Radeon RX Vega M GL / 870 vs 520

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon 520 and Radeon RX Vega M GL / 870, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

Radeon 520
2017
2 GB GDDR5, 50 Watt
2.04

RX Vega M GL / 870 outperforms 520 by a whopping 584% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking873368
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Power efficiency2.9415.50
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)Vega (2017−2020)
GPU code nameBanksVega Kaby Lake-G
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date18 April 2017 (7 years ago)7 January 2018 (6 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 cores3201280
Core clock speed1030 MHz931 MHz
Boost clock speedno data1011 MHz
Number of transistors690 millionno data
Manufacturing process technology28 nm14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)50 Watt65 Watt
Texture fill rate20.60no data
Floating-point processing power0.6592 TFLOPSno data
ROPs8no data
TMUs20no data

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 x8no data
Supplementary power connectorsNoneno data

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 typeGDDR5HBM2
Maximum RAM amount2 GB4 GB
Memory bus width64 Bitno data
Memory clock speed1125 MHzno data
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 data

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (11_1)12_1
Shader Model5.1no data
OpenGL4.6no data
OpenCL1.2no data
Vulkan1.2.131-

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 M GL / 870 13.96
+584%

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
RX Vega M GL / 870 9862
+389%

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
RX Vega M GL / 870 7329
+456%

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 M GL / 870 38812
+361%

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 M GL / 870 299071
+286%

3DMark Time Spy Graphics

Radeon 520 397
RX Vega M GL / 870 2072
+422%

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
−193%
41
+193%
1440p4−5
−600%
28
+600%
4K2−3
−600%
14
+600%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
−450%
21−24
+450%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 7−8
−571%
47
+571%
Battlefield 5 1−2
−4500%
45−50
+4500%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 5−6
−560%
33
+560%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
−450%
21−24
+450%
Far Cry 5 3−4
−1000%
30−35
+1000%
Far Cry New Dawn 5−6
−680%
35−40
+680%
Forza Horizon 4 8−9
−1063%
90−95
+1063%
Hitman 3 7−8
−286%
27−30
+286%
Horizon Zero Dawn 18−20
−306%
70−75
+306%
Red Dead Redemption 2 4−5
−1100%
48
+1100%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
−360%
45−50
+360%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
−111%
75−80
+111%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 7−8
−371%
30−35
+371%
Battlefield 5 1−2
−4500%
45−50
+4500%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 5−6
−500%
30
+500%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
−450%
21−24
+450%
Far Cry 5 3−4
−1000%
30−35
+1000%
Far Cry New Dawn 5−6
−680%
35−40
+680%
Forza Horizon 4 8−9
−1063%
90−95
+1063%
Hitman 3 7−8
−286%
27−30
+286%
Horizon Zero Dawn 18−20
−306%
70−75
+306%
Red Dead Redemption 2 4−5
−825%
37
+825%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
−360%
45−50
+360%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 18
−88.9%
30−35
+88.9%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
−111%
75−80
+111%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 7−8
−229%
23
+229%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 5−6
−300%
20
+300%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
−450%
21−24
+450%
Far Cry 5 3−4
−1000%
30−35
+1000%
Forza Horizon 4 8−9
−1063%
90−95
+1063%
Hitman 3 7−8
−286%
27−30
+286%
Horizon Zero Dawn 18−20
−306%
70−75
+306%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
−360%
45−50
+360%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 6
−300%
24
+300%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
−111%
75−80
+111%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 4−5
−700%
32
+700%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 3−4
−833%
27−30
+833%
Far Cry New Dawn 3−4
−633%
21−24
+633%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 2−3
−750%
17
+750%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1−2
−1100%
12
+1100%
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2
−600%
7−8
+600%
Far Cry 5 2−3
−700%
16−18
+700%
Hitman 3 7−8
−143%
16−18
+143%
Horizon Zero Dawn 6−7
−383%
27−30
+383%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 1−2
−1400%
14−16
+1400%
Watch Dogs: Legion 10−12
−700%
85−90
+700%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 5−6
−320%
21
+320%

4K
High Preset

Far Cry New Dawn 1−2
−900%
10−11
+900%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 2−3
−450%
11
+450%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2
−600%
7−8
+600%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1−2
−300%
4
+300%
Far Cry 5 1−2
−700%
8−9
+700%
Watch Dogs: Legion 0−1 6−7

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 3−4
−233%
10
+233%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Metro Exodus 53
+0%
53
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Metro Exodus 41
+0%
41
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Metro Exodus 27
+0%
27
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Hitman 3 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Metro Exodus 15
+0%
15
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14
+0%
14
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%

This is how Radeon 520 and RX Vega M GL / 870 compete in popular games:

  • RX Vega M GL / 870 is 193% faster in 1080p
  • RX Vega M GL / 870 is 600% faster in 1440p
  • RX Vega M GL / 870 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 RX Vega M GL / 870 is 4500% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • RX Vega M GL / 870 is ahead in 54 tests (76%)
  • there's a draw in 17 tests (24%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 2.04 13.96
Recency 18 April 2017 7 January 2018
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 4 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 14 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 50 Watt 65 Watt

Radeon 520 has 30% lower power consumption.

RX Vega M GL / 870, on the other hand, has a 584.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 8 months, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 100% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX Vega M GL / 870 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
AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL / 870
Radeon RX Vega M GL / 870

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.


3 333 votes

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Questions & comments

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