ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT vs HD 8650M

Place in the ranking	886	934
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	no data	0.05
Power efficiency	no data	0.55
Architecture	GCN (2012−2015)	TeraScale (2005−2013)
GPU code name	no data	R600
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	7 January 2013 (12 years ago)	14 May 2007 (17 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$399

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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	384	320
Core clock speed	650 MHz	743 MHz
Number of transistors	900 Million	720 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	80 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	no data	215 Watt
Texture fill rate	no data	11.89
Floating-point processing power	no data	0.4755 TFLOPS
ROPs	no data	16
TMUs	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	no data
Interface	no data	PCIe 1.0 x16
Length	no data	241 mm
Width	no data	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	no data	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin

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	GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	512 MB
Memory bus width	64 Bit	512 Bit
Memory clock speed	4500 MHz	828 MHz
Memory bandwidth	no data	106.0 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 data

2x DVI, 1x S-Video

API compatibility

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

DirectX	11.1	10.0 (10_0)
Shader Model	no data	4.0
OpenGL	no data	3.3
OpenCL	no data	N/A
Vulkan	-	N/A

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	8−9 +33.3%	6−7 −33.3%
Cyberpunk 2077	6−7 +20%	5−6 −20%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 +33.3%	3−4 −33.3%
Counter-Strike 2	8−9 +33.3%	6−7 −33.3%
Cyberpunk 2077	6−7 +20%	5−6 −20%
Forza Horizon 4	10−12 +22.2%	9−10 −22.2%
Metro Exodus	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Red Dead Redemption 2	8−9 +33.3%	6−7 −33.3%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 +33.3%	3−4 −33.3%
Counter-Strike 2	8−9 +33.3%	6−7 −33.3%
Cyberpunk 2077	6−7 +20%	5−6 −20%
Dota 2	4−5 +33.3%	3−4 −33.3%
Far Cry 5	12−14 +30%	10−11 −30%
Fortnite	10−11 +25%	8−9 −25%
Forza Horizon 4	10−12 +22.2%	9−10 −22.2%
Grand Theft Auto V	4−5 +33.3%	3−4 −33.3%
Metro Exodus	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	20−22 +25%	16−18 −25%
Red Dead Redemption 2	8−9 +33.3%	6−7 −33.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	9−10 +28.6%	7−8 −28.6%
World of Tanks	35−40 +30%	30−33 −30%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 +33.3%	3−4 −33.3%
Counter-Strike 2	8−9 +33.3%	6−7 −33.3%
Cyberpunk 2077	6−7 +20%	5−6 −20%
Dota 2	4−5 +33.3%	3−4 −33.3%
Far Cry 5	12−14 +30%	10−11 −30%
Forza Horizon 4	10−12 +22.2%	9−10 −22.2%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	20−22 +25%	16−18 −25%

1440p
High Preset

Grand Theft Auto V	0−1	0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	14−16 +40%	10−11 −40%
Red Dead Redemption 2	1−2	0−1
World of Tanks	12−14 +30%	10−11 −30%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	0−1	0−1
Counter-Strike 2	30−35 +33.3%	24−27 −33.3%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 +50%	2−3 −50%
Far Cry 5	6−7 +20%	5−6 −20%
Forza Horizon 5	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	5−6 +25%	4−5 −25%
Valorant	8−9 +33.3%	6−7 −33.3%

4K
High Preset

Dota 2	16−18 +33.3%	12−14 −33.3%
Grand Theft Auto V	14−16 +25%	12−14 −25%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	6−7 +20%	5−6 −20%
Red Dead Redemption 2	1−2	0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 +25%	12−14 −25%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Dota 2	16−18 +33.3%	12−14 −33.3%
Far Cry 5	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Fortnite	0−1	0−1
Forza Horizon 5	0−1	0−1
Valorant	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	2.05	1.71
Recency	7 January 2013	14 May 2007
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	512 MB
Chip lithography	28 nm	80 nm

HD 8650M has a 19.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 5 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 185.7% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon HD 8650M is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 2900 XT in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 8650M is a notebook card while Radeon HD 2900 XT is a desktop one.

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