Radeon RX 5700 vs ATI HD 5970

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 5970 and Radeon RX 5700, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

ATI HD 5970
2009
1 GB GDDR5, 294 Watt
5.91

RX 5700 outperforms ATI HD 5970 by a whopping 533% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking583120
Place by popularitynot in top-10067
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.3345.54
Power efficiency1.3914.40
ArchitectureTeraScale 2 (2009−2015)RDNA 1.0 (2019−2020)
GPU code nameHemlockNavi 10
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date18 November 2009 (14 years ago)7 July 2019 (5 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$699 $349

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 5700 has 13700% better value for money than ATI HD 5970.

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 cores16002304
Core clock speed725 MHz1465 MHz
Boost clock speedno data1725 MHz
Number of transistors2,154 million10,300 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)294 Watt180 Watt
Texture fill rate58.00248.4
Floating-point processing power2.32 TFLOPS7.949 TFLOPS
ROPs3264
TMUs80144

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).

InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x16
Length305 mm268 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin

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 typeGDDR5GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount1 GB8 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1000 MHz1750 MHz
Memory bandwidth128.0 GB/s448.0 GB/s

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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x mini-DisplayPort1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
HDMI-+

API compatibility

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

DirectX11.2 (11_0)12 (12_1)
Shader Model5.06.5
OpenGL4.44.6
OpenCL1.22.0
VulkanN/A1.2.131

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 HD 5970 5.91
RX 5700 37.43
+533%

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.

ATI HD 5970 2282
RX 5700 14445
+533%

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

ATI HD 5970 3690
RX 5700 23746
+544%

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:

Full HD18−20
−539%
115
+539%
1440p10−12
−590%
69
+590%
4K6−7
−633%
44
+633%

Cost per frame, $

1080p38.833.03
1440p69.905.06
4K116.507.93

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 84
+0%
84
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 77
+0%
77
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 97
+0%
97
+0%
Battlefield 5 180
+0%
180
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 102
+0%
102
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 75
+0%
75
+0%
Far Cry 5 112
+0%
112
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 99
+0%
99
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 288
+0%
288
+0%
Hitman 3 76
+0%
76
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 294
+0%
294
+0%
Metro Exodus 144
+0%
144
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 113
+0%
113
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 259
+0%
259
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 130
+0%
130
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 80
+0%
80
+0%
Battlefield 5 145
+0%
145
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 92
+0%
92
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 67
+0%
67
+0%
Far Cry 5 90
+0%
90
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 90
+0%
90
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 276
+0%
276
+0%
Hitman 3 75
+0%
75
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 291
+0%
291
+0%
Metro Exodus 143
+0%
143
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 98
+0%
98
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 175
+0%
175
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 75−80
+0%
75−80
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 243
+0%
243
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 60
+0%
60
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 77
+0%
77
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 68
+0%
68
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 58
+0%
58
+0%
Far Cry 5 64
+0%
64
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 118
+0%
118
+0%
Hitman 3 73
+0%
73
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 119
+0%
119
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 155
+0%
155
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 91
+0%
91
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 58
+0%
58
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 102
+0%
102
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 102
+0%
102
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 73
+0%
73
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 51
+0%
51
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 53
+0%
53
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 50
+0%
50
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 36
+0%
36
+0%
Far Cry 5 52
+0%
52
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 267
+0%
267
+0%
Hitman 3 55
+0%
55
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 93
+0%
93
+0%
Metro Exodus 94
+0%
94
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 108
+0%
108
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 244
+0%
244
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 70
+0%
70
+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 53
+0%
53
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 39
+0%
39
+0%
Hitman 3 39
+0%
39
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 116
+0%
116
+0%
Metro Exodus 57
+0%
57
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 48
+0%
48
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 31
+0%
31
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 31
+0%
31
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 26
+0%
26
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 15
+0%
15
+0%
Far Cry 5 26
+0%
26
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 70
+0%
70
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 64
+0%
64
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 11
+0%
11
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 35
+0%
35
+0%

This is how ATI HD 5970 and RX 5700 compete in popular games:

  • RX 5700 is 539% faster in 1080p
  • RX 5700 is 590% faster in 1440p
  • RX 5700 is 633% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 5.91 37.43
Recency 18 November 2009 7 July 2019
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 8 GB
Chip lithography 40 nm 7 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 294 Watt 180 Watt

RX 5700 has a 533.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 9 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 471.4% more advanced lithography process, and 63.3% lower power consumption.

The Radeon RX 5700 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 5970 in performance tests.


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 5970
Radeon HD 5970
AMD Radeon RX 5700
Radeon RX 5700

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


3.6 43 votes

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4.3 1726 votes

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Questions & comments

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