ATI Radeon HD 5850 vs GeForce GTX 980 SLI Mobile

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 980 SLI Mobile with Radeon HD 5850, including specs and performance data.

GTX 980 SLI Mobile
2015
2x 8 GB GDDR5, 330 Watt
39.20
+661%

GTX 980 SLI Mobile outperforms ATI HD 5850 by a whopping 661% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking111615
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluationno data0.59
Power efficiency8.232.36
ArchitectureMaxwell (2014−2017)TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code nameN16E-GXX SLICypress
Market segmentLaptopDesktop
Release date22 September 2015 (9 years ago)30 September 2009 (15 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)no data$299

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 cores40961440
Core clock speed1126 MHz725 MHz
Boost clock speed1228 MHzno data
Number of transistors10400 Million2,154 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)330 Watt151 Watt
Texture fill rateno data52.20
Floating-point processing powerno data2.088 TFLOPS
ROPsno data32
TMUsno data72

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 sizelargeno data
Interfaceno dataPCIe 2.0 x16
Lengthno data241 mm
Widthno data2-slot
Supplementary power connectorsno data2x 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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2x 8 GB1 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed3500 MHz1000 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data128.0 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 data2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
HDMI-+
G-SYNC support+-

API compatibility

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

DirectX12_111.2 (11_0)
Shader Modelno data5.0
OpenGLno data4.4
OpenCLno data1.2
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 980 SLI Mobile 39.20
+661%
ATI HD 5850 5.15

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 980 SLI Mobile 33169
+875%
ATI HD 5850 3401

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 980 SLI Mobile 47704
+260%
ATI HD 5850 13267

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:

900p400−450
+578%
59
−578%
Full HD133
+142%
55
−142%
4K72
+700%
9−10
−700%

Cost per frame, $

1080pno data5.44
4Kno data33.22

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 65−70
+656%
9−10
−656%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 80−85
+486%
14−16
−486%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 65−70
+1240%
5−6
−1240%
Battlefield 5 120−130
+854%
12−14
−854%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 75−80
+609%
10−12
−609%
Cyberpunk 2077 65−70
+656%
9−10
−656%
Far Cry 5 80−85
+664%
10−12
−664%
Far Cry New Dawn 95−100
+586%
14−16
−586%
Forza Horizon 4 190−200
+476%
30−35
−476%
Hitman 3 80−85
+645%
10−12
−645%
Horizon Zero Dawn 160−170
+391%
30−35
−391%
Metro Exodus 120−130
+933%
12−14
−933%
Red Dead Redemption 2 90−95
+550%
14−16
−550%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 140−150
+683%
18−20
−683%
Watch Dogs: Legion 120−130
+172%
45−50
−172%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 80−85
+486%
14−16
−486%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 65−70
+1240%
5−6
−1240%
Battlefield 5 120−130
+854%
12−14
−854%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 75−80
+609%
10−12
−609%
Cyberpunk 2077 65−70
+656%
9−10
−656%
Far Cry 5 80−85
+664%
10−12
−664%
Far Cry New Dawn 95−100
+586%
14−16
−586%
Forza Horizon 4 190−200
+476%
30−35
−476%
Hitman 3 80−85
+645%
10−12
−645%
Horizon Zero Dawn 160−170
+391%
30−35
−391%
Metro Exodus 120−130
+933%
12−14
−933%
Red Dead Redemption 2 90−95
+550%
14−16
−550%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 140−150
+683%
18−20
−683%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 137
+661%
18−20
−661%
Watch Dogs: Legion 120−130
+172%
45−50
−172%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 80−85
+486%
14−16
−486%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 65−70
+1240%
5−6
−1240%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 75−80
+609%
10−12
−609%
Cyberpunk 2077 65−70
+656%
9−10
−656%
Far Cry 5 80−85
+664%
10−12
−664%
Forza Horizon 4 190−200
+476%
30−35
−476%
Hitman 3 80−85
+645%
10−12
−645%
Horizon Zero Dawn 160−170
+391%
30−35
−391%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 140−150
+683%
18−20
−683%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 74
+311%
18−20
−311%
Watch Dogs: Legion 120−130
+172%
45−50
−172%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 90−95
+550%
14−16
−550%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 70−75
+640%
10−11
−640%
Far Cry New Dawn 55−60
+638%
8−9
−638%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 40−45
+740%
5−6
−740%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45 0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 45−50
+1025%
4−5
−1025%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
+1400%
2−3
−1400%
Far Cry 5 45−50
+650%
6−7
−650%
Forza Horizon 4 210−220
+1708%
12−14
−1708%
Hitman 3 50−55
+456%
9−10
−456%
Horizon Zero Dawn 80−85
+600%
12−14
−600%
Metro Exodus 70−75
+2300%
3−4
−2300%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 90−95
+675%
12−14
−675%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 55−60
+1300%
4−5
−1300%
Watch Dogs: Legion 190−200
+494%
30−35
−494%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 65−70
+633%
9−10
−633%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 35−40
+875%
4−5
−875%
Far Cry New Dawn 30−35
+967%
3−4
−967%
Hitman 3 30−35
+3000%
1−2
−3000%
Horizon Zero Dawn 180−190
+2150%
8−9
−2150%
Metro Exodus 45−50
+2350%
2−3
−2350%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 51
+5000%
1−2
−5000%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 24−27
+767%
3−4
−767%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 24−27
+1100%
2−3
−1100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 24−27
+1150%
2−3
−1150%
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14 0−1
Far Cry 5 21−24
+667%
3−4
−667%
Forza Horizon 4 50−55
+1250%
4−5
−1250%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 50−55
+783%
6−7
−783%
Watch Dogs: Legion 18−20
+1800%
1−2
−1800%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 30−35
+467%
6−7
−467%

This is how GTX 980 SLI Mobile and ATI HD 5850 compete in popular games:

  • GTX 980 SLI Mobile is 578% faster in 900p
  • GTX 980 SLI Mobile is 142% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 980 SLI Mobile is 700% faster in 4K

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

  • in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the GTX 980 SLI Mobile is 5000% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, GTX 980 SLI Mobile surpassed ATI HD 5850 in all 68 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 39.20 5.15
Recency 22 September 2015 30 September 2009
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 330 Watt 151 Watt

GTX 980 SLI Mobile has a 661.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 5 years, and a 42.9% more advanced lithography process.

ATI HD 5850, on the other hand, has 118.5% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 980 SLI Mobile is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 5850 in performance tests.

Be aware that GeForce GTX 980 SLI Mobile is a notebook card while Radeon HD 5850 is a desktop one.


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 980 SLI Mobile
GeForce GTX 980 SLI Mobile
ATI Radeon HD 5850
Radeon HD 5850

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.


3.3 65 votes

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Questions & comments

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