ATI Mobility HD 3850 vs AMD HD 8790M

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Combined performance score

HD 8790M
3.37
+403%

HD 8790M outperforms Mobility HD 3850 by 403% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

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

Place in performance ranking6911138
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Value for money0.33no data
ArchitectureGCN (2011−2017)RV6xx (2007−2010)
GPU code nameMars XTXM88
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date16 November 2012 (11 years old)1 December 2007 (16 years old)
Current price$460 no data
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Technical specs

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 cores384320
Core clock speed850 MHz580 MHz
Boost clock speed900 MHzno data
Number of transistors950 million666 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)unknown55 Watt
Texture fill rate21.609.280
Floating-point performance691.2 gflops371.2 gflops

Size and compatibility

Information on Radeon HD 8790M and Mobility Radeon HD 3850 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 sizemedium sizedlarge
InterfaceMXM-A (3.0)PCIe 2.0 x16
Supplementary power connectorsNoneno data

Memory

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 typeGDDR5GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount2 GB512 MB
Memory bus width128 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed4500 MHz750 MHz
Memory bandwidth64 GB/s48 GB/s
Shared memory--

Video outputs and ports

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 outputs

API support

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

DirectX12 (11_1)10.1 (10_1)
Shader Model5.14.1
OpenGL4.63.3
OpenCL1.2N/A
Vulkan1.2.131N/A

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 8790M 3.37
+403%
ATI Mobility HD 3850 0.67

HD 8790M outperforms Mobility HD 3850 by 403% in our combined 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 8790M 9835
+423%
ATI Mobility HD 3850 1880

HD 8790M outperforms Mobility HD 3850 by 423% in 3DMark Vantage Performance.

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 HD28
+460%
5−6
−460%

Performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
+100%
3−4
−100%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 5−6 0−1
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2 0−1
Battlefield 5 8−9
+700%
1−2
−700%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 12−14
+62.5%
8−9
−62.5%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
+100%
3−4
−100%
Far Cry 5 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%
Forza Horizon 4 9−10
+800%
1−2
−800%
Hitman 3 7−8
+600%
1−2
−600%
Horizon Zero Dawn 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%
Red Dead Redemption 2 7−8
+250%
2−3
−250%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
+66.7%
6−7
−66.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion 3−4 0−1

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 5−6 0−1
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2 0−1
Battlefield 5 8−9
+700%
1−2
−700%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 12−14
+62.5%
8−9
−62.5%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
+100%
3−4
−100%
Far Cry 5 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%
Forza Horizon 4 9−10
+800%
1−2
−800%
Hitman 3 7−8
+600%
1−2
−600%
Horizon Zero Dawn 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%
Metro Exodus 5−6
+400%
1−2
−400%
Red Dead Redemption 2 7−8
+250%
2−3
−250%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
+66.7%
6−7
−66.7%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 8−9
+167%
3−4
−167%
Watch Dogs: Legion 3−4 0−1

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 5−6 0−1
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2 0−1
Battlefield 5 8−9
+700%
1−2
−700%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
+100%
3−4
−100%
Far Cry 5 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%
Forza Horizon 4 9−10
+800%
1−2
−800%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 8−9
+167%
3−4
−167%
Watch Dogs: Legion 3−4 0−1

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 6−7
+100%
3−4
−100%
Hitman 3 6−7
+100%
3−4
−100%
Horizon Zero Dawn 10−11
+25%
8−9
−25%
Metro Exodus 2−3 0−1
Red Dead Redemption 2 2−3 0−1
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 7−8
+75%
4−5
−75%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 1−2 0−1
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%
Far Cry 5 5−6
+400%
1−2
−400%
Far Cry New Dawn 0−1 0−1
Forza Horizon 4 3−4 0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%
Hitman 3 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%
Horizon Zero Dawn 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 1−2 0−1
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 0−1 0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 1−2 0−1
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2 0−1
Cyberpunk 2077 0−1 0−1
Far Cry 5 4−5
+33.3%
3−4
−33.3%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
+20%
5−6
−20%
Forza Horizon 4 0−1 0−1

This is how HD 8790M and ATI Mobility HD 3850 compete in popular games:

1080p resolution:

  • HD 8790M is 460% faster than ATI Mobility HD 3850

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

  • in Metro Exodus, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the HD 8790M is 400% faster than the ATI Mobility HD 3850.

All in all, in popular games:

  • HD 8790M is ahead in 24 tests (96%)
  • there's a draw in 1 test (4%)

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 3.37 0.67
Recency 16 November 2012 1 December 2007
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 512 MB
Chip lithography 28 nm 55 nm

The Radeon HD 8790M is our recommended choice as it beats the Mobility Radeon HD 3850 in performance tests.


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

User ratings

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


AMD Radeon HD 8790M
Radeon HD 8790M
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3850
Mobility Radeon HD 3850

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Questions and comments

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