AMD Radeon HD 7870 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660

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Combined performance score

GTX 660
10.32

Radeon HD 7870 outperforms GeForce GTX 660 by 16% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

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

Place in performance ranking402371
Place by popularity60not in top-100
Value for money2.322.70
ArchitectureKepler (2012−2018)GCN (2011−2017)
GPU code nameGK106Pitcairn XT
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date6 September 2012 (11 years old)5 March 2012 (12 years old)
Launch price (MSRP)$229 $412.83
Current price$172 (0.8x MSRP)$200 (0.5x MSRP)
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

HD 7870 has 16% better value for money than GTX 660.

Technical specs

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores9601280
CUDA cores960no data
Core clock speed980 MHz1000 MHz
Boost clock speed1033 MHzno data
Number of transistors2,540 million2800 Million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)140 Watt175 Watt
Texture fill rate78.4 billion/sec80.00
Floating-point performance1,981 gflopsno data

Size and 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 supportPCI Express 3.0no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length9.5" (24.1 cm)241 mm
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectorsOne 6-pin2x 6-pin
SLI options+no data

Memory

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 amount2 GB2 GB
Memory bus width192-bit GDDR5256 Bit
Memory clock speed6.0 GB/s4800 MHz
Memory bandwidth144.2 GB/s153.6 GB/s
Shared memoryno data-

Video outputs and ports

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 ConnectorsOne Dual Link DVI-I, One Dual Link DVI-D, One HDMI, One DisplayPort1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
Multi monitor support4 displaysno data
Eyefinityno data+
HDMI++
HDCP+no data
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
Audio input for HDMIInternalno data

Technologies

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

3D Blu-Ray+no data
3D Gaming+no data
3D Vision+no data

API support

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

DirectX12 (11_0)12 (11_1)
Shader Model5.15.1
OpenGL4.34.6
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan1.1.1261.2.131
CUDA+no data

Synthetic benchmark performance

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


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance 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 660 10.32
HD 7870 11.96
+15.9%

Radeon HD 7870 outperforms GeForce GTX 660 by 16% in our combined benchmark results.


Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. 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.

Benchmark coverage: 25%

GTX 660 4000
HD 7870 4634
+15.9%

Radeon HD 7870 outperforms GeForce GTX 660 by 16% in Passmark.

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:

900p70−75
−20%
84
+20%
Full HD47
−40.4%
66
+40.4%

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 10.32 11.96
Recency 6 September 2012 5 March 2012
Cost $229 $412.83
Power consumption (TDP) 140 Watt 175 Watt

The Radeon HD 7870 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 660 in performance tests.


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

User ratings

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660
GeForce GTX 660
AMD Radeon HD 7870
Radeon HD 7870

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User ratings: view and submit

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


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Questions and comments

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