GeForce GT 420M vs Radeon RX 550 Mobile

Place in the ranking	555	1103
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	4.47	no data
Power efficiency	9.56	3.07
Architecture	GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)	Fermi (2010−2014)
GPU code name	Lexa	GF108
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	2 July 2017 (7 years ago)	3 September 2010 (14 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$79.99	no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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	640	96
Core clock speed	1100 MHz	500 MHz
Boost clock speed	1287 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	2,200 million	585 million
Manufacturing process technology	14 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	50 Watt	23 Watt
Texture fill rate	51.48	8.000
Floating-point processing power	1.647 TFLOPS	0.192 TFLOPS
ROPs	16	4
TMUs	40	16

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	PCIe 3.0 x8	PCIe 2.0 x16

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	DDR3
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	1 GB
Memory bus width	128 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	1500 MHz	800 MHz
Memory bandwidth	96 GB/s	25.6 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 outputs

Supported technologies

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

FreeSync

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_0)	12 API
Shader Model	6.4	5.1
OpenGL	4.6	4.5
OpenCL	2.0	1.1
Vulkan	1.2.131	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.

RX 550 Mobile 6.97
+577%

GT 420M 1.03

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.

RX 550 Mobile 4559
+566%

GT 420M 685

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:

900p	80−85 +567%	12 −567%
Full HD	16 +0%	16 +0%

Cost per frame, $

1080p

5.00

no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

10
+233%

3−4

−233%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	18−20 +260%	5−6 −260%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	8 +700%	1−2 −700%
Battlefield 5	20−22 +900%	2−3 −900%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	14−16 +250%	4−5 −250%
Cyberpunk 2077	10−12 +267%	3−4 −267%
Far Cry 5	16−18 +1500%	1−2 −1500%
Far Cry New Dawn	18−20 +850%	2−3 −850%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50	0−1
Hitman 3	12 +140%	5−6 −140%
Horizon Zero Dawn	40−45 +215%	12−14 −215%
Metro Exodus	20−22 +900%	2−3 −900%
Red Dead Redemption 2	18−20 +1800%	1−2 −1800%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	21−24 +229%	7−8 −229%
Watch Dogs: Legion	50−55 +65.6%	30−35 −65.6%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	18−20 +260%	5−6 −260%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	8 +700%	1−2 −700%
Battlefield 5	20−22 +900%	2−3 −900%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	14−16 +250%	4−5 −250%
Cyberpunk 2077	10−12 +267%	3−4 −267%
Far Cry 5	16−18 +1500%	1−2 −1500%
Far Cry New Dawn	18−20 +850%	2−3 −850%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50	0−1
Hitman 3	12 +140%	5−6 −140%
Horizon Zero Dawn	40−45 +215%	12−14 −215%
Metro Exodus	20−22 +900%	2−3 −900%
Red Dead Redemption 2	18−20 +1800%	1−2 −1800%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	24 +243%	7−8 −243%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	21−24 +90.9%	10−12 −90.9%
Watch Dogs: Legion	50−55 +65.6%	30−35 −65.6%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	18−20 +260%	5−6 −260%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	9−10 +800%	1−2 −800%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	14−16 +250%	4−5 −250%
Cyberpunk 2077	10−12 +267%	3−4 −267%
Far Cry 5	16−18 +1500%	1−2 −1500%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50	0−1
Hitman 3	14−16 +180%	5−6 −180%
Horizon Zero Dawn	40−45 +215%	12−14 −215%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	16 +129%	7−8 −129%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	24 +118%	10−12 −118%
Watch Dogs: Legion	4 −700%	30−35 +700%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

18−20
+1800%

1−2

−1800%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	12−14 +1200%	1−2 −1200%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−12 +1000%	1−2 −1000%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	7−8 +600%	1−2 −600%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3	0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	7−8 +600%	1−2 −600%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Far Cry 5	8−9 +700%	1−2 −700%
Forza Horizon 4	24−27 +700%	3−4 −700%
Hitman 3	10−12 +57.1%	7−8 −57.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn	14−16 +275%	4−5 −275%
Metro Exodus	7−8 +600%	1−2 −600%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	4−5	0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	6−7	0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion	40−45 +1000%	4−5 −1000%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

12−14
+200%

4−5

−200%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	6−7	0−1
Far Cry New Dawn	5−6	0−1
Hitman 3	3−4	0−1
Horizon Zero Dawn	21−24 +600%	3−4 −600%
Metro Exodus	4−5	0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	3−4	0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	4−5 +300%	1−2 −300%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	3−4	0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	3−4	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2	0−1
Far Cry 5	4−5	0−1
Forza Horizon 4	7−8 +600%	1−2 −600%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	2−3	0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion	2−3	0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

7−8
+250%

2−3

−250%

This is how RX 550 Mobile and GT 420M compete in popular games:

RX 550 Mobile is 567% faster in 900p
A tie in 1080p

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

in Red Dead Redemption 2, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the RX 550 Mobile is 1800% faster.
in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GT 420M is 700% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

RX 550 Mobile is ahead in 42 tests (98%)
GT 420M is ahead in 1 test (2%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	6.97	1.03
Recency	2 July 2017	3 September 2010
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	1 GB
Chip lithography	14 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	50 Watt	23 Watt

RX 550 Mobile has a 576.7% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 6 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 185.7% more advanced lithography process.

GT 420M, on the other hand, has 117.4% lower power consumption.

The Radeon RX 550 Mobile is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GT 420M in performance tests.

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