Radeon RX 5500M vs HD 8970M Crossfire

Place in the ranking	303	363
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	6.42	11.86
Architecture	GCN (2012−2015)	RDNA 1.0 (2019−2020)
GPU code name	Neptune CF	Navi 14
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	1 May 2012 (12 years ago)	7 October 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 cores	2560	1408
Core clock speed	850 MHz	1375 MHz
Boost clock speed	900 MHz	1645 MHz
Number of transistors	no data	6,400 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	200 Watt	85 Watt
Texture fill rate	no data	144.8
Floating-point processing power	no data	4.632 TFLOPS
ROPs	no data	32
TMUs	no data	88

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	large	medium sized
Interface	no data	PCIe 4.0 x8
Supplementary power connectors	no data	None

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	GDDR5	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	no data	4 GB
Memory bus width	2x 256 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	4800 MHz	1750 MHz
Memory bandwidth	no data	224.0 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 data

No outputs

API and SDK compatibility

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

DirectX	11.1	12 (12_1)
Shader Model	no data	6.5
OpenGL	no data	4.6
OpenCL	no data	2.0
Vulkan	-	1.2.131

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 8970M Crossfire 18.18
+27.4%

RX 5500M 14.27

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 8970M Crossfire 12424

RX 5500M 16476
+32.6%

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 8970M Crossfire 10354

RX 5500M 12276
+18.6%

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.

HD 8970M Crossfire 70114
+37.6%

RX 5500M 50946

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.

HD 8970M Crossfire 269832
+27.9%

RX 5500M 210925

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 HD	67 +15.5%	58 −15.5%
1440p	80−85 +27%	63 −27%
4K	35−40 +16.7%	30 −16.7%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	30−35 −30.3%	43 +30.3%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 −48.6%	55 +48.6%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	60−65 +25%	45−50 −25%
Counter-Strike 2	30−35 −9.1%	36 +9.1%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 −8.1%	40 +8.1%
Forza Horizon 4	75−80 −29.5%	101 +29.5%
Forza Horizon 5	50−55 +28.2%	35−40 −28.2%
Metro Exodus	50−55 +27.5%	40−45 −27.5%
Red Dead Redemption 2	40−45 −29.5%	57 +29.5%
Valorant	75−80 −44%	108 +44%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	60−65 +25%	45−50 −25%
Counter-Strike 2	30−35 +10%	30 −10%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 +19.4%	31 −19.4%
Dota 2	65−70 −33.3%	88 +33.3%
Far Cry 5	60−65 +80%	35 −80%
Fortnite	100−105 +22%	80−85 −22%
Forza Horizon 4	75−80 −5.1%	82 +5.1%
Forza Horizon 5	50−55 +28.2%	35−40 −28.2%
Grand Theft Auto V	65−70 −19.7%	79 +19.7%
Metro Exodus	50−55 +219%	16 −219%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	120−130 +45.5%	88 −45.5%
Red Dead Redemption 2	40−45 +37.5%	32 −37.5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	55−60 +28.9%	45−50 −28.9%
Valorant	75−80 +31.6%	57 −31.6%
World of Tanks	128 −49.2%	191 +49.2%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	60−65 +25%	45−50 −25%
Counter-Strike 2	30−35 +26.9%	24−27 −26.9%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 +37%	27 −37%
Dota 2	65−70 −56.1%	103 +56.1%
Far Cry 5	60−65 −42.9%	90 +42.9%
Forza Horizon 4	75−80 +8.3%	72 −8.3%
Forza Horizon 5	50−55 +28.2%	35−40 −28.2%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	120−130 +20.8%	100−110 −20.8%
Valorant	75−80 +27.1%	55−60 −27.1%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	27−30 +38.1%	21−24 −38.1%
Grand Theft Auto V	30−33 +36.4%	21−24 −36.4%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	160−170 −5.4%	175 +5.4%
Red Dead Redemption 2	16−18 +30.8%	12−14 −30.8%
World of Tanks	120−130 −7%	137 +7%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	35−40 +26.7%	30−33 −26.7%
Cyberpunk 2077	14−16 +87.5%	8 −87.5%
Far Cry 5	45−50 +40%	35−40 −40%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 +33.3%	35−40 −33.3%
Forza Horizon 5	27−30 +26.1%	21−24 −26.1%
Metro Exodus	40−45 −11.9%	47 +11.9%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	24−27 +30%	20−22 −30%
Valorant	45−50 +29.7%	35−40 −29.7%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	8−9 +60%	5−6 −60%
Dota 2	30−35 +60%	20 −60%
Grand Theft Auto V	30−35 +60%	20 −60%
Metro Exodus	14−16 +40%	10−11 −40%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	55−60 −28.6%	72 +28.6%
Red Dead Redemption 2	12−14 +33.3%	9−10 −33.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	30−35 +60%	20 −60%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	18−20 +28.6%	14−16 −28.6%
Counter-Strike 2	8−9 +60%	5−6 −60%
Cyberpunk 2077	6−7 +100%	3 −100%
Dota 2	30−35 −65.6%	53 +65.6%
Far Cry 5	24−27 +33.3%	18−20 −33.3%
Fortnite	21−24 +29.4%	16−18 −29.4%
Forza Horizon 4	27−30 +33.3%	21−24 −33.3%
Forza Horizon 5	14−16 +36.4%	10−12 −36.4%
Valorant	21−24 +37.5%	16−18 −37.5%

4K
High Preset

World of Tanks

+0%

This is how HD 8970M Crossfire and RX 5500M compete in popular games:

HD 8970M Crossfire is 16% faster in 1080p
HD 8970M Crossfire is 27% faster in 1440p
HD 8970M Crossfire is 17% faster in 4K

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

in Metro Exodus, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the HD 8970M Crossfire is 219% faster.
in Dota 2, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RX 5500M is 66% faster.

All in all, in popular games: