Iris Graphics 550 vs Radeon HD 5870

In this comparison between Iris Graphics 550 and Radeon HD 5870 you will find out which graphics card performs better in today's games. Bear in mind that third-party versions may have more efficient cooling and higher clock speeds. This will increase cards' performance, though not by much. In addition to raw power you should also take into account the dimensions. Thicker models simply will not fit into a small mini-ITX case. The resolution of your monitor also affects the choice, since 4K gameplay requires a more powerful GPU. And don't overspend on the graphics card. Other parts of your build may also need to be upgraded, save some money for the CPU or power supply. For some people Iris Graphics 550 will be the best choice, for others Radeon HD 5870 will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Iris Graphics 550 is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Iris Graphics 550 is only used in laptop graphics. It has lower GPU clock speed compared to the desktop variant, which results in lower power consumption, but also 10-30% lower gaming performance. Check available laptop models with Iris Graphics 550 here:

Main Specs

  Iris Graphics 550 Radeon HD 5870
Power consumption (TDP) 15 Watt 188 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x1 PCIe 2.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 2x 6-pin
Memory type eDRAM GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 64 MB 1 GB
Display Connectors No outputs 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 5870 has 1153% more power consumption, than Iris Graphics 550.
  • Iris Graphics 550 is connected by PCIe 3.0 x1, and Radeon HD 5870 uses PCIe 2.0 x16 interface.
  • Iris Graphics 550 has 63 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 5870.
  • Iris Graphics 550 is used in Laptops, and Radeon HD 5870 - in Desktops.
  • Iris Graphics 550 is build with Gen. 9 Skylake architecture, and Radeon HD 5870 - with TeraScale 2.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon HD 5870 is 550 MHz higher, than Iris Graphics 550.
  • Iris Graphics 550 is manufactured by 14 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 5870 - by 40 nm process technology.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 9−10 10−12
ultra / 1080p 5−6 6−7
QHD / 1440p 0−1 1−2
low / 720p 21−24 24−27
medium / 1080p 10−12 14−16
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 5870 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 16% more, than Iris Graphics 550.

Full Specs

  Iris Graphics 550 Radeon HD 5870
Architecture Gen. 9 Skylake TeraScale 2
Code name Skylake GT3e Cypress
Type Laptop Desktop
Release date 1 September 2015 23 September 2009
Pipelines 48 1600
Core clock speed 300 MHz 850 MHz
Boost Clock 1100 MHz
Transistor count 189 million 2,154 million
Manufacturing process technology 14 nm 40 nm
Texture fill rate 52.80 68.00
Floating-point performance 2,720.0 gflops
Length 282 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 4800 MHz
Memory bandwidth 153.6 GB/s
Shared memory +
DirectX 12 (12_1) 11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model 6.4 5.0
OpenGL 4.6 4.4
OpenCL 2.1 1.2
Vulkan 1.1.97 N/A
Quick Sync +
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