ATI Radeon HD 5870 vs HD 7950

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 7950 and Radeon HD 5870, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

HD 7950
2012
3 GB GDDR5, 200 Watt
12.36
+115%

HD 7950 outperforms ATI HD 5870 by a whopping 115% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking402598
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation2.470.60
Power efficiency4.242.10
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code nameTahitiCypress
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date31 January 2012 (12 years ago)23 September 2009 (15 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$449 $399

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

HD 7950 has 312% better value for money than ATI HD 5870.

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 cores17921600
Compute units28no data
Core clock speedno data850 MHz
Boost clock speed1250 MHzno data
Number of transistors4,313 million2,154 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)200 Watt188 Watt
Texture fill rate89.6068.00
Floating-point processing power2.867 TFLOPS2.72 TFLOPS
ROPs3232
TMUs11280

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 supportPCIe 3.0 x16no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length267 mm282 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pin2x 6-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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount3 GB1 GB
Memory bus width384 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1250 MHz1200 MHz
Memory bandwidth240 GB/s153.6 GB/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 Connectors1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
Eyefinity+-
Number of Eyefinity displays6no data
HDMI++

Supported technologies

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

AppAcceleration+-
CrossFire+-
FreeSync+-
PowerTune+-
ZeroCore+-

API compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 1111.2 (11_0)
Shader Model5.15.0
OpenGL4.64.4
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan-N/A

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 7950 12.36
+115%
ATI HD 5870 5.75

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 7950 4764
+115%
ATI HD 5870 2215

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

HD 7950 7500
+196%
ATI HD 5870 2530

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 12.36 5.75
Recency 31 January 2012 23 September 2009
Maximum RAM amount 3 GB 1 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 200 Watt 188 Watt

HD 7950 has a 115% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, a 200% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 42.9% more advanced lithography process.

ATI HD 5870, on the other hand, has 6.4% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 7950 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 5870 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 7950
Radeon HD 7950
ATI Radeon HD 5870
Radeon HD 5870

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.


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3.9 227 votes

Rate Radeon HD 5870 on a scale of 1 to 5:

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Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.