Iris Xe Graphics G7 vs Radeon HD 7970M

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 7970M and Iris Xe Graphics G7, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

HD 7970M
2012
2 GB GDDR5, 100 Watt
9.23

Iris Xe Graphics G7 outperforms HD 7970M by a moderate 18% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking473425
Place by popularitynot in top-10035
Power efficiency6.44no data
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)Gen. 11 Ice Lake (2019−2022)
GPU code nameWimbledonTiger Lake Xe
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date24 April 2012 (12 years ago)15 August 2020 (4 years ago)

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 cores128096
Core clock speed850 MHzno data
Number of transistors2,800 millionno data
Manufacturing process technology28 nm10 nm
Power consumption (TDP)100 Wattno data
Texture fill rate68.00no data
Floating-point processing power2.176 TFLOPSno data
ROPs32no data
TMUs80no data

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).

Laptop sizelargeno data
InterfaceMXM-B (3.0)no data
Supplementary power connectorsNoneno 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 typeGDDR5DDR4
Maximum RAM amount2 GBno data
Memory bus width256 Bitno data
Memory clock speed1200 MHzno data
Memory bandwidth153.6 GB/sno data
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 ConnectorsNo outputsno data

Supported technologies

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

Quick Syncno data+

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (11_1)DirectX 12_1
Shader Model5.1no data
OpenGL4.6no data
OpenCL1.2no data
Vulkan1.2.131-

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 7970M 9.23
Iris Xe Graphics G7 10.93
+18.4%

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.

HD 7970M 5645
Iris Xe Graphics G7 6710
+18.9%

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 7970M 4694
Iris Xe Graphics G7 4820
+2.7%

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

HD 7970M 31869
Iris Xe Graphics G7 38040
+19.4%

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:

900p84
−13.1%
95−100
+13.1%
Full HD61
−14.8%
70−75
+14.8%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
−14.3%
16−18
+14.3%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 21−24
−13.6%
24−27
+13.6%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
−7.7%
14−16
+7.7%
Battlefield 5 27−30
−21.4%
30−35
+21.4%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 18−20
−15.8%
21−24
+15.8%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
−14.3%
16−18
+14.3%
Far Cry 5 21−24
−19%
24−27
+19%
Far Cry New Dawn 24−27
−15.4%
30−33
+15.4%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
−16.4%
70−75
+16.4%
Hitman 3 16−18
−5.9%
18−20
+5.9%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
−13.7%
55−60
+13.7%
Metro Exodus 27−30
−7.1%
30−33
+7.1%
Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
−20%
30−33
+20%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−33
−16.7%
35−40
+16.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion 60−65
−16.7%
70−75
+16.7%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 21−24
−13.6%
24−27
+13.6%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
−7.7%
14−16
+7.7%
Battlefield 5 27−30
−21.4%
30−35
+21.4%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 18−20
−15.8%
21−24
+15.8%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
−14.3%
16−18
+14.3%
Far Cry 5 21−24
−19%
24−27
+19%
Far Cry New Dawn 24−27
−15.4%
30−33
+15.4%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
−16.4%
70−75
+16.4%
Hitman 3 16−18
−5.9%
18−20
+5.9%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
−13.7%
55−60
+13.7%
Metro Exodus 27−30
−25%
35−40
+25%
Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
−20%
30−33
+20%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−33
−16.7%
35−40
+16.7%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24−27
−12%
27−30
+12%
Watch Dogs: Legion 60−65
−16.7%
70−75
+16.7%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 21−24
−13.6%
24−27
+13.6%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
−7.7%
14−16
+7.7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 18−20
−10.5%
21−24
+10.5%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
−14.3%
16−18
+14.3%
Far Cry 5 21−24
−19%
24−27
+19%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
−16.4%
70−75
+16.4%
Hitman 3 16−18
−5.9%
18−20
+5.9%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
−17.6%
60−65
+17.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−33
−16.7%
35−40
+16.7%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24−27
−12%
27−30
+12%
Watch Dogs: Legion 60−65
−16.7%
70−75
+16.7%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
−8%
27−30
+8%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 18−20
−16.7%
21−24
+16.7%
Far Cry New Dawn 14−16
−14.3%
16−18
+14.3%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 9−10
−11.1%
10−11
+11.1%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 9−10
−11.1%
10−11
+11.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Far Cry 5 10−12
−9.1%
12−14
+9.1%
Forza Horizon 4 35−40
−25.6%
45−50
+25.6%
Hitman 3 12−14
−16.7%
14−16
+16.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn 18−20
−10.5%
21−24
+10.5%
Metro Exodus 12−14
−7.7%
14−16
+7.7%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 8−9
−12.5%
9−10
+12.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion 55−60
−12.1%
65−70
+12.1%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 14−16
−6.7%
16−18
+6.7%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 8−9
−12.5%
9−10
+12.5%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
−16.7%
7−8
+16.7%
Hitman 3 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 35−40
−29.7%
45−50
+29.7%
Metro Exodus 7−8
−28.6%
9−10
+28.6%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 6−7
−33.3%
8−9
+33.3%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 5−6
−20%
6−7
+20%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Far Cry 5 5−6
−20%
6−7
+20%
Forza Horizon 4 10−12
−27.3%
14−16
+27.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 9−10
−11.1%
10−11
+11.1%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 30−33
+0%
30−33
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Metro Exodus 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%

This is how HD 7970M and Iris Xe Graphics G7 compete in popular games:

  • Iris Xe Graphics G7 is 13% faster in 900p
  • Iris Xe Graphics G7 is 15% faster in 1080p

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the Iris Xe Graphics G7 is 33% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Iris Xe Graphics G7 is ahead in 33 tests (70%)
  • there's a draw in 14 tests (30%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 9.23 10.93
Recency 24 April 2012 15 August 2020
Chip lithography 28 nm 10 nm

Iris Xe Graphics G7 has a 18.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 8 years, and a 180% more advanced lithography process.

The Iris Xe Graphics G7 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 7970M in performance tests.


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

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


AMD Radeon HD 7970M
Radeon HD 7970M
Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7
Iris Xe Graphics G7

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.


4.2 43 votes

Rate Radeon HD 7970M on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
3.5 2476 votes

Rate Iris Xe Graphics G7 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions & comments

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