Radeon HD 3870 vs GeForce GTX 980M

Place in performance ranking	275	949
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	9.96	0.03
Architecture	Maxwell (2014−2018)	TeraScale (2005−2013)
GPU code name	GM204	RV670
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	7 October 2014 (9 years ago)	19 November 2007 (16 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$269
Current price	$583	$195 (0.7x MSRP)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 980M has 33100% better value for money than ATI HD 3870.

Detailed specifications

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 cores	1536	320
CUDA cores	1536	no data
Core clock speed	1038 MHz	777 MHz
Boost clock speed	1127 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	5,200 million	666 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	unknown	106 Watt
Texture fill rate	51.84	12.43
Floating-point performance	3,462 gflops	497.3 gflops

Form factor & compatibility

Information on GeForce GTX 980M and Radeon HD 3870 compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop video cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility). For notebook video cards it's notebook size, connection slot and bus, if the video card is inserted into a slot instead of being soldered to the notebook motherboard.

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	241 mm
Width	no data	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	None	1x 6-pin
SLI options	+	no data

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	8 GB	512 MB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	2500 MHz	2252 MHz
Memory bandwidth	160 GB/s	72.06 GB/s
Shared memory	-	no data

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	+	no data
G-SYNC support	+	no data

Supported technologies

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

GameStream	+	no data
GeForce ShadowPlay	+	no data
GPU Boost	2.0	no data
GameWorks	+	no data
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder	+	no data
Optimus	+	no data
BatteryBoost	+	no data
Ansel	+	no data

API compatibility

List of supported graphics 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	+	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 980M 19.03
+1222%

ATI HD 3870 1.44

GeForce GTX 980M outperforms Radeon HD 3870 by 1222% based on our aggregate 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 980M 7349
+1224%

ATI HD 3870 555

GeForce GTX 980M outperforms Radeon HD 3870 by 1224% 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:

900p	173 +1342%	12−14 −1342%
Full HD	74 +1380%	5−6 −1380%
1440p	31 +1450%	2−3 −1450%
4K	28 +1300%	2−3 −1300%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

350−400
+1067%

30−33

−1067%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	650−700 +1175%	51 −1175%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	400−450 +1150%	30−35 −1150%
Battlefield 5	850−900 +1169%	67 −1169%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	500−550 +1182%	35−40 −1182%
Cyberpunk 2077	350−400 +1067%	30−33 −1067%
Far Cry 5	800−850 +1190%	62 −1190%
Far Cry New Dawn	750−800 +1171%	59 −1171%
Forza Horizon 4	950−1000 +1184%	74 −1184%
Hitman 3	450−500 +1116%	35−40 −1116%
Horizon Zero Dawn	950−1000 +1167%	75−80 −1167%
Metro Exodus	850−900 +1208%	65 −1208%
Red Dead Redemption 2	650−700 +1150%	50−55 −1150%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	800−850 +1190%	60−65 −1190%
Watch Dogs: Legion	750−800 +1193%	55−60 −1193%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	550−600 +1150%	44 −1150%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	400−450 +1150%	30−35 −1150%
Battlefield 5	750−800 +1216%	57 −1216%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	500−550 +1182%	35−40 −1182%
Cyberpunk 2077	350−400 +1067%	30−33 −1067%
Far Cry 5	650−700 +1150%	52 −1150%
Far Cry New Dawn	600−650 +1177%	47 −1177%
Forza Horizon 4	2500−2550 +1209%	191 −1209%
Hitman 3	450−500 +1116%	35−40 −1116%
Horizon Zero Dawn	950−1000 +1167%	75−80 −1167%
Metro Exodus	700−750 +1173%	55 −1173%
Red Dead Redemption 2	650−700 +1150%	50−55 −1150%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	800−850 +1190%	60−65 −1190%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	800−850 +1211%	61 −1211%
Watch Dogs: Legion	750−800 +1193%	55−60 −1193%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	300−310 +1054%	26 −1054%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	400−450 +1150%	30−35 −1150%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	500−550 +1182%	35−40 −1182%
Cyberpunk 2077	350−400 +1067%	30−33 −1067%
Far Cry 5	500−550 +1216%	38 −1216%
Forza Horizon 4	600−650 +1177%	47 −1177%
Horizon Zero Dawn	950−1000 +1167%	75−80 −1167%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	800−850 +1190%	60−65 −1190%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	400−450 +1112%	33 −1112%
Watch Dogs: Legion	750−800 +1193%	55−60 −1193%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

650−700
+1150%

50−55

−1150%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	400−450 +1112%	33 −1112%
Far Cry New Dawn	450−500 +1186%	35 −1186%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	260−270 +1200%	20 −1200%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	220−230 +1194%	16−18 −1194%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	300−310 +1150%	24−27 −1150%
Cyberpunk 2077	140−150 +1173%	10−12 −1173%
Far Cry 5	400−450 +1076%	34 −1076%
Forza Horizon 4	500−550 +1182%	39 −1182%
Hitman 3	290−300 +1218%	21−24 −1218%
Horizon Zero Dawn	500−550 +1182%	35−40 −1182%
Metro Exodus	500−550 +1216%	38 −1216%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	500−550 +1216%	35−40 −1216%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	290−300 +1218%	21−24 −1218%
Watch Dogs: Legion	170−180 +1208%	12−14 −1208%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

400−450
+1190%

30−35

−1190%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	210−220 +1213%	16 −1213%
Far Cry New Dawn	220−230 +1194%	17 −1194%
Hitman 3	180−190 +1186%	14−16 −1186%
Horizon Zero Dawn	270−280 +1186%	21−24 −1186%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	150−160 +1150%	12 −1150%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	290−300 +1218%	22 −1218%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	150−160 +1150%	12 −1150%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	130−140 +1200%	10−11 −1200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	130−140 +1200%	10−11 −1200%
Cyberpunk 2077	50−55 +1150%	4−5 −1150%
Far Cry 5	150−160 +1150%	12 −1150%
Forza Horizon 4	300−310 +1054%	26 −1054%
Horizon Zero Dawn	270−280 +1186%	21−24 −1186%
Metro Exodus	260−270 +1200%	20 −1200%
Watch Dogs: Legion	100−105 +1150%	8−9 −1150%