GeForce MX230 vs Radeon 520

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon 520 and GeForce MX230, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

Radeon 520
2017
2 GB GDDR5, 50 Watt
2.04

MX230 outperforms 520 by a whopping 133% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking873638
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Power efficiency2.9434.27
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)Pascal (2016−2021)
GPU code nameBanksGP108
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date18 April 2017 (7 years ago)21 February 2019 (5 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 cores320256
Core clock speed1030 MHz1519 MHz
Boost clock speedno data1582 MHz
Number of transistors690 million1,800 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)50 Watt10 Watt
Texture fill rate20.6025.31
Floating-point processing power0.6592 TFLOPS0.81 TFLOPS
ROPs816
TMUs2016

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 sizeno datamedium sized
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x8PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectorsNoneNone

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 amount2 GB2 GB
Memory bus width64 Bit64 Bit
Memory clock speed1125 MHz1502 MHz
Memory bandwidth36 GB/s48.06 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

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.

DirectX12 (11_1)12 (12_1)
Shader Model5.16.4
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan1.2.1311.2.131
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.

Radeon 520 2.04
GeForce MX230 4.75
+133%

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.

Radeon 520 787
GeForce MX230 1833
+133%

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.

Radeon 520 2017
GeForce MX230 3364
+66.8%

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.

Radeon 520 1319
GeForce MX230 2468
+87.1%

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.

Radeon 520 8413
GeForce MX230 15797
+87.8%

GeekBench 5 OpenCL

Geekbench 5 is a widespread graphics card benchmark combined from 11 different test scenarios. All these scenarios rely on direct usage of GPU's processing power, no 3D rendering is involved. This variation uses OpenCL API by Khronos Group.

Radeon 520 5352
GeForce MX230 6501
+21.5%

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.

Radeon 520 77543
GeForce MX230 183041
+136%

GeekBench 5 Vulkan

Geekbench 5 is a widespread graphics card benchmark combined from 11 different test scenarios. All these scenarios rely on direct usage of GPU's processing power, no 3D rendering is involved. This variation uses Vulkan API by AMD & Khronos Group.

Radeon 520 4434
GeForce MX230 7113
+60.4%

3DMark Time Spy Graphics

Radeon 520 397
GeForce MX230 748
+88.4%

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 HD14
−42.9%
20
+42.9%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
−100%
8−9
+100%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 7−8
−85.7%
13
+85.7%
Battlefield 5 1−2
−1800%
19
+1800%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 5−6
−180%
14
+180%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
−100%
8−9
+100%
Far Cry 5 3−4
−367%
14
+367%
Far Cry New Dawn 5−6
−240%
17
+240%
Forza Horizon 4 8−9
−638%
59
+638%
Hitman 3 7−8
−42.9%
10−11
+42.9%
Horizon Zero Dawn 18−20
−72.2%
30−35
+72.2%
Red Dead Redemption 2 4−5
−225%
12−14
+225%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
−130%
23
+130%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
−25%
45−50
+25%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 7−8
−129%
16
+129%
Battlefield 5 1−2
−1200%
13
+1200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 5−6
−160%
13
+160%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
−100%
8−9
+100%
Far Cry 5 3−4
−300%
12
+300%
Far Cry New Dawn 5−6
−140%
12
+140%
Forza Horizon 4 8−9
−563%
53
+563%
Hitman 3 7−8
−42.9%
10−11
+42.9%
Horizon Zero Dawn 18−20
−72.2%
30−35
+72.2%
Red Dead Redemption 2 4−5
−225%
12−14
+225%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
−70%
16−18
+70%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 18
+5.9%
16−18
−5.9%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
−25%
45−50
+25%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 7−8
+16.7%
6
−16.7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 5−6
−80%
9
+80%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
−100%
8−9
+100%
Far Cry 5 3−4
−133%
7
+133%
Forza Horizon 4 8−9
−50%
12
+50%
Hitman 3 7−8
−42.9%
10−11
+42.9%
Horizon Zero Dawn 18−20
−72.2%
30−35
+72.2%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
−70%
16−18
+70%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 6
−50%
9
+50%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
−25%
45−50
+25%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 4−5
−225%
12−14
+225%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 3−4
−200%
9−10
+200%
Far Cry New Dawn 3−4
−133%
7−8
+133%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 2−3
−100%
4−5
+100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1−2
−300%
4−5
+300%
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Far Cry 5 2−3
−150%
5−6
+150%
Hitman 3 7−8
−28.6%
9−10
+28.6%
Horizon Zero Dawn 6−7
−83.3%
10−12
+83.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 1−2
−300%
4−5
+300%
Watch Dogs: Legion 10−12
−173%
30−33
+173%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 5−6
−80%
9−10
+80%

4K
High Preset

Far Cry New Dawn 1−2
−200%
3−4
+200%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 2−3
−50%
3−4
+50%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Far Cry 5 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Watch Dogs: Legion 0−1 1−2

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 3−4
−66.7%
5−6
+66.7%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Metro Exodus 18
+0%
18
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Metro Exodus 13
+0%
13
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Forza Horizon 4 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Metro Exodus 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Hitman 3 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Metro Exodus 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 0−1 0−1
Forza Horizon 4 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%

This is how Radeon 520 and GeForce MX230 compete in popular games:

  • GeForce MX230 is 43% faster in 1080p

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

  • in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the Radeon 520 is 17% faster.
  • in Battlefield 5, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the GeForce MX230 is 1800% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Radeon 520 is ahead in 2 tests (3%)
  • GeForce MX230 is ahead in 52 tests (78%)
  • there's a draw in 13 tests (19%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 2.04 4.75
Recency 18 April 2017 21 February 2019
Chip lithography 28 nm 14 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 50 Watt 10 Watt

GeForce MX230 has a 132.8% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, a 100% more advanced lithography process, and 400% lower power consumption.

The GeForce MX230 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon 520 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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AMD Radeon 520
Radeon 520
NVIDIA GeForce MX230
GeForce MX230

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.


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3.4 1364 votes

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Questions & comments

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