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GeForce GT 420 vs Mobility Radeon HD 5650

CPUCPUGPUGPU
NVIDIA

GeForce GT 420

2014Core: 993 MHz
Similar parts
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VS
AMD

Mobility Radeon HD 5650

2010Core: 700 MHz
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Buy on Amazon

GeForce GT 420 vs Mobility Radeon HD 5650 Performance Spectrum

GeForce GT 420
1 GB 64
432
0.0%
brand logoGeForce GT 220
brand logoGeForce GT 415M
brand logoGeForce GT 610
brand logoGeForce GTX 260M
brand logoGeForce GTX 1050 3GB
brand logoGeForce GTX 1060 3GB
brand logoGeForce GTX 1070 Ti
brand logoGeForce RTX 2080 SUPER
Mobility Radeon HD 5650
1 GB 50
441
+2.1%
brand logoRadeon HD 8240
brand logoRadeon HD 2900 GT
brand logoRadeon HD 8310E
brand logoRadeon HD 5550
brand logoRadeon R9 M395X
brand logoRadeon RX 7600M
brand logoRadeon RX 7600M XT
brand logoRadeon RX 6700 XT

About G3D Mark

G3D Mark is a standard benchmark that measures graphics performance in real-world gaming scenarios. It simplifies comparing cards from different brands, where higher scores directly correlate with better fps and smoother gaming experiences.

GeForce GT 420 vs Mobility Radeon HD 5650: Pros, Cons & Final Verdict

See where each GPU makes more sense in practice: raw FPS, VRAM, features, power draw, pricing, and long-term headroom.

GeForce GT 420

2014

Why buy it

  • ✅Costs $71 less on MSRP ($79 MSRP vs $150 MSRP).
  • ✅Delivers 86% more G3D Mark for each dollar spent, at 5.5 vs 2.9 G3D/$ ($79 MSRP vs $150 MSRP).
  • ✅More future proof: Kepler (2012−2018) on 28nm with a newer platform for upcoming games.

Trade-offs

  • ❌2014 hardware with 1 GB of VRAM is already well past its comfortable zone for modern gaming, so it is hard to recommend now.
  • ❌28% higher power demand at 64W vs 50W.

Mobility Radeon HD 5650

2010

Why buy it

  • ✅Draws 50W instead of 64W, a 14W reduction.

Trade-offs

  • ❌2010 hardware with 1 GB of VRAM is already well past its comfortable zone for modern gaming, so it is hard to recommend now.
  • ❌
    89.9% HIGHER MSRP
    $150 MSRPvs$79 MSRP
  • ❌Lower G3D Mark per dollar, at 2.9 vs 5.5 G3D/$ ($150 MSRP vs $79 MSRP).

Quick Answers

Which GPU is faster for gaming right now?
Mobility Radeon HD 5650 is the faster gaming card right now based on the synthetic data we have. It leads by 2.1% in PassMark G3D (441 vs 432), which is the best performance signal available in this matchup.
Which GPU is the safer long-term pick for 2026 and beyond?
GeForce GT 420 is the safer long-term pick for 2026 and beyond. The case is simple: a 28nm process instead of 40nm and a newer 2014 generation instead of 2010. That makes it the less risky pick as game demands keep moving.
Which GPU is the better buy today?
GeForce GT 420 makes the most sense to buy today. It is $71 cheaper on MSRP at $79 vs $150, and it leads G3D-per-dollar by 86% (5.5 vs 2.9), which is enough to swing the recommendation its way. Mobility Radeon HD 5650 still makes more sense if max raw gaming performance matters more than value.

GeForce GT 420 vs Mobility Radeon HD 5650 Technical Specifications

Side-by-side specs, architecture details, clocks, memory, power, and platform differences.

NVIDIA

GeForce GT 420

The GeForce GT 420 is manufactured by NVIDIA. It was released in May 29 2014. It features the Kepler architecture. The core clock speed is 993 MHz. It has 384 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 64W. Manufactured using 28 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 432 points. Launch price was $89.

AMD

Mobility Radeon HD 5650

The Mobility Radeon HD 5650 is manufactured by AMD. It was released in January 7 2010. It features the TeraScale 2 architecture. The core clock speed is 700 MHz. It has 800 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 50W. Manufactured using 40 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 441 points.

