HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) vs Radeon HD 8790M

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 8790M and HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge), covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

HD 8790M
2013
2 GB GDDR5
3.24
+882%

HD 8790M outperforms HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) by a whopping 882% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking7381304
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)Gen. 6 Sandy Bridge (2011)
GPU code nameMarsSandy Bridge
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date1 April 2013 (11 years ago)1 May 2011 (13 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 cores3846
Core clock speed850 MHz350 MHz
Boost clock speed900 MHz1100 MHz
Number of transistors950 millionno data
Manufacturing process technology28 nm32 nm
Power consumption (TDP)unknownno data
Texture fill rate21.60no data
Floating-point processing power0.6912 TFLOPSno data
ROPs8no data
TMUs24no 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 sizemedium sizedno data
InterfaceMXM-A (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 typeGDDR5no data
Maximum RAM amount2 GBno data
Memory bus width128 Bit64/128 Bit
Memory clock speed1000 MHzno data
Memory bandwidth64 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

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (11_1)10.1
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 8790M 3.24
+882%
HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) 0.33

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.

HD 8790M 9835
+908%
HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) 976

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 8790M 12049
+758%
HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) 1405

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:

Full HD27
+238%
8
−238%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2 9−10
+50%
6−7
−50%
Cyberpunk 2077 8−9
+167%
3−4
−167%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5 9−10 0−1
Counter-Strike 2 9−10
+50%
6−7
−50%
Cyberpunk 2077 8−9
+167%
3−4
−167%
Forza Horizon 4 16−18
+167%
6−7
−167%
Forza Horizon 5 4−5 0−1
Metro Exodus 7−8 0−1
Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
+200%
4−5
−200%
Valorant 6−7 0−1

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5 9−10 0−1
Counter-Strike 2 9−10
+50%
6−7
−50%
Cyberpunk 2077 8−9
+167%
3−4
−167%
Dota 2 10−11
+900%
1−2
−900%
Far Cry 5 18−20
+171%
7−8
−171%
Fortnite 18−20
+1800%
1−2
−1800%
Forza Horizon 4 16−18
+167%
6−7
−167%
Forza Horizon 5 4−5 0−1
Grand Theft Auto V 10−11
+900%
1−2
−900%
Metro Exodus 7−8 0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 30−33
+329%
7−8
−329%
Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
+200%
4−5
−200%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 12−14
+140%
5−6
−140%
Valorant 6−7 0−1
World of Tanks 73
+630%
10
−630%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 9−10 0−1
Counter-Strike 2 9−10
+50%
6−7
−50%
Cyberpunk 2077 8−9
+167%
3−4
−167%
Dota 2 10−11
+900%
1−2
−900%
Far Cry 5 18−20
+171%
7−8
−171%
Forza Horizon 4 16−18
+167%
6−7
−167%
Forza Horizon 5 4−5 0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 30−33
+329%
7−8
−329%
Valorant 6−7 0−1

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2 2−3 0−1
Grand Theft Auto V 2−3 0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 24−27
+1100%
2−3
−1100%
Red Dead Redemption 2 2−3 0−1
World of Tanks 24−27
+1100%
2−3
−1100%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 4−5 0−1
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
+33.3%
3−4
−33.3%
Far Cry 5 8−9
+100%
4−5
−100%
Forza Horizon 4 3−4 0−1
Forza Horizon 5 4−5 0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 6−7
+50%
4−5
−50%
Valorant 10−11
+150%
4−5
−150%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Dota 2 16−18
+6.7%
14−16
−6.7%
Grand Theft Auto V 16−18
+6.7%
14−16
−6.7%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 10−11
+900%
1−2
−900%
Red Dead Redemption 2 2−3 0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 16−18
+6.7%
14−16
−6.7%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 3−4 0−1
Counter-Strike 2 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Dota 2 16−18
+6.7%
14−16
−6.7%
Far Cry 5 3−4 0−1
Fortnite 2−3 0−1
Forza Horizon 4 1−2 0−1
Forza Horizon 5 1−2 0−1
Valorant 3−4 0−1

This is how HD 8790M and HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) compete in popular games:

  • HD 8790M is 238% faster in 1080p

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

  • in PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS, with 1440p resolution and the High Preset, the HD 8790M is 1100% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • HD 8790M is ahead in 29 tests (91%)
  • there's a draw in 3 tests (9%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 3.24 0.33
Recency 1 April 2013 1 May 2011
Chip lithography 28 nm 32 nm

HD 8790M has a 881.8% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, and a 14.3% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon HD 8790M is our recommended choice as it beats the HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) in performance tests.


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

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AMD Radeon HD 8790M
Radeon HD 8790M
Intel HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge)
HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge)

Other comparisons

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Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


3.3 338 votes

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2.7 85 votes

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Questions & comments

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