Mobility Radeon HD 550v vs Radeon HD 8490

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.

Mobility Radeon HD 550v vs Radeon HD 8490 FPS Benchmarks

Predicted gaming performance across popular games. Tested paired with Ryzen 7 9800X3D to isolate GPU performance.

Search any supported game below to compare 1080p FPS for both components.

Mobility Radeon HD 550v vs Radeon HD 8490: Pros, Cons & Final Verdict

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

Mobility Radeon HD 550v

2010

Why buy it

✅Costs $50 less on MSRP ($49 MSRP vs $99 MSRP).
✅Delivers 104.3% more G3D Mark for each dollar spent, at 5.4 vs 2.7 G3D/$ ($49 MSRP vs $99 MSRP).
✅Draws 50W instead of 190W, a 140W 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.

Radeon HD 8490

2009

Why buy it

✅Competitive enough if your priority is price, power, or specific feature preference.

Trade-offs

❌2009 hardware with 1 GB of VRAM is already well past its comfortable zone for modern gaming, so it is hard to recommend now.
❌
102% HIGHER MSRP
$99 MSRPvs$49 MSRP
❌Lower G3D Mark per dollar, at 2.7 vs 5.4 G3D/$ ($99 MSRP vs $49 MSRP).
❌280% higher power demand at 190W vs 50W.

Quick Answers

Which GPU is faster for gaming right now?

Mobility Radeon HD 550v is the faster gaming card right now based on the synthetic data we have. It leads by 1.1% in PassMark G3D (266 vs 263), which is the best performance signal available in this matchup.

Which GPU is the safer long-term pick for 2026 and beyond?

Mobility Radeon HD 550v is the safer long-term pick for 2026 and beyond. The case is simple: a 40nm process instead of 55nm and a newer 2010 generation instead of 2009. That makes it the less risky pick as game demands keep moving.

Which GPU is the better buy today?

Mobility Radeon HD 550v makes the most sense to buy today. It is $50 cheaper on MSRP at $49 vs $99, and it leads G3D-per-dollar by 104.3% (5.4 vs 2.7), so the value case lines up with the gaming result.

Mobility Radeon HD 550v vs Radeon HD 8490 Technical Specifications

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

Mobility Radeon HD 550v

The Mobility Radeon HD 550v 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: 266 points.

Radeon HD 8490

The Radeon HD 8490 is manufactured by AMD. It was released in April 2 2009. It features the TeraScale architecture. The core clock speed is 850 MHz. It has 800 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 190W. Manufactured using 55 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 263 points. Launch price was $249.

⚡

Graphics Performance

The Mobility Radeon HD 550v scores 266 and the Radeon HD 8490 reaches 263 in the G3D Mark benchmark — just a 1.1% difference, making them near-identical in rasterization performance. The Mobility Radeon HD 550v is built on TeraScale 2 while the Radeon HD 8490 uses TeraScale, both on 40 nm vs 55 nm. Shader units: 800 (Mobility Radeon HD 550v) vs 800 (Radeon HD 8490). Raw compute: 1.12 TFLOPS (Mobility Radeon HD 550v) vs 1.36 TFLOPS (Radeon HD 8490).

Feature	Mobility Radeon HD 550v	Radeon HD 8490
G3D Mark Score	266+1%	263
Architecture	TeraScale 2	TeraScale
Process Node	40 nm	55 nm
Shading Units	800	800
Compute (TFLOPS)	1.12 TFLOPS	1.36 TFLOPS+21%
ROPs	16	16
TMUs	40	40
L1 Cache	80 KB	160 KB+100%
L2 Cache	256 KB	256 KB
Frame Generation	FSR upscaling	FSR upscaling

✨

Advanced Features (DLSS/FSR)

Feature	Mobility Radeon HD 550v	Radeon HD 8490
Upscaling Tech	FSR Upscaling / FSR 4	FSR Upscaling / FSR 4
Frame Generation	Not Supported	Not Supported
Ray Reconstruction	No	No
Low Latency	AMD Anti-Lag	AMD Anti-Lag

💾

Video Memory (VRAM)

Both cards ship with 1 GB of GDDR5. Memory bus width is 128-bit on the Mobility Radeon HD 550v and 64-bit on the Radeon HD 8490.

Feature	Mobility Radeon HD 550v	Radeon HD 8490
VRAM Capacity	1 GB	1 GB
Memory Type	GDDR5	GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth	Unknown	Unknown
Bus Width	128-bit+100%	64-bit
L2 Cache	256 KB	256 KB

🖥️

Display & API Support

DirectX support: 10.1 (Mobility Radeon HD 550v) vs 11.2 (Radeon HD 8490). OpenGL: 3.3 vs 4.4. Maximum simultaneous displays: 2 vs 2.

Feature	Mobility Radeon HD 550v	Radeon HD 8490
DirectX	10.1	11.2+11%
OpenGL	3.3	4.4+33%
Max Displays	2	2

🎬

Media & Encoding

Hardware encoder: None (Mobility Radeon HD 550v) vs UVD 3.1 (Radeon HD 8490). Decoder: UVD 2.2 vs UVD 3.1. Supported codecs: H.264,MPEG-2,VC-1 (Mobility Radeon HD 550v) vs H.264,MPEG-2,VC-1 (Radeon HD 8490).

Feature	Mobility Radeon HD 550v	Radeon HD 8490
Encoder	None	UVD 3.1
Decoder	UVD 2.2	UVD 3.1
Codecs	H.264,MPEG-2,VC-1	H.264,MPEG-2,VC-1

🔌

Power & Dimensions

The Mobility Radeon HD 550v draws 50W versus the Radeon HD 8490's 190W — a 116.7% difference. The Mobility Radeon HD 550v is more power-efficient. Recommended PSU: 350W (Mobility Radeon HD 550v) vs 350W (Radeon HD 8490). Power connectors: PCIe-powered vs 1x 6-pin. Card length: 0mm vs 168mm, occupying 0 vs 1 slots.

Feature	Mobility Radeon HD 550v	Radeon HD 8490
TDP	50W-74%	190W
Recommended PSU	350W	350W
Power Connector	PCIe-powered	1x 6-pin
Length	0mm	168mm
Height	0mm	—
Slots	0-100%	1
Temp (Load)	80	—
Perf/Watt	5.3+279%	1.4

💰

Value Analysis

At launch, the Mobility Radeon HD 550v came in at $49, while the Radeon HD 8490 launched at $99. On MSRP, Mobility Radeon HD 550v was 50.5% cheaper ($50 less). Performance per dollar on MSRP (G3D Mark / MSRP): 5.4 (Mobility Radeon HD 550v) vs 2.7 (Radeon HD 8490) — the Mobility Radeon HD 550v offers 100% better value. The newer card here is Mobility Radeon HD 550v (2010 vs 2009).

Feature	Mobility Radeon HD 550v	Radeon HD 8490
MSRP	$49-51%	$99
Performance per Dollar	5.4+100%	2.7
Codename	Broadway	RV790
Release	January 7 2010	April 2 2009
Ranking	#846	#762

Search Mobility Radeon HD 550v on Amazon

Search Radeon HD 8490 on Amazon

Affiliate Disclosure

ChipVERSUS is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. We may earn a commission on qualifying purchases made through our links. This comes at no additional cost to you and helps support our work in providing comprehensive PC building guides and tools.

Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.