GeForce MX550 vs GTX 480

Place in the ranking	428	402
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	1.58	no data
Power efficiency	2.95	32.60
Architecture	Fermi (2010−2014)	Turing (2018−2022)
GPU code name	GF100	TU117S
Market segment	Desktop	Laptop
Release date	26 March 2010 (14 years ago)	17 December 2021 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$499	no data

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	480	1024
Core clock speed	700 MHz	1065 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	1320 MHz
Number of transistors	3,100 million	4,700 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	12 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	250 Watt	25 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature	105 °C	no data
Texture fill rate	42.06	42.24
Floating-point processing power	1.345 TFLOPS	2.703 TFLOPS
ROPs	48	16
TMUs	60	32

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 support	16x PCI-E 2.0	no data
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x8
Length	267 mm	no data
Height	4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)	no data
Width	2-slot	no data
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin	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	GDDR5	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	1536 MB	2 GB
Memory bus width	384 Bit	64 Bit
Memory clock speed	1848 MHz (3696 data rate)	1500 MHz
Memory bandwidth	177.4 GB/s	96 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	Two Dual Link DVI, Mini HDMI	Portable Device Dependent
Multi monitor support	+	no data
HDMI	+	-
HDCP	+	-
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536	no data
Audio input for HDMI	Internal	no data

Supported technologies

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

Optimus

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (11_0)	12 (12_1)
Shader Model	5.1	6.7 (6.4)
OpenGL	4.2	4.6
OpenCL	1.1	3.0
Vulkan	N/A	1.3
CUDA	+	7.5

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 480 10.64

GeForce MX550 11.77
+10.6%

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 480 4106

GeForce MX550 4540
+10.6%

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.

GTX 480 5014

GeForce MX550 10005
+99.5%

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.

GTX 480 3650

GeForce MX550 6126
+67.8%

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	40−45 −20%	48 +20%
4K	24−27 −16.7%	28 +16.7%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	12.48	no data
4K	20.79	no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

16−18

−12.5%

18−20
+12.5%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	24−27 −12%	27−30 +12%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	16−18 −12.5%	18−20 +12.5%
Battlefield 5	30−35 −15.2%	35−40 +15.2%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	21−24 −14.3%	24−27 +14.3%
Cyberpunk 2077	16−18 −12.5%	18−20 +12.5%
Far Cry 5	24−27 −8%	27−30 +8%
Far Cry New Dawn	30−33 −10%	30−35 +10%
Forza Horizon 4	70−75 −9.9%	75−80 +9.9%
Hitman 3	20−22 −10%	21−24 +10%
Horizon Zero Dawn	55−60 −8.6%	60−65 +8.6%
Metro Exodus	30−35 −14.7%	35−40 +14.7%
Red Dead Redemption 2	30−33 −10%	30−35 +10%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	35−40 −8.6%	35−40 +8.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion	65−70 −6.2%	65−70 +6.2%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	24−27 −12%	27−30 +12%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	16−18 −12.5%	18−20 +12.5%
Battlefield 5	30−35 −15.2%	35−40 +15.2%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	21−24 −14.3%	24−27 +14.3%
Cyberpunk 2077	16−18 −12.5%	18−20 +12.5%
Far Cry 5	24−27 −8%	27−30 +8%
Far Cry New Dawn	30−33 −10%	30−35 +10%
Forza Horizon 4	70−75 −9.9%	75−80 +9.9%
Hitman 3	20−22 −10%	21−24 +10%
Horizon Zero Dawn	55−60 −8.6%	60−65 +8.6%
Metro Exodus	30−35 −14.7%	35−40 +14.7%
Red Dead Redemption 2	30−33 −10%	30−35 +10%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	35−40 −48.6%	52 +48.6%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	27−30 −7.1%	30−33 +7.1%
Watch Dogs: Legion	65−70 −6.2%	65−70 +6.2%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	24−27 −12%	27−30 +12%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	16−18 −12.5%	18−20 +12.5%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	21−24 −14.3%	24−27 +14.3%
Cyberpunk 2077	16−18 −12.5%	18−20 +12.5%
Far Cry 5	24−27 −8%	27−30 +8%
Forza Horizon 4	70−75 −9.9%	75−80 +9.9%
Hitman 3	20−22 −10%	21−24 +10%
Horizon Zero Dawn	55−60 −8.6%	60−65 +8.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	35−40 −20%	42 +20%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	27−30 +3.7%	27 −3.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion	65−70 −6.2%	65−70 +6.2%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

30−33

−10%

30−35
+10%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	21−24 −9.5%	21−24 +9.5%
Far Cry New Dawn	16−18 −12.5%	18−20 +12.5%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−11 −20%	12−14 +20%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	7−8 −14.3%	8−9 +14.3%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10−12 −9.1%	12−14 +9.1%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 −20%	6−7 +20%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −16.7%	14−16 +16.7%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 −16.3%	55−60 +16.3%
Hitman 3	14−16 −7.1%	14−16 +7.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn	21−24 −9.1%	24−27 +9.1%
Metro Exodus	16−18 −18.8%	18−20 +18.8%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	14−16 −20%	18−20 +20%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−11 −20%	12−14 +20%
Watch Dogs: Legion	65−70 −10.4%	70−75 +10.4%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

18−20

−5.6%

18−20
+5.6%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	10−11 −10%	10−12 +10%
Far Cry New Dawn	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Hitman 3	7−8 −14.3%	8−9 +14.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn	45−50 −17%	55−60 +17%
Metro Exodus	9−10 −11.1%	10−11 +11.1%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	8−9 −25%	10−11 +25%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	6−7 −16.7%	7−8 +16.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6 −20%	6−7 +20%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −100%	2−3 +100%
Far Cry 5	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	12−14 −15.4%	14−16 +15.4%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	8−9 −25%	10−11 +25%
Watch Dogs: Legion	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

10−11

−10%

10−12
+10%

This is how GTX 480 and GeForce MX550 compete in popular games:

GeForce MX550 is 20% faster in 1080p
GeForce MX550 is 17% faster in 4K

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

in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GTX 480 is 4% faster.
in Cyberpunk 2077, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GeForce MX550 is 100% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

GTX 480 is ahead in 1 test (1%)
GeForce MX550 is ahead in 67 tests (93%)
there's a draw in 4 tests (6%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	10.64	11.77
Recency	26 March 2010	17 December 2021
Maximum RAM amount	1536 MB	2 GB
Chip lithography	40 nm	12 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	250 Watt	25 Watt

GeForce MX550 has a 10.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 11 years, a 33.3% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 233.3% more advanced lithography process, and 900% lower power consumption.

The GeForce MX550 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 480 in performance tests.

Be aware that GeForce GTX 480 is a desktop card while GeForce MX550 is a notebook one.

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