GeForce 8600M GS vs Radeon HD 6550M

Place in the ranking	1017	1372
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	3.63	0.79
Architecture	TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)	Tesla (2006−2010)
GPU code name	Lexington	G86
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	26 November 2010 (14 years ago)	1 May 2007 (17 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	400	16
Core clock speed	600 MHz	450 MHz
Number of transistors	2,154 million	210 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	80 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	26 Watt	20 Watt
Texture fill rate	12.00	3.600
Floating-point processing power	0.48 TFLOPS	0.0288 TFLOPS
ROPs	8	4
TMUs	20	8

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 size	medium sized	medium sized
Interface	MXM-II	MXM-II

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	DDR3	DDR2
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	512 MB
Memory bus width	128 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	900 MHz	400 MHz
Memory bandwidth	28.8 GB/s	12.8 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

API compatibility

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

DirectX	11.2 (11_0)	11.1 (10_0)
Shader Model	5.0	4.0
OpenGL	4.4	3.3
OpenCL	1.2	1.1
Vulkan	N/A	N/A
CUDA	-	1.1

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:

900p	14 +600%	2−3 −600%
Full HD	18 +500%	3−4 −500%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	9−10 +12.5%	8−9 −12.5%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +100%	2−3 −100%
Elden Ring	1−2	0−1

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	1−2	0−1
Counter-Strike 2	9−10 +12.5%	8−9 −12.5%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +100%	2−3 −100%
Forza Horizon 4	9−10 +80%	5−6 −80%
Red Dead Redemption 2	7−8 +75%	4−5 −75%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	1−2	0−1
Counter-Strike 2	9−10 +12.5%	8−9 −12.5%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +100%	2−3 −100%
Dota 2	1−2	0−1
Elden Ring	1−2	0−1
Far Cry 5	10−12 +83.3%	6−7 −83.3%
Fortnite	6−7 +500%	1−2 −500%
Forza Horizon 4	9−10 +80%	5−6 −80%
Grand Theft Auto V	1−2	0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	14−16 +150%	6−7 −150%
Red Dead Redemption 2	7−8 +75%	4−5 −75%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	7−8 +75%	4−5 −75%
World of Tanks	27−30 +164%	10−12 −164%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	1−2	0−1
Counter-Strike 2	9−10 +12.5%	8−9 −12.5%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +100%	2−3 −100%
Dota 2	1−2	0−1
Far Cry 5	10−12 +83.3%	6−7 −83.3%
Forza Horizon 4	9−10 +80%	5−6 −80%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	14−16 +150%	6−7 −150%

1440p
High Preset

PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	8−9 +700%	1−2 −700%
Red Dead Redemption 2	0−1	0−1
World of Tanks	8−9 +700%	1−2 −700%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Counter-Strike 2	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Far Cry 5	5−6 +25%	4−5 −25%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	3−4 +50%	2−3 −50%
Valorant	7−8 +75%	4−5 −75%

4K
High Preset

Dota 2	16−18 +6.7%	14−16 −6.7%
Elden Ring	0−1	0−1
Grand Theft Auto V	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	4−5	0−1
Red Dead Redemption 2	0−1	0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	1−2	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Dota 2	16−18 +6.7%	14−16 −6.7%
Far Cry 5	1−2	0−1
Valorant	1−2	0−1

This is how HD 6550M and 8600M GS compete in popular games:

HD 6550M is 600% faster in 900p
HD 6550M is 500% faster in 1080p

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

in PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS, with 1440p resolution and the High Preset, the HD 6550M is 700% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

HD 6550M is ahead in 25 tests (83%)
there's a draw in 5 tests (17%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	1.37	0.23
Recency	26 November 2010	1 May 2007
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	512 MB
Chip lithography	40 nm	80 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	26 Watt	20 Watt

HD 6550M has a 495.7% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 3 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 100% more advanced lithography process.

8600M GS, on the other hand, has 30% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 6550M is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce 8600M GS in performance tests.

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