Radeon HD 8550M vs R5 230

Place in the ranking	1211	979
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	2.07	no data
Architecture	TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)
GPU code name	Caicos	Sun
Market segment	Desktop	Laptop
Design	reference	no data
Release date	3 April 2014 (10 years ago)	13 July 2014 (10 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	160	320
Core clock speed	no data	650 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	850 MHz
Number of transistors	370 million	690 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	19 Watt	no data
Texture fill rate	5.000	17.00
Floating-point processing power	0.2 TFLOPS	0.544 TFLOPS
ROPs	4	8
TMUs	8	20

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	no data	medium sized
Bus support	PCIe 1.0 x4	no data
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x8
Length	168 mm	no data
Width	1-slot	no data
Supplementary power connectors	N/A	no data

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	DDR3
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	1 GB
Memory bus width	64 Bit	64 Bit
Memory clock speed	no data	900 MHz
Memory bandwidth	10.67 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	1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x VGA	No outputs
Eyefinity	+	-
HDMI	+	-

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

CrossFire	+	-
PowerPlay	+	no data
DDMA audio	-	no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	DirectX® 11	12 (11_1)
Shader Model	5.0	5.1
OpenGL	4.4	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	1.2
Vulkan	-	1.2.131

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	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Elden Ring	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Metro Exodus	0−1	0−1
Red Dead Redemption 2	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Dota 2	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Elden Ring	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Far Cry 5	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
Fortnite	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Metro Exodus	0−1	0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
World of Tanks	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Dota 2	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Far Cry 5	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%

1440p
High Preset

Elden Ring	0−1	0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	0−1	0−1
World of Tanks	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Counter-Strike 2	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Far Cry 5	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Valorant	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%

4K
High Preset

Dota 2	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Elden Ring	0−1	0−1
Grand Theft Auto V	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	0−1	0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Dota 2	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Far Cry 5	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Valorant	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%

All in all, in popular games:

there's a draw in 44 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	0.57	1.50
Recency	3 April 2014	13 July 2014
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	1 GB
Chip lithography	40 nm	28 nm

R5 230 has a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount.

HD 8550M, on the other hand, has a 163.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 3 months, and a 42.9% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon HD 8550M is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R5 230 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon R5 230 is a desktop card while Radeon HD 8550M is a notebook one.

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