Radeon R7 Graphics vs HD 7970

Primary details

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

Place in performance ranking	354	not rated
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	4.00	no data
Architecture	GCN (2011−2017)	GCN 2.0 (2013−2017)
GPU code name	Tahiti XT	Spectre
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Design	reference	no data
Release date	22 December 2011 (12 years ago)	11 January 2014 (10 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$549	no data
Current price	$89 (0.2x MSRP)	$150

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

Detailed specifications

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores	2048	512
Core clock speed	no data	686 MHz
Boost clock speed	925 MHz	980 MHz
Number of transistors	4,313 million	2,410 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	300 Watt	15 Watt
Texture fill rate	118.4	31.36
Floating-point performance	3,789 gflops	526.8 gflops

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	IGP
Length	274 mm	no data
Width	2-slot	IGP
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin	no data

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	System Shared
Maximum RAM amount	6 GB	System Shared
Memory bus width	384 Bit	System Shared
Memory clock speed	1375 MHz	System Shared
Memory bandwidth	264 GB/s	no data
Shared memory	-	no data

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	No outputs
Eyefinity	+	no data
HDMI	+	no data
DisplayPort support	-	no data

Supported technologies

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

AppAcceleration	-	no data
CrossFire	1	no data
Enduro	-	no data
FreeSync	1	no data
HD3D	-	no data
PowerTune	-	no data
TrueAudio	-	no data
ZeroCore	-	no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	DirectX® 11	12 (12_0)
Shader Model	5.1	6.0
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	2.0
Vulkan	no data	1.2.131
Mantle	-	no data

Pros & cons summary

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Recency	22 December 2011	11 January 2014
Maximum RAM amount	6 GB	System Shared
Power consumption (TDP)	300 Watt	15 Watt

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

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