Radeon HD 8790M vs Radeon RX 550X mobile

Find out if it is worth upgrading your current GPU setup by comparing Radeon HD 8790M and Radeon RX 550X mobile. Here you can take a closer look at graphics cards specs, such as core clock speed, memory type and size, display connectors, etc. The price, overall benchmark and gaming performances are usually defining factors when it comes to choosing between Radeon HD 8790M and Radeon RX 550X mobile. Make sure that the graphics card has compatible dimensions and will properly fit in your new or current computer case. Also these graphics cards may have different system power recommendations, so take that into consideration and upgrade your PSU if necessary.

Radeon HD 8790M and Radeon RX 550X mobile are Laptop Graphics Cards

Note: Radeon HD 8790M and Radeon RX 550X mobile are only used in laptop graphics. They have 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 or Radeon RX 550X mobile here:

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 8790M Radeon RX 550X mobile
Power consumption (TDP) 50 Watt
Interface MXM-A (3.0) PCIe 3.0 x8
Supplementary power connectors None
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 4 GB
Display Connectors No outputs No outputs
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  • Radeon HD 8790M is connected by MXM-A (3.0), and Radeon RX 550X mobile uses PCIe 3.0 x8 interface.
  • Radeon RX 550X mobile has 2 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 8790M.
  • Both cards are used in Laptops.
  • Radeon HD 8790M is build with GCN architecture, and Radeon RX 550X mobile - with Polaris.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon RX 550X mobile is 326 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 8790M.
  • Radeon HD 8790M is manufactured by 28 nm process technology, and Radeon RX 550X mobile - by 14 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon RX 550X mobile is 2500 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 8790M.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 3−4 14−16
ultra / 1080p 1−2 9−10
QHD / 1440p 0−1 3−4
low / 720p 14−16 30−35
medium / 1080p 6−7 20−22
The average gaming FPS of Radeon RX 550X mobile in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 216% more, than Radeon HD 8790M.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 8790M Radeon RX 550X mobile
Architecture GCN Polaris
Code name Mars XTX Polaris 12
Type Laptop Laptop
Release date 16 November 2012 10 January 2019
Pipelines 384 640
Core clock speed 850 MHz 1176 MHz
Boost Clock 900 MHz 1287 MHz
Transistor count 950 million 2,200 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 14 nm
Texture fill rate 21.60 51.48
Floating-point performance 691.2 gflops
Memory bus width 128 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 4500 MHz 7000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 64 GB/s 96 GB/s
Shared memory - -
DirectX 12 (11_1) 12 (12_0)
Shader Model 5.1 6.4
OpenGL 4.6 4.6
OpenCL 1.2 2.0
Vulkan 1.2.131 1.2.131
FreeSync +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 80 Mh/s
Laptop size medium sized large
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