Mobility Radeon HD 5650 vs Radeon HD 3850 AGP

AMD

Mobility Radeon HD 5650

2010Core: 700 MHz
Similar parts
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VS
AMD

Radeon HD 3850 AGP

2012Boost: 1000 MHz
Similar parts
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Mobility Radeon HD 5650 vs Radeon HD 3850 AGP Performance Spectrum

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.

Mobility Radeon HD 5650 vs Radeon HD 3850 AGP: 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 5650

2010

Why buy it

  • Draws 50W instead of 130W, a 80W 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.
  • 15.4% HIGHER MSRP
    $150 MSRPvs$130 MSRP
  • Lower G3D Mark per dollar, at 2.9 vs 3.3 G3D/$ ($150 MSRP vs $130 MSRP).

Radeon HD 3850 AGP

2012

Why buy it

  • Costs $20 less on MSRP ($130 MSRP vs $150 MSRP).
  • Delivers 13% more G3D Mark for each dollar spent, at 3.3 vs 2.9 G3D/$ ($130 MSRP vs $150 MSRP).
  • More future proof: GCN 1.0 (2012−2020) on 28nm with a newer platform for upcoming games.

Trade-offs

  • 2012 hardware with 1 GB of VRAM is already well past its comfortable zone for modern gaming, so it is hard to recommend now.
  • 160% higher power demand at 130W vs 50W.

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?
Mobility Radeon HD 5650 is the safer long-term pick for 2026 and beyond because it comes out ahead on the available hardware-headroom signals for this matchup.
Which GPU is the better buy today?
Radeon HD 3850 AGP makes the most sense to buy today. It is $20 cheaper on MSRP at $130 vs $150, and it leads G3D-per-dollar by 13% (3.3 vs 2.9), which is enough to swing the recommendation its way. If you are mainly targeting 1080p and some 1440p, Radeon HD 3850 AGP is the easier value choice. If you care more about 1080p and some 1440p headroom, Mobility Radeon HD 5650 has the stronger long-term case.

Mobility Radeon HD 5650 vs Radeon HD 3850 AGP Technical Specifications

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

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.

AMD

Radeon HD 3850 AGP

The Radeon HD 3850 AGP is manufactured by AMD. It was released in March 5 2012. It features the GCN 1.0 architecture. The boost clock speed is 1000 MHz. It has 1024 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 130W. Manufactured using 28 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 432 points. Launch price was $249.

Graphics Performance

The Mobility Radeon HD 5650 scores 441 and the Radeon HD 3850 AGP reaches 432 in the G3D Mark benchmark — just a 2.1% difference, making them near-identical in rasterization performance. The Mobility Radeon HD 5650 is built on TeraScale 2 while the Radeon HD 3850 AGP uses GCN 1.0, both on 40 nm vs 28 nm. Shader units: 800 (Mobility Radeon HD 5650) vs 1,024 (Radeon HD 3850 AGP). Raw compute: 1.12 TFLOPS (Mobility Radeon HD 5650) vs 1.761 TFLOPS (Radeon HD 3850 AGP).

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 5650Radeon HD 3850 AGP
G3D Mark Score
441+2%
432
Architecture
TeraScale 2
GCN 1.0
Process Node
40 nm
28 nm
Shading Units
800
1024+28%
Compute (TFLOPS)
1.12 TFLOPS
1.761 TFLOPS+57%
ROPs
16
32+100%
TMUs
40
64+60%
L1 Cache
80 KB
256 KB+220%
L2 Cache
256 KB
512 KB+100%
Frame Generation
FSR upscaling
FSR upscaling

Advanced Features (DLSS/FSR)

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 5650Radeon HD 3850 AGP
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 5650 and 128-bit on the Radeon HD 3850 AGP. L2 Cache: 256 KB (Mobility Radeon HD 5650) vs 512 KB (Radeon HD 3850 AGP) — the Radeon HD 3850 AGP has significantly larger on-die cache to reduce VRAM reliance.

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 5650Radeon HD 3850 AGP
VRAM Capacity
1 GB
1 GB
Memory Type
GDDR5
GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth
Unknown
Unknown
Bus Width
128-bit
128-bit
L2 Cache
256 KB
512 KB+100%
🖥️

Display & API Support

DirectX support: 11.0 (Mobility Radeon HD 5650) vs 10.1 (Radeon HD 3850 AGP). Vulkan: No vs N/A. OpenGL: 4.4 vs 3.3. Maximum simultaneous displays: 6 vs 2.

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 5650Radeon HD 3850 AGP
DirectX
11.0+9%
10.1
Vulkan
No
N/A
OpenGL
4.4+33%
3.3
Max Displays
6+200%
2
🎬

Media & Encoding

Hardware encoder: UVD 2.3 (Mobility Radeon HD 5650) vs None (Radeon HD 3850 AGP). Decoder: UVD 2.3 vs UVD 1.0. Supported codecs: H.264,VC-1,MPEG-2 (Mobility Radeon HD 5650) vs H.264,VC-1,MPEG-2 (Radeon HD 3850 AGP).

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 5650Radeon HD 3850 AGP
Encoder
UVD 2.3
None
Decoder
UVD 2.3
UVD 1.0
Codecs
H.264,VC-1,MPEG-2
H.264,VC-1,MPEG-2
🔌

Power & Dimensions

The Mobility Radeon HD 5650 draws 50W versus the Radeon HD 3850 AGP's 130W — a 88.9% difference. The Mobility Radeon HD 5650 is more power-efficient. Recommended PSU: 350W (Mobility Radeon HD 5650) vs 450W (Radeon HD 3850 AGP). Power connectors: PCIe-powered vs 8-pin. Typical load temperature: 80°C vs 80.

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 5650Radeon HD 3850 AGP
TDP
50W-62%
130W
Recommended PSU
350W-22%
450W
Power Connector
PCIe-powered
8-pin
Length
230mm
Height
111mm
Slots
1
Temp (Load)
80°C
80
Perf/Watt
8.8+167%
3.3
💰

Value Analysis

At launch, the Mobility Radeon HD 5650 came in at $150, while the Radeon HD 3850 AGP launched at $130. On MSRP, Radeon HD 3850 AGP was 13.3% cheaper ($20 less). Performance per dollar on MSRP (G3D Mark / MSRP): 2.9 (Mobility Radeon HD 5650) vs 3.3 (Radeon HD 3850 AGP) — the Radeon HD 3850 AGP offers 13.8% better value. The newer card here is Radeon HD 3850 AGP (2012 vs 2010).

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 5650Radeon HD 3850 AGP
MSRP
$150
$130-13%
Performance per Dollar
2.9
3.3+14%
Codename
Broadway
Pitcairn
Release
January 7 2010
March 5 2012
Ranking
#846
#503

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