Radeon RX 7800 XT vs HD 7850

Place in the ranking	452	30
Place by popularity	not in top-100	60
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	2.95	67.89
Power efficiency	5.33	16.50
Architecture	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)	RDNA 3.0 (2022−2024)
GPU code name	Pitcairn	Navi 32
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Design	reference	no data
Release date	5 March 2012 (12 years ago)	25 August 2023 (1 year ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$249	$499

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 7800 XT has 2201% better value for money than HD 7850.

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	1024	3840
Core clock speed	no data	1295 MHz
Boost clock speed	1000 MHz	2430 MHz
Number of transistors	2,800 million	28,100 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	130 Watt	263 Watt
Texture fill rate	55.04	583.2
Floating-point processing power	1.761 TFLOPS	37.32 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	96
TMUs	64	240
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	60

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).

Bus support	PCIe 2.1 x16	no data
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16
Length	210 mm	267 mm
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin	2x 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 type	GDDR5	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	16 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1200 MHz	2438 MHz
Memory bandwidth	153.6 GB/s	624.1 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	1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort	1x HDMI 2.1a, 3x DisplayPort 2.1
Eyefinity	+	-
HDMI	+	+

Supported technologies

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

CrossFire	+	-
FreeSync	+	-

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	5.1	6.7
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	2.2
Vulkan	+	1.3

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.

HD 7850 10.06

RX 7800 XT 63.01
+526%

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.

HD 7850 3870

RX 7800 XT 24229
+526%

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.

HD 7850 5210

RX 7800 XT 49707
+854%

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 HD	30−35 −617%	215 +617%
1440p	18−20 −578%	122 +578%
4K	10−12 −630%	73 +630%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	8.30 −258%	2.32 +258%
1440p	13.83 −238%	4.09 +238%
4K	24.90 −264%	6.84 +264%

RX 7800 XT has 258% lower cost per frame in 1080p
RX 7800 XT has 238% lower cost per frame in 1440p
RX 7800 XT has 264% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	241 +0%	241 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	258 +0%	258 +0%
Elden Ring	225 +0%	225 +0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	200 +0%	200 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	96 +0%	96 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	488 +0%	488 +0%
Metro Exodus	171 +0%	171 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Valorant	290−300 +0%	290−300 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	163 +0%	163 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	80 +0%	80 +0%
Dota 2	178 +0%	178 +0%
Elden Ring	230−240 +0%	230−240 +0%
Far Cry 5	113 +0%	113 +0%
Fortnite	240−250 +0%	240−250 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	398 +0%	398 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	178 +0%	178 +0%
Metro Exodus	147 +0%	147 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	210−220 +0%	210−220 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	170−180 +0%	170−180 +0%
Valorant	290−300 +0%	290−300 +0%
World of Tanks	270−280 +0%	270−280 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	149 +0%	149 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	74 +0%	74 +0%
Far Cry 5	120−130 +0%	120−130 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	340 +0%	340 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	210−220 +0%	210−220 +0%
Valorant	290−300 +0%	290−300 +0%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	140 +0%	140 +0%
Elden Ring	150−160 +0%	150−160 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	140 +0%	140 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	170−180 +0%	170−180 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	75−80 +0%	75−80 +0%
World of Tanks	400−450 +0%	400−450 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	85−90 +0%	85−90 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	97 +0%	97 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	48 +0%	48 +0%
Far Cry 5	160−170 +0%	160−170 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	243 +0%	243 +0%
Metro Exodus	148 +0%	148 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	147 +0%	147 +0%
Valorant	250−260 +0%	250−260 +0%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	42 +0%	42 +0%
Dota 2	152 +0%	152 +0%
Elden Ring	80−85 +0%	80−85 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	152 +0%	152 +0%
Metro Exodus	63 +0%	63 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	200−210 +0%	200−210 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	152 +0%	152 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	80−85 +0%	80−85 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	75−80 +0%	75−80 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	22 +0%	22 +0%
Far Cry 5	100−110 +0%	100−110 +0%
Fortnite	95−100 +0%	95−100 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	130 +0%	130 +0%
Valorant	140−150 +0%	140−150 +0%

This is how HD 7850 and RX 7800 XT compete in popular games:

RX 7800 XT is 617% faster in 1080p
RX 7800 XT is 578% faster in 1440p
RX 7800 XT is 630% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

there's a draw in 61 test (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	10.06	63.01
Recency	5 March 2012	25 August 2023
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	16 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	130 Watt	263 Watt

HD 7850 has 102.3% lower power consumption.

RX 7800 XT, on the other hand, has a 526.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 11 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 460% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 7800 XT is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 7850 in performance tests.

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