Radeon HD 7970 vs Radeon RX 550X

In this comparison between Radeon HD 7970 and Radeon RX 550X 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 Radeon HD 7970 will be the best choice, for others Radeon RX 550X will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 7970 Radeon RX 550X
Power consumption (TDP) 300 Watt 50 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x8
Supplementary power connectors 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin None
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 3 GB 4 GB
Display Connectors 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 7970 has 500% more power consumption, than Radeon RX 550X.
  • Radeon HD 7970 is connected by PCIe 3.0 x16, and Radeon RX 550X uses PCIe 3.0 x8 interface.
  • Radeon RX 550X has 1 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 7970.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • Radeon HD 7970 is build with GCN architecture, and Radeon RX 550X - with GCN 4.0.
  • Radeon HD 7970 is manufactured by 28 nm process technology, and Radeon RX 550X - by 14 nm process technology.
  • Radeon HD 7970 is 129 mm longer, than Radeon RX 550X.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon RX 550X is 4625 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7970.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 35−40 10−11
ultra / 1080p 21−24 6−7
QHD / 1440p 16−18 0−1
4K / 2160p 10−11
low / 720p 60−65 21−24
medium / 1080p 40−45 12−14
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 7970 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 215% more, than Radeon RX 550X.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 7970 Radeon RX 550X
Architecture GCN GCN 4.0
Code name Tahiti XT Lexa
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 22 December 2011 16 December 2018
Pipelines 2048 512
Core clock speed 1100 MHz
Boost Clock 925 MHz 1183 MHz
Transistor count 4,313 million 2,200 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 14 nm
Texture fill rate 118.4 37.86
Floating-point performance 3,789 gflops 1,211 gflops
Length 274 mm 145 mm
Memory bus width 384 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 1375 MHz 6000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 264 GB/s 96 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 12 (12_0)
Shader Model 5.1 6.4
OpenGL 4.6 4.6
OpenCL 1.2 2.0
Vulkan 1.2.131
FreeSync +
Bus support PCIe 2.1 x16
HDMI +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 485 Mh/s
Eyefinity +
Design reference
CrossFire +
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 20.71 Mh/s
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