ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870 vs HD 6790

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 6790 with Mobility Radeon HD 4870, including specs and performance data.

HD 6790
2011, $149
1 GB GDDR5, 150 Watt
3.74
+87.9%

HD 6790 outperforms Mobility HD 4870 by an impressive 88% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking757925
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.70no data
Power efficiency1.92no data
ArchitectureTeraScale 2 (2009−2015)TeraScale (2005−2013)
GPU code nameBartsM98
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Release date4 April 2011 (14 years ago)9 January 2009 (16 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$149 no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

The higher the ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices.

no data

Performance to price scatter graph

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 cores800800
Core clock speed840 MHz550 MHz
Number of transistors1,700 million956 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)150 Wattno data
Texture fill rate33.6022.00
Floating-point processing power1.344 TFLOPS0.88 TFLOPS
ROPs1616
TMUs4040
L1 Cache160 KB160 KB
L2 Cache512 KB256 KB

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 datalarge
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length198 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 typeGDDR5GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount1 GB512 MB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1050 MHz888 MHz
Memory bandwidth134.4 GB/s56.83 GB/s
Shared memory--

Connectivity and outputs

This section shows the types and number of video connectors on each GPU. The data applies specifically to desktop reference models (for example, NVIDIA’s Founders Edition). OEM partners often modify both the number and types of ports. On notebook GPUs, video‐output options are determined by the laptop’s design rather than the graphics chip itself.

Display Connectors2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPortNo outputs
HDMI+-

API and SDK support

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

DirectX11.2 (11_0)10.1 (10_1)
Shader Model5.04.1
OpenGL4.43.3
OpenCL1.21.1
VulkanN/AN/A

Synthetic benchmarks

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.

HD 6790 3.74
+87.9%
ATI Mobility HD 4870 1.99

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.

HD 6790 13637
+106%
ATI Mobility HD 4870 6631

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:

900p52
+92.6%
27−30
−92.6%
Full HD61
+118%
28
−118%

Cost per frame, $

1080p2.44no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low

Counter-Strike 2 14−16
+275%
4−5
−275%
Cyberpunk 2077 8−9
+100%
4−5
−100%

Full HD
Medium

Battlefield 5 14−16
+180%
5−6
−180%
Counter-Strike 2 14−16
+275%
4−5
−275%
Cyberpunk 2077 8−9
+100%
4−5
−100%
Escape from Tarkov 14−16
+133%
6−7
−133%
Far Cry 5 10−12
+120%
5−6
−120%
Fortnite 21−24
+144%
9−10
−144%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
+63.6%
10−12
−63.6%
Forza Horizon 5 10−11
+150%
4−5
−150%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 16−18
+45.5%
10−12
−45.5%
Valorant 50−55
+35.9%
35−40
−35.9%

Full HD
High

Battlefield 5 14−16
+180%
5−6
−180%
Counter-Strike 2 14−16
+275%
4−5
−275%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 65−70
+65.9%
40−45
−65.9%
Cyberpunk 2077 8−9
+100%
4−5
−100%
Dota 2 30−35
+54.5%
21−24
−54.5%
Escape from Tarkov 14−16
+133%
6−7
−133%
Far Cry 5 10−12
+120%
5−6
−120%
Fortnite 21−24
+144%
9−10
−144%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
+63.6%
10−12
−63.6%
Forza Horizon 5 10−11
+150%
4−5
−150%
Grand Theft Auto V 10−12
+175%
4−5
−175%
Metro Exodus 7−8
+133%
3−4
−133%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 16−18
+45.5%
10−12
−45.5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 12−14
+50%
8−9
−50%
Valorant 50−55
+35.9%
35−40
−35.9%

Full HD
Ultra

Battlefield 5 14−16
+180%
5−6
−180%
Cyberpunk 2077 8−9
+100%
4−5
−100%
Dota 2 30−35
+54.5%
21−24
−54.5%
Escape from Tarkov 14−16
+133%
6−7
−133%
Far Cry 5 10−12
+120%
5−6
−120%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
+63.6%
10−12
−63.6%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 16−18
+45.5%
10−12
−45.5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 12−14
+50%
8−9
−50%
Valorant 50−55
+35.9%
35−40
−35.9%

Full HD
Epic

Fortnite 21−24
+144%
9−10
−144%

1440p
High

Counter-Strike 2 8−9
+60%
5−6
−60%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 27−30
+107%
14−16
−107%
Grand Theft Auto V 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%
Metro Exodus 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 30−35
+55%
20−22
−55%
Valorant 35−40
+160%
14−16
−160%

1440p
Ultra

Cyberpunk 2077 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%
Escape from Tarkov 7−8
+75%
4−5
−75%
Far Cry 5 7−8
+133%
3−4
−133%
Forza Horizon 4 9−10
+80%
5−6
−80%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 6−7
+100%
3−4
−100%

1440p
Epic

Fortnite 7−8
+133%
3−4
−133%

4K
High

Grand Theft Auto V 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Valorant 18−20
+90%
10−11
−90%

4K
Ultra

Cyberpunk 2077 1−2 0−1
Dota 2 12−14
+200%
4−5
−200%
Escape from Tarkov 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%
Far Cry 5 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%
Forza Horizon 4 4−5
+300%
1−2
−300%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 4−5
+33.3%
3−4
−33.3%

4K
Epic

Fortnite 4−5
+33.3%
3−4
−33.3%

This is how HD 6790 and ATI Mobility HD 4870 compete in popular games:

  • HD 6790 is 93% faster in 900p
  • HD 6790 is 118% faster in 1080p

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

  • in Forza Horizon 4, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the HD 6790 is 300% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • HD 6790 performs better in 54 tests (98%)
  • there's a draw in 1 test (2%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 3.74 1.99
Recency 4 April 2011 9 January 2009
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 512 MB
Chip lithography 40 nm 55 nm

HD 6790 has a 87.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 37.5% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon HD 6790 is our recommended choice as it beats the Mobility Radeon HD 4870 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 6790 is a desktop graphics card while Mobility Radeon HD 4870 is a notebook one.

Vote for your favorite

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AMD Radeon HD 6790
Radeon HD 6790
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870
Mobility Radeon HD 4870

Other comparisons

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.


4 159 votes

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3.7 9 votes

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