GeForce GTX 965M vs Radeon HD 7850

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 7850 with GeForce GTX 965M, including specs and performance data.

HD 7850
2012
2 GB GDDR5, 130 Watt
10.01
+1.8%

HD 7850 outperforms GTX 965M by a minimal 2% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in performance ranking444449
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation2.82no data
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2012−2020)Maxwell (2014−2018)
GPU code namePitcairnN16E-GS, N16E-GR
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Designreferenceno data
Release date5 March 2012 (12 years ago)5 January 2015 (9 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$249 no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Detailed specifications

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores10241024
CUDA coresno data1024
Core clock speedno data944 MHz
Boost clock speed1000 MHz950 / 1151 MHz
Number of transistors2,800 million2,940 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)130 Wattunknown
Texture fill rate55.0473.60
Floating-point performance1.761 gflops2.355 gflops

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 datalarge
Bus supportPCIe 2.1 x16PCI Express 3.0
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16MXM-B (3.0)
Length210 mmno data
Width2-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pinNone
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 GB4 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit128 Bit
Memory clock speed1200 MHz2500 MHz
Memory bandwidth153.6 GB/s80 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 Connectors1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPortNo outputs
Eyefinity+-
VGA аnalog display supportno data+
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) supportno data+
HDMI++
G-SYNC support-+

Supported technologies

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

CrossFire+-
FreeSync+-
GameStream-+
GeForce ShadowPlay-+
GPU Boostno data2.0
GameWorks-+
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder-+
Optimus-+
BatteryBoost-+
Ansel-+

API compatibility

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

DirectX1212 (12_1)
Shader Model5.16.4
OpenGL4.64.5
OpenCL1.21.1
Vulkan+1.1
CUDA-+

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark performance comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance 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 10.01
+1.8%
GTX 965M 9.83

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. 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 3863
+1.8%
GTX 965M 3793

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.

HD 7850 5210
GTX 965M 5536
+6.3%

Unigine Heaven 4.0

This is an old DirectX 11 benchmark, a newer version of Unigine 3.0 with relatively small differences. It displays a fantasy medieval town sprawling over several flying islands. The benchmark is still sometimes used, despite its significant age, as it was released back in 2013.

HD 7850 634
+10.5%
GTX 965M 574

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 HD45−50
−2.2%
46
+2.2%
1440p24−27
+0%
24
+0%
4K21−24
−9.5%
23
+9.5%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 31
+0%
31
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Battlefield 5 49
+0%
49
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 20−22
+0%
20−22
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Far Cry 5 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 40
+0%
40
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Hitman 3 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Metro Exodus 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 45
+0%
45
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 69
+0%
69
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 41
+0%
41
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Battlefield 5 37
+0%
37
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 20−22
+0%
20−22
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Far Cry 5 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 29
+0%
29
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Hitman 3 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Metro Exodus 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 33
+0%
33
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 86
+0%
86
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 13
+0%
13
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 20−22
+0%
20−22
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Far Cry 5 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 28
+0%
28
+0%
Hitman 3 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 23
+0%
23
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 18
+0%
18
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 32
+0%
32
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10
+0%
10
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Far Cry 5 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Hitman 3 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 18
+0%
18
+0%
Metro Exodus 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 21
+0%
21
+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Hitman 3 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Metro Exodus 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 13
+0%
13
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 3
+0%
3
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Far Cry 5 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 14
+0%
14
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

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

This is how HD 7850 and GTX 965M compete in popular games:

  • GTX 965M is 2% faster in 1080p
  • A tie in 1440p
  • GTX 965M is 10% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 10.01 9.83
Recency 5 March 2012 5 January 2015
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 4 GB

HD 7850 has a 1.8% higher aggregate performance score.

GTX 965M, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 2 years, and a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount.

Given the minimal performance differences, no clear winner can be declared between Radeon HD 7850 and GeForce GTX 965M.

Be aware that Radeon HD 7850 is a desktop card while GeForce GTX 965M is a notebook 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

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


AMD Radeon HD 7850
Radeon HD 7850
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M
GeForce GTX 965M

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.


4.1 806 votes

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4 107 votes

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Questions & comments

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