RX 550 4gb vs GT 1030 Game Debate: Hashrate (Which is Better)| Power (WATT)

RX 550 4gb vs GT 1030 Game Debate: Hashrate(Which is Better)| Power (WATT) Usage – Review and testing of Radeon RX 550. Comparison with GeForce GT 1030 and old generation video cards

Contents hide

1 Comparison: Radeon RX 550 vs Radeon RX 560 vs Radeon R7 360 vs Radeon R7 350

1.1 ASUS Radeon RX 550 4G (RX550-4G)

1.2 Characteristics of the tested video cards

1.3 Test stand

1.5 Energy consumption

1.7 Energy consumption

1.8 conclusions

1.9 Related posts:

Everyone is watching the development of the industry in the segment of top-end graphics solutions, where the confrontation between AMD and NVIDIA is most fierce. However, the cheapest video cards are in demand. Someone needs a replacement for a failed adapter in an elderly PC, someone a temporary “plug” with the ability to play popular online games. Therefore, we scrupulously study the gaming capabilities of the entire range of available devices. We recently tested the ultra-budget card GeForce GT 1030. Now let’s get acquainted with the new product from the red camp – AMD Radeon RX 550. Let’s test the ASUS graphics card, check its overclocking capabilities, compare it with the GeForce GT 1030 and a number of old video cards.

Radeon RX 550 fully belongs to the new generation of graphics cards, although it has modest characteristics. At the heart of this model is the Polaris processor family with all the advantages of this architecture. Therefore, the Radeon RX 550 is the most significant update for AMD ultra-budget graphics cards in the past few years.

At the heart of the novelty is the Polaris 12 processor with eight computing units CU. The total potential of this chip is 512 processing cores, 32 texture units and 16 rendering units. This configuration is twice weaker than the characteristics of the Radeon RX 560, that is, the gap between these budget video cards should be quite large. But this situation is typical for NVIDIA as well. The Polaris 12 is manufactured using an advanced 14nm manufacturing process that delivers a low TDP of 50W. Operating frequencies of the core are declared from 1100 MHz (base value) to 1183 MHz (maximum Boost). Acquaintance with the Radeon RX 560 showed that there are video cards with different frequencies in the stated range, but this was due to the presence of economical versions. Since the Radeon RX 550 initially consumes little and does not require additional power, it can be assumed that

An important advantage of the Radeon RX 550 is a full 128-bit bus and fast GDDR5 memory with an effective frequency of 7000 MHz. This is a significant plus against the background of the GeForce GT 1030 with a 64-bit bus.

According to the number, the Radeon RX 550 will replace the video adapter Radeon R7 350. The latter was another variation based on the Cape Verde core, and was an updated version of the Radeon HD 7750. This is an old-timer, which is not enough. Although the entire Radeon R7 350 series is a little strange – there were modifications for 640 stream processors and OEM variations on the Oland chip with 384 stream processors (analogous to the Radeon R7 250). Also, some manufacturers equipped the Radeon R7 350 with slow DDR3 memory, which drastically reduced the overall computing capacity. Now DDR3 memory has disappeared from the video card market, and there will be no unpleasant surprises with the Radeon RX 550. Within the framework of the new series, different models can only be allocated with higher frequencies of cores and an expanded amount of memory instead of the standard 2 GB.

Comparison: Radeon RX 550 vs Radeon RX 560 vs Radeon R7 360 vs Radeon R7 350

let’s summarize the characteristics of the Radeon RX 550 and the nearest video cards in one table.

