ATI Radeon HD 4850 vs GeForce GTX 960

Place in the ranking	342	812
Place by popularity	55	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	9.10	0.26
Power efficiency	9.02	1.66
Architecture	Maxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)	TeraScale (2005−2013)
GPU code name	GM206	RV770
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	22 January 2015 (9 years ago)	25 June 2008 (16 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$199	$199

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 960 has 3400% better value for money than ATI HD 4850.

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	1024	800
Core clock speed	1127 MHz	625 MHz
Boost clock speed	1178 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	2,940 million	956 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	120 Watt	110 Watt
Texture fill rate	75.39	25.00
Floating-point processing power	2.413 TFLOPS	1 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	16
TMUs	64	40

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	PCI Express 3.0	no data
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 2.0 x16
Length	241 mm	246 mm
Height	4.376" (11.1 cm)	no data
Width	2-slot	1-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)	400 Watt	no data
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin	1x 6-pin
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	GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	512 MB
Memory bus width	128 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	7.0 GB/s	993 MHz
Memory bandwidth	112 GB/s	63.55 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	Dual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2	2x DVI, 1x S-Video
Multi monitor support	4 displays	no data
HDMI	+	-
HDCP	+	-
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536	no data
G-SYNC support	+	-
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.

GameStream	+	-
GeForce ShadowPlay	+	-
GPU Boost	2.0	no data
GameWorks	+	-

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_1)	10.1 (10_1)
Shader Model	6.4	4.1
OpenGL	4.4	3.3
OpenCL	1.2	1.1
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 960 15.80
+494%

ATI HD 4850 2.66

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 960 6085
+493%

ATI HD 4850 1026

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 960 30751
+243%

ATI HD 4850 8972

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.

GTX 960 49918
+343%

ATI HD 4850 11272

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.

GTX 960 310860
+326%

ATI HD 4850 72891

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	170−180 +486%	29 −486%
Full HD	62 +55%	40 −55%
1200p	110−120 +479%	19 −479%
4K	28 +600%	4−5 −600%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	3.21	4.98
4K	7.11	49.75

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

24−27
+400%

5−6

−400%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	35−40 +300%	9−10 −300%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	24−27	0−1
Battlefield 5	50−55 +1175%	4−5 −1175%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	30−35 +357%	7−8 −357%
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27 +400%	5−6 −400%
Far Cry 5	35−40 +640%	5−6 −640%
Far Cry New Dawn	40−45 +514%	7−8 −514%
Forza Horizon 4	100−110 +677%	12−14 −677%
Hitman 3	30−33 +329%	7−8 −329%
Horizon Zero Dawn	75−80 +276%	21−24 −276%
Metro Exodus	50−55 +2600%	2−3 −2600%
Red Dead Redemption 2	40−45 +617%	6−7 −617%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	50−55 +364%	10−12 −364%
Watch Dogs: Legion	80−85 +111%	35−40 −111%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	35−40 +300%	9−10 −300%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	24−27	0−1
Battlefield 5	50−55 +1175%	4−5 −1175%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	30−35 +357%	7−8 −357%
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27 +400%	5−6 −400%
Far Cry 5	35−40 +640%	5−6 −640%
Far Cry New Dawn	40−45 +514%	7−8 −514%
Forza Horizon 4	100−110 +677%	12−14 −677%
Hitman 3	30−33 +329%	7−8 −329%
Horizon Zero Dawn	75−80 +276%	21−24 −276%
Metro Exodus	50−55 +2600%	2−3 −2600%
Red Dead Redemption 2	40−45 +617%	6−7 −617%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	50−55 +364%	10−12 −364%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	131 +908%	12−14 −908%
Watch Dogs: Legion	80−85 +111%	35−40 −111%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	35−40 +300%	9−10 −300%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	24−27	0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	30−35 +357%	7−8 −357%
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27 +400%	5−6 −400%
Far Cry 5	35−40 +640%	5−6 −640%
Forza Horizon 4	100−110 +677%	12−14 −677%
Hitman 3	30−33 +329%	7−8 −329%
Horizon Zero Dawn	75−80 +276%	21−24 −276%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	50−55 +364%	10−12 −364%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	28 +115%	12−14 −115%
Watch Dogs: Legion	80−85 +111%	35−40 −111%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

40−45
+617%

6−7

−617%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	30−33 +650%	4−5 −650%
Far Cry New Dawn	24−27 +500%	4−5 −500%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	16−18 +700%	2−3 −700%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	12−14 +550%	2−3 −550%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	16−18 +750%	2−3 −750%
Cyberpunk 2077	8−9 +700%	1−2 −700%
Far Cry 5	18−20 +500%	3−4 −500%
Forza Horizon 4	80−85 +592%	12−14 −592%
Hitman 3	18−20 +138%	8−9 −138%
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−35 +357%	7−8 −357%
Metro Exodus	27−30 +600%	4−5 −600%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	27−30 +625%	4−5 −625%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	16−18 +750%	2−3 −750%
Watch Dogs: Legion	95−100 +500%	16−18 −500%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

24−27
+333%

6−7

−333%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	14−16 +1400%	1−2 −1400%
Far Cry New Dawn	12−14 +1100%	1−2 −1100%
Hitman 3	10−12 +1000%	1−2 −1000%
Horizon Zero Dawn	75−80 +558%	12−14 −558%
Metro Exodus	16−18 +700%	2−3 −700%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 +650%	2−3 −650%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	9−10 +350%	2−3 −350%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	8−9 +700%	1−2 −700%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	8−9 +700%	1−2 −700%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4	0−1
Far Cry 5	8−9 +700%	1−2 −700%
Forza Horizon 4	21−24 +600%	3−4 −600%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	16−18 +700%	2−3 −700%
Watch Dogs: Legion	6−7	0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

14−16
+250%

4−5

−250%

This is how GTX 960 and ATI HD 4850 compete in popular games:

GTX 960 is 486% faster in 900p
GTX 960 is 55% faster in 1080p
GTX 960 is 479% faster in 1200p
GTX 960 is 600% faster in 4K

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

in Metro Exodus, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the GTX 960 is 2600% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

Without exception, GTX 960 surpassed ATI HD 4850 in all 57 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	15.80	2.66
Recency	22 January 2015	25 June 2008
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	512 MB
Chip lithography	28 nm	55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	120 Watt	110 Watt

GTX 960 has a 494% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 6 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 96.4% more advanced lithography process.

ATI HD 4850, on the other hand, has 9.1% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 960 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 4850 in performance tests.

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