ATI Radeon HD 3870 vs GeForce GTX 550 Ti

Place in the ranking	693	993
Place by popularity	73	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.79	0.06
Power efficiency	2.42	0.95
Architecture	Fermi 2.0 (2010−2014)	TeraScale (2005−2013)
GPU code name	GF116	RV670
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	15 March 2011 (13 years ago)	19 November 2007 (17 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$149	$269

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 550 Ti has 1217% better value for money than ATI HD 3870.

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 cores	192	320
Core clock speed	900 MHz	777 MHz
Number of transistors	1,170 million	666 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	116 Watt	106 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature	100 °C	no data
Texture fill rate	28.80	12.43
Floating-point processing power	0.6912 TFLOPS	0.4973 TFLOPS
ROPs	24	16
TMUs	32	16

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 support	16x PCI-E 2.0	no data
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 2.0 x16
Length	210 mm	241 mm
Height	4.376" (11.1 cm)	no data
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin	1x 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 type	GDDR5	GDDR4
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	512 MB
Memory bus width	192 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	4.1 GB/s	1126 MHz
Memory bandwidth	98.4 GB/s	72.06 GB/s

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 Connectors	Two Dual Link DVI-IMini HDMI	2x DVI, 1x S-Video
Multi monitor support	+	no data
HDMI	+	-
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536	no data
Audio input for HDMI	Internal	no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (11_0)	10.1 (10_1)
Shader Model	5.1	4.1
OpenGL	4.2	3.3
OpenCL	1.1	N/A
Vulkan	N/A	N/A
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 550 Ti 4.03
+180%

ATI HD 3870 1.44

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 550 Ti 1553
+180%

ATI HD 3870 555

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:

900p	38 +217%	12−14 −217%
Full HD	38 +217%	12−14 −217%

Cost per frame, $

1080p

3.92

22.42

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

7−8
+250%

2−3

−250%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−12 +267%	3−4 −267%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Battlefield 5	9−10 +200%	3−4 −200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	9−10 +200%	3−4 −200%
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8 +250%	2−3 −250%
Far Cry 5	8−9 +300%	2−3 −300%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−12 +267%	3−4 −267%
Forza Horizon 4	24−27 +200%	8−9 −200%
Hitman 3	9−10 +200%	3−4 −200%
Horizon Zero Dawn	27−30 +200%	9−10 −200%
Metro Exodus	8−9 +300%	2−3 −300%
Red Dead Redemption 2	10−11 +233%	3−4 −233%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	14−16 +200%	5−6 −200%
Watch Dogs: Legion	40−45 +207%	14−16 −207%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−12 +267%	3−4 −267%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Battlefield 5	9−10 +200%	3−4 −200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	9−10 +200%	3−4 −200%
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8 +250%	2−3 −250%
Far Cry 5	8−9 +300%	2−3 −300%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−12 +267%	3−4 −267%
Forza Horizon 4	24−27 +200%	8−9 −200%
Hitman 3	9−10 +200%	3−4 −200%
Horizon Zero Dawn	27−30 +200%	9−10 −200%
Metro Exodus	8−9 +300%	2−3 −300%
Red Dead Redemption 2	10−11 +233%	3−4 −233%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	14−16 +200%	5−6 −200%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	16−18 +220%	5−6 −220%
Watch Dogs: Legion	40−45 +207%	14−16 −207%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−12 +267%	3−4 −267%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	9−10 +200%	3−4 −200%
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8 +250%	2−3 −250%
Far Cry 5	8−9 +300%	2−3 −300%
Forza Horizon 4	24−27 +200%	8−9 −200%
Hitman 3	9−10 +200%	3−4 −200%
Horizon Zero Dawn	27−30 +200%	9−10 −200%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	14−16 +200%	5−6 −200%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	16−18 +220%	5−6 −220%
Watch Dogs: Legion	40−45 +207%	14−16 −207%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

10−11

+233%

3−4
−233%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	7−8 +250%	2−3 −250%
Far Cry New Dawn	6−7 +200%	2−3 −200%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	4−5 +300%	1−2 −300%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3	0−1
Far Cry 5	5−6 +400%	1−2 −400%
Forza Horizon 4	5−6 +400%	1−2 −400%
Hitman 3	8−9 +300%	2−3 −300%
Horizon Zero Dawn	9−10 +200%	3−4 −200%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Watch Dogs: Legion	24−27 +213%	8−9 −213%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

8−9
+300%

2−3

−300%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	2−3	0−1
Far Cry New Dawn	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Hitman 3	0−1	0−1
Metro Exodus	0−1	0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3	0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	0−1	0−1
Far Cry 5	2−3	0−1
Forza Horizon 4	2−3	0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion	1−2	0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

5−6
+400%

1−2

−400%

This is how GTX 550 Ti and ATI HD 3870 compete in popular games:

GTX 550 Ti is 217% faster in 900p
GTX 550 Ti is 217% faster in 1080p

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	4.03	1.44
Recency	15 March 2011	19 November 2007
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	512 MB
Chip lithography	40 nm	55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	116 Watt	106 Watt

GTX 550 Ti has a 179.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 3 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 37.5% more advanced lithography process.

ATI HD 3870, on the other hand, has 9.4% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 550 Ti is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 3870 in performance tests.

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