Video adapter	Radeon RX 560	Radeon RX 550	Radeon R7 360	Radeon R7 350
Core	Polaris 11	Polaris 12	Tobago	Cape Verde
Architecture	GCN 1.3	GCN 1.3	GCN 1.1	GCN 1.0
Number of transistors, mln.pcs	3000	2200	2080	1500
Process technology, nm	14	14	28	28
Core area, sq. mm	123	101	160	123
Number of stream processors	1024	512	768	640/512
Number of texture units	64	32	48	40/32
Number of rendering units	16	16	16	8
Core frequency, MHz	1175–1275	1100–1183	Until 1050	925+
Memory bus, bit	128	128	128	128
Memory type	GDDR5	GDDR5	GDDR5	GDDR5 / DDR3
Memory frequency, MHz	7000	7000	6500
Memory size, MB	4096/2048	4096/2048	2048	2048/1024
Supported DirectX Version	12	12	11	11
Interface	PCI-E 3.0	PCI-E 3.0	PCI-E 3.0	PCI-E 3.0
Power, W	75	50	100	75

Comparison: Radeon RX 550 vs Radeon RX 560 vs Radeon R7 360 vs Radeon R7 350

The Radeon RX 550 can output HDR content and is equipped with DVI, HDMI 2.0b and DisplayPort 1.3 / 1.4 HDR Ready ports.

A video adapter made by ASUS with standard frequencies, but memory capacity increased to 4 GB, will take part in our testing. More details below.

ASUS Radeon RX 550 4G (RX550-4G)

At the moment, ASUS is releasing two versions of the Radeon RX 550, which are identical in technical performance, but differ in memory size. We are going to take a look at the ASUS RX550-4G with 4GB on board.

The video adapter is made on a full-profile format board and occupies two expansion slots due to the cooling system. The black color of the PCB and the casing is combined with the large red inserts on the casing. The fan is partially covered by a decorative strip, and this clearly interferes with the air flow

ASUS dispenses with an additional power connector. When examining the reverse side, you can notice the presence of a warranty seal on one of the screws of the cooling system.

The RX550-4G has three video output ports: DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort.

Cooler of simple design. Under the casing is a one-piece aluminum radiator with diverging fins.

This design is very similar to the cooler on old budget-class ASUS cards. A complete parsing was not carried out. It looks like glue is being used and removing the shroud would damage the appearance of the device.

The board looks pretty serious for such a budget card. Implemented a four-phase GPU power system. The GeForce GT 1030 is content with one or two phase power supplies.

The Polaris 12 graphics chip is on a substrate without a protective frame. Four gigabytes of memory are collected by four Micron 6YA47 D9SXD microcircuits.

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The video card operates strictly at the recommended frequencies: the core frequency is 1183 MHz, the memory clock is 1750 MHz (effective 7000 MHz).

Judging by the GPU-Z data, the video card works with an 8x PCI-E 3.0 interface. This is not surprising, the Radeon RX 560 works in the same mode.

When tested on an open bench at about 25 ° C, the peak core temperatures were 59-60 ° C. The declared frequency of 1183 MHz was maintained at a stable level in absolutely all applications under any load.

With a little heating, you can count on a low noise level. However, in reality there is some hum. When working inside the case, this is a less significant problem, but against the background of quiet ASUS components you will hear it. And the speed is not regulated in any way, the fan runs at the same speed in idle and under load.

It is worth recalling that cooling the Radeon RX 560 is not a trivial task. At a low TDP, small chips remain quite hot. And the more powerful Polaris are famous for their hot temper. It looks like the Polaris 12 is not much better, and ASUS is addressing the cooling issue at the expense of high revs.

The situation with overclocking made us happy. From an initial frequency of 1183 MHz, the graphics processor was overclocked to 1405 MHz. The memory was stable at 8000 MHz. Higher values could have been set, but stability dropped sharply.

At a fixed blower fan speed, the heating increased to 74 ° C. This is not a critical value, so overclocking can be used for everyday tasks.

Characteristics of the tested video cards

Let’s compare the performance of the reviewed video card with a group of models of different generations. The complete list of participants is as follows:

Radeon R7 260;
Radeon RX 550;
GeForce GTX 750 Ti;
GeForce GTX 750;
GeForce GT 1030.

