GeForce GT 420M vs ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870
Aggregate performance score
We've compared Mobility Radeon HD 3870 and GeForce GT 420M, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.
ATI Mobility HD 3870 outperforms GT 420M by a substantial 35% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 1004 | 1099 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Power efficiency | 1.76 | 3.12 |
| Architecture | TeraScale (2005−2013) | Fermi (2010−2014) |
| GPU code name | M88 | GF108 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Laptop |
| Release date | 4 June 2008 (16 years ago) | 3 September 2010 (14 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 | 96 |
| Core clock speed | 660 MHz | 500 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 666 million | 585 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 55 nm | 40 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 55 Watt | 23 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 10.56 | 8.000 |
| Floating-point processing power | 0.4224 TFLOPS | 0.192 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 16 | 4 |
| TMUs | 16 | 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 | medium sized |
| Interface | PCIe 2.0 x16 | PCIe 2.0 x16 |
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 | DDR3 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 512 MB | 1 GB |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 128 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 850 MHz | 800 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 54.4 GB/s | 25.6 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 | No outputs |
API compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 10.1 (10_1) | 12 API |
| Shader Model | 4.1 | 5.1 |
| OpenGL | 3.3 | 4.5 |
| OpenCL | N/A | 1.1 |
| 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.
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.
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 | 16−18
+33.3%
| 12
−33.3%
|
| Full HD | 21−24
+23.5%
| 17
−23.5%
|
FPS performance in popular games
Full HD
Low Preset
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 4−5
+33.3%
|
3−4
−33.3%
|
Full HD
Medium Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 6−7
+20%
|
5−6
−20%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 4−5
+0%
|
4−5
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 4−5
+33.3%
|
3−4
−33.3%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 1−2
+0%
|
1−2
+0%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 3−4
+50%
|
2−3
−50%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 3−4 | 0−1 |
| Hitman 3 | 6−7
+20%
|
5−6
−20%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 14−16
+7.7%
|
12−14
−7.7%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 2−3
+100%
|
1−2
−100%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 8−9
+14.3%
|
7−8
−14.3%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 30−35
+3.1%
|
30−35
−3.1%
|
Full HD
High Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 6−7
+20%
|
5−6
−20%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 4−5
+0%
|
4−5
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 4−5
+33.3%
|
3−4
−33.3%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 1−2
+0%
|
1−2
+0%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 3−4
+50%
|
2−3
−50%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 3−4 | 0−1 |
| Hitman 3 | 6−7
+20%
|
5−6
−20%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 14−16
+7.7%
|
12−14
−7.7%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 2−3
+100%
|
1−2
−100%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 8−9
+14.3%
|
7−8
−14.3%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 10−12
+0%
|
10−12
+0%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 30−35
+3.1%
|
30−35
−3.1%
|
Full HD
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 6−7
+20%
|
5−6
−20%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 4−5
+0%
|
4−5
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 4−5
+33.3%
|
3−4
−33.3%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 1−2
+0%
|
1−2
+0%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 3−4 | 0−1 |
| Hitman 3 | 6−7
+20%
|
5−6
−20%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 14−16
+7.7%
|
12−14
−7.7%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 8−9
+14.3%
|
7−8
−14.3%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 10−12
+0%
|
10−12
+0%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 30−35
+3.1%
|
30−35
−3.1%
|
Full HD
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 2−3
+100%
|
1−2
−100%
|
1440p
High Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 1−2
+0%
|
1−2
+0%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 2−3
+100%
|
1−2
−100%
|
1440p
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 1−2
+0%
|
1−2
+0%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 0−1 | 0−1 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 1−2
+0%
|
1−2
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 1−2
+0%
|
1−2
+0%
|
| Hitman 3 | 7−8
+0%
|
7−8
+0%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 5−6
+25%
|
4−5
−25%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 1−2 | 0−1 |
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 6−7
+50%
|
4−5
−50%
|
1440p
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 4−5
+0%
|
4−5
+0%
|
4K
High Preset
| Far Cry New Dawn | 0−1 | 0−1 |
4K
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 1−2
+0%
|
1−2
+0%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 1−2 | 0−1 |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 0−1 | 0−1 |
| Far Cry 5 | 0−1 | 0−1 |
4K
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 3−4
+50%
|
2−3
−50%
|
This is how ATI Mobility HD 3870 and GT 420M compete in popular games:
- ATI Mobility HD 3870 is 33% faster in 900p
- ATI Mobility HD 3870 is 24% faster in 1080p
Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:
- in Red Dead Redemption 2, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the ATI Mobility HD 3870 is 100% faster.
All in all, in popular games:
- ATI Mobility HD 3870 is ahead in 28 tests (65%)
- there's a draw in 15 tests (35%)
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 1.39 | 1.03 |
| Recency | 4 June 2008 | 3 September 2010 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 512 MB | 1 GB |
| Chip lithography | 55 nm | 40 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 55 Watt | 23 Watt |
ATI Mobility HD 3870 has a 35% higher aggregate performance score.
GT 420M, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 2 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 37.5% more advanced lithography process, and 139.1% lower power consumption.
The Mobility Radeon HD 3870 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GT 420M in performance tests.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Comparisons with similar GPUs
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
