GeForce GTX 870M vs Radeon HD 7870

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 7870 with GeForce GTX 870M, including specs and performance data.

HD 7870
2012
2 GB GDDR5, 175 Watt
12.01
+34.2%

HD 7870 outperforms GTX 870M by a substantial 34% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking407489
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation3.00no data
Power efficiency4.706.13
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)Kepler (2012−2018)
GPU code namePitcairnGK104
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Release date5 March 2012 (12 years ago)12 March 2014 (10 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$349 no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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 cores12801344
Core clock speed1000 MHz941 MHz
Boost clock speedno data967 MHz
Number of transistors2,800 million3,540 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)175 Watt100 Watt
Texture fill rate80.00108.3
Floating-point processing power2.56 TFLOPS2.599 TFLOPS
ROPs3224
TMUs80112

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
Bus supportno dataPCI Express 2.0, PCI Express 3.0
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16MXM-B (3.0)
Length241 mmno data
Width2-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pinNone
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 GB3 GB
Standard memory configurationno dataGDDR5
Memory bus width256 Bit192 Bit
Memory clock speed1200 MHzUp to 2500 MHz
Memory bandwidth153.6 GB/s120.0 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-DisplayPortNo outputs
Eyefinity+-
eDP 1.2 signal supportno dataUp to 3840x2160
LVDS signal supportno dataUp to 1920x1200
VGA аnalog display supportno dataUp to 2048x1536
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) supportno dataUp to 3840x2160
HDMI++
HDCP content protection-+
7.1 channel HD audio on HDMI-+
TrueHD and DTS-HD audio bitstreaming-+

Supported technologies

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

H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder-+
Optimus-+

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (11_1)12 (11_0)
Shader Model5.15.1
OpenGL4.64.5
OpenCL1.21.1
Vulkan1.2.1311.1.126
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. 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 12.01
+34.2%
GTX 870M 8.95

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 4626
+34.1%
GTX 870M 3449

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

HD 7870 6194
GTX 870M 7156
+15.5%

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 7870 21348
GTX 870M 24035
+12.6%

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
+29.9%
GTX 870M 582

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
+40%
60−65
−40%
Full HD69
+53.3%
45
−53.3%
4K24−27
+26.3%
19
−26.3%

Cost per frame, $

1080p5.06no data
4K14.54no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 18−20
+35.7%
14−16
−35.7%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 27−30
+27.3%
21−24
−27.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 18−20
+46.2%
12−14
−46.2%
Battlefield 5 35−40
+40.7%
27−30
−40.7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 24−27
+33.3%
18−20
−33.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 18−20
+35.7%
14−16
−35.7%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+40%
20−22
−40%
Far Cry New Dawn 30−35
+32%
24−27
−32%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+33.3%
60−65
−33.3%
Hitman 3 21−24
+35.3%
16−18
−35.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 60−65
+28%
50−55
−28%
Metro Exodus 40−45
+42.9%
27−30
−42.9%
Red Dead Redemption 2 30−35
+32%
24−27
−32%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 35−40
+34.5%
27−30
−34.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion 65−70
+15%
60−65
−15%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 27−30
+27.3%
21−24
−27.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 18−20
+46.2%
12−14
−46.2%
Battlefield 5 35−40
+40.7%
27−30
−40.7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 24−27
+33.3%
18−20
−33.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 18−20
+35.7%
14−16
−35.7%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+40%
20−22
−40%
Far Cry New Dawn 30−35
+32%
24−27
−32%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+33.3%
60−65
−33.3%
Hitman 3 21−24
+35.3%
16−18
−35.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 60−65
+28%
50−55
−28%
Metro Exodus 40−45
+42.9%
27−30
−42.9%
Red Dead Redemption 2 30−35
+32%
24−27
−32%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 35−40
+34.5%
27−30
−34.5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−33
−193%
88
+193%
Watch Dogs: Legion 65−70
+15%
60−65
−15%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 27−30
+27.3%
21−24
−27.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 18−20
+46.2%
12−14
−46.2%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 24−27
+33.3%
18−20
−33.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 18−20
+35.7%
14−16
−35.7%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+40%
20−22
−40%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+33.3%
60−65
−33.3%
Hitman 3 21−24
+35.3%
16−18
−35.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 60−65
+28%
50−55
−28%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 35−40
+34.5%
27−30
−34.5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 20
+33.3%
15
−33.3%
Watch Dogs: Legion 65−70
+15%
60−65
−15%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 30−35
+32%
24−27
−32%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 21−24
+35.3%
16−18
−35.3%
Far Cry New Dawn 18−20
+28.6%
14−16
−28.6%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 12−14
+33.3%
9−10
−33.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 8−9
+60%
5−6
−60%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 12−14
+44.4%
9−10
−44.4%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
+50%
4−5
−50%
Far Cry 5 14−16
+40%
10−11
−40%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
+56.8%
35−40
−56.8%
Hitman 3 14−16
+25%
12−14
−25%
Horizon Zero Dawn 24−27
+31.6%
18−20
−31.6%
Metro Exodus 18−20
+58.3%
12−14
−58.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 18−20
+90%
10−11
−90%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 12−14
+50%
8−9
−50%
Watch Dogs: Legion 75−80
+31.6%
55−60
−31.6%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 20−22
+33.3%
14−16
−33.3%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 10−12
+37.5%
8−9
−37.5%
Far Cry New Dawn 9−10
+50%
6−7
−50%
Hitman 3 8−9
+60%
5−6
−60%
Horizon Zero Dawn 55−60
+55.6%
35−40
−55.6%
Metro Exodus 10−12
+57.1%
7−8
−57.1%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 10−11
+66.7%
6−7
−66.7%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 7−8
+40%
5−6
−40%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 5−6
+25%
4−5
−25%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 6−7
+50%
4−5
−50%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%
Far Cry 5 6−7
+20%
5−6
−20%
Forza Horizon 4 16−18
+45.5%
10−12
−45.5%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
+100%
5−6
−100%
Watch Dogs: Legion 5−6
+66.7%
3−4
−66.7%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 10−12
+22.2%
9−10
−22.2%

This is how HD 7870 and GTX 870M compete in popular games:

  • HD 7870 is 40% faster in 900p
  • HD 7870 is 53% faster in 1080p
  • HD 7870 is 26% faster in 4K

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

  • in Cyberpunk 2077, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the HD 7870 is 100% faster.
  • in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the GTX 870M is 193% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • HD 7870 is ahead in 71 test (99%)
  • GTX 870M is ahead in 1 test (1%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 12.01 8.95
Recency 5 March 2012 12 March 2014
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 3 GB
Power consumption (TDP) 175 Watt 100 Watt

HD 7870 has a 34.2% higher aggregate performance score.

GTX 870M, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 2 years, a 50% higher maximum VRAM amount, and 75% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 7870 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 870M in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 7870 is a desktop card while GeForce GTX 870M is a notebook one.


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

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


AMD Radeon HD 7870
Radeon HD 7870
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M
GeForce GTX 870M

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.


3.7 642 votes

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Questions & comments

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