +800%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −925%	40−45 +925%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −2133%	67 +2133%
Far Cry 5	1−2 −4600%	45−50 +4600%
Far Cry New Dawn	2−3 −2600%	50−55 +2600%
Forza Horizon 4	0−1	120−130
Hitman 3	5−6 −1120%	61 +1120%
Horizon Zero Dawn	12−14 −654%	95−100 +654%
Red Dead Redemption 2	1−2 −5300%	50−55 +5300%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	7−8 −857%	65−70 +857%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 −188%	90−95 +188%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 −800%	45−50 +800%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −925%	40−45 +925%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −967%	32 +967%
Far Cry 5	1−2 −4600%	45−50 +4600%
Far Cry New Dawn	2−3 −2600%	50−55 +2600%
Forza Horizon 4	0−1	120−130
Hitman 3	5−6 −1060%	58 +1060%
Horizon Zero Dawn	12−14 −654%	95−100 +654%
Red Dead Redemption 2	1−2 −5300%	50−55 +5300%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	7−8 −1257%	95 +1257%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−12 −309%	45−50 +309%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 −188%	90−95 +188%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 −800%	45−50 +800%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −925%	40−45 +925%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −867%	29 +867%
Far Cry 5	1−2 −4600%	45−50 +4600%
Forza Horizon 4	0−1	120−130
Hitman 3	5−6 −1000%	55 +1000%
Horizon Zero Dawn	12−14 −654%	95−100 +654%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	7−8 −1086%	83 +1086%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−12 −255%	39 +255%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 +28%	25 −28%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

1−2

−5300%

50−55
+5300%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	1−2 −3800%	35−40 +3800%
Far Cry New Dawn	1−2 −3000%	30−35 +3000%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	1−2 −2000%	21−24 +2000%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −1100%	12−14 +1100%
Far Cry 5	1−2 −2200%	21−24 +2200%
Hitman 3	7−8 −243%	24−27 +243%
Horizon Zero Dawn	4−5 −950%	40−45 +950%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	0−1	21−24
Watch Dogs: Legion	4−5 −2900%	120−130 +2900%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

4−5

−750%

30−35
+750%

4K
High Preset

Far Cry New Dawn

0−1

14−16

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	1−2 −1100%	12−14 +1100%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	0−1	10−11
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	0−1	10−12
Far Cry 5	0−1	10−12

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

2−3

−800%

18−20
+800%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	62 +0%	62 +0%
Battlefield 5	65−70 +0%	65−70 +0%
Metro Exodus	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	45 +0%	45 +0%
Battlefield 5	65−70 +0%	65−70 +0%
Metro Exodus	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla

+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Metro Exodus	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	20−22 +0%	20−22 +0%
Hitman 3	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	100−110 +0%	100−110 +0%
Metro Exodus	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%

This is how HD 8550G and RX 6500M compete in popular games:

RX 6500M is 288% faster in 1080p

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

in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the HD 8550G is 28% faster.
in Red Dead Redemption 2, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the RX 6500M is 5300% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

HD 8550G is ahead in 1 test (2%)
RX 6500M is ahead in 42 tests (66%)
there's a draw in 21 test (33%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	1.07	20.16
Recency	23 May 2013	4 January 2022
Chip lithography	32 nm	6 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	35 Watt	50 Watt

HD 8550G has 42.9% lower power consumption.

RX 6500M, on the other hand, has a 1784.1% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 8 years, and a 433.3% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 6500M is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 8550G in performance tests.

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