GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB vs Radeon RX 550 Mobile

Place in performance ranking	552	346
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	4.47	no data
Architecture	Polaris (2016−2019)	Pascal (2016−2021)
GPU code name	Polaris 12	N17P-G1 Max-Q
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	21 March 2017 (7 years ago)	30 May 2017 (7 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$79.99	no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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	640	1280
Core clock speed	1287 MHz	1063 - 1265 MHz
Boost clock speed	1476 MHz	1341 - 1480 MHz
Number of transistors	2,200 million	4,400 million
Manufacturing process technology	14 nm	16 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	50 Watt	60 - 70 Watt
Texture fill rate	51.48	118.4
Floating-point performance	1.647 gflops	3.789 gflops

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 x8	PCIe 3.0 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	GDDR5	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	6.144 MB
Memory bus width	128 Bit	192 Bit
Memory clock speed	6000 MHz	8000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	96 GB/s	192.2 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	No outputs
G-SYNC support	-	+

Supported technologies

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

FreeSync	+	-
VR Ready	no data	+

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_0)	12.0
Shader Model	6.4	5.0
OpenGL	4.6	4.5
OpenCL	2.0	1.2
Vulkan	1.2.131	+
CUDA	-	6.1

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.

RX 550 Mobile 6.93

GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB 15.27
+120%

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.

RX 550 Mobile 4559

GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB 13334
+192%

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.

RX 550 Mobile 3645

GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB 10430
+186%

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.

RX 550 Mobile 23050

GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB 74101
+221%

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Ice Storm Graphics is an obsolete benchmark, part of 3DMark suite. Ice Storm was used to measure entry level laptops and Windows-based tablets performance. It utilizes DirectX 11 feature level 9 to display a battle between two space fleets near a frozen planet in 1280x720 resolution. Discontinued in January 2020, it is now superseded by 3DMark Night Raid.

RX 550 Mobile 239256

GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB 367999
+53.8%

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	16 −406%	81 +406%
1440p	6−7 −150%	15 +150%
4K	12−14 −133%	28 +133%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

−140%

24−27
+140%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	18−20 −94.4%	35−40 +94.4%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	8 −213%	24−27 +213%
Battlefield 5	20−22 −150%	50−55 +150%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	14−16 −121%	30−35 +121%
Cyberpunk 2077	10−12 −118%	24−27 +118%
Far Cry 5	16−18 −288%	62 +288%
Far Cry New Dawn	18−20 −121%	40−45 +121%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 −115%	95−100 +115%
Hitman 3	12 −142%	27−30 +142%
Horizon Zero Dawn	40−45 −87.8%	75−80 +87.8%
Metro Exodus	20−22 −160%	50−55 +160%
Red Dead Redemption 2	18−20 −121%	40−45 +121%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	21−24 −117%	50−55 +117%
Watch Dogs: Legion	50−55 −49.1%	75−80 +49.1%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	18−20 −94.4%	35−40 +94.4%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	8 −213%	24−27 +213%
Battlefield 5	20−22 −150%	50−55 +150%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	14−16 −121%	30−35 +121%
Cyberpunk 2077	10−12 −118%	24−27 +118%
Far Cry 5	16−18 −238%	54 +238%
Far Cry New Dawn	18−20 −121%	40−45 +121%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 −115%	95−100 +115%
Hitman 3	12 −142%	27−30 +142%
Horizon Zero Dawn	40−45 −87.8%	75−80 +87.8%
Metro Exodus	20−22 −160%	50−55 +160%
Red Dead Redemption 2	18−20 −121%	40−45 +121%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	24 −108%	50−55 +108%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	21−24 −71.4%	35−40 +71.4%
Watch Dogs: Legion	50−55 −49.1%	75−80 +49.1%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	18−20 −94.4%	35−40 +94.4%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	9−10 −178%	24−27 +178%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	14−16 −121%	30−35 +121%
Cyberpunk 2077	10−12 −118%	24−27 +118%
Far Cry 5	16−18 −150%	40 +150%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 −115%	95−100 +115%
Hitman 3	14−16 −107%	27−30 +107%
Horizon Zero Dawn	40−45 −87.8%	75−80 +87.8%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	16 −213%	50−55 +213%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	24 −45.8%	35 +45.8%
Watch Dogs: Legion	4 −1875%	75−80 +1875%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

18−20

−121%

40−45
+121%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	12−14 −131%	30−33 +131%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−12 −109%	21−24 +109%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	7−8 −114%	14−16 +114%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 −500%	12−14 +500%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	7−8 −129%	16−18 +129%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −167%	8−9 +167%
Far Cry 5	8−9 −125%	18−20 +125%
Forza Horizon 4	24−27 −233%	80−85 +233%
Hitman 3	10−12 −63.6%	18−20 +63.6%
Horizon Zero Dawn	14−16 −107%	30−35 +107%
Metro Exodus	7−8 −286%	27−30 +286%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	4−5 −600%	27−30 +600%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	6−7 −167%	16−18 +167%
Watch Dogs: Legion	40−45 −114%	90−95 +114%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

12−14

−108%

24−27
+108%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	6−7 −150%	14−16 +150%
Far Cry New Dawn	5−6 −120%	10−12 +120%
Hitman 3	3−4 −267%	10−12 +267%
Horizon Zero Dawn	21−24 −262%	75−80 +262%
Metro Exodus	4−5 −275%	14−16 +275%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	3−4 −700%	24 +700%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	4−5 −125%	9−10 +125%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	3−4 −133%	7−8 +133%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	3−4 −167%	8−9 +167%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −100%	2−3 +100%
Far Cry 5	4−5 −200%	12 +200%
Forza Horizon 4	7−8 −186%	20−22 +186%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	2−3 −650%	14−16 +650%
Watch Dogs: Legion	2−3 −200%	6−7 +200%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

7−8

−100%

14−16
+100%

This is how RX 550 Mobile and GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB compete in popular games:

GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB is 406% faster in 1080p
GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB is 150% faster in 1440p
GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB is 133% faster in 4K

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

in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB is 1875% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

Without exception, GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB surpassed RX 550 Mobile in all 72 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	6.93	15.27
Recency	21 March 2017	30 May 2017
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	6.144 MB
Chip lithography	14 nm	16 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	50 Watt	60 Watt

RX 550 Mobile has a 14.3% more advanced lithography process, and 20% lower power consumption.

GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB, on the other hand, has a 120.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 months, and a 50% higher maximum VRAM amount.

The GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon RX 550 Mobile in performance tests.

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