Radeon RX 6650 XT vs HD 7870

Place in the ranking	409	79
Place by popularity	not in top-100	99
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	2.89	62.70
Power efficiency	4.73	17.49
Architecture	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)	RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code name	Pitcairn	Navi 23
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	5 March 2012 (12 years ago)	10 May 2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$349	$399

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 6650 XT has 2070% better value for money than HD 7870.

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	1280	2048
Core clock speed	1000 MHz	2055 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	2635 MHz
Number of transistors	2,800 million	11,060 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	175 Watt	176 Watt
Texture fill rate	80.00	337.3
Floating-point processing power	2.56 TFLOPS	10.79 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	64
TMUs	80	128
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	32

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 4.0 x8
Length	241 mm	no data
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	2x 6-pin	1x 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	8 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	1200 MHz	2190 MHz
Memory bandwidth	153.6 GB/s	280.3 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 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Eyefinity	+	-
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	6.5
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	2.1
Vulkan	1.2.131	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 7870 11.56

RX 6650 XT 43.02
+272%

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 4619

RX 6650 XT 17192
+272%

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

RX 6650 XT 41739
+574%

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

RX 6650 XT 105955
+396%

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:

900p	84 −257%	300−350 +257%
Full HD	66 −112%	140 +112%
1440p	16−18 −313%	66 +313%
4K	9−10 −300%	36 +300%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	5.29 −85.5%	2.85 +85.5%
1440p	21.81 −261%	6.05 +261%
4K	38.78 −250%	11.08 +250%

RX 6650 XT has 86% lower cost per frame in 1080p
RX 6650 XT has 261% lower cost per frame in 1440p
RX 6650 XT has 250% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	21−24 −523%	137 +523%
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27 −433%	128 +433%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	35−40 −185%	110−120 +185%
Counter-Strike 2	21−24 −373%	104 +373%
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27 −125%	54 +125%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 −469%	273 +469%
Forza Horizon 5	30−35 −329%	133 +329%
Metro Exodus	30−35 −361%	152 +361%
Red Dead Redemption 2	30−35 −174%	85−90 +174%
Valorant	45−50 −279%	180−190 +279%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	35−40 −185%	110−120 +185%
Counter-Strike 2	21−24 −282%	84 +282%
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27 −83.3%	44 +83.3%
Dota 2	40−45 −260%	155 +260%
Far Cry 5	45−50 −46.8%	69 +46.8%
Fortnite	65−70 −172%	180−190 +172%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 −363%	222 +363%
Forza Horizon 5	30−35 −265%	110−120 +265%
Grand Theft Auto V	40−45 −242%	147 +242%
Metro Exodus	30−35 −239%	112 +239%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	90−95 −132%	200−210 +132%
Red Dead Redemption 2	30−35 −174%	85−90 +174%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	35−40 −353%	160−170 +353%
Valorant	45−50 −279%	180−190 +279%
World of Tanks	160−170 −68.1%	270−280 +68.1%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	35−40 −185%	110−120 +185%
Counter-Strike 2	21−24 −236%	74 +236%
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27 −62.5%	39 +62.5%
Dota 2	40−45 −216%	136 +216%
Far Cry 5	45−50 −119%	100−110 +119%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 −302%	193 +302%
Forza Horizon 5	30−35 −245%	107 +245%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	90−95 −132%	200−210 +132%
Valorant	45−50 −279%	180−190 +279%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	16−18 −381%	77 +381%
Grand Theft Auto V	16−18 −353%	77 +353%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	65−70 −154%	170−180 +154%
Red Dead Redemption 2	10−11 −360%	45−50 +360%
World of Tanks	85−90 −234%	280−290 +234%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	24−27 −229%	75−80 +229%
Counter-Strike 2	10−11 −250%	35−40 +250%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 −144%	22 +144%
Far Cry 5	27−30 −433%	140−150 +433%
Forza Horizon 4	27−30 −343%	124 +343%
Forza Horizon 5	18−20 −322%	75−80 +322%
Metro Exodus	24−27 −356%	114 +356%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	16−18 −413%	80−85 +413%
Valorant	30−33 −397%	140−150 +397%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	14−16 −73.3%	24−27 +73.3%
Dota 2	21−24 −227%	72 +227%
Grand Theft Auto V	21−24 −227%	72 +227%
Metro Exodus	7−8 −429%	37 +429%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	35−40 −323%	140−150 +323%
Red Dead Redemption 2	8−9 −275%	30−33 +275%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	21−24 −227%	72 +227%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	10−12 −391%	50−55 +391%
Counter-Strike 2	14−16 +87.5%	8 −87.5%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −200%	9 +200%
Dota 2	21−24 −341%	97 +341%
Far Cry 5	14−16 −367%	70−75 +367%
Fortnite	12−14 −415%	65−70 +415%
Forza Horizon 4	16−18 −300%	64 +300%
Forza Horizon 5	9−10 −389%	40−45 +389%
Valorant	12−14 −567%	80−85 +567%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2

30−35

+0%

30−35

+0%

This is how HD 7870 and RX 6650 XT compete in popular games:

RX 6650 XT is 257% faster in 900p
RX 6650 XT is 112% faster in 1080p
RX 6650 XT is 313% faster in 1440p
RX 6650 XT is 300% faster in 4K

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

in Counter-Strike 2, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the HD 7870 is 88% faster.
in Valorant, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RX 6650 XT is 567% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

HD 7870 is ahead in 1 test (2%)
RX 6650 XT is ahead in 62 tests (97%)
there's a draw in 1 test (2%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	11.56	43.02
Recency	5 March 2012	10 May 2022
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	8 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	175 Watt	176 Watt

HD 7870 has 0.6% lower power consumption.

RX 6650 XT, on the other hand, has a 272.1% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 10 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 300% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 6650 XT is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 7870 in performance tests.

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