GeForce GT 520 vs Radeon HD 8790M
Aggregated performance score
Radeon HD 8790M outperforms GeForce GT 520 by 321% based on our aggregated benchmark results.
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in performance ranking | 694 | 1103 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 0.33 | 0.01 |
| Architecture | GCN (2011−2017) | Fermi 2.0 (2010−2014) |
| GPU code name | Mars XTX | GF119 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Desktop |
| Release date | 16 November 2012 (11 years ago) | 13 April 2011 (13 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | no data | $59 |
| Current price | $460 | $88 (1.5x MSRP) |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
HD 8790M has 3200% better value for money than GT 520.
Detailed specifications
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 cores | 384 | 48 |
| CUDA cores | no data | 48 |
| Core clock speed | 850 MHz | 810 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 900 MHz | no data |
| Number of transistors | 950 million | 292 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 28 nm | 40 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | unknown | 29 Watt |
| Maximum GPU temperature | no data | 102 °C |
| Texture fill rate | 21.60 | 6.5 billion/sec |
| Floating-point performance | 691.2 gflops | 155.52 gflops |
Form factor & compatibility
Information on Radeon HD 8790M and GeForce GT 520 compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop video cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility). For notebook video cards it's notebook size, connection slot and bus, if the video card is inserted into a slot instead of being soldered to the notebook motherboard.
| Laptop size | medium sized | no data |
| Bus support | no data | 16x PCI-E 2.0 |
| Interface | MXM-A (3.0) | PCIe 2.0 x16 |
| Length | no data | 5.7" (14.5 cm) |
| Height | no data | 2.7" (6.9 cm) |
| Width | no data | 1-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | None | 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 | DDR3 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 2 GB | 1 GB (DDR3) |
| Memory bus width | 128 Bit | 64 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 4500 MHz | 900 MHz (DDR3) |
| Memory bandwidth | 64 GB/s | 14.4 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 | Dual Link DVI-IHDMIVGA (optional) |
| Multi monitor support | no data | + |
| HDMI | no data | + |
| Maximum VGA resolution | no data | 2048x1536 |
| Audio input for HDMI | no data | Internal |
API compatibility
List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 (11_1) | 12 (11_0) |
| Shader Model | 5.1 | 5.1 |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 4.2 |
| OpenCL | 1.2 | 1.1 |
| Vulkan | 1.2.131 | N/A |
| 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.
Radeon HD 8790M outperforms GeForce GT 520 by 321% based on our aggregated 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%
Radeon HD 8790M outperforms GeForce GT 520 by 322% 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%
Radeon HD 8790M outperforms GeForce GT 520 by 354% 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 HD | 28
+367%
| 6−7
−367%
|
FPS performance in popular games
Full HD
Low Preset
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 6−7
+500%
|
1−2
−500%
|
Full HD
Medium Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 5−6
+400%
|
1−2
−400%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 1−2 | 0−1 |
| Battlefield 5 | 8−9
+700%
|
1−2
−700%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 12−14
+333%
|
3−4
−333%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 6−7
+500%
|
1−2
−500%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 6−7
+500%
|
1−2
−500%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 6−7
+500%
|
1−2
−500%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 9−10
+350%
|
2−3
−350%
|
| Hitman 3 | 7−8
+600%
|
1−2
−600%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 6−7
+500%
|
1−2
−500%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 7−8
+600%
|
1−2
−600%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 10−11
+400%
|
2−3
−400%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 3−4 | 0−1 |
Full HD
High Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 5−6
+400%
|
1−2
−400%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 1−2 | 0−1 |
| Battlefield 5 | 8−9
+700%
|
1−2
−700%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 12−14
+333%
|
3−4
−333%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 6−7
+500%
|
1−2
−500%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 6−7
+500%
|
1−2
−500%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 6−7
+500%
|
1−2
−500%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 9−10
+350%
|
2−3
−350%
|
| Hitman 3 | 7−8
+600%
|
1−2
−600%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 6−7
+500%
|
1−2
−500%
|
| Metro Exodus | 5−6
+400%
|
1−2
−400%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 7−8
+600%
|
1−2
−600%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 10−11
+400%
|
2−3
−400%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 8−9
+700%
|
1−2
−700%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 3−4 | 0−1 |
Full HD
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 5−6
+400%
|
1−2
−400%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 1−2 | 0−1 |
| Battlefield 5 | 8−9
+700%
|
1−2
−700%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 6−7
+500%
|
1−2
−500%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 6−7
+500%
|
1−2
−500%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 6−7
+500%
|
1−2
−500%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 9−10
+350%
|
2−3
−350%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 8−9
+700%
|
1−2
−700%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 3−4 | 0−1 |
1440p
High Preset
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 6−7
+500%
|
1−2
−500%
|
| Hitman 3 | 6−7
+500%
|
1−2
−500%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 10−11
+400%
|
2−3
−400%
|
| Metro Exodus | 2−3 | 0−1 |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 2−3 | 0−1 |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 7−8
+600%
|
1−2
−600%
|
1440p
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 1−2 | 0−1 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 2−3 | 0−1 |
| Far Cry 5 | 5−6
+400%
|
1−2
−400%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 0−1 | 0−1 |
| Forza Horizon 4 | 2−3 | 0−1 |
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 3−4 | 0−1 |
4K
High Preset
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 3−4 | 0−1 |
| Hitman 3 | 3−4 | 0−1 |
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 7−8
+600%
|
1−2
−600%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 1−2 | 0−1 |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 0−1 | 0−1 |
4K
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 1−2 | 0−1 |
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 1−2 | 0−1 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 0−1 | 0−1 |
| Far Cry 5 | 4−5 | 0−1 |
| Far Cry New Dawn | 6−7
+500%
|
1−2
−500%
|
This is how HD 8790M and GT 520 compete in popular games:
- HD 8790M is 367% faster than GT 520 in 1080p
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 3.37 | 0.80 |
| Recency | 16 November 2012 | 13 April 2011 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 2 GB | 1 GB (DDR3) |
| Chip lithography | 28 nm | 40 nm |
The Radeon HD 8790M is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GT 520 in performance tests.
Be aware that Radeon HD 8790M is a notebook card while GeForce GT 520 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
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
