GeForce MX550 vs Radeon 520

Place in the ranking	873	402
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	2.84	32.74
Architecture	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)	Turing (2018−2022)
GPU code name	Banks	TU117S
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	18 April 2017 (7 years ago)	17 December 2021 (2 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 cores	320	1024
Core clock speed	1030 MHz	1065 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	1320 MHz
Number of transistors	690 million	4,700 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	12 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	50 Watt	25 Watt
Texture fill rate	20.60	42.24
Floating-point processing power	0.6592 TFLOPS	2.703 TFLOPS
ROPs	8	16
TMUs	20	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).

Interface	PCIe 3.0 x8	PCIe 4.0 x8
Supplementary power connectors	None	None

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	2 GB	2 GB
Memory bus width	64 Bit	64 Bit
Memory clock speed	1125 MHz	1500 MHz
Memory bandwidth	36 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

No outputs

Portable Device Dependent

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_1)	12 (12_1)
Shader Model	5.1	6.7 (6.4)
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	3.0
Vulkan	1.2.131	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.

Radeon 520 2.04

GeForce MX550 11.77
+477%

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 MX550 4541
+477%

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 MX550 10005
+396%

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.

Radeon 520 5266

GeForce MX550 36560
+594%

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 MX550 6126
+364%

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 MX550 40364
+380%

3DMark Time Spy Graphics

Radeon 520 397

GeForce MX550 2470
+522%

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	14 −243%	48 +243%
4K	4−5 −600%	28 +600%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

4−5

−350%

18−20
+350%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	7−8 −300%	27−30 +300%
Battlefield 5	1−2 −3700%	35−40 +3700%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6 −380%	24−27 +380%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 −350%	18−20 +350%
Far Cry 5	3−4 −800%	27−30 +800%
Far Cry New Dawn	5−6 −560%	30−35 +560%
Forza Horizon 4	8−9 −875%	75−80 +875%
Hitman 3	7−8 −214%	21−24 +214%
Horizon Zero Dawn	18−20 −250%	60−65 +250%
Red Dead Redemption 2	4−5 −725%	30−35 +725%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−11 −280%	35−40 +280%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 −91.7%	65−70 +91.7%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	7−8 −300%	27−30 +300%
Battlefield 5	1−2 −3700%	35−40 +3700%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6 −380%	24−27 +380%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 −350%	18−20 +350%
Far Cry 5	3−4 −800%	27−30 +800%
Far Cry New Dawn	5−6 −560%	30−35 +560%
Forza Horizon 4	8−9 −875%	75−80 +875%
Hitman 3	7−8 −214%	21−24 +214%
Horizon Zero Dawn	18−20 −250%	60−65 +250%
Red Dead Redemption 2	4−5 −725%	30−35 +725%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−11 −420%	52 +420%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18 −66.7%	30−33 +66.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 −91.7%	65−70 +91.7%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	7−8 −300%	27−30 +300%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6 −380%	24−27 +380%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 −350%	18−20 +350%
Far Cry 5	3−4 −800%	27−30 +800%
Forza Horizon 4	8−9 −875%	75−80 +875%
Hitman 3	7−8 −214%	21−24 +214%
Horizon Zero Dawn	18−20 −250%	60−65 +250%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−11 −320%	42 +320%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	6 −350%	27 +350%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 −91.7%	65−70 +91.7%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

4−5

−725%

30−35
+725%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	3−4 −667%	21−24 +667%
Far Cry New Dawn	3−4 −500%	18−20 +500%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3 −500%	12−14 +500%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2 −1100%	12−14 +1100%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −500%	6−7 +500%
Far Cry 5	2−3 −600%	14−16 +600%
Hitman 3	7−8 −114%	14−16 +114%
Horizon Zero Dawn	6−7 −300%	24−27 +300%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	1−2 −1100%	12−14 +1100%
Watch Dogs: Legion	10−12 −573%	70−75 +573%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

5−6

−280%

18−20
+280%

4K
High Preset

Far Cry New Dawn

1−2

−700%

8−9
+700%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3 −250%	7−8 +250%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	1−2 −400%	5−6 +400%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2 −500%	6−7 +500%
Far Cry 5	1−2 −500%	6−7 +500%
Watch Dogs: Legion	0−1	4−5

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

3−4

−267%

10−12
+267%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Metro Exodus	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Metro Exodus	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla

18−20

+0%

18−20

+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	55−60 +0%	55−60 +0%
Metro Exodus	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
Hitman 3	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	55−60 +0%	55−60 +0%
Metro Exodus	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%

This is how Radeon 520 and GeForce MX550 compete in popular games:

GeForce MX550 is 243% faster in 1080p
GeForce MX550 is 600% faster in 4K

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

in Battlefield 5, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the GeForce MX550 is 3700% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

GeForce MX550 is ahead in 54 tests (76%)
there's a draw in 17 tests (24%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	2.04	11.77
Recency	18 April 2017	17 December 2021
Chip lithography	28 nm	12 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	50 Watt	25 Watt

GeForce MX550 has a 477% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 4 years, a 133.3% more advanced lithography process, and 100% lower power consumption.

The GeForce MX550 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.