Radeon HD 6870 vs GeForce GTX 1070

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 1070 and Radeon HD 6870, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX 1070
2016
8 GB GDDR5, 150 Watt
35.13
+511%

GTX 1070 outperforms HD 6870 by a whopping 511% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking146602
Place by popularity32not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation23.290.99
Power efficiency16.162.63
ArchitecturePascal (2016−2021)TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code nameGP104Barts
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designno datareference
Release date10 June 2016 (8 years ago)21 October 2010 (14 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$379 $239

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 1070 has 2253% better value for money than HD 6870.

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores19201120
Core clock speed1506 MHzno data
Boost clock speed1683 MHz900 MHz
Number of transistors7,200 million1,700 million
Manufacturing process technology16 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)150 Watt151 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature94 °Cno data
Texture fill rate202.050.40
Floating-point processing power6.463 TFLOPS2.016 TFLOPS
ROPs6432
TMUs12056

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Bus supportPCIe 3.0PCIe 2.0 x16
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length267 mm220 mm
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot2-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)500 Wattno data
Supplementary power connectors1x 8-pin2x 6-pin
SLI options+-

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount8 GB1 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed8 GB/s1050 MHz
Memory bandwidth256 GB/s134.4 GB/s
Shared memory--

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display ConnectorsDP 1.42, HDMI 2.0b, Dual Link-DVI2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
Multi monitor support+no data
Eyefinity-+
HDMI++
G-SYNC support+-

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

CrossFire-+
GPU Boost3.0no data
VR Ready+no data
Ansel+-

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX12 (12_1)DirectX® 11
Shader Model6.45.0
OpenGL4.54.4
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan+-
CUDA+-

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

GTX 1070 35.13
+511%
HD 6870 5.75

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

GTX 1070 13507
+511%
HD 6870 2209

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

GTX 1070 24652
+484%
HD 6870 4218

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

GTX 1070 50995
+187%
HD 6870 17773

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

GTX 1070 18255
+481%
HD 6870 3141

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

GTX 1070 106934
+304%
HD 6870 26437

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

900p350−400
+474%
61
−474%
Full HD115
+82.5%
63
−82.5%
1200p230−240
+490%
39
−490%
1440p67
+570%
10−12
−570%
4K50
+525%
8−9
−525%

Cost per frame, $

1080p3.30
+15.1%
3.79
−15.1%
1440p5.66
+323%
23.90
−323%
4K7.58
+294%
29.88
−294%
  • GTX 1070 has 15% lower cost per frame in 1080p
  • GTX 1070 has 323% lower cost per frame in 1440p
  • GTX 1070 has 294% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2 70−75
+446%
12−14
−446%
Cyberpunk 2077 70−75
+573%
10−12
−573%
Elden Ring 120−130
+707%
14−16
−707%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5 87
+383%
18−20
−383%
Counter-Strike 2 70−75
+446%
12−14
−446%
Cyberpunk 2077 70−75
+573%
10−12
−573%
Forza Horizon 4 160−170
+592%
24−27
−592%
Metro Exodus 107
+664%
14−16
−664%
Red Dead Redemption 2 115
+576%
16−18
−576%
Valorant 140−150
+775%
16−18
−775%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5 156
+767%
18−20
−767%
Counter-Strike 2 70−75
+446%
12−14
−446%
Cyberpunk 2077 70−75
+573%
10−12
−573%
Dota 2 74
+289%
18−20
−289%
Elden Ring 120−130
+707%
14−16
−707%
Far Cry 5 75
+178%
27−30
−178%
Fortnite 150
+341%
30−35
−341%
Forza Horizon 4 160−170
+592%
24−27
−592%
Grand Theft Auto V 111
+484%
18−20
−484%
Metro Exodus 75
+436%
14−16
−436%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 225
+369%
45−50
−369%
Red Dead Redemption 2 43
+153%
16−18
−153%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 52
+189%
18−20
−189%
Valorant 140−150
+775%
16−18
−775%
World of Tanks 270−280
+47.1%
189
−47.1%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 74
+311%
18−20
−311%
Counter-Strike 2 70−75
+446%
12−14
−446%
Cyberpunk 2077 70−75
+573%
10−12
−573%
Dota 2 110−120
+495%
18−20
−495%
Far Cry 5 90−95
+241%
27−30
−241%
Forza Horizon 4 160−170
+592%
24−27
−592%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 94
+95.8%
45−50
−95.8%
Valorant 140−150
+775%
16−18
−775%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2 60−65
+1180%
5−6
−1180%
Elden Ring 65−70
+886%
7−8
−886%
Grand Theft Auto V 60−65
+967%
6−7
−967%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 170−180
+400%
35−40
−400%
Red Dead Redemption 2 27
+575%
4−5
−575%
World of Tanks 220−230
+446%
40−45
−446%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 67
+644%
9−10
−644%
Counter-Strike 2 30−35
+267%
9−10
−267%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−35
+750%
4−5
−750%
Far Cry 5 110−120
+833%
12−14
−833%
Forza Horizon 4 95−100
+1000%
9−10
−1000%
Metro Exodus 71
+1083%
6−7
−1083%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 55−60
+729%
7−8
−729%
Valorant 100−110
+600%
14−16
−600%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 35−40
+600%
5−6
−600%
Dota 2 62
+265%
16−18
−265%
Elden Ring 30−35
+967%
3−4
−967%
Grand Theft Auto V 62
+265%
16−18
−265%
Metro Exodus 23
+2200%
1−2
−2200%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 95
+494%
16−18
−494%
Red Dead Redemption 2 18
+350%
4−5
−350%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 62
+265%
16−18
−265%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 37
+640%
5−6
−640%
Counter-Strike 2 35−40
+600%
5−6
−600%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+600%
2−3
−600%
Dota 2 65−70
+294%
16−18
−294%
Far Cry 5 50−55
+733%
6−7
−733%
Fortnite 44
+780%
5−6
−780%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
+1040%
5−6
−1040%
Valorant 50−55
+980%
5−6
−980%

This is how GTX 1070 and HD 6870 compete in popular games:

  • GTX 1070 is 474% faster in 900p
  • GTX 1070 is 83% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 1070 is 490% faster in 1200p
  • GTX 1070 is 570% faster in 1440p
  • GTX 1070 is 525% faster in 4K

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in Metro Exodus, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the GTX 1070 is 2200% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, GTX 1070 surpassed HD 6870 in all 61 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 35.13 5.75
Recency 10 June 2016 21 October 2010
Maximum RAM amount 8 GB 1 GB
Chip lithography 16 nm 40 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 150 Watt 151 Watt

GTX 1070 has a 511% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 5 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 150% more advanced lithography process, and 0.7% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 1070 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6870 in performance tests.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070
GeForce GTX 1070
AMD Radeon HD 6870
Radeon HD 6870

Other comparisons

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


4.3 8744 votes

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Questions & comments

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