GeForce FX 5600 Ultra vs Radeon HD 8550M
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 972 | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Architecture | GCN 1.0 (2011−2020) | Rankine (2003−2005) |
| GPU code name | Sun | NV31 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Desktop |
| Release date | 13 July 2014 (10 years ago) | 17 March 2003 (21 year ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | no data | $199 |
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 | 320 | no data |
| Core clock speed | 650 MHz | 400 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 850 MHz | no data |
| Number of transistors | 690 million | 80 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 28 nm | 130 nm |
| Texture fill rate | 17.00 | 1.600 |
| Floating-point processing power | 0.544 TFLOPS | no data |
| ROPs | 8 | 4 |
| TMUs | 20 | 4 |
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 | no data |
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x8 | AGP 8x |
| Length | no data | 191 mm |
| Width | no data | 1-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | no data | 1x Molex |
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 | DDR3 | DDR |
| Maximum RAM amount | 1 GB | 128 MB |
| Memory bus width | 64 Bit | 128 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 900 MHz | 400 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 14.4 GB/s | 12.8 GB/s |
| Shared memory | - | no data |
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 | 1x DVI, 1x VGA, 1x S-Video |
API compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 (11_1) | 9.0a |
| Shader Model | 5.1 | no data |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 1.5 (2.1) |
| OpenCL | 1.2 | N/A |
| Vulkan | 1.2.131 | N/A |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 13 July 2014 | 17 March 2003 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 1 GB | 128 MB |
| Chip lithography | 28 nm | 130 nm |
HD 8550M has an age advantage of 11 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 364.3% more advanced lithography process.
We couldn't decide between Radeon HD 8550M and GeForce FX 5600 Ultra. We've got no test results to judge.
Be aware that Radeon HD 8550M is a notebook card while GeForce FX 5600 Ultra is a desktop one.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Comparisons with similar GPUs
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