GeForce RTX 5090 vs Radeon HD 7870 XT

Place in the ranking	418	6
Place by popularity	not in top-100	58
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	3.59	8.97
Power efficiency	4.33	9.98
Architecture	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)	Blackwell 2.0 (2025)
GPU code name	Tahiti	GB202
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	19 November 2012 (12 years ago)	30 January 2025 (recently)
Launch price (MSRP)	$270	$1,999

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RTX 5090 has 150% better value for money than HD 7870 XT.

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	1536	21760
Core clock speed	925 MHz	2017 MHz
Boost clock speed	975 MHz	2407 MHz
Number of transistors	4,313 million	92,200 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	185 Watt	575 Watt
Texture fill rate	93.60	1,637
Floating-point processing power	2.995 TFLOPS	104.8 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	176
TMUs	96	680
Tensor Cores	no data	680
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	170

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 5.0 x16
Length	267 mm	304 mm
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	2x 6-pin	1x 16-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	GDDR7
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	32 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	512 Bit
Memory clock speed	1500 MHz	1750 MHz
Memory bandwidth	192.0 GB/s	1.79 TB/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 Connectors	1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort	1x HDMI 2.1b, 3x DisplayPort 2.1b
HDMI	+	+

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (11_1)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	5.1	6.8
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	3.0
Vulkan	1.2.131	1.4
CUDA	-	10.1

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 7870 XT 11.48

RTX 5090 82.26
+617%

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 7870 XT 4469

RTX 5090 32021
+617%

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	27−30 −667%	207 +667%
1440p	24−27 −667%	184 +667%
4K	18−20 −683%	141 +683%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	10.00 −3.6%	9.66 +3.6%
1440p	11.25 −3.6%	10.86 +3.6%
4K	15.00 −5.8%	14.18 +5.8%

HD 7870 XT and RTX 5090 have nearly equal cost per frame in 1080p
HD 7870 XT and RTX 5090 have nearly equal cost per frame in 1440p
RTX 5090 has 6% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2

6−7

+0%

6−7

+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Counter-Strike 2	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Far Cry 5	159 +0%	159 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
World of Tanks	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Counter-Strike 2	202 +0%	202 +0%
Far Cry 5	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2

183

+0%

183

+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Far Cry 5	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Valorant	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	174 +0%	174 +0%
Dota 2	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Metro Exodus	167 +0%	167 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Counter-Strike 2	55 +0%	55 +0%
Valorant	0−1	0−1

This is how HD 7870 XT and RTX 5090 compete in popular games:

RTX 5090 is 667% faster in 1080p
RTX 5090 is 667% faster in 1440p
RTX 5090 is 683% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

there's a draw in 19 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	11.48	82.26
Recency	19 November 2012	30 January 2025
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	32 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	185 Watt	575 Watt

HD 7870 XT has 210.8% lower power consumption.

RTX 5090, on the other hand, has a 616.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 12 years, a 1500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 460% more advanced lithography process.

The GeForce RTX 5090 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 7870 XT in performance tests.

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