GeForce GTX 980M vs Radeon HD 5850

In this comparison between GeForce GTX 980M and Radeon HD 5850 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 GeForce GTX 980M will be the best choice, for others Radeon HD 5850 will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

GeForce GTX 980M is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: GeForce GTX 980M 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 GeForce GTX 980M here:

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 980M Radeon HD 5850
Power consumption (TDP) 151 Watt
Interface MXM-B (3.0) PCIe 2.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors None 2x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 8 GB 1 GB
Display Connectors No outputs 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
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  • GeForce GTX 980M is connected by MXM-B (3.0), and Radeon HD 5850 uses PCIe 2.0 x16 interface.
  • GeForce GTX 980M has 7 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 5850.
  • GeForce GTX 980M is used in Laptops, and Radeon HD 5850 - in Desktops.
  • GeForce GTX 980M is build with Maxwell architecture, and Radeon HD 5850 - with Terascale 2.
  • Core clock speed of GeForce GTX 980M is 313 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 5850.
  • GeForce GTX 980M is manufactured by 28 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 5850 - by 40 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of GeForce GTX 980M is 500 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 5850.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 35−40 9−10
ultra / 1080p 24−27 5−6
QHD / 1440p 18−20 0−1
4K / 2160p 10−11
low / 720p 60−65 21−24
medium / 1080p 45−50 12−14
The average gaming FPS of GeForce GTX 980M in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 258% more, than Radeon HD 5850.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 980M Radeon HD 5850
Architecture Maxwell Terascale 2
Code name GM204 Cypress
Type Laptop Desktop
Release date 7 October 2014 30 September 2009
Pipelines 1536 1440
Core clock speed 1038 MHz 725 MHz
Boost Clock 1127 MHz
Transistor count 5,200 million 2,154 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 40 nm
Texture fill rate 51.84 52.20
Floating-point performance 3,462 gflops 2,088.0 gflops
Length 241 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 2500 MHz 2000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 160 GB/s 128.0 GB/s
Shared memory -
G-SYNC support +
DirectX 12 (12_1) 11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model 6.4 5.0
OpenGL 4.5 4.4
OpenCL 1.1 1.2
Vulkan 1.1.126 N/A
CUDA +
CUDA cores 1536
Bus support PCI Express 3.0
SLI options +
HDMI +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 383 Mh/s
Laptop size large
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support +
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder +
Optimus +
GameStream +
GeForce ShadowPlay +
GPU Boost 2.0
GameWorks +
BatteryBoost +
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