Quadro 500M vs Radeon HD 8790M

In this comparison between Quadro 500M and Radeon HD 8790M 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 Quadro 500M will be the best choice, for others Radeon HD 8790M will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Radeon HD 8790M is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon HD 8790M 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 Radeon HD 8790M here:

Main Specs

  Quadro 500M Radeon HD 8790M
Power consumption (TDP) 35 Watt
Interface MXM-A (3.0) MXM-A (3.0)
Supplementary power connectors None
Memory type DDR3 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 2 GB
Display Connectors No outputs No outputs
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  • Both video cards are using MXM-A (3.0) interface connection to a motherboard.
  • Radeon HD 8790M has 1 GB more memory, than Quadro 500M.
  • Quadro 500M is used in Desktops, and Radeon HD 8790M - in Laptops.
  • Quadro 500M is build with Fermi architecture, and Radeon HD 8790M - with GCN.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon HD 8790M is 150 MHz higher, than Quadro 500M.
  • Quadro 500M is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 8790M - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 8790M is 2700 MHz higher, than Quadro 500M.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 0−1 3−4
ultra / 1080p 1−2
QHD / 1440p 0−1 0−1
low / 720p 1−2 14−16
medium / 1080p 0−1 6−7
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 8790M in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 1400% more, than Quadro 500M.

Full Specs

  Quadro 500M Radeon HD 8790M
Architecture Fermi GCN
Code name GF108 Mars XTX
Type Workstation Laptop
Release date 22 February 2011 16 November 2012
Pipelines 96 384
Core clock speed 700 MHz 850 MHz
Boost Clock 900 MHz
Transistor count 585 million 950 million
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 11.20 21.60
Floating-point performance 268.8 gflops 691.2 gflops
Memory bus width 128 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 1800 MHz 4500 MHz
Memory bandwidth 28.8 GB/s 64 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 12 (11_0) 12 (11_1)
Shader Model 5.1 5.1
OpenGL 4.6 4.6
OpenCL 1.1 1.2
Vulkan N/A 1.2.131
CUDA 2.1
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 80 Mh/s
Laptop size medium sized
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