GeForce GTX 550 Ti vs Radeon HD 7850

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 7850 and GeForce GTX 550 Ti, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

HD 7850
2012
2 GB GDDR5, 130 Watt
10.02
+149%

HD 7850 outperforms GTX 550 Ti by a whopping 149% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking451691
Place by popularitynot in top-10073
Cost-effectiveness evaluation2.810.70
Power efficiency5.332.40
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)Fermi 2.0 (2010−2014)
GPU code namePitcairnGF116
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date5 March 2012 (12 years ago)15 March 2011 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$249 $149

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

HD 7850 has 301% better value for money than GTX 550 Ti.

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 cores1024192
Core clock speedno data900 MHz
Boost clock speed1000 MHzno data
Number of transistors2,800 million1,170 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)130 Watt116 Watt
Maximum GPU temperatureno data100 °C
Texture fill rate55.0428.80
Floating-point processing power1.761 TFLOPS0.6912 TFLOPS
ROPs3224
TMUs6432

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).

Bus supportPCIe 2.1 x1616x PCI-E 2.0
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length210 mm210 mm
Heightno data4.376" (11.1 cm)
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin1x 6-pin
SLI options-+

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 width256 Bit192 Bit
Memory clock speed1200 MHz4.1 GB/s
Memory bandwidth153.6 GB/s98.4 GB/s

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 Connectors1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPortTwo Dual Link DVI-IMini HDMI
Multi monitor supportno data+
Eyefinity+-
HDMI++
Maximum VGA resolutionno data2048x1536
Audio input for HDMIno dataInternal

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

CrossFire+-
FreeSync+-

API compatibility

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

DirectX1212 (11_0)
Shader Model5.15.1
OpenGL4.64.2
OpenCL1.21.1
Vulkan+N/A
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.

HD 7850 10.02
+149%
GTX 550 Ti 4.02

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.

HD 7850 3866
+149%
GTX 550 Ti 1552

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:

900p90−95
+137%
38
−137%
Full HD90−95
+137%
38
−137%

Cost per frame, $

1080p2.773.92

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Battlefield 5 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Far Cry 5 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Hitman 3 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Metro Exodus 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Battlefield 5 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Far Cry 5 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Hitman 3 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Metro Exodus 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Far Cry 5 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Hitman 3 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Far Cry 5 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Hitman 3 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Hitman 3 0−1 0−1
Metro Exodus 0−1 0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 0−1 0−1
Far Cry 5 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%

This is how HD 7850 and GTX 550 Ti compete in popular games:

  • HD 7850 is 137% faster in 900p
  • HD 7850 is 137% faster in 1080p

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 63 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 10.02 4.02
Recency 5 March 2012 15 March 2011
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 130 Watt 116 Watt

HD 7850 has a 149.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 11 months, and a 42.9% more advanced lithography process.

GTX 550 Ti, on the other hand, has 12.1% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 7850 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 550 Ti in performance tests.


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 HD 7850
Radeon HD 7850
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti
GeForce GTX 550 Ti

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.


4.1 815 votes

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4.9 59424 votes

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Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.