⚡

Graphics Performance

The GeForce GT 420 scores 432 and the Mobility Radeon HD 5650 reaches 441 in the G3D Mark benchmark — just a 2.1% difference, making them near-identical in rasterization performance. The GeForce GT 420 is built on Kepler while the Mobility Radeon HD 5650 uses TeraScale 2, both on 28 nm vs 40 nm. Shader units: 384 (GeForce GT 420) vs 800 (Mobility Radeon HD 5650). Raw compute: 0.7626 TFLOPS (GeForce GT 420) vs 1.12 TFLOPS (Mobility Radeon HD 5650).

FeatureGeForce GT 420Mobility Radeon HD 5650
G3D Mark Score
432
441+2%
Architecture
Kepler
TeraScale 2
Process Node
28 nm
40 nm
Shading Units
384
800+108%
Compute (TFLOPS)
0.7626 TFLOPS
1.12 TFLOPS+47%
ROPs
16
16
TMUs
32
40+25%
L1 Cache
32 KB
80 KB+150%
L2 Cache
256 KB
256 KB
✨

Advanced Features (DLSS/FSR)

The GeForce GT 420 gets NVIDIA DLSS, which still tends to look cleaner in motion. The Mobility Radeon HD 5650 leans on FSR, which is flexible and widely supported, but usually a bit rougher at the same settings.

FeatureGeForce GT 420Mobility Radeon HD 5650
Upscaling Tech
Upscaling support
FSR Upscaling / FSR 4
Frame Generation
Not Supported
Not Supported
Ray Reconstruction
No
No
Low Latency
NVIDIA Reflex
AMD Anti-Lag
💾

Video Memory (VRAM)

Both cards ship with 1 GB of GDDR5. Memory bus width is 128-bit on the GeForce GT 420 and 128-bit on the Mobility Radeon HD 5650.

FeatureGeForce GT 420Mobility Radeon HD 5650
VRAM Capacity
1 GB
1 GB
Memory Type
GDDR5
GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth
Unknown
Unknown
Bus Width
128-bit
128-bit
L2 Cache
256 KB
256 KB
🖥️

Display & API Support

DirectX support: 12 (11_0) (GeForce GT 420) vs 11.0 (Mobility Radeon HD 5650). Vulkan: N/A vs No. OpenGL: 4.6 vs 4.4. Maximum simultaneous displays: 2 vs 6.

FeatureGeForce GT 420Mobility Radeon HD 5650
DirectX
12 (11_0)+9%
11.0
Vulkan
N/A
No
OpenGL
4.6+5%
4.4
Max Displays
2
6+200%
🎬

Media & Encoding

Hardware encoder: None (GeForce GT 420) vs UVD 2.3 (Mobility Radeon HD 5650). Decoder: VP4 vs UVD 2.3. Supported codecs: H.264,MPEG-2,VC-1,MPEG-4 (GeForce GT 420) vs H.264,VC-1,MPEG-2 (Mobility Radeon HD 5650).

FeatureGeForce GT 420Mobility Radeon HD 5650
Encoder
None
UVD 2.3
Decoder
VP4
UVD 2.3
Codecs
H.264,MPEG-2,VC-1,MPEG-4
H.264,VC-1,MPEG-2
🔌

Power & Dimensions

The GeForce GT 420 draws 64W versus the Mobility Radeon HD 5650's 50W — a 24.6% difference. The Mobility Radeon HD 5650 is more power-efficient. Recommended PSU: 250W (GeForce GT 420) vs 350W (Mobility Radeon HD 5650). Power connectors: None vs PCIe-powered. Typical load temperature: 80 vs 80°C.

FeatureGeForce GT 420Mobility Radeon HD 5650
TDP
64W
50W-22%
Recommended PSU
250W-29%
350W
Power Connector
None
PCIe-powered
Length
145mm
—
Height
69mm
—
Slots
1
—
Temp (Load)
80
80°C
Perf/Watt
6.8
8.8+29%
💰

Value Analysis

At launch, the GeForce GT 420 came in at $79, while the Mobility Radeon HD 5650 launched at $150. On MSRP, GeForce GT 420 was 47.3% cheaper ($71 less). Performance per dollar on MSRP (G3D Mark / MSRP): 5.5 (GeForce GT 420) vs 2.9 (Mobility Radeon HD 5650) — the GeForce GT 420 offers 89.7% better value. The newer card here is GeForce GT 420 (2014 vs 2010).

FeatureGeForce GT 420Mobility Radeon HD 5650
MSRP
$79-47%
$150
Performance per Dollar
5.5+90%
2.9
Codename
GK107
Broadway
Release
May 29 2014
January 7 2010
Ranking
#777
#846
Search GeForce GT 420 on AmazonSearch Mobility Radeon HD 5650 on Amazon

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