Apple M3 Pro 18-Core GPU vs ATI Radeon HD 4870 Mac Edition

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the rankingnot ratednot rated
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
ArchitectureTeraScale (2005−2013)no data
GPU code nameRV770no data
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Release date6 January 2009 (15 years ago)31 October 2023 (1 year 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 cores80018
Core clock speed750 MHzno data
Number of transistors956 millionno data
Manufacturing process technology55 nm5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)150 Wattno data
Texture fill rate30.00no data
Floating-point processing power1.2 TFLOPSno data
ROPs16no data
TMUs40no data

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 sizeno datamedium sized
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16no data
Length250 mmno data
Width2-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pinno 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 typeGDDR5LPDDR5-6400
Maximum RAM amount512 MBno data
Memory bus width256 Bitno data
Memory clock speed850 MHzno data
Memory bandwidth108.8 GB/sno 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 Connectors1x DVI, 1x mini-DisplayPortno data

API compatibility

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

DirectX10.1 (10_1)no data
Shader Model4.1no data
OpenGL3.3no data
OpenCL1.1no data
VulkanN/A-

Pros & cons summary


Recency 6 January 2009 31 October 2023
Chip lithography 55 nm 5 nm

Apple M3 Pro 18-Core GPU has an age advantage of 14 years, and a 1000% more advanced lithography process.

We couldn't decide between Radeon HD 4870 Mac Edition and Apple M3 Pro 18-Core GPU. We've got no test results to judge.

Be aware that Radeon HD 4870 Mac Edition is a desktop card while Apple M3 Pro 18-Core GPU is a notebook one.


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

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ATI Radeon HD 4870 Mac Edition
Radeon HD 4870 Mac Edition
Apple M3 Pro 18-Core GPU
M3 Pro 18-Core GPU

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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Community ratings

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5 1 vote

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3.1 169 votes

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Questions & comments

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