The most powerful solution on this list is the GeForce GTX 750 Ti, and this card has only been tested in its nominal value. The rest of the participants were tested at standard frequencies and overclocked. ASUS PH-GT1030-O2G acts as a GeForce GT 1030 with a slight decrease in frequencies to the standard level.

Detailed technical characteristics of the video cards are given below. The table shows the official Boost frequencies for GeForce, the performance graphs show the full frequency range, including short-term peaks.

Video adapter	Radeon RX 550	Radeon R7 260	GeForce GTX 750 Ti	GeForce GTX 750	GeForce GT 1030
Core	Polaris 12	Bonaire	GM107	GM107	GP108
Number of transistors, mln.pcs	2200	2080	1870	1870	–
Process technology, nm	14	28	28	28	14
Core area, sq. mm	101	160	148	148	71
Number of stream processors	512	768	640	512	384
Number of texture units	32	48	40	32	24
Number of rendering units	16	16	16	16	16
Core frequency, MHz	1183	1000	1020–1085	1020–1085	1227–1468
Memory bus, bit	128	128	128	128	64
Memory type	GDDR5	GDDR5	GDDR5	GDDR5	GDDR5
Memory frequency, MHz	7000	6000	5400	5010	6000
Memory size, MB	4096	1024	2048	1024	2048
Supported DirectX Version	12	12	12	12	12
Interface	PCI-E 3.0 (8x)	PCI-E 3.0	PCI-E 3.0	PCI-E 3.0	PCI-E 3.0 (4x)
Power, W	50	95	60	55	30

Test stand

The test bench configuration is as follows:

processor: Intel Core i7-6950X (3.0 @ 4.1 GHz);
cooler: Noctua NH-D15 (two NF-A15 PWM fans, 140 mm, 1300 rpm);
motherboard: MSI X99S MPower (Intel X99);
memory: G.Skill F4-3200C14Q-32GTZ (4×8 GB, DDR4-3200, CL14-14-14-35);
system drive: Intel SSD 520 Series 240GB (240 GB, SATA 6Gb / s);
additional disk: Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 (1 TB, SATA 3Gb / s, 7200 rpm);
power supply unit: Seasonic SS-750KM (750 W);
monitor: ASUS PB278Q (2560×1440, 27 ″);

operating system: Windows 10 Pro x64;
GeForce driver: NVIDIA GeForce 382.53.
Radeon driver: AMD Crimson Edition 17.6.2.

Testing was carried out at a resolution of 1920×1080 using the method described below. The games are listed alphabetically. At the end of the list are tank games and 3DMark results.

Testing technique

Battlefield 4

Testing was carried out in the first mission after blowing up the wall. Jogging over a small area with dense vegetation was repeated before descending to a large construction site. Frame rates were measured using Fraps.

Graphics settings are High, Antialiasing Post is Medium, and MSAA is completely disabled.

Battlefield 1

Instead of the usual scene in the mission “Cape Helles” with an extreme load, a test scene was used at the beginning of the mission “With all his might”, where the hero participates in an attack on enemy positions, driving a tank.

The selected graphics quality is medium. Tested in DirectX 11 using Fraps.

DIRT 4

Testing was conducted during a replay of the first race in the Dirt Fish Championship (Liske Forest Track, Michigan). Five repetitions were performed for a more accurate average result.

High quality graphics profile selected. All anti-aliasing options are disabled, anisotropic filtering in 16x mode.

Dota 2

A recording of one of the tournament games was played; a test segment of 70 seconds was selected. Several repetitions to reduce the error. The maximum quality of graphics is set, in manual mode the maximum quality of shadows is additionally activated. Our settings configuration is reflected below.

The game was launched in DirectX 11 rendering mode by specifying the appropriate attribute in the launch parameters. Empirically revealed that this is the most productive mode. Vulkan was not used due to the lack of normal monitoring tools under this API.

