HD Graphics 520 vs ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2

Place in the ranking	850	857
Place by popularity	not in top-100	43
Power efficiency	1.40	9.93
Architecture	TeraScale (2005−2013)	Generation 9.0 (2015−2016)
GPU code name	M88	Skylake GT2
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	1 September 2008 (16 years ago)	1 September 2015 (9 years ago)

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	320	192
Core clock speed	660 MHz	300 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	900 MHz
Number of transistors	666 million	189 million
Manufacturing process technology	55 nm	14 nm+
Power consumption (TDP)	110 Watt	15 Watt
Texture fill rate	10.56	21.60
Floating-point processing power	0.4224 TFLOPS	0.3456 TFLOPS
ROPs	16	3
TMUs	16	24

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
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	Ring Bus
Width	no data	IGP

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	GDDR3	DDR3L/LPDDR3/DDR4
Maximum RAM amount	512 MB	32 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	System Shared
Memory clock speed	850 MHz	System Shared
Memory bandwidth	54.4 GB/s	no data
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

Portable Device Dependent

Supported technologies

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

Quick Sync

no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	10.1 (10_1)	12 (12_1)
Shader Model	4.1	6.4
OpenGL	3.3	4.6
OpenCL	N/A	3.0
Vulkan	N/A	+

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.

ATI Mobility HD 3870 X2 2.22
+3.3%

HD Graphics 520 2.15

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.

ATI Mobility HD 3870 X2 6895
+20.5%

HD Graphics 520 5722

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	18−21 −11.1%	20 +11.1%
Full HD	10−12 +0%	10 +0%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

5−6

+0%

5−6

+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	8−9 +14.3%	7−8 −14.3%
Battlefield 5	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Far Cry 5	4−5 −25%	5 +25%
Far Cry New Dawn	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	10−11 +11.1%	9−10 −11.1%
Hitman 3	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	18−20 +5.6%	18−20 −5.6%
Metro Exodus	0−1	0−1
Red Dead Redemption 2	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	8−9 +14.3%	7−8 −14.3%
Battlefield 5	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Far Cry 5	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	10−11 +11.1%	9−10 −11.1%
Hitman 3	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	18−20 +5.6%	18−20 −5.6%
Metro Exodus	0−1	0−1
Red Dead Redemption 2	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 +0%	13 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	8−9 +14.3%	7−8 −14.3%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Far Cry 5	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	10−11 +11.1%	9−10 −11.1%
Hitman 3	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	18−20 +5.6%	18−20 −5.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

5−6

+0%

5−6

+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Far Cry 5	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Hitman 3	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

5−6

+0%

5−6

+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	0−1	0−1
Far Cry New Dawn	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

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

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

3−4

+0%

3−4

+0%

This is how ATI Mobility HD 3870 X2 and HD Graphics 520 compete in popular games:

HD Graphics 520 is 11% faster in 900p
A tie in 1080p

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

in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the ATI Mobility HD 3870 X2 is 14% faster.
in Far Cry 5, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the HD Graphics 520 is 25% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

ATI Mobility HD 3870 X2 is ahead in 9 tests (17%)
HD Graphics 520 is ahead in 1 test (2%)
there's a draw in 44 tests (81%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	2.22	2.15
Recency	1 September 2008	1 September 2015
Maximum RAM amount	512 MB	32 GB
Chip lithography	55 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	110 Watt	15 Watt

ATI Mobility HD 3870 X2 has a 3.3% higher aggregate performance score.

HD Graphics 520, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 7 years, a 6300% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 292.9% more advanced lithography process, and 633.3% lower power consumption.

Given the minimal performance differences, no clear winner can be declared between Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2 and HD Graphics 520.

Be aware that Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2 is a notebook card while HD Graphics 520 is a desktop one.

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