Radeon 550X vs Radeon HD 7850M

If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between Radeon 550X and Radeon HD 7850M, 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 550X stacks up against Radeon HD 7850M, check out specs charts below.

Radeon HD 7850M is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon HD 7850M 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 7850M here:

Main Specs

  Radeon 550X Radeon HD 7850M
Power consumption (TDP) 50 Watt 40 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x8 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors None
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 2 GB
Display Connectors 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort No outputs
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  • Radeon 550X has 25% more power consumption, than Radeon HD 7850M.
  • Radeon 550X is connected by PCIe 3.0 x8, and Radeon HD 7850M uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • Radeon 550X and Radeon HD 7850M have maximum RAM of 2 GB.
  • Radeon 550X is used in Desktops, and Radeon HD 7850M - in Laptops.
  • Radeon 550X is build with GCN 4.0 architecture, and Radeon HD 7850M - with GCN.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon 550X is 407 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7850M.
  • Radeon 550X is manufactured by 14 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 7850M - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon 550X is 3000 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7850M.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 7−8 6−7
ultra / 1080p 4−5 3−4
QHD / 1440p 0−1 0−1
low / 720p 16−18 14−16
medium / 1080p 9−10 7−8
The average gaming FPS of Radeon 550X in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 12% more, than Radeon HD 7850M.

Full Specs

  Radeon 550X Radeon HD 7850M
Architecture GCN 4.0 GCN
Code name Lexa Heathrow Pro
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 27 March 2019 24 April 2012
Pipelines 512 640
Core clock speed 1082 MHz 675 MHz
Boost Clock 1218 MHz
Transistor count 2,200 million 1,500 million
Manufacturing process technology 14 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 38.98 27.00
Floating-point performance 864.0 gflops
Length 145 mm
Memory bus width 128 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 7000 MHz 4000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 112.0 GB/s 64 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 12 (12_0) 12 (11_1)
Shader Model 6.4 5.1
OpenGL 4.6 4.6
OpenCL 2.0 1.2
Vulkan 1.2.131 1.2.131
Laptop size large
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