Radeon RX 7700 XT vs HD 7870

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 7870 and Radeon RX 7700 XT, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

HD 7870
2012
2 GB GDDR5, 175 Watt
12.01

RX 7700 XT outperforms HD 7870 by a whopping 387% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking40739
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation3.0071.44
Power efficiency4.7416.47
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)RDNA 3.0 (2022−2024)
GPU code namePitcairnNavi 32
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date5 March 2012 (12 years ago)25 August 2023 (1 year ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$349 $449

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 7700 XT has 2281% 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 cores12803456
Core clock speed1000 MHz1435 MHz
Boost clock speedno data2544 MHz
Number of transistors2,800 million28,100 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)175 Watt245 Watt
Texture fill rate80.00549.5
Floating-point processing power2.56 TFLOPS35.17 TFLOPS
ROPs3296
TMUs80216
Ray Tracing Coresno data54

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).

InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x16
Length241 mm267 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pin2x 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 typeGDDR5GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount2 GB12 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit192 Bit
Memory clock speed1200 MHz2250 MHz
Memory bandwidth153.6 GB/s432.0 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-DisplayPort1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, 1x USB Type-C
Eyefinity+-
HDMI++

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (11_1)12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model5.16.7
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL1.22.2
Vulkan1.2.1311.3

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 12.01
RX 7700 XT 58.49
+387%

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 4620
RX 7700 XT 22490
+387%

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 7700 XT 57340
+826%

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 7700 XT 126733
+494%

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
−376%
400−450
+376%
Full HD66
−185%
188
+185%
1440p21−24
−390%
103
+390%
4K12−14
−400%
60
+400%

Cost per frame, $

1080p5.29
−121%
2.39
+121%
1440p16.62
−281%
4.36
+281%
4K29.08
−289%
7.48
+289%
  • RX 7700 XT has 121% lower cost per frame in 1080p
  • RX 7700 XT has 281% lower cost per frame in 1440p
  • RX 7700 XT has 289% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2 21−24
−700%
176
+700%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
−739%
193
+739%
Elden Ring 35−40
−449%
192
+449%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5 35−40
−200%
110−120
+200%
Counter-Strike 2 21−24
−559%
145
+559%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
−243%
79
+243%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
−729%
398
+729%
Metro Exodus 30−35
−376%
157
+376%
Red Dead Redemption 2 30−35
−245%
100−110
+245%
Valorant 45−50
−453%
260−270
+453%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5 35−40
−200%
110−120
+200%
Counter-Strike 2 21−24
−450%
121
+450%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
−187%
66
+187%
Dota 2 40−45
−286%
166
+286%
Elden Ring 35−40
−526%
210−220
+526%
Far Cry 5 45−50
−113%
100
+113%
Fortnite 65−70
−233%
230−240
+233%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
−596%
334
+596%
Grand Theft Auto V 40−45
−286%
166
+286%
Metro Exodus 30−35
−300%
132
+300%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 90−95
−139%
210−220
+139%
Red Dead Redemption 2 30−35
−245%
100−110
+245%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 35−40
−383%
170−180
+383%
Valorant 45−50
−453%
260−270
+453%
World of Tanks 160−170
−68.1%
270−280
+68.1%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 35−40
−200%
110−120
+200%
Counter-Strike 2 21−24
−400%
110
+400%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
−165%
61
+165%
Dota 2 40−45
−365%
200−210
+365%
Far Cry 5 45−50
−149%
110−120
+149%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
−498%
287
+498%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 90−95
−139%
210−220
+139%
Valorant 45−50
−453%
260−270
+453%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2 16−18
−556%
105
+556%
Elden Ring 18−20
−683%
140−150
+683%
Grand Theft Auto V 16−18
−518%
105
+518%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 65−70
−154%
170−180
+154%
Red Dead Redemption 2 10−11
−570%
65−70
+570%
World of Tanks 85−90
−351%
350−400
+351%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 24−27
−263%
85−90
+263%
Counter-Strike 2 10−12
−564%
73
+564%
Cyberpunk 2077 9−10
−344%
40
+344%
Far Cry 5 27−30
−493%
160−170
+493%
Forza Horizon 4 27−30
−589%
193
+589%
Metro Exodus 24−27
−436%
134
+436%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
−700%
120
+700%
Valorant 30−33
−653%
220−230
+653%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 7−8
−343%
31
+343%
Dota 2 21−24
−409%
112
+409%
Elden Ring 8−9
−800%
70−75
+800%
Grand Theft Auto V 21−24
−409%
112
+409%
Metro Exodus 7−8
−714%
57
+714%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 35−40
−491%
200−210
+491%
Red Dead Redemption 2 8−9
−450%
40−45
+450%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 21−24
−409%
112
+409%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 10−12
−573%
70−75
+573%
Counter-Strike 2 7−8
−871%
65−70
+871%
Cyberpunk 2077 3−4
−500%
18
+500%
Dota 2 21−24
−355%
100−105
+355%
Far Cry 5 14−16
−600%
100−110
+600%
Fortnite 12−14
−638%
95−100
+638%
Forza Horizon 4 16−18
−506%
97
+506%
Valorant 12−14
−958%
120−130
+958%

This is how HD 7870 and RX 7700 XT compete in popular games:

  • RX 7700 XT is 376% faster in 900p
  • RX 7700 XT is 185% faster in 1080p
  • RX 7700 XT is 390% faster in 1440p
  • RX 7700 XT is 400% faster in 4K

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

  • in Valorant, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RX 7700 XT is 958% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, RX 7700 XT surpassed HD 7870 in all 61 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 12.01 58.49
Recency 5 March 2012 25 August 2023
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 12 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 5 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 175 Watt 245 Watt

HD 7870 has 40% lower power consumption.

RX 7700 XT, on the other hand, has a 387% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 11 years, a 500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 460% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 7700 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.

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AMD Radeon HD 7870
Radeon HD 7870
AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT
Radeon RX 7700 XT

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Community ratings

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