Radeon 520 vs Radeon 550X

If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between Radeon 520 and Radeon 550X, there are a couple of things to consider. Cards with more VRAM in general perform better and allow you to play on higher graphics settings. Size also makes a difference. A model with a large heatsink can occupy up to three expansion slots on a motherboard. Be sure you have enough room in your PC case. When comparing GPUs with different architectures, more processing cores and even higher TFLOPS will not always translate to better performance. To help you decide which GPU you need, we have measured frame rates in a number of popular games. For more on how the Radeon 520 stacks up against Radeon 550X, check out specs charts below.

Radeon 520 is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon 520 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 520 here:

Main Specs

  Radeon 520 Radeon 550X
Power consumption (TDP) 50 Watt 50 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x8 PCIe 3.0 x8
Supplementary power connectors None None
Memory type DDR3, GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 2 GB
Display Connectors 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x VGA 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
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  • Both graphics cards have the same power consumption of 50 Watt.
  • Both video cards are using PCIe 3.0 x8 interface connection to a motherboard.
  • Radeon 520 and Radeon 550X have maximum RAM of 2 GB.
  • Radeon 520 is used in Laptops, and Radeon 550X - in Desktops.
  • Radeon 520 is build with GCN 1.0 architecture, and Radeon 550X - with GCN 4.0.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon 550X is 52 MHz higher, than Radeon 520.
  • Radeon 520 is manufactured by 28 nm process technology, and Radeon 550X - by 14 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon 550X is 4750 MHz higher, than Radeon 520.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 0−1 7−8
ultra / 1080p 4−5
QHD / 1440p 0−1 0−1
low / 720p 1−2 16−18
medium / 1080p 0−1 9−10
The average gaming FPS of Radeon 550X in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 1600% more, than Radeon 520.

Full Specs

  Radeon 520 Radeon 550X
Architecture GCN 1.0 GCN 4.0
Code name Oland Lexa
Type Laptop Desktop
Release date 21 March 2017 27 March 2019
Pipelines 320 512
Core clock speed 1030 MHz 1082 MHz
Boost Clock 1218 MHz
Transistor count 1,040 million 2,200 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 14 nm
Texture fill rate 20.60 38.98
Floating-point performance 659.2 gflops
Length 145 mm
Memory bus width 64 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 2250 MHz 7000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 16 GB/s 112.0 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 12.0 12 (12_0)
Shader Model 5.0 6.4
OpenGL 4.6 4.6
OpenCL 1.2 2.0
Vulkan + 1.2.131
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