ATI Radeon HD 5870 vs HD 7970

Place in the ranking	379	600
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	2.46	0.60
Power efficiency	3.77	2.11
Architecture	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)	TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code name	Tahiti	Cypress
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Design	reference	no data
Release date	22 December 2011 (13 years ago)	23 September 2009 (15 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$549	$399

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

HD 7970 has 310% 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 cores	2048	1600
Core clock speed	no data	850 MHz
Boost clock speed	925 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	4,313 million	2,154 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	300 Watt	188 Watt
Texture fill rate	118.4	68.00
Floating-point processing power	3.789 TFLOPS	2.72 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	32
TMUs	128	80

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 2.0 x16
Length	274 mm	282 mm
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin	2x 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 type	GDDR5	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	6 GB	1 GB
Memory bus width	384 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1375 MHz	1200 MHz
Memory bandwidth	264 GB/s	153.6 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	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
Eyefinity	+	-
HDMI	+	+

Supported technologies

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

CrossFire	+	-
FreeSync	+	-

API compatibility

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

DirectX	DirectX® 11	11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model	5.1	5.0
OpenGL	4.6	4.4
OpenCL	1.2	1.2
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 7970 13.65
+137%

ATI HD 5870 5.76

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
+137%

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 7970 6862
+171%

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.

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 +163%	40−45 −163%
Full HD	92 +163%	35−40 −163%

Cost per frame, $

1080p

5.97
+91%

11.40

−91%

HD 7970 has 91% lower cost per frame in 1080p

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	24−27 +140%	10−11 −140%
Cyberpunk 2077	27−30 +170%	10−11 −170%
Elden Ring	40−45 +156%	16−18 −156%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	45−50 +150%	18−20 −150%
Counter-Strike 2	24−27 +140%	10−11 −140%
Cyberpunk 2077	27−30 +170%	10−11 −170%
Forza Horizon 4	55−60 +162%	21−24 −162%
Metro Exodus	35−40 +164%	14−16 −164%
Red Dead Redemption 2	30−35 +143%	14−16 −143%
Valorant	50−55 +157%	21−24 −157%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	45−50 +150%	18−20 −150%
Counter-Strike 2	24−27 +140%	10−11 −140%
Cyberpunk 2077	27−30 +170%	10−11 −170%
Dota 2	45−50 +172%	18−20 −172%
Elden Ring	40−45 +156%	16−18 −156%
Far Cry 5	50−55 +143%	21−24 −143%
Fortnite	75−80 +157%	30−33 −157%
Forza Horizon 4	55−60 +162%	21−24 −162%
Grand Theft Auto V	45−50 +172%	18−20 −172%
Metro Exodus	35−40 +164%	14−16 −164%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	100−105 +150%	40−45 −150%
Red Dead Redemption 2	30−35 +143%	14−16 −143%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	40−45 +156%	16−18 −156%
Valorant	50−55 +157%	21−24 −157%
World of Tanks	212 +149%	85−90 −149%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	45−50 +150%	18−20 −150%
Counter-Strike 2	24−27 +140%	10−11 −140%
Cyberpunk 2077	27−30 +170%	10−11 −170%
Dota 2	45−50 +172%	18−20 −172%
Far Cry 5	50−55 +143%	21−24 −143%
Forza Horizon 4	55−60 +162%	21−24 −162%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	100−105 +150%	40−45 −150%
Valorant	50−55 +157%	21−24 −157%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	18−20 +138%	8−9 −138%
Elden Ring	21−24 +163%	8−9 −163%
Grand Theft Auto V	20−22 +150%	8−9 −150%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	100−110 +138%	45−50 −138%
Red Dead Redemption 2	12−14 +140%	5−6 −140%
World of Tanks	95−100 +140%	40−45 −140%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	27−30 +170%	10−11 −170%
Counter-Strike 2	12−14 +140%	5−6 −140%
Cyberpunk 2077	10−11 +150%	4−5 −150%
Far Cry 5	30−35 +167%	12−14 −167%
Forza Horizon 4	30−35 +175%	12−14 −175%
Metro Exodus	27−30 +142%	12−14 −142%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	16−18 +143%	7−8 −143%
Valorant	30−35 +143%	14−16 −143%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	9−10 +200%	3−4 −200%
Dota 2	24−27 +140%	10−11 −140%
Elden Ring	9−10 +200%	3−4 −200%
Grand Theft Auto V	24−27 +140%	10−11 −140%
Metro Exodus	9−10 +200%	3−4 −200%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	40−45 +150%	16−18 −150%
Red Dead Redemption 2	9−10 +200%	3−4 −200%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	24−27 +140%	10−11 −140%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	12−14 +160%	5−6 −160%
Counter-Strike 2	9−10 +200%	3−4 −200%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +300%	1−2 −300%
Dota 2	24−27 +140%	10−11 −140%
Far Cry 5	16−18 +143%	7−8 −143%
Fortnite	14−16 +150%	6−7 −150%
Forza Horizon 4	18−20 +138%	8−9 −138%
Valorant	14−16 +180%	5−6 −180%

This is how HD 7970 and ATI HD 5870 compete in popular games:

HD 7970 is 163% faster in 900p
HD 7970 is 163% faster in 1080p

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	13.65	5.76
Recency	22 December 2011	23 September 2009
Maximum RAM amount	6 GB	1 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	300 Watt	188 Watt

HD 7970 has a 137% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, a 500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 42.9% more advanced lithography process.

ATI HD 5870, on the other hand, has 59.6% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 7970 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.