L4 vs Radeon HD 7970

Place in the ranking	435	261
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	2.15	no data
Power efficiency	3.87	25.97
Architecture	GCN 1.0 (2012−2020)	Ada Lovelace (2022−2024)
GPU code name	Tahiti	AD104
Market segment	Desktop	Workstation
Design	reference	no data
Release date	9 January 2012 (14 years ago)	21 March 2023 (3 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$549	no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

The higher the ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices.

no data

Performance to price scatter graph

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	2048	7424
Core clock speed	no data	795 MHz
Boost clock speed	925 MHz	2040 MHz
Number of transistors	4,313 million	35,800 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	300 Watt	72 Watt
Texture fill rate	118.4	489.6
Floating-point processing power	3.789 TFLOPS	30.29 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	80
TMUs	128	240
Tensor Cores	no data	240
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	60
L1 Cache	512 KB	7.5 MB
L2 Cache	768 KB	48 MB

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 support	PCIe 2.1 x16	no data
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16
Length	275 mm	169 mm
Width	2-slot	1-slot
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin	None

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	6 GB	24 GB
Memory bus width	384 Bit	192 Bit
Memory clock speed	1375 MHz	1563 MHz
Memory bandwidth	264 GB/s	300.1 GB/s
Shared memory	-	-
Resizable BAR	-	+

Connectivity and outputs

This section shows the types and number of video connectors on each GPU. The data applies specifically to desktop reference models (for example, NVIDIA’s Founders Edition). OEM partners often modify both the number and types of ports. On notebook GPUs, video‐output options are determined by the laptop’s design rather than the graphics chip itself.

Display Connectors	1x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, 2x mini-DisplayPort 1.2	No outputs
Eyefinity	+	-
HDMI	+	-

Supported technologies

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

CrossFire	+	-
FreeSync	+	-

API and SDK support

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

DirectX	DirectX® 11	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	6.5 (5.1)	6.8
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	2.1 (1.2)	3.0
Vulkan	-	1.3
CUDA	-	8.9
DLSS	-	+

Synthetic benchmarks

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 7970 12.55

L4 24.28
+93.5%

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 7970 5248
Samples: 10419

L4 10153
+93.5%

Samples: 13

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	105 −90.5%	200−210 +90.5%
Full HD	93 −82.8%	170−180 +82.8%

Cost per frame, $

1080p

5.90

no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low

Counter-Strike 2	70−75 −83.1%	130−140 +83.1%
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27 −92.3%	50−55 +92.3%
Resident Evil 4 Remake	24−27 −92.3%	50−55 +92.3%

Full HD
Medium

Battlefield 5	55−60 −78.6%	100−105 +78.6%
Counter-Strike 2	70−75 −83.1%	130−140 +83.1%
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27 −92.3%	50−55 +92.3%
Far Cry 5	40−45 −90.5%	80−85 +90.5%
Fortnite	70−75 −89.2%	140−150 +89.2%
Forza Horizon 4	50−55 −85.2%	100−105 +85.2%
Forza Horizon 5	40−45 −87.5%	75−80 +87.5%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	45−50 −84.8%	85−90 +84.8%
Valorant	110−120 −89.2%	210−220 +89.2%

Full HD
High

Battlefield 5	55−60 −78.6%	100−105 +78.6%
Counter-Strike 2	70−75 −83.1%	130−140 +83.1%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive	212 −88.7%	400−450 +88.7%
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27 −92.3%	50−55 +92.3%
Dota 2	85−90 −88.2%	160−170 +88.2%
Far Cry 5	40−45 −90.5%	80−85 +90.5%
Fortnite	70−75 −89.2%	140−150 +89.2%
Forza Horizon 4	50−55 −85.2%	100−105 +85.2%
Forza Horizon 5	40−45 −87.5%	75−80 +87.5%
Grand Theft Auto V	45−50 −87.5%	90−95 +87.5%
Metro Exodus	24−27 −92.3%	50−55 +92.3%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	45−50 −84.8%	85−90 +84.8%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	30−35 −81.8%	60−65 +81.8%
Valorant	110−120 −89.2%	210−220 +89.2%

Full HD
Ultra

Battlefield 5	55−60 −78.6%	100−105 +78.6%
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27 −92.3%	50−55 +92.3%
Dota 2	85−90 −88.2%	160−170 +88.2%
Far Cry 5	40−45 −90.5%	80−85 +90.5%
Forza Horizon 4	50−55 −85.2%	100−105 +85.2%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	45−50 −84.8%	85−90 +84.8%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	30−35 −81.8%	60−65 +81.8%
Valorant	110−120 −89.2%	210−220 +89.2%

Full HD
Epic

Fortnite

70−75
−89.2%

140−150

+89.2%

1440p
High

Counter-Strike 2	24−27 −87.5%	45−50 +87.5%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive	95−100 −89.5%	180−190 +89.5%
Grand Theft Auto V	18−20 −84.2%	35−40 +84.2%
Metro Exodus	14−16 −80%	27−30 +80%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	100−110 −90.5%	200−210 +90.5%
Valorant	130−140 −92.6%	260−270 +92.6%

1440p
Ultra

Battlefield 5	35−40 −85.7%	65−70 +85.7%
Cyberpunk 2077	10−12 −90.9%	21−24 +90.9%
Far Cry 5	27−30 −78.6%	50−55 +78.6%
Forza Horizon 4	30−35 −77.4%	55−60 +77.4%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18−20 −66.7%	30−33 +66.7%

1440p
Epic

Fortnite

27−30

−78.6%

50−55
+78.6%

4K
High

Counter-Strike 2	8−9 −75%	14−16 +75%
Grand Theft Auto V	24−27 −87.5%	45−50 +87.5%
Metro Exodus	9−10 −77.8%	16−18 +77.8%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	16−18 −76.5%	30−33 +76.5%
Valorant	65−70 −88.4%	130−140 +88.4%

4K
Ultra

Battlefield 5	18−20 −66.7%	30−33 +66.7%
Counter-Strike 2	8−9 −75%	14−16 +75%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 −75%	7−8 +75%
Dota 2	45−50 −84.8%	85−90 +84.8%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −84.6%	24−27 +84.6%
Forza Horizon 4	21−24 −81.8%	40−45 +81.8%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	12−14 −75%	21−24 +75%

4K
Epic

Fortnite

12−14

−75%

21−24
+75%

This is how HD 7970 and L4 compete in popular games:

L4 is 90% faster in 900p
L4 is 83% faster in 1080p

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	12.55	24.28
Recency	9 January 2012	21 March 2023
Maximum RAM amount	6 GB	24 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	300 Watt	72 Watt

L4 has a 93% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 11 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 460% more advanced lithography process, and 317% lower power consumption.

The L4 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 7970 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 7970 is a desktop graphics card while L4 is a workstation one.