Radeon HD 7870 vs Quadro M4000

Place in the ranking	319	408
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	5.87	3.00
Power efficiency	9.98	4.73
Architecture	Maxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)
GPU code name	GM204	Pitcairn
Market segment	Workstation	Desktop
Release date	29 June 2015 (9 years ago)	5 March 2012 (12 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$791	$349

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

Quadro M4000 has 96% better value for money than HD 7870.

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	1664	1280
Core clock speed	773 MHz	1000 MHz
Number of transistors	5,200 million	2,800 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	120 Watt	175 Watt
Texture fill rate	80.39	80.00
Floating-point processing power	2.573 TFLOPS	2.56 TFLOPS
ROPs	64	32
TMUs	104	80

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).

Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x16
Length	241 mm	241 mm
Width	1" (2.5 cm)	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	1 x 6-pin	2x 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	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	8 GB	2 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1502 MHz	1200 MHz
Memory bandwidth	Up to 192 GB/s	153.6 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	4x DisplayPort	1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
Number of simultaneous displays	4	no data
Multi-display synchronization	Quadro Sync	no data
Eyefinity	-	+
HDMI	-	+

Supported technologies

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

3D Vision Pro	+	no data
Mosaic	+	no data
High-Performance Video I/O6	+	no data
nView Desktop Management	+	no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12	12 (11_1)
Shader Model	6.4	5.1
OpenGL	4.5	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	1.2
Vulkan	1.1.126	1.2.131
CUDA	5.2	-

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.

Quadro M4000 17.37
+44.5%

HD 7870 12.02

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.

Quadro M4000 6675
+44.5%

HD 7870 4620

Unigine Heaven 4.0

This is an old DirectX 11 benchmark, a newer version of Unigine 3.0 with relatively small differences. It displays a fantasy medieval town sprawling over several flying islands. The benchmark is still sometimes used, despite its significant age, as it was released back in 2013.

Quadro M4000 958
+26.7%

HD 7870 756

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	120−130 +42.9%	84 −42.9%
Full HD	95−100 +43.9%	66 −43.9%

Cost per frame, $

1080p

8.33
−57.5%

5.29

+57.5%

HD 7870 has 57% lower cost per frame in 1080p

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Elden Ring	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
Metro Exodus	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Valorant	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Dota 2	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
Elden Ring	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Far Cry 5	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
Fortnite	65−70 +0%	65−70 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
Metro Exodus	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	90−95 +0%	90−95 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Valorant	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
World of Tanks	160−170 +0%	160−170 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Dota 2	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
Far Cry 5	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	90−95 +0%	90−95 +0%
Valorant	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Elden Ring	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	65−70 +0%	65−70 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
World of Tanks	85−90 +0%	85−90 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Far Cry 5	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Metro Exodus	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Valorant	30−33 +0%	30−33 +0%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Dota 2	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Elden Ring	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Metro Exodus	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Dota 2	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Far Cry 5	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Fortnite	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Valorant	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%

This is how Quadro M4000 and HD 7870 compete in popular games:

Quadro M4000 is 43% faster in 900p
Quadro M4000 is 44% faster in 1080p

All in all, in popular games:

there's a draw in 63 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	17.37	12.02
Recency	29 June 2015	5 March 2012
Maximum RAM amount	8 GB	2 GB
Power consumption (TDP)	120 Watt	175 Watt

Quadro M4000 has a 44.5% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 3 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and 45.8% lower power consumption.

The Quadro M4000 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 7870 in performance tests.

Be aware that Quadro M4000 is a workstation graphics card while Radeon HD 7870 is a desktop one.

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