GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB vs Radeon RX 550

Place in the ranking	550	348
Place by popularity	21	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	2.92	no data
Power efficiency	9.70	13.10
Architecture	GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)	Pascal (2016−2021)
GPU code name	Lexa	GP106
Market segment	Desktop	Laptop
Release date	20 April 2017 (7 years ago)	27 June 2017 (7 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$79	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	512	1280
Core clock speed	1100 MHz	1063 MHz
Boost clock speed	1183 MHz	1480 MHz
Number of transistors	2,200 million	4,400 million
Manufacturing process technology	14 nm	16 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	50 Watt	80 Watt
Texture fill rate	37.86	118.4
Floating-point processing power	1.211 TFLOPS	3.789 TFLOPS
ROPs	16	48
TMUs	32	80

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	no data	large
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x8	PCIe 3.0 x16
Length	145 mm	no data
Width	2-slot	no data
Supplementary power connectors	None	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	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	6 GB
Memory bus width	128 Bit	192 Bit
Memory clock speed	1750 MHz	2002 MHz
Memory bandwidth	112.0 GB/s	192.2 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	1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort	No outputs
HDMI	+	-
G-SYNC support	-	+

Supported technologies

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

VR Ready

no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_0)	12 (12_1)
Shader Model	6.4	6.4
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	2.0	1.2
Vulkan	1.2.131	1.2.131
CUDA	-	6.1

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 7.08

GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB 15.29
+116%

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.

RX 550 2728

GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB 5891
+116%

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	35−40 −129%	80 +129%
4K	12−14 −133%	28 +133%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	2.26	no data
4K	6.58	no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

24−27

+0%

24−27

+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Battlefield 5	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Far Cry 5	62 +0%	62 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	95−100 +0%	95−100 +0%
Hitman 3	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	75−80 +0%	75−80 +0%
Metro Exodus	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	75−80 +0%	75−80 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Battlefield 5	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Far Cry 5	54 +0%	54 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	95−100 +0%	95−100 +0%
Hitman 3	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	75−80 +0%	75−80 +0%
Metro Exodus	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	75−80 +0%	75−80 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Far Cry 5	40 +0%	40 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	95−100 +0%	95−100 +0%
Hitman 3	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	75−80 +0%	75−80 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	35 +0%	35 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	75−80 +0%	75−80 +0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

40−45

+0%

40−45

+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	30−33 +0%	30−33 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Far Cry 5	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	80−85 +0%	80−85 +0%
Hitman 3	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Metro Exodus	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	90−95 +0%	90−95 +0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

24−27

+0%

24−27

+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
Hitman 3	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	75−80 +0%	75−80 +0%
Metro Exodus	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	24 +0%	24 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Far Cry 5	12 +0%	12 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	20−22 +0%	20−22 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

14−16

+0%

14−16

+0%

This is how RX 550 and GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB compete in popular games:

GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB is 129% faster in 1080p
GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB is 133% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	7.08	15.29
Recency	20 April 2017	27 June 2017
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	6 GB
Chip lithography	14 nm	16 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	50 Watt	80 Watt

RX 550 has a 14.3% more advanced lithography process, and 60% lower power consumption.

GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB, on the other hand, has a 116% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 months, and a 50% higher maximum VRAM amount.

The GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon RX 550 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon RX 550 is a desktop card while GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q 6 GB is a notebook one.

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