ATI Radeon HD 5850 vs R9 270X

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 270X and Radeon HD 5850, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

R9 270X
2013
4 GB GDDR5, 180 Watt
12.64
+145%

R9 270X outperforms ATI HD 5850 by a whopping 145% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking394621
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation5.820.64
Power efficiency4.812.34
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code nameCuracaoCypress
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date8 October 2013 (11 years ago)30 September 2009 (15 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$199 $299

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

R9 270X has 809% better value for money than ATI HD 5850.

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 cores12801440
Core clock speedno data725 MHz
Boost clock speed1050 MHzno data
Number of transistors2,800 million2,154 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)180 Watt151 Watt
Texture fill rate84.0052.20
Floating-point processing power2.688 TFLOPS2.088 TFLOPS
ROPs3232
TMUs8072

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 3.0no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Lengthno data241 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors2 x 6-pin2x 6-pin

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 amount4 GB1 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speedno data1000 MHz
Memory bandwidth179.2 GB/s128.0 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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
Eyefinity+-
HDMI++
DisplayPort support+-

Supported technologies

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

AppAcceleration+-
CrossFire+-
FreeSync+-
HD3D+-
LiquidVR+-
TressFX+-
TrueAudio+-
UVD+-
DDMA audio+no data

API compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 1211.2 (11_0)
Shader Model5.15.0
OpenGL4.64.4
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan+N/A

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.

R9 270X 12.64
+145%
ATI HD 5850 5.16

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.

R9 270X 4870
+145%
ATI HD 5850 1988

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:

900p140−150
+137%
59
−137%
Full HD130−140
+132%
56
−132%

Cost per frame, $

1080p1.535.34

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 20−22
+122%
9−10
−122%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 27−30
+107%
14−16
−107%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 20−22
+300%
5−6
−300%
Battlefield 5 40−45
+208%
12−14
−208%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 24−27
+127%
10−12
−127%
Cyberpunk 2077 20−22
+122%
9−10
−122%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+164%
10−12
−164%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+150%
14−16
−150%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+152%
30−35
−152%
Hitman 3 24−27
+118%
10−12
−118%
Horizon Zero Dawn 65−70
+100%
30−35
−100%
Metro Exodus 40−45
+250%
12−14
−250%
Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
+150%
14−16
−150%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 40−45
+128%
18−20
−128%
Watch Dogs: Legion 70−75
+51.1%
45−50
−51.1%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 27−30
+107%
14−16
−107%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 20−22
+300%
5−6
−300%
Battlefield 5 40−45
+208%
12−14
−208%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 24−27
+127%
10−12
−127%
Cyberpunk 2077 20−22
+122%
9−10
−122%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+164%
10−12
−164%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+150%
14−16
−150%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+152%
30−35
−152%
Hitman 3 24−27
+118%
10−12
−118%
Horizon Zero Dawn 65−70
+100%
30−35
−100%
Metro Exodus 40−45
+250%
12−14
−250%
Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
+150%
14−16
−150%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 40−45
+128%
18−20
−128%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
+72.2%
18−20
−72.2%
Watch Dogs: Legion 70−75
+51.1%
45−50
−51.1%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 27−30
+107%
14−16
−107%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 20−22
+300%
5−6
−300%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 24−27
+127%
10−12
−127%
Cyberpunk 2077 20−22
+122%
9−10
−122%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+164%
10−12
−164%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+152%
30−35
−152%
Hitman 3 24−27
+118%
10−12
−118%
Horizon Zero Dawn 65−70
+100%
30−35
−100%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 40−45
+128%
18−20
−128%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
+72.2%
18−20
−72.2%
Watch Dogs: Legion 70−75
+51.1%
45−50
−51.1%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
+150%
14−16
−150%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 24−27
+150%
10−11
−150%
Far Cry New Dawn 18−20
+138%
8−9
−138%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 12−14
+140%
5−6
−140%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 9−10 0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 12−14
+225%
4−5
−225%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
+200%
2−3
−200%
Far Cry 5 14−16
+150%
6−7
−150%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
+417%
12−14
−417%
Hitman 3 16−18
+77.8%
9−10
−77.8%
Horizon Zero Dawn 24−27
+117%
12−14
−117%
Metro Exodus 21−24
+600%
3−4
−600%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 20−22
+150%
8−9
−150%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 12−14
+225%
4−5
−225%
Watch Dogs: Legion 75−80
+147%
30−35
−147%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 21−24
+133%
9−10
−133%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 12−14
+200%
4−5
−200%
Far Cry New Dawn 9−10
+200%
3−4
−200%
Hitman 3 9−10
+800%
1−2
−800%
Horizon Zero Dawn 60−65
+650%
8−9
−650%
Metro Exodus 10−12
+450%
2−3
−450%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 10−12
+1000%
1−2
−1000%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 7−8
+133%
3−4
−133%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 6−7
+200%
2−3
−200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 6−7
+200%
2−3
−200%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3 0−1
Far Cry 5 7−8
+133%
3−4
−133%
Forza Horizon 4 16−18
+325%
4−5
−325%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−12
+175%
4−5
−175%
Watch Dogs: Legion 5−6
+400%
1−2
−400%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
+100%
6−7
−100%

This is how R9 270X and ATI HD 5850 compete in popular games:

  • R9 270X is 137% faster in 900p
  • R9 270X is 132% faster in 1080p

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

  • in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the R9 270X is 1000% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, R9 270X surpassed ATI HD 5850 in all 68 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 12.64 5.16
Recency 8 October 2013 30 September 2009
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 1 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 180 Watt 151 Watt

R9 270X has a 145% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 4 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 42.9% more advanced lithography process.

ATI HD 5850, on the other hand, has 19.2% lower power consumption.

The Radeon R9 270X is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 5850 in performance tests.


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

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AMD Radeon R9 270X
Radeon R9 270X
ATI Radeon HD 5850
Radeon HD 5850

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.


4 744 votes

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3.5 254 votes

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Questions & comments

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