AMD Radeon HD 8850M

Launched in the Solar System generation of the HD 8800M series, the AMD Radeon HD 8850M is a mobile graphics processor built on the 28 nm GCN 1.0 architecture at TSMC. It packs 640 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 16 ROPs, with a die size of 123 mm² containing 1,500 million transistors. The card is end-of-life, and its single recorded OpenCL benchmark result places it at the 39th percentile of all GPUs in the database, indicating a modest, entry-level position in the performance hierarchy.

Benchmark Performance

The AMD Radeon HD 8850M achieves an average benchmark score of 7,447 points in the Geekbench OpenCL test. This places it in a tight competitive cluster, where the differences between adjacent cards are measured in single-digit percentages. The data shows a near-tie with the AMD Radeon R7 350, which scores 7,425 points; the HD 8850M is just 0.3% ahead, a margin well within run-to-run variance. This effectively makes the two cards performance equals for compute workloads.

Against the Intel Arc A310, the HD 8850M trails by 1.4%, with the Intel card scoring 7,550 points. Similarly, the AMD Radeon R7 250 sits 1.5% higher at 7,557 points. These deltas are marginal, meaning that in real-world OpenCL tasks, the HD 8850M would be indistinguishable from these rivals. The only rival it beats by a more meaningful margin is the NVIDIA Quadro 5000, which scores 7,315 points; here the HD 8850M leads by 1.8%. The overall picture is one of extreme parity: the HD 8850M neither dominates nor is dominated, holding a position within roughly 2% of all four nearest rivals.

The 39th percentile ranking versus all GPUs reinforces this interpretation. Benchmark results indicate that the card sits below the median, but not at the very bottom of the stack. Its FP32 compute throughput is rated at 800.0 GFLOPS, with a pixel rate of 10.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 25.00 GTexel/s. These figures align with its modest shading count and clock speeds of 575 MHz base and 625 MHz boost. For compute-heavy applications that leverage OpenCL, the HD 8850M delivers entry-level performance, adequate for basic tasks but not for demanding workloads.

Power and Cooling

The FACT PACK does not list a TDP for the AMD Radeon HD 8850M, nor does it specify slot width, power connectors, or a suggested PSU. As a mobile GPU from the 2013 era, it was designed for laptop integration, where power delivery is handled by the system's own thermal and power design. The absence of a TDP figure means that thermal requirements must be inferred from the architecture: a 28 nm GCN 1.0 chip with 1,500 million transistors and modest clock speeds would typically require a capable cooling solution, but no quantitative data is provided here.

The memory subsystem consists of 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, running at 1000 MHz (4 Gbps effective), yielding a bandwidth of 64.00 GB/s. This memory configuration is modest by modern standards but was appropriate for the card's launch period. The card interfaces via PCIe 3.0 x16, which is standard for its generation. No display outputs are listed, which is consistent with its mobile focus, where the laptop manufacturer determines the physical output ports. Since no PSU recommendation or connector requirements are documented, any analysis of external power needs is purely qualitative; the card would rely on the laptop's internal power delivery, and no additional PCIe power connectors are indicated in the data.

How It Compares

AMD Radeon R7 350: The HD 8850M edges out the R7 350 by a razor-thin 0.3% margin, with scores of 7,447 versus 7,425. This is effectively a statistical dead heat, meaning that end users would see no practical difference in OpenCL compute performance. Both cards occupy the same performance tier, and the choice between them would come down to other factors like platform support or driver maturity, which are not captured in these benchmarks.

Intel Arc A310: The Intel Arc A310 holds a 1.4% lead over the HD 8850M, scoring 7,550 points. While the Intel card is newer and based on a different architecture, the benchmark data shows only a slight advantage in this specific OpenCL test. The HD 8850M's deficit is small enough that it remains competitive in the same performance class, despite the generational gap.

AMD Radeon R7 250: The R7 250 outperforms the HD 8850M by 1.5%, with a score of 7,557. This is the largest deficit among the four rivals, yet still a marginal difference. The two cards share a similar architectural heritage, and the benchmark results indicate that the R7 250 has a minor edge in compute throughput, likely due to its desktop-oriented design allowing slightly higher sustained clocks.

NVIDIA Quadro 5000: The HD 8850M leads the NVIDIA Quadro 5000 by 1.8%, scoring 7,447 against 7,315. This is the only rival where the HD 8850M holds a clear, albeit small, advantage. The Quadro 5000 is a professional-grade card from an older generation, and the data shows that the AMD mobile GPU outperforms it in OpenCL compute, which may surprise given the Quadro's workstation positioning.

FAQ

Q: What is the average benchmark score for the AMD Radeon HD 8850M?

A: The average benchmark score is 7,447 points, based on the Geekbench OpenCL test.

Q: How does the HD 8850M compare to the Intel Arc A310?

A: The HD 8850M trails the Intel Arc A310 by 1.4%, with the Intel card scoring 7,550 points versus 7,447 for the AMD part.

Q: What memory configuration does the HD 8850M use?

A: It uses 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, running at 1000 MHz (4 Gbps effective), providing 64.00 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: Is the HD 8850M still in production?

A: No, the production status is listed as end-of-life.

Q: What is the transistor count and die size of the HD 8850M?

A: The chip contains 1,500 million transistors on a die size of 123 mm², manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC.

Q: What is the pixel fill rate of the HD 8850M?

A: The pixel rate is 10.00 GPixel/s, derived from its 16 ROPs and clock speeds.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The AMD Radeon HD 8850M has no dedicated ray tracing cores or tensor cores listed in the FACT PACK. This is consistent with its GCN 1.0 architecture, which predates the introduction of hardware-accelerated ray tracing in consumer GPUs. The card's feature set is defined by its API support rather than specialized hardware. It supports DirectX 12 (11_1), which is a feature level that provides partial DirectX 12 functionality but not the full set of modern features. OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.2.170 are also supported, giving the card access to contemporary graphics APIs for its era.

The absence of RT and tensor cores means that any ray tracing workloads would fall back to compute-based shaders, which would be severely limited by the card's 800.0 GFLOPS FP32 throughput. The shading units, 640 in total, handle all graphics and compute tasks, and the 40 TMUs and 16 ROPs complete the traditional rasterization pipeline. The card's texture rate of 25.00 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 10.00 GPixel/s are modest figures that reflect its entry-level positioning. For software that leverages Vulkan 1.2.170 or OpenGL 4.6, the HD 8850M can run modern APIs, but its performance ceiling is low. The DirectX 12 (11_1) support is notable for a 2013 card, but it does not enable features like mesh shaders or variable rate shading, which require higher DirectX 12 feature levels. Overall, the feature set is a snapshot of mid-2010s mobile graphics, with API compatibility ahead of its raw computational capabilities.