Radeon HD 8550M vs GeForce GTX 960M

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 960M and Radeon HD 8550M, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX 960M
2015
4 GB GDDR5, 75 Watt
8.76
+480%

GTX 960M outperforms HD 8550M by a whopping 480% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking492977
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Power efficiency8.00no data
ArchitectureMaxwell (2014−2017)GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)
GPU code nameGM107Sun
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date13 March 2015 (9 years ago)13 July 2014 (10 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 cores640320
Core clock speed1096 MHz650 MHz
Boost clock speed1176 MHz850 MHz
Number of transistors1,870 million690 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)75 Wattno data
Texture fill rate47.0417.00
Floating-point processing power1.505 TFLOPS0.544 TFLOPS
ROPs168
TMUs4020

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 sizemedium sizedmedium sized
Bus supportPCI Express 3.0no data
InterfaceMXM-B (3.0)PCIe 3.0 x8
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 typeGDDR5DDR3
Maximum RAM amount4 GB1 GB
Memory bus width128 Bit64 Bit
Memory clock speed2500 MHz900 MHz
Memory bandwidth80 GB/s14.4 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 ConnectorsNo outputsNo outputs
VGA аnalog display support+no data
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support+no data
HDMI+-

Supported technologies

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

GameStream+-
GeForce ShadowPlay+-
GPU Boost2.0no data
GameWorks+-
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder+-
Optimus+-
BatteryBoost+-
Ansel+-

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (11_0)12 (11_1)
Shader Model5.15.1
OpenGL4.54.6
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan1.1.1261.2.131
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 960M 8.76
+480%
HD 8550M 1.51

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 960M 5278
+304%
HD 8550M 1307

Unigine Heaven 3.0

This is an old DirectX 11 benchmark using Unigine, a 3D game engine by eponymous Russian company. It displays a fantasy medieval town sprawling over several flying islands. Version 3.0 was released in 2012, and in 2013 it was superseded by Heaven 4.0, which introduced several slight improvements, including a newer version of Unigine.

GTX 960M 56
+401%
HD 8550M 11

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:

900p95
+494%
16−18
−494%
Full HD34
+580%
5−6
−580%
1440p15
+650%
2−3
−650%
4K14
+600%
2−3
−600%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+250%
4−5
−250%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 25
+317%
6−7
−317%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
+550%
2−3
−550%
Battlefield 5 30
+500%
5−6
−500%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 18−20
+350%
4−5
−350%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+250%
4−5
−250%
Far Cry 5 28
+1300%
2−3
−1300%
Far Cry New Dawn 31
+933%
3−4
−933%
Forza Horizon 4 84
+2700%
3−4
−2700%
Hitman 3 16−18
+183%
6−7
−183%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
+233%
14−16
−233%
Metro Exodus 31
+520%
5−6
−520%
Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
+1100%
2−3
−1100%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 48
+500%
8−9
−500%
Watch Dogs: Legion 55−60
+78.8%
30−35
−78.8%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 31
+417%
6−7
−417%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
+550%
2−3
−550%
Battlefield 5 23
+667%
3−4
−667%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 18−20
+350%
4−5
−350%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+250%
4−5
−250%
Far Cry 5 24
+1100%
2−3
−1100%
Far Cry New Dawn 23
+667%
3−4
−667%
Forza Horizon 4 71
+2267%
3−4
−2267%
Hitman 3 16−18
+183%
6−7
−183%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
+233%
14−16
−233%
Metro Exodus 26
+550%
4−5
−550%
Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
+1100%
2−3
−1100%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 27−30
+263%
8−9
−263%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 73
+564%
10−12
−564%
Watch Dogs: Legion 55−60
+78.8%
30−35
−78.8%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 11
+83.3%
6−7
−83.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
+550%
2−3
−550%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 18−20
+350%
4−5
−350%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+250%
4−5
−250%
Far Cry 5 18
+800%
2−3
−800%
Forza Horizon 4 25
+733%
3−4
−733%
Hitman 3 16−18
+183%
6−7
−183%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
+233%
14−16
−233%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 27−30
+263%
8−9
−263%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14
+27.3%
10−12
−27.3%
Watch Dogs: Legion 55−60
+78.8%
30−35
−78.8%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
+1100%
2−3
−1100%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 14
+600%
2−3
−600%
Far Cry New Dawn 15
+650%
2−3
−650%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 8
+700%
1−2
−700%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 4−5 0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 9−10 0−1
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
+300%
1−2
−300%
Far Cry 5 10
+400%
2−3
−400%
Forza Horizon 4 45
+543%
7−8
−543%
Hitman 3 12−14
+71.4%
7−8
−71.4%
Horizon Zero Dawn 18−20
+260%
5−6
−260%
Metro Exodus 15
+650%
2−3
−650%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
+900%
1−2
−900%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 8−9
+700%
1−2
−700%
Watch Dogs: Legion 55−60
+700%
7−8
−700%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 14−16
+275%
4−5
−275%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 6
+500%
1−2
−500%
Far Cry New Dawn 7
+600%
1−2
−600%
Hitman 3 5−6 0−1
Horizon Zero Dawn 35−40
+483%
6−7
−483%
Metro Exodus 8
+700%
1−2
−700%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 10
+900%
1−2
−900%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 5−6
+400%
1−2
−400%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 4−5
+300%
1−2
−300%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4−5 0−1
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2 0−1
Far Cry 5 4 0−1
Forza Horizon 4 10−12
+1000%
1−2
−1000%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 5−6 0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion 3−4 0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 9−10
+200%
3−4
−200%

This is how GTX 960M and HD 8550M compete in popular games:

  • GTX 960M is 494% faster in 900p
  • GTX 960M is 580% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 960M is 650% faster in 1440p
  • GTX 960M is 600% faster in 4K

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

  • in Forza Horizon 4, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the GTX 960M is 2700% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, GTX 960M surpassed HD 8550M in all 49 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 8.76 1.51
Recency 13 March 2015 13 July 2014
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 1 GB

GTX 960M has a 480.1% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 8 months, and a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount.

The GeForce GTX 960M is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 8550M in performance tests.


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

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
GeForce GTX 960M
AMD Radeon HD 8550M
Radeon HD 8550M

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


3.7 1059 votes

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3.5 31 vote

Rate Radeon HD 8550M on a scale of 1 to 5:

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Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.