GeForce GTX 560 vs Radeon HD 7870

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 7870 and GeForce GTX 560, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

HD 7870
2012
2 GB GDDR5, 175 Watt
11.98
+66.9%

HD 7870 outperforms GTX 560 by an impressive 67% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking416553
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation2.991.89
Power efficiency4.713.29
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)Fermi 2.0 (2010−2014)
GPU code namePitcairnGF114
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date5 March 2012 (12 years ago)17 May 2011 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$349 $199

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.

HD 7870 has 58% better value for money than GTX 560.

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 cores1280336
Core clock speed1000 MHz810 MHz
Number of transistors2,800 million1,950 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)175 Watt150 Watt
Maximum GPU temperatureno data99 °C
Texture fill rate80.0045.36
Floating-point processing power2.56 TFLOPS1.089 TFLOPS
ROPs3232
TMUs8056

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 supportno data16x PCI-E 2.0
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length241 mm210 mm
Heightno data4.376" (11.1 cm)
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pin2x 6-pin
SLI options-+

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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2 GB1 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1200 MHz1000 MHz
Memory bandwidth153.6 GB/s128.0 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 Connectors1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPortTwo Dual Link DVI, Mini HDMI
Multi monitor supportno data+
Eyefinity+-
HDMI++
HDCP-+
Maximum VGA resolutionno data2048x1536
Audio input for HDMIno dataInternal

Supported technologies

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

3D Blu-Ray-+
3D Gaming-+

API and SDK compatibility

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

DirectX12 (11_1)12 (11_0)
Shader Model5.15.1
OpenGL4.64.1
OpenCL1.21.1
Vulkan1.2.131N/A
CUDA-+

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.

HD 7870 11.98
+66.9%
GTX 560 7.18

  • Other tests
    • Passmark
    • Unigine Heaven 4.0

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 4617
+66.9%
GTX 560 2766

Unigine Heaven 4.0

This is an old DirectX 11 benchmark, a newer version of Unigine 3.0 with relatively small differences. It displays a fantasy medieval town sprawling over several flying islands. The benchmark is still sometimes used, despite its significant age, as it was released back in 2013.

HD 7870 756
+44%
GTX 560 525

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:

900p84
+68%
50−55
−68%
Full HD66
+88.6%
35−40
−88.6%

Cost per frame, $

1080p5.29
+7.5%
5.69
−7.5%
  • HD 7870 has 8% lower cost per frame in 1080p

FPS performance in popular games

  • Full HD
    Low Preset
  • Full HD
    Medium Preset
  • Full HD
    High Preset
  • Full HD
    Ultra Preset
  • Full HD
    Epic Preset
  • 1440p
    High Preset
  • 1440p
    Ultra Preset
  • 1440p
    Epic Preset
  • 4K
    High Preset
  • 4K
    Ultra Preset
  • 4K
    Epic Preset
Atomic Heart 27−30
+75%
16−18
−75%
Counter-Strike 2 20−22
+100%
10−11
−100%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+91.7%
12−14
−91.7%
Atomic Heart 27−30
+75%
16−18
−75%
Battlefield 5 45−50
+81.5%
27−30
−81.5%
Counter-Strike 2 20−22
+100%
10−11
−100%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+91.7%
12−14
−91.7%
Far Cry 5 35−40
+81%
21−24
−81%
Fortnite 65−70
+88.6%
35−40
−88.6%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
+77.8%
27−30
−77.8%
Forza Horizon 5 30−33
+87.5%
16−18
−87.5%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 40−45
+90.5%
21−24
−90.5%
Valorant 100−110
+70%
60−65
−70%
Atomic Heart 27−30
+75%
16−18
−75%
Battlefield 5 45−50
+81.5%
27−30
−81.5%
Counter-Strike 2 20−22
+100%
10−11
−100%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 160−170
+71.6%
95−100
−71.6%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+91.7%
12−14
−91.7%
Dota 2 75−80
+71.1%
45−50
−71.1%
Far Cry 5 35−40
+81%
21−24
−81%
Fortnite 65−70
+88.6%
35−40
−88.6%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
+77.8%
27−30
−77.8%
Forza Horizon 5 30−33
+87.5%
16−18
−87.5%
Grand Theft Auto V 40−45
+79.2%
24−27
−79.2%
Metro Exodus 21−24
+91.7%
12−14
−91.7%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 40−45
+90.5%
21−24
−90.5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 36
+71.4%
21−24
−71.4%
Valorant 100−110
+70%
60−65
−70%
Battlefield 5 45−50
+81.5%
27−30
−81.5%
Counter-Strike 2 20−22
+100%
10−11
−100%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+91.7%
12−14
−91.7%
Dota 2 75−80
+71.1%
45−50
−71.1%
Far Cry 5 35−40
+81%
21−24
−81%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
+77.8%
27−30
−77.8%
Forza Horizon 5 30−33
+87.5%
16−18
−87.5%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 40−45
+90.5%
21−24
−90.5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 20
+100%
10−11
−100%
Valorant 100−110
+70%
60−65
−70%
Fortnite 65−70
+88.6%
35−40
−88.6%
Counter-Strike 2 14−16
+75%
8−9
−75%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 85−90
+70%
50−55
−70%
Grand Theft Auto V 16−18
+70%
10−11
−70%
Metro Exodus 12−14
+85.7%
7−8
−85.7%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 85−90
+78%
50−55
−78%
Valorant 120−130
+75.7%
70−75
−75.7%
Battlefield 5 30−33
+87.5%
16−18
−87.5%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−11
+100%
5−6
−100%
Far Cry 5 24−27
+71.4%
14−16
−71.4%
Forza Horizon 4 27−30
+68.8%
16−18
−68.8%
Forza Horizon 5 20−22
+100%
10−11
−100%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 16−18
+70%
10−11
−70%
Fortnite 24−27
+71.4%
14−16
−71.4%
Atomic Heart 9−10
+80%
5−6
−80%
Counter-Strike 2 4−5
+100%
2−3
−100%
Grand Theft Auto V 21−24
+83.3%
12−14
−83.3%
Metro Exodus 7−8
+75%
4−5
−75%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
+75%
8−9
−75%
Valorant 60−65
+71.4%
35−40
−71.4%
Battlefield 5 14−16
+87.5%
8−9
−87.5%
Counter-Strike 2 4−5
+100%
2−3
−100%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
+100%
2−3
−100%
Dota 2 40−45
+70.8%
24−27
−70.8%
Far Cry 5 12−14
+71.4%
7−8
−71.4%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
+90%
10−11
−90%
Forza Horizon 5 9−10
+80%
5−6
−80%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 10−12
+83.3%
6−7
−83.3%
Fortnite 10−12
+83.3%
6−7
−83.3%

This is how HD 7870 and GTX 560 compete in popular games:

  • HD 7870 is 68% faster in 900p
  • HD 7870 is 89% faster in 1080p

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 11.98 7.18
Recency 5 March 2012 17 May 2011
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 1 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 175 Watt 150 Watt

HD 7870 has a 66.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 9 months, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 42.9% more advanced lithography process.

GTX 560, on the other hand, has 16.7% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 7870 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 560 in performance tests.

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AMD Radeon HD 7870
Radeon HD 7870
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560
GeForce GTX 560

Other comparisons

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Community ratings

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


3.7
648 votes

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3.6
1100 votes

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