HD Graphics 520 vs GeForce GTX 260M

Place in the ranking	1109	862
Place by popularity	not in top-100	43
Power efficiency	1.05	9.99
Architecture	Tesla (2006−2010)	Generation 9.0 (2015−2016)
GPU code name	G92	Skylake GT2
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	3 March 2009 (15 years ago)	1 September 2015 (9 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	112	192
Core clock speed	550 MHz	300 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	900 MHz
Number of transistors	754 million	189 million
Manufacturing process technology	65 nm	14 nm+
Power consumption (TDP)	65 Watt	15 Watt
Texture fill rate	30.80	21.60
Floating-point processing power	0.308 TFLOPS	0.3456 TFLOPS
Gigaflops	462	no data
ROPs	16	3
TMUs	56	24

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	no data
Bus support	PCI-E 2.0	no data
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	Ring Bus
SLI options	2-way	-
MXM Type	MXM 3.0 Type-B	no data

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	DDR3L/LPDDR3/DDR4
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	32 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	System Shared
Memory clock speed	Up to 950 MHz	System Shared
Memory bandwidth	61 GB/s	no data
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	DisplayPortSingle Link DVIDual Link DVIVGALVDSHDMI	Portable Device Dependent
HDMI	+	-
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536	no data
Audio input for HDMI	S/PDIF	no data

Supported technologies

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

Power management	8.0	no data
Quick Sync	no data	+

API compatibility

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

DirectX	11.1 (10_0)	12 (12_1)
Shader Model	4.0	6.4
OpenGL	2.1	4.6
OpenCL	1.1	3.0
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.

GTX 260M 0.98

HD Graphics 520 2.15
+119%

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.

GTX 260M 379

HD Graphics 520 831
+119%

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.

GTX 260M 4901

HD Graphics 520 5722
+16.8%

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:

900p	9−10 −122%	20 +122%
Full HD	29 +190%	10 −190%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

3−4

−66.7%

5−6
+66.7%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 −40%	7−8 +40%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −50%	6−7 +50%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −66.7%	5−6 +66.7%
Far Cry 5	1−2 −400%	5 +400%
Far Cry New Dawn	2−3 −200%	6−7 +200%
Hitman 3	5−6 −40%	7−8 +40%
Horizon Zero Dawn	12−14 −38.5%	18−20 +38.5%
Red Dead Redemption 2	1−2 −400%	5−6 +400%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	7−8 −42.9%	10−11 +42.9%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 −12.5%	35−40 +12.5%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 −40%	7−8 +40%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −50%	6−7 +50%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −66.7%	5−6 +66.7%
Far Cry 5	1−2 −300%	4−5 +300%
Far Cry New Dawn	2−3 −200%	6−7 +200%
Hitman 3	5−6 −40%	7−8 +40%
Horizon Zero Dawn	12−14 −38.5%	18−20 +38.5%
Red Dead Redemption 2	1−2 −400%	5−6 +400%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	7−8 −42.9%	10−11 +42.9%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−11 −30%	13 +30%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 −12.5%	35−40 +12.5%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 −40%	7−8 +40%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −50%	6−7 +50%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −66.7%	5−6 +66.7%
Far Cry 5	1−2 −300%	4−5 +300%
Hitman 3	5−6 −40%	7−8 +40%
Horizon Zero Dawn	12−14 −38.5%	18−20 +38.5%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	7−8 −42.9%	10−11 +42.9%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−11 −30%	12−14 +30%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 −12.5%	35−40 +12.5%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

1−2

−400%

5−6
+400%

1440p
High Preset

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

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	1−2 −100%	2−3 +100%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Far Cry 5	1−2 −100%	2−3 +100%
Hitman 3	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	4−5 −50%	6−7 +50%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	0−1	1−2
Watch Dogs: Legion	4−5 −200%	12−14 +200%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

3−4

−66.7%

5−6
+66.7%

4K
High Preset

Far Cry New Dawn

0−1

1−2

4K
Ultra Preset

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

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

2−3

−50%

3−4
+50%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Metro Exodus	0−1	0−1

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Metro Exodus	0−1	0−1

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Forza Horizon 4

9−10

+0%

9−10

+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

1−2

+0%

1−2

+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5

0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Watch Dogs: Legion

0−1

This is how GTX 260M and HD Graphics 520 compete in popular games:

HD Graphics 520 is 122% faster in 900p
GTX 260M is 190% faster in 1080p

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

in Far Cry 5, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the HD Graphics 520 is 400% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

HD Graphics 520 is ahead in 41 test (84%)
there's a draw in 8 tests (16%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	0.98	2.15
Recency	3 March 2009	1 September 2015
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	32 GB
Chip lithography	65 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	65 Watt	15 Watt

HD Graphics 520 has a 119.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 6 years, a 3100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 364.3% more advanced lithography process, and 333.3% lower power consumption.

The HD Graphics 520 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 260M in performance tests.

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