Fallout 4

Testing was done with Fraps right after leaving the hideout at the start of the game. We took a short walk through the surroundings with an abundance of vegetation and rich rays of light. Scenes with this environment will cause the most noticeable performance degradations. The procedure is shown below.

The selected profile is of medium quality graphics. The simpler FXAA is chosen instead of TAA.

Gears of War 4

The built-in gaming benchmark was used, which was run seven times.

Medium graphics quality selected, additional DirectX 12 features are active (Async Compute, etc.).

Grand Theft Auto 5

The built-in benchmark was used for testing. Five repetitions. For a comprehensive assessment, the average fps was calculated based on the results of all test scenes. The minimum fps was measured using Fraps based on the results of a full pass of the backmark.

All graphics settings are limited to “very high”, shadows are “softer”. For most parameters, this is the maximum value, for some it is one level below the maximum. Simple anti-aliasing FXAA selected. Additional settings are not involved.

Mass Effect: Andromeda

A short run was made during the very first landing on the planet. Frame rates were measured by Fraps.

Selected presets of medium quality without any additional edits. In this mode, the game activates scaling at a lower initial render resolution (900p upscaled to Full HD).

Prey (2017)

Performance was measured by Fraps when replaying a specific sequence of actions within the initial game stage, when the hero must break glass.

Selected a profile of medium quality graphics, additionally increased the quality of anisotropic filtering to 8x.

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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

A walk was performed along a certain route near the road that runs from the caves, from which the hero at the beginning of the game escapes from the Helgen fortress. This route is notable for the rich vegetation around and the pronounced effect of sunlight at the selected time.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Y_2Zb74qGtM

The selected graphics quality is medium, the quality of the light rays is additionally lowered to a low level.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Testing was done using Fraps. Fps was measured during a trip to the village of Bely Sad. Five repetitions.

In the section of the main settings, the average quality is set for all parameters. In the post-processing section, all effects are turned off.

Tom Clancy’s The Division

The built-in benchmark was run at least seven times for each mode.

Selected low quality profile in DirectX 11. Additionally, the settings related to general shadows (shadow quality, shadow resolution) have been increased by one step. It’s worth noting that in Low mode, the game sets the scaling at 85% of the selected resolution, so the actual resolution is less than Full HD.

Torment: Tides of Numenera

Testing was carried out at the beginning of the game, when the hero enters the first open location. The frame rate was measured for 15 seconds, three starts. Cameras as far away as possible to cover as much space as possible.

There are practically no graphics settings in the game. Selected resolution, high quality anti-aliasing and dynamic display of clothes.

Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War III

The built-in benchmark was used. For control, the Fraps utility is additionally involved.

The minimum graphics quality is selected at a fixed resolution of 1920×1080, the physics is minimal, anti-aliasing is disabled.

Watch Dogs 2

In this case, a walk was performed in the Palo Alto area, jogging through the streets and a nearby grove of trees and dense grass.

The selected profile is of medium quality graphics. Additionally, the “Temporary filtering” option is included, which allows you to increase performance with a negligible loss in quality.

War Thunder

The game performance benchmark “Tank Battle” was run seven times. The quality profile “Cinema” is selected.

World of Tanks

For testing, among the replays posted in the public domain, a recording of the battle on a large detailed map of the “Fjords” was selected, a 70-second test segment was selected. Four repetitions, frame rate measured by Fraps.

Selected profile of maximum quality without additional edits of parameters, anti-aliasing FXAA.

3DMark Fire Strike

Fire Strike benchmark from the latest 3DMark benchmark suite, tested in idle mode at 1920×1080.

3DMark Time Spy

New benchmark for DirectX 12, launched with default settings.

Energy consumption

The results are given as a result of measurements in six appendices:

Dota 2;
Grand Theft Auto 5;
Tom Clancy’s The Division;
Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War III;
War Thunder;
World of Tanks.

The peak values during each run were taken into account, from which the average consumption for each application was calculated, and then the overall average was calculated. The data were taken using a Cost Control 3000 instrument.