Radeon RX Vega 3 vs 520

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon 520 with Radeon RX Vega 3, including specs and performance data.

Radeon 520
2017
2 GB GDDR5, 50 Watt
2.04

RX Vega 3 outperforms 520 by a considerable 46% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking873772
Place by popularitynot in top-10086
Power efficiency2.9414.33
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)GCN 5.0 (2017−2020)
GPU code nameBanksPicasso
Market segmentLaptopDesktop
Release date18 April 2017 (7 years ago)6 January 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 cores320192
Core clock speed1030 MHz300 MHz
Boost clock speedno data1001 MHz
Number of transistors690 million4,940 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)50 Watt15 Watt
Texture fill rate20.6012.01
Floating-point processing power0.6592 TFLOPS0.3844 TFLOPS
ROPs84
TMUs2012

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).

InterfacePCIe 3.0 x8IGP
Widthno dataIGP
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 typeGDDR5System Shared
Maximum RAM amount2 GBSystem Shared
Memory bus width64 BitSystem Shared
Memory clock speed1125 MHzSystem Shared
Memory bandwidth36 GB/sno data
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

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
OpenCL1.22.0
Vulkan1.2.1311.2.131

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
RX Vega 3 2.98
+46.1%

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
RX Vega 3 1149
+46%

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
RX Vega 3 5441
+3.3%

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
+17%
RX Vega 3 1724

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
+12.6%
RX Vega 3 1172

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
RX Vega 3 8536
+1.5%

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
RX Vega 3 80755
+4.1%

3DMark Time Spy Graphics

Radeon 520 397
+1%
RX Vega 3 393

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.

Radeon 520 12
RX Vega 3 14
+15.8%

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
+16.7%
12
−16.7%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
−50%
6−7
+50%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 7−8
+0%
7
+0%
Battlefield 5 1−2
−400%
5−6
+400%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 5−6
−20%
6
+20%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
−50%
6−7
+50%
Far Cry 5 3−4
−100%
6−7
+100%
Far Cry New Dawn 5−6
−60%
8−9
+60%
Forza Horizon 4 8−9
−100%
16−18
+100%
Hitman 3 7−8
+40%
5
−40%
Horizon Zero Dawn 18−20
−22.2%
21−24
+22.2%
Red Dead Redemption 2 4−5
−50%
6
+50%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
−20%
12−14
+20%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
−8.3%
35−40
+8.3%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 7−8
−28.6%
9−10
+28.6%
Battlefield 5 1−2
−400%
5−6
+400%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 5−6
−40%
7−8
+40%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
−50%
6−7
+50%
Far Cry 5 3−4
−100%
6−7
+100%
Far Cry New Dawn 5−6
−60%
8−9
+60%
Forza Horizon 4 8−9
−100%
16−18
+100%
Hitman 3 7−8
−14.3%
8−9
+14.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 18−20
−22.2%
21−24
+22.2%
Red Dead Redemption 2 4−5
−75%
7−8
+75%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
−10%
11
+10%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 18
+5.9%
17
−5.9%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
−8.3%
35−40
+8.3%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 7−8
−28.6%
9−10
+28.6%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 5−6
−40%
7−8
+40%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
−50%
6−7
+50%
Far Cry 5 3−4
−100%
6−7
+100%
Forza Horizon 4 8−9
−100%
16−18
+100%
Hitman 3 7−8
−14.3%
8−9
+14.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 18−20
+100%
9
−100%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
+11.1%
9
−11.1%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 6
+50%
4
−50%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
−8.3%
35−40
+8.3%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 4−5
−75%
7−8
+75%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 3−4
−66.7%
5−6
+66.7%
Far Cry New Dawn 3−4
−33.3%
4−5
+33.3%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 2−3
−50%
3−4
+50%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Far Cry 5 2−3
−50%
3−4
+50%
Hitman 3 7−8
−14.3%
8−9
+14.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 6−7
−33.3%
8−9
+33.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Watch Dogs: Legion 10−12
−63.6%
18−20
+63.6%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 5−6
−20%
6−7
+20%

4K
High Preset

Far Cry New Dawn 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%

4K
Ultra Preset

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

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 3−4
−33.3%
4−5
+33.3%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla 6
+0%
6
+0%
Metro Exodus 7
+0%
7
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Metro Exodus 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Forza Horizon 4 0−1 0−1

This is how Radeon 520 and RX Vega 3 compete in popular games:

  • Radeon 520 is 17% faster in 1080p

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

  • in Horizon Zero Dawn, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the Radeon 520 is 100% faster.
  • in Battlefield 5, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the RX Vega 3 is 400% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Radeon 520 is ahead in 5 tests (8%)
  • RX Vega 3 is ahead in 43 tests (72%)
  • there's a draw in 12 tests (20%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 2.04 2.98
Recency 18 April 2017 6 January 2019
Chip lithography 28 nm 14 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 50 Watt 15 Watt

RX Vega 3 has a 46.1% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, a 100% more advanced lithography process, and 233.3% lower power consumption.

The Radeon RX Vega 3 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon 520 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon 520 is a notebook card while Radeon RX Vega 3 is a desktop one.


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

Vote for your favorite

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AMD Radeon 520
Radeon 520
AMD Radeon RX Vega 3
Radeon RX Vega 3

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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3.5 1946 votes

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Questions & comments

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