GeForce GT 550M vs GT 330M
Aggregate performance score
We've compared GeForce GT 330M and GeForce GT 550M, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.
GT 550M outperforms GT 330M by a whopping 161% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 1217 | 992 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Power efficiency | 1.68 | 2.87 |
| Architecture | Tesla 2.0 (2007−2013) | Fermi (2010−2014) |
| GPU code name | GT216 | GF108 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Laptop |
| Release date | 10 January 2010 (15 years ago) | 5 January 2011 (14 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 | 48 | 96 |
| Core clock speed | 625 MHz | 475 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 486 million | 585 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 40 nm | 40 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 23 Watt | 35 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 10.00 | 7.600 |
| Floating-point processing power | 0.06528 TFLOPS | 0.1824 TFLOPS |
| Gigaflops | 182 | no data |
| ROPs | 8 | 4 |
| TMUs | 16 | 16 |
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 | medium sized | large |
| Bus support | PCI-E 2.0 | no data |
| Interface | MXM-A (3.0) | PCIe 2.0 x16 |
| Supplementary power connectors | None | None |
| 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 type | GDDR3 | DDR3 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 1 GB | 1 GB |
| Memory bus width | 128 Bit | 128 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | Up to 1066 (DDR3), Up to 800 (GDDR3) MHz | 900 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 25.28 GB/s | 28.8 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 | HDMIDual Link DVISingle Link DVIVGADisplayPort | Portable Device Dependent |
| Multi monitor support | + | no data |
| HDMI | + | - |
| Maximum VGA resolution | 2048x1536 | no data |
Supported technologies
Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.
| Optimus | - | + |
| Power management | 8.0 | no data |
API compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 11.1 (10_1) | 12 API |
| Shader Model | 4.1 | 5.1 |
| OpenGL | 2.1 | 4.5 |
| OpenCL | 1.1 | 1.1 |
| Vulkan | N/A | 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.
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.
3DMark Vantage Performance
3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.
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:
| 900p | 10
−50%
| 15
+50%
|
| Full HD | 17
−35.3%
| 23
+35.3%
|
FPS performance in popular games
Full HD
Low Preset
| Counter-Strike 2 | 9−10
+0%
|
9−10
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 2−3
−100%
|
4−5
+100%
|
Full HD
Medium Preset
| Counter-Strike 2 | 9−10
+0%
|
9−10
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 2−3
−100%
|
4−5
+100%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 6−7
−50%
|
9−10
+50%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 5−6
−40%
|
7−8
+40%
|
Full HD
High Preset
| Counter-Strike 2 | 9−10
+0%
|
9−10
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 2−3
−100%
|
4−5
+100%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 7−8
−57.1%
|
10−12
+57.1%
|
| Fortnite | 0−1 | 6−7 |
| Forza Horizon 4 | 6−7
−50%
|
9−10
+50%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 8−9
−87.5%
|
14−16
+87.5%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 5−6
−40%
|
7−8
+40%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 5−6
−40%
|
7−8
+40%
|
| World of Tanks | 16−18
−76.5%
|
30−33
+76.5%
|
Full HD
Ultra Preset
| Counter-Strike 2 | 9−10
+0%
|
9−10
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 2−3
−100%
|
4−5
+100%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 7−8
−57.1%
|
10−12
+57.1%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 6−7
−50%
|
9−10
+50%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 8−9
−87.5%
|
14−16
+87.5%
|
1440p
High Preset
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 3−4
−200%
|
9−10
+200%
|
| World of Tanks | 1−2
−700%
|
8−9
+700%
|
1440p
Ultra Preset
| Counter-Strike 2 | 9−10
+0%
|
9−10
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 2−3
+0%
|
2−3
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 4−5
−25%
|
5−6
+25%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 2−3
−50%
|
3−4
+50%
|
| Valorant | 5−6
−40%
|
7−8
+40%
|
4K
High Preset
| Dota 2 | 14−16
−6.7%
|
16−18
+6.7%
|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 14−16
+0%
|
14−16
+0%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 1−2
−300%
|
4−5
+300%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 14−16
+0%
|
14−16
+0%
|
4K
Ultra Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 0−1 | 1−2 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 1−2
+0%
|
1−2
+0%
|
| Dota 2 | 14−16
−6.7%
|
16−18
+6.7%
|
| Valorant | 1−2
+0%
|
1−2
+0%
|
Full HD
Low Preset
| Elden Ring | 1−2
+0%
|
1−2
+0%
|
Full HD
Medium Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 2−3
+0%
|
2−3
+0%
|
| Metro Exodus | 0−1 | 0−1 |
Full HD
High Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 2−3
+0%
|
2−3
+0%
|
| Dota 2 | 2−3
+0%
|
2−3
+0%
|
| Elden Ring | 1−2
+0%
|
1−2
+0%
|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 2−3
+0%
|
2−3
+0%
|
| Metro Exodus | 0−1 | 0−1 |
Full HD
Ultra Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 2−3
+0%
|
2−3
+0%
|
| Dota 2 | 2−3
+0%
|
2−3
+0%
|
1440p
High Preset
| Elden Ring | 0−1 | 0−1 |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 0−1 | 0−1 |
4K
High Preset
| Elden Ring | 0−1 | 0−1 |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 0−1 | 0−1 |
4K
Ultra Preset
| Far Cry 5 | 1−2
+0%
|
1−2
+0%
|
This is how GT 330M and GT 550M compete in popular games:
- GT 550M is 50% faster in 900p
- GT 550M is 35% faster in 1080p
Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:
- in World of Tanks, with 1440p resolution and the High Preset, the GT 550M is 700% faster.
All in all, in popular games:
- GT 550M is ahead in 23 tests (55%)
- there's a draw in 19 tests (45%)
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 0.56 | 1.46 |
| Recency | 10 January 2010 | 5 January 2011 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 23 Watt | 35 Watt |
GT 330M has 52.2% lower power consumption.
GT 550M, on the other hand, has a 160.7% higher aggregate performance score, and an age advantage of 11 months.
The GeForce GT 550M is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GT 330M in performance tests.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Other comparisons
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
