ATI Radeon HD 3850 vs GeForce GTX 970M
Aggregate performance score
We've compared GeForce GTX 970M with Radeon HD 3850, including specs and performance data.
GTX 970M outperforms ATI HD 3850 by a whopping 1349% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 365 | 1115 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | no data | 0.04 |
| Power efficiency | 12.55 | 0.94 |
| Architecture | Maxwell 2.0 (2014−2019) | TeraScale (2005−2013) |
| GPU code name | GM204 | RV670 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Desktop |
| Release date | 7 October 2014 (10 years ago) | 19 November 2007 (17 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $2,560.89 | $179 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.
GTX 970M and ATI HD 3850 have a nearly equal value for money.
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 | 1280 | 320 |
| Core clock speed | 924 MHz | 668 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 1038 MHz | no data |
| Number of transistors | 5,200 million | 666 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 28 nm | 55 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | unknown | 75 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 83.04 | 10.69 |
| Floating-point processing power | 2.657 TFLOPS | 0.4275 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 48 | 16 |
| TMUs | 80 | 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).
| Laptop size | large | no data |
| Bus support | PCI Express 3.0 | no data |
| Interface | MXM-B (3.0) | PCIe 2.0 x16 |
| Length | no data | 208 mm |
| Width | no data | 1-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | None | 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 | GDDR3 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 3 GB | 1 GB |
| Memory bus width | 192 Bit | 256 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 2500 MHz | 830 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 120 GB/s | 53.12 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 Connectors | No outputs | 2x DVI, 1x S-Video |
| VGA аnalog display support | + | no data |
| DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support | + | no data |
| HDMI | + | - |
| G-SYNC support | + | - |
Supported technologies
Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.
| GameStream | + | - |
| GeForce ShadowPlay | + | - |
| GPU Boost | 2.0 | no data |
| GameWorks | + | - |
| H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder | + | - |
| Optimus | + | - |
| BatteryBoost | + | - |
| Ansel | + | - |
API and SDK compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 (12_1) | 10.1 (10_1) |
| Shader Model | 6.4 | 4.1 |
| OpenGL | 4.5 | 3.3 |
| OpenCL | 1.1 | N/A |
| Vulkan | 1.1.126 | 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.
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.
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 | 136
+1411%
| 9−10
−1411%
|
| Full HD | 58
+1350%
| 4−5
−1350%
|
| 1440p | 27
+2600%
| 1−2
−2600%
|
| 4K | 21
+2000%
| 1−2
−2000%
|
Cost per frame, $
| 1080p | 44.15
+1.4%
| 44.75
−1.4%
|
| 1440p | 94.85
+88.7%
| 179.00
−88.7%
|
| 4K | 121.95
+46.8%
| 179.00
−46.8%
|
- GTX 970M and ATI HD 3850 have nearly equal cost per frame in 1080p
- GTX 970M has 89% lower cost per frame in 1440p
- GTX 970M has 47% lower cost per frame in 4K
FPS performance in popular games
Full HD
Low Preset
| Atomic Heart | 35−40
+1650%
|
2−3
−1650%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 75−80
+1460%
|
5−6
−1460%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 27−30
+1350%
|
2−3
−1350%
|
Full HD
Medium Preset
| Atomic Heart | 35−40
+1650%
|
2−3
−1650%
|
| Battlefield 5 | 66
+1550%
|
4−5
−1550%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 75−80
+1460%
|
5−6
−1460%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 27−30
+1350%
|
2−3
−1350%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 46
+1433%
|
3−4
−1433%
|
| Fortnite | 163
+1530%
|
10−11
−1530%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 61
+1425%
|
4−5
−1425%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 40−45
+1367%
|
3−4
−1367%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 60
+1400%
|
4−5
−1400%
|
| Valorant | 110−120
+1350%
|
8−9
−1350%
|
Full HD
High Preset
| Atomic Heart | 35−40
+1650%
|
2−3
−1650%
|
| Battlefield 5 | 54
+1700%
|
3−4
−1700%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 75−80
+1460%
|
5−6
−1460%
|
| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive | 180−190
+1475%
|
12−14
−1475%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 27−30
+1350%
|
2−3
−1350%
|
| Dota 2 | 85−90
+1383%
|
6−7
−1383%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 43
+2050%
|
2−3
−2050%
|
| Fortnite | 65
+1525%
|
4−5
−1525%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 53
+1667%
|
3−4
−1667%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 40−45
+1367%
|
3−4
−1367%
|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 49
+1533%
|
3−4
−1533%
|
| Metro Exodus | 24
+2300%
|
1−2
−2300%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 49
+1533%
|
3−4
−1533%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 45
+1400%
|
3−4
−1400%
|
| Valorant | 110−120
+1350%
|
8−9
−1350%
|
Full HD
Ultra Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 49
+1533%
|
3−4
−1533%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 27−30
+1350%
|
2−3
−1350%
|
| Dota 2 | 85−90
+1383%
|
6−7
−1383%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 39
+1850%
|
2−3
−1850%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 36
+1700%
|
2−3
−1700%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 33
+1550%
|
2−3
−1550%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 26
+2500%
|
1−2
−2500%
|
| Valorant | 110−120
+1350%
|
8−9
−1350%
|
Full HD
Epic Preset
| Fortnite | 49
+1533%
|
3−4
−1533%
|
1440p
High Preset
| Counter-Strike 2 | 27−30
+2600%
|
1−2
−2600%
|
| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive | 100−110
+1371%
|
7−8
−1371%
|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 21−24
+2100%
|
1−2
−2100%
|
| Metro Exodus | 14 | 0−1 |
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 120−130
+1500%
|
8−9
−1500%
|
| Valorant | 140−150
+1500%
|
9−10
−1500%
|
1440p
Ultra Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 33
+1550%
|
2−3
−1550%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 12−14 | 0−1 |
| Far Cry 5 | 27
+2600%
|
1−2
−2600%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 23
+2200%
|
1−2
−2200%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 21−24
+2100%
|
1−2
−2100%
|
1440p
Epic Preset
| Fortnite | 31
+1450%
|
2−3
−1450%
|
4K
High Preset
| Atomic Heart | 10−12 | 0−1 |
| Counter-Strike 2 | 9−10 | 0−1 |
| Grand Theft Auto V | 33
+1550%
|
2−3
−1550%
|
| Metro Exodus | 7 | 0−1 |
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 16
+1500%
|
1−2
−1500%
|
| Valorant | 75−80
+1420%
|
5−6
−1420%
|
4K
Ultra Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 15
+1400%
|
1−2
−1400%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 9−10 | 0−1 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 5−6 | 0−1 |
| Dota 2 | 50−55
+1567%
|
3−4
−1567%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 13 | 0−1 |
| Forza Horizon 4 | 6 | 0−1 |
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 12 | 0−1 |
4K
Epic Preset
| Fortnite | 14 | 0−1 |
This is how GTX 970M and ATI HD 3850 compete in popular games:
- GTX 970M is 1411% faster in 900p
- GTX 970M is 1350% faster in 1080p
- GTX 970M is 2600% faster in 1440p
- GTX 970M is 2000% faster in 4K
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 12.75 | 0.88 |
| Recency | 7 October 2014 | 19 November 2007 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 3 GB | 1 GB |
| Chip lithography | 28 nm | 55 nm |
GTX 970M has a 1348.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 6 years, a 200% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 96.4% more advanced lithography process.
The GeForce GTX 970M is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 3850 in performance tests.
Be aware that GeForce GTX 970M is a notebook card while Radeon HD 3850 is a desktop one.
Other comparisons
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
