Radeon RX Vega 3 vs HD 8550M

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 8550M and Radeon RX Vega 3, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

HD 8550M
2014
1 GB DDR3
1.51

RX Vega 3 outperforms HD 8550M by an impressive 97% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking977779
Place by popularitynot in top-10085
Power efficiencyno data13.61
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)GCN 5.0 (2017−2020)
GPU code nameSunPicasso
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date13 July 2014 (10 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 speed650 MHz300 MHz
Boost clock speed850 MHz1001 MHz
Number of transistors690 million4,940 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)no data15 Watt
Texture fill rate17.0012.01
Floating-point processing power0.544 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).

Laptop sizemedium sizedno data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x8IGP
Supplementary power connectorsno dataNone

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 typeDDR3System Shared
Maximum RAM amount1 GBSystem Shared
Memory bus width64 BitSystem Shared
Memory clock speed900 MHzSystem Shared
Memory bandwidth14.4 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.

HD 8550M 1.51
RX Vega 3 2.98
+97.4%

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.

HD 8550M 1307
RX Vega 3 1724
+31.9%

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.

HD 8550M 3705
RX Vega 3 5441
+46.8%

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.

HD 8550M 11
RX Vega 3 14
+24.1%

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:

Full HD6−7
−100%
12
+100%

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 6−7
−16.7%
7
+16.7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4−5
−50%
6
+50%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
−50%
6−7
+50%
Far Cry 5 2−3
−200%
6−7
+200%
Far Cry New Dawn 3−4
−167%
8−9
+167%
Forza Horizon 4 3−4
−433%
16−18
+433%
Hitman 3 6−7
+20%
5
−20%
Horizon Zero Dawn 14−16
−46.7%
21−24
+46.7%
Red Dead Redemption 2 2−3
−200%
6
+200%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 8−9
−50%
12−14
+50%
Watch Dogs: Legion 30−35
−18.2%
35−40
+18.2%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 6−7
−50%
9−10
+50%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4−5
−75%
7−8
+75%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
−50%
6−7
+50%
Far Cry 5 2−3
−200%
6−7
+200%
Far Cry New Dawn 3−4
−167%
8−9
+167%
Forza Horizon 4 3−4
−433%
16−18
+433%
Hitman 3 6−7
−33.3%
8−9
+33.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 14−16
−46.7%
21−24
+46.7%
Red Dead Redemption 2 2−3
−250%
7−8
+250%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 8−9
−37.5%
11
+37.5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 10−12
−54.5%
17
+54.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion 30−35
−18.2%
35−40
+18.2%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 6−7
−50%
9−10
+50%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4−5
−75%
7−8
+75%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
−50%
6−7
+50%
Far Cry 5 2−3
−200%
6−7
+200%
Forza Horizon 4 3−4
−433%
16−18
+433%
Hitman 3 6−7
−33.3%
8−9
+33.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 14−16
+66.7%
9
−66.7%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 8−9
−12.5%
9
+12.5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 10−12
+175%
4
−175%
Watch Dogs: Legion 30−35
−18.2%
35−40
+18.2%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 2−3
−250%
7−8
+250%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 2−3
−150%
5−6
+150%
Far Cry New Dawn 2−3
−100%
4−5
+100%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 1−2
−200%
3−4
+200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 0−1 2−3
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 5−6
−60%
8−9
+60%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Watch Dogs: Legion 7−8
−157%
18−20
+157%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 4−5
−50%
6−7
+50%

4K
High Preset

Far Cry New Dawn 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 0−1 1−2
Far Cry 5 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%
Battlefield 5 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Metro Exodus 7
+0%
7
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Battlefield 5 5−6
+0%
5−6
+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
Watch Dogs: Legion 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%

This is how HD 8550M and RX Vega 3 compete in popular games:

  • RX Vega 3 is 100% faster in 1080p

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

  • in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the HD 8550M is 175% faster.
  • in Forza Horizon 4, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the RX Vega 3 is 433% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • HD 8550M is ahead in 3 tests (5%)
  • RX Vega 3 is ahead in 44 tests (76%)
  • there's a draw in 11 tests (19%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 1.51 2.98
Recency 13 July 2014 6 January 2019
Chip lithography 28 nm 14 nm

RX Vega 3 has a 97.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 4 years, and a 100% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX Vega 3 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 8550M 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 8550M
Radeon HD 8550M
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.


3.5 31 vote

Rate Radeon HD 8550M on a scale of 1 to 5:

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3.5 2002 votes

Rate Radeon RX Vega 3 on a scale of 1 to 5:

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Questions & comments

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