GeForce GTX 550 Ti vs Radeon R9 270

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 270 and GeForce GTX 550 Ti, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

R9 270
2013
2 GB GDDR5, 150 Watt
11.16
+177%

R9 270 outperforms GTX 550 Ti by a whopping 177% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking416688
Place by popularitynot in top-10077
Cost-effectiveness evaluation4.870.70
Power efficiency5.312.48
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)Fermi 2.0 (2010−2014)
GPU code nameCuracaoGF116
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date13 November 2013 (10 years ago)15 March 2011 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$179 $149

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

R9 270 has 596% better value for money than GTX 550 Ti.

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 cores1280192
Core clock speedno data900 MHz
Boost clock speed925 MHzno data
Number of transistors2,800 million1,170 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)150 Watt116 Watt
Maximum GPU temperatureno data100 °C
Texture fill rate74.0028.80
Floating-point processing power2.368 TFLOPS0.6912 TFLOPS
ROPs3224
TMUs8032

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).

Bus supportPCIe 3.016x PCI-E 2.0
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length210 mm210 mm
Heightno data4.376" (11.1 cm)
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1 x 6-pin1x 6-pin
SLI options-+

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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2 GB2 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit192 Bit
Memory clock speedno data4.1 GB/s
Memory bandwidth179.2 GB/s98.4 GB/s

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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPortTwo Dual Link DVI-IMini HDMI
Multi monitor supportno data+
Eyefinity+-
HDMI++
Maximum VGA resolutionno data2048x1536
DisplayPort support+-
Audio input for HDMIno dataInternal

Supported technologies

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

CrossFire+-
FreeSync+-
HD3D+-
LiquidVR+-
TressFX+-
TrueAudio+-
UVD+-
DDMA audio+no data

API compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 1212 (11_0)
Shader Model5.15.1
OpenGL4.64.2
OpenCL1.21.1
Vulkan+N/A
CUDA-+

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.

R9 270 11.16
+177%
GTX 550 Ti 4.03

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.

R9 270 4306
+177%
GTX 550 Ti 1554

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:

900p100−110
+163%
38
−163%
Full HD90−95
+173%
33
−173%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Battlefield 5 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Far Cry 5 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Hitman 3 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Metro Exodus 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Battlefield 5 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Far Cry 5 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Hitman 3 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Metro Exodus 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Far Cry 5 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Hitman 3 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Far Cry 5 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Hitman 3 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Hitman 3 0−1 0−1
Metro Exodus 0−1 0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 0−1 0−1
Far Cry 5 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%

This is how R9 270 and GTX 550 Ti compete in popular games:

  • R9 270 is 163% faster in 900p
  • R9 270 is 173% faster in 1080p

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 63 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 11.16 4.03
Recency 13 November 2013 15 March 2011
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 150 Watt 116 Watt

R9 270 has a 176.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, and a 42.9% more advanced lithography process.

GTX 550 Ti, on the other hand, has 29.3% lower power consumption.

The Radeon R9 270 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 550 Ti in performance tests.


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

Vote for your favorite

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AMD Radeon R9 270
Radeon R9 270
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti
GeForce GTX 550 Ti

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


3.9 595 votes

Rate Radeon R9 270 on a scale of 1 to 5:

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4.9 59398 votes

Rate GeForce GTX 550 Ti on a scale of 1 to 5:

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Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.