GeForce GTX 550 Ti vs Radeon R9 390

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 390 and GeForce GTX 550 Ti, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

R9 390
2015
0 MB GDDR5, 275 Watt
23.15
+473%

R9 390 outperforms GTX 550 Ti by a whopping 473% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking244696
Place by popularitynot in top-10065
Cost-effectiveness evaluation11.820.79
Power efficiency5.812.40
ArchitectureGCN 2.0 (2013−2017)Fermi 2.0 (2010−2014)
GPU code nameGrenadaGF116
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date18 June 2015 (9 years ago)15 March 2011 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$329 $149

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

R9 390 has 1396% 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 cores2560192
Core clock speedno data900 MHz
Boost clock speed1000 MHzno data
Number of transistors6,200 million1,170 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)275 Watt116 Watt
Maximum GPU temperatureno data100 °C
Texture fill rate160.028.80
Floating-point processing power5.12 TFLOPS0.6912 TFLOPS
ROPs6424
TMUs16032

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
Length275 mm210 mm
Heightno data4.376" (11.1 cm)
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1 x 6-pin, 1 x 8-pin1x 6-pin
SLI options-+
Bridgeless CrossFire+-

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
High bandwidth memory (HBM)-no data
Maximum RAM amount0 MB2 GB
Memory bus width512 Bit192 Bit
Memory clock speed1000 MHz4.1 GB/s
Memory bandwidth384 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+-
Number of Eyefinity displays6no data
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+-
PowerTune+-
TrueAudio+-
VCE+-
DDMA audio+no data

API compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 1212 (11_0)
Shader Model6.35.1
OpenGL4.64.2
OpenCL2.01.1
Vulkan+N/A
Mantle+-
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 390 23.15
+473%
GTX 550 Ti 4.04

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 390 8901
+473%
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:

900p210−220
+453%
38
−453%
Full HD200−210
+456%
36
−456%

Cost per frame, $

1080p1.65
+152%
4.14
−152%
  • R9 390 has 152% lower cost per frame in 1080p

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Elden Ring 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Metro Exodus 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Valorant 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Dota 2 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Elden Ring 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Far Cry 5 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Fortnite 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Metro Exodus 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Valorant 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
World of Tanks 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Dota 2 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Far Cry 5 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Valorant 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Elden Ring 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
World of Tanks 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Far Cry 5 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Metro Exodus 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Valorant 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%

4K
High Preset

Dota 2 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Elden Ring 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Dota 2 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Far Cry 5 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Fortnite 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Valorant 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%

This is how R9 390 and GTX 550 Ti compete in popular games:

  • R9 390 is 453% faster in 900p
  • R9 390 is 456% faster in 1080p

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 60 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 23.15 4.04
Recency 18 June 2015 15 March 2011
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 275 Watt 116 Watt

R9 390 has a 473% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 4 years, and a 42.9% more advanced lithography process.

GTX 550 Ti, on the other hand, has 137.1% lower power consumption.

The Radeon R9 390 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

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


AMD Radeon R9 390
Radeon R9 390
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti
GeForce GTX 550 Ti

Other comparisons

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Community ratings

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


4.2 578 votes

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Questions & comments

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