GeForce GT 520M vs GT 730M

Place in the ranking	868	1158
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	no data	0.01
Power efficiency	4.46	4.30
Architecture	Kepler (2012−2018)	Fermi (2010−2014)
GPU code name	GK107	GF108
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	20 January 2013 (11 years ago)	5 January 2011 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$59.99

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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	384	48
Core clock speed	725 MHz	600 MHz
Number of transistors	1,270 million	585 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	33 Watt	12 Watt
Texture fill rate	23.20	4.800
Floating-point processing power	0.5568 TFLOPS	0.1152 TFLOPS
ROPs	16	4
TMUs	32	8

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	no data
Bus support	PCI Express 3.0, PCI Express 2.0	no data
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 2.0 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	DDR3	DDR3
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	1 GB
Standard memory configuration	DDR3/GDDR5	no data
Memory bus width	128 Bit	64 Bit
Memory clock speed	900 MHz	800 MHz
Memory bandwidth	28.8 GB/s	12.8 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	No outputs	Portable Device Dependent
eDP 1.2 signal support	Up to 3840x2160	no data
LVDS signal support	Up to 1920x1200	no data
VGA аnalog display support	Up to 2048x1536	no data
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support	Up to 3840x2160	no data
HDMI	+	-
HDCP content protection	+	-
7.1 channel HD audio on HDMI	+	-
TrueHD and DTS-HD audio bitstreaming	+	-

Supported technologies

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

Blu-Ray 3D Support	+	-
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder	+	-
Optimus	+	+
3D Vision / 3DTV Play	+	-

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 API	12 API
Shader Model	5.1	5.1
OpenGL	4.5	4.5
OpenCL	1.1	1.1
Vulkan	1.1.126	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.

GT 730M 2.11
+185%

GT 520M 0.74

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.

GT 730M 814
+186%

GT 520M 285

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.

GT 730M 1722
+243%

GT 520M 502

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.

GT 730M 6788
+198%

GT 520M 2280

GeekBench 5 OpenCL

Geekbench 5 is a widespread graphics card benchmark combined from 11 different test scenarios. All these scenarios rely on direct usage of GPU's processing power, no 3D rendering is involved. This variation uses OpenCL API by Khronos Group.

GT 730M 3229
+142%

GT 520M 1333

Octane Render OctaneBench

This is a special benchmark measuring graphics card performance in OctaneRender, which is a realistic GPU rendering engine by OTOY Inc., available either as a standalone program, or as a plugin for 3DS Max, Cinema 4D and many other apps. It renders four different static scenes, then compares render times with a reference GPU which is currently GeForce GTX 980. This benchmark has nothing to do with gaming and is aimed at professional 3D graphics artists.

GT 730M 6
+50%

GT 520M 4

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	21−24 +163%	8 −163%
Full HD	22 +83.3%	12 −83.3%
1200p	18−20 +157%	7 −157%

Cost per frame, $

1080p

no data

5.00

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

5−6
+66.7%

3−4

−66.7%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	7−8 +40%	5−6 −40%
Battlefield 5	2−3	0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	6−7 +100%	3−4 −100%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +66.7%	3−4 −66.7%
Far Cry 5	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Far Cry New Dawn	5−6 +400%	1−2 −400%
Forza Horizon 4	9−10 +200%	3−4 −200%
Hitman 3	7−8 +40%	5−6 −40%
Horizon Zero Dawn	18−20 +63.6%	10−12 −63.6%
Red Dead Redemption 2	5−6	0−1
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−11 +66.7%	6−7 −66.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 +16.1%	30−35 −16.1%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	7−8 +40%	5−6 −40%
Battlefield 5	2−3	0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	6−7 +100%	3−4 −100%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +66.7%	3−4 −66.7%
Far Cry 5	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Far Cry New Dawn	5−6 +400%	1−2 −400%
Forza Horizon 4	9−10 +200%	3−4 −200%
Hitman 3	7−8 +40%	5−6 −40%
Horizon Zero Dawn	18−20 +63.6%	10−12 −63.6%
Red Dead Redemption 2	5−6	0−1
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−11 +66.7%	6−7 −66.7%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 +20%	10−11 −20%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 +16.1%	30−35 −16.1%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	7−8 +40%	5−6 −40%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	6−7 +100%	3−4 −100%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +66.7%	3−4 −66.7%
Far Cry 5	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Forza Horizon 4	9−10 +200%	3−4 −200%
Hitman 3	7−8 +40%	5−6 −40%
Horizon Zero Dawn	18−20 +63.6%	10−12 −63.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−11 +66.7%	6−7 −66.7%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 +20%	10−11 −20%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 +16.1%	30−35 −16.1%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

5−6

0−1

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	3−4	0−1
Far Cry New Dawn	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3	0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Far Cry 5	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Hitman 3	7−8 +16.7%	6−7 −16.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn	6−7 +100%	3−4 −100%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	1−2	0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion	12−14 +500%	2−3 −500%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

5−6
+66.7%

3−4

−66.7%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	0−1	0−1
Far Cry New Dawn	1−2	0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	1−2	0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2	0−1
Far Cry 5	1−2	0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion	0−1	0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

3−4
+50%

2−3

−50%

This is how GT 730M and GT 520M compete in popular games:

GT 730M is 163% faster in 900p
GT 730M is 83% faster in 1080p
GT 730M is 157% faster in 1200p

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

in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GT 730M is 500% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

GT 730M is ahead in 34 tests (97%)
there's a draw in 1 test (3%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	2.11	0.74
Recency	20 January 2013	5 January 2011
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	1 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	33 Watt	12 Watt

GT 730M has a 185.1% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 42.9% more advanced lithography process.

GT 520M, on the other hand, has 175% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GT 730M is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GT 520M in performance tests.

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