GPU Comparison
Select up to 2 GPUs to analyze their pricing, performance, and specifications side-by-side.
The Radeon R9 390X is dramatically faster than the Radeon RX 550, leading by roughly 400% in our performance index. It is also the stronger value pick here, so it's the easy recommendation if your budget allows.
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Radeon R9 390X vs Radeon RX 550: In-Depth Breakdown
Performance: Radeon R9 390X vs Radeon RX 550
The Radeon R9 390X is dramatically faster, around 400% ahead of the Radeon RX 550. Both cards sit in the same broad class, well suited to entry-level 1080p. The Radeon R9 390X packs 2,816 stream processors versus 640 on the Radeon RX 550.
Price & Value
Right now the Radeon RX 550 starts at $77 EUR against $103 EUR for the Radeon R9 390X. Because it's both faster and competitively priced, the Radeon R9 390X wins on performance-per-dollar by about 275%. The Radeon R9 390X is trading below its $429 EUR MSRP — a genuine deal.
Power & Efficiency
The Radeon RX 550 draws just 50W versus 275W for the Radeon R9 390X, and it also delivers more performance per watt — so it runs cooler and quieter and needs less PSU headroom. Its more modern GCN 4.0 (Polaris) architecture on a GloFo 14nm process is part of why it does more with each watt.
VRAM & Future-Proofing
With 8GB against 2GB, the Radeon R9 390X has more headroom for 4K textures and memory-hungry creative/AI tasks where the Radeon RX 550's 2GB can fall short. The Radeon R9 390X's memory is also faster — 384 GB/s versus 96 GB/s (512-bit vs 128-bit bus) — which helps feed the GPU at 4K and with heavy textures.
Generation & Longevity
The Radeon RX 550 is roughly 2 years newer than the Radeon R9 390X (GCN 4.0 (Polaris) vs GCN 2.0), so it generally benefits from a more modern architecture and longer driver-support runway.
Which should you buy: Radeon R9 390X or Radeon RX 550?
The Radeon R9 390X is the all-round winner here — it's faster and the better value, so buy it if it fits your budget. Only consider the Radeon RX 550 if you find it at a steep discount.