Radeon RX 6850M XT vs HD 8850M

Place in the ranking	830	77
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	no data	18.91
Architecture	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)	RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code name	Venus	Navi 22
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	1 April 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	640	2560
Core clock speed	575 MHz	2321 MHz
Boost clock speed	625 MHz	2581 MHz
Number of transistors	1,500 million	17,200 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	no data	165 Watt
Texture fill rate	25.00	413.0
Floating-point processing power	0.8 TFLOPS	13.21 TFLOPS
ROPs	16	64
TMUs	40	160
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	40

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	large	large
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16
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	DDR3	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	12 GB
Memory bus width	128 Bit	192 Bit
Memory clock speed	1000 MHz	2000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	32 GB/s	384.0 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	12 (11_1)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	5.1	6.5
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	2.1
Vulkan	1.2.131	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 8850M 2.53

RX 6850M XT 45.47
+1697%

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 8850M 973

RX 6850M XT 17511
+1700%

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 8850M 2349

RX 6850M XT 42016
+1689%

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 8850M 1845

RX 6850M XT 33901
+1737%

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 8850M 11387

RX 6850M XT 172972
+1419%

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	23 −530%	145 +530%
1440p	4−5 −2075%	87 +2075%
4K	3−4 −2133%	67 +2133%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

5−6

−3100%

160
+3100%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	8−9 −1075%	90−95 +1075%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	0−1	159
Battlefield 5	3−4 −4633%	140−150 +4633%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	6−7 −1383%	85−90 +1383%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 −2620%	136 +2620%
Far Cry 5	4−5 −2225%	90−95 +2225%
Far Cry New Dawn	7−8 −1457%	100−110 +1457%
Forza Horizon 4	12−14 −1592%	200−210 +1592%
Hitman 3	7−8 −1257%	95−100 +1257%
Horizon Zero Dawn	20−22 −800%	180−190 +800%
Metro Exodus	2−3 −6750%	130−140 +6750%
Red Dead Redemption 2	6−7 −1567%	100−105 +1567%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−12 −1427%	160−170 +1427%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 −265%	130−140 +265%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	8−9 −1075%	90−95 +1075%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	0−1	130
Battlefield 5	3−4 −4633%	140−150 +4633%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	6−7 −1383%	85−90 +1383%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 −2020%	106 +2020%
Far Cry 5	4−5 −2225%	90−95 +2225%
Far Cry New Dawn	7−8 −1457%	100−110 +1457%
Forza Horizon 4	12−14 −1592%	200−210 +1592%
Hitman 3	7−8 −1257%	95−100 +1257%
Horizon Zero Dawn	20−22 −800%	180−190 +800%
Metro Exodus	2−3 −6750%	130−140 +6750%
Red Dead Redemption 2	6−7 −1567%	100−105 +1567%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−12 −2255%	259 +2255%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 −608%	90−95 +608%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 −265%	130−140 +265%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	8−9 −1075%	90−95 +1075%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	0−1	112
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	6−7 −1383%	85−90 +1383%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 −1640%	87 +1640%
Far Cry 5	4−5 −2225%	90−95 +2225%
Forza Horizon 4	12−14 −1592%	200−210 +1592%
Hitman 3	7−8 −1257%	95−100 +1257%
Horizon Zero Dawn	20−22 −800%	180−190 +800%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−12 −1964%	227 +1964%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 −838%	122 +838%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 −124%	83 +124%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

6−7

−1567%

100−105
+1567%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 −2100%	85−90 +2100%
Far Cry New Dawn	4−5 −1600%	65−70 +1600%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3 −2350%	45−50 +2350%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	2−3 −2550%	50−55 +2550%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −5400%	55 +5400%
Far Cry 5	3−4 −1633%	50−55 +1633%
Hitman 3	8−9 −638%	55−60 +638%
Horizon Zero Dawn	7−8 −1314%	95−100 +1314%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	2−3 −3300%	65−70 +3300%
Watch Dogs: Legion	14−16 −1273%	200−210 +1273%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

6−7

−1183%

75−80
+1183%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	1−2 −4500%	45−50 +4500%
Far Cry New Dawn	1−2 −3800%	35−40 +3800%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3 −1450%	30−35 +1450%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	1−2 −4600%	47 +4600%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2 −2800%	27−30 +2800%
Far Cry 5	1−2 −2600%	27−30 +2600%
Watch Dogs: Legion	0−1	24−27

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

4−5

−925%

40−45
+925%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	85 +0%	85 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	240−250 +0%	240−250 +0%
Metro Exodus	80−85 +0%	80−85 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	166 +0%	166 +0%

4K
High Preset

Hitman 3	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	190−200 +0%	190−200 +0%
Metro Exodus	55−60 +0%	55−60 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	72 +0%	72 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Cyberpunk 2077	26 +0%	26 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	60−65 +0%	60−65 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	92 +0%	92 +0%

This is how HD 8850M and RX 6850M XT compete in popular games:

RX 6850M XT is 530% faster in 1080p
RX 6850M XT is 2075% faster in 1440p
RX 6850M XT is 2133% faster in 4K

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

in Metro Exodus, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the RX 6850M XT is 6750% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

RX 6850M XT is ahead in 57 tests (84%)
there's a draw in 11 tests (16%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	2.53	45.47
Recency	1 April 2013	4 January 2022
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	12 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	7 nm

RX 6850M XT has a 1697.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 8 years, a 500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 300% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 6850M XT is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 8850M in performance tests.

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