GeForce GTX 860M SLI vs Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire

Place in performance ranking	310	371
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	31.18	4.69
Architecture	GCN (2011−2017)	Maxwell (2014−2018)
GPU code name	Wimbledon XT	no data
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	1 May 2012 (12 years ago)	12 March 2014 (10 years ago)
Current price	$126	$489

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

HD 7970M Crossfire has 565% better value for money than GTX 860M SLI.

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	2560	1280
Core clock speed	850 MHz	1029 MHz
Number of transistors	no data	2x 1870 Million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	200 Watt	120 Watt

Form factor & compatibility

Information on Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire and GeForce GTX 860M SLI compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For notebook video cards it's notebook size, connection slot and bus, if the video card is inserted into a slot instead of being soldered to the notebook motherboard.

Laptop size	large	large
SLI options	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	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	no data	2x 4 GB
Memory bus width	2x 256 Bit	2x 128 Bit
Memory clock speed	4800 MHz	5000 MHz
Shared memory	-	-

Supported technologies

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

Optimus

no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	11.1	12 (FL 11_0)
CUDA	no data	+

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark performance comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance 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 7970M Crossfire 16.00
+30.2%

GTX 860M SLI 12.29

Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire outperforms GeForce GTX 860M SLI by 30% based on our aggregated benchmark results.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

HD 7970M Crossfire 31127
+14.3%

GTX 860M SLI 27223

Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire outperforms GeForce GTX 860M SLI by 14% in 3DMark Vantage Performance.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

HD 7970M Crossfire 11119
+13%

GTX 860M SLI 9840

Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire outperforms GeForce GTX 860M SLI by 13% in 3DMark 11 Performance GPU.

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	132 +32%	100−110 −32%
Full HD	102 +122%	46 −122%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

24−27
+31.6%

18−20

−31.6%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	30−35 +26.9%	24−27 −26.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	27−30 +35%	20−22 −35%
Battlefield 5	50−55 +28.6%	40−45 −28.6%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	40−45 +28.1%	30−35 −28.1%
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27 +31.6%	18−20 −31.6%
Far Cry 5	40−45 +35.5%	30−35 −35.5%
Far Cry New Dawn	40−45 +33.3%	30−35 −33.3%
Forza Horizon 4	55−60 +30.2%	40−45 −30.2%
Hitman 3	40−45 +33.3%	30−35 −33.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−35 +36%	24−27 −36%
Red Dead Redemption 2	27−30 +28.6%	21−24 −28.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	30−35 +30.8%	24−27 −30.8%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−33 +30.4%	21−24 −30.4%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	30−35 +26.9%	24−27 −26.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	27−30 +35%	20−22 −35%
Battlefield 5	50−55 +28.6%	40−45 −28.6%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	40−45 +28.1%	30−35 −28.1%
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27 +31.6%	18−20 −31.6%
Far Cry 5	40−45 +35.5%	30−35 −35.5%
Far Cry New Dawn	40−45 +33.3%	30−35 −33.3%
Forza Horizon 4	55−60 +30.2%	40−45 −30.2%
Hitman 3	40−45 +33.3%	30−35 −33.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−35 +36%	24−27 −36%
Metro Exodus	24−27 +31.6%	18−20 −31.6%
Red Dead Redemption 2	27−30 +28.6%	21−24 −28.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	30−35 +30.8%	24−27 −30.8%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	30−35 +36%	24−27 −36%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−33 +30.4%	21−24 −30.4%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	30−35 +26.9%	24−27 −26.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	27−30 +35%	20−22 −35%
Battlefield 5	50−55 +28.6%	40−45 −28.6%
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27 +31.6%	18−20 −31.6%
Far Cry 5	40−45 +35.5%	30−35 −35.5%
Far Cry New Dawn	40−45 +33.3%	30−35 −33.3%
Forza Horizon 4	55−60 +30.2%	40−45 −30.2%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	30−35 +36%	24−27 −36%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−33 +30.4%	21−24 −30.4%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	21−24 +27.8%	18−20 −27.8%
Hitman 3	24−27 +31.6%	18−20 −31.6%
Horizon Zero Dawn	21−24 +22.2%	18−20 −22.2%
Metro Exodus	14−16 +36.4%	10−12 −36.4%
Red Dead Redemption 2	12−14 +33.3%	9−10 −33.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	20−22 +25%	16−18 −25%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	16−18 +41.7%	12−14 −41.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	12−14 +44.4%	9−10 −44.4%
Battlefield 5	30−35 +41.7%	24−27 −41.7%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 +50%	6−7 −50%
Far Cry 5	24−27 +30%	20−22 −30%
Far Cry New Dawn	30−33 +42.9%	21−24 −42.9%
Forza Horizon 4	30−35 +39.1%	21−24 −39.1%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	16−18 +41.7%	12−14 −41.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion	10−11 +42.9%	7−8 −42.9%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10−12 +37.5%	8−9 −37.5%
Hitman 3	14−16 +36.4%	10−12 −36.4%
Horizon Zero Dawn	10−12 +22.2%	9−10 −22.2%
Metro Exodus	8−9 +60%	5−6 −60%
Red Dead Redemption 2	9−10 +28.6%	7−8 −28.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−11 +42.9%	7−8 −42.9%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 +36.4%	10−12 −36.4%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−11 +42.9%	7−8 −42.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	8−9 +33.3%	6−7 −33.3%
Battlefield 5	16−18 +41.7%	12−14 −41.7%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 +50%	2−3 −50%
Far Cry 5	12−14 +30%	10−11 −30%
Far Cry New Dawn	16−18 +33.3%	12−14 −33.3%
Forza Horizon 4	21−24 +37.5%	16−18 −37.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion	6−7 +50%	4−5 −50%