AMD Radeon HD 8870M vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M SLI

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Combined performance score

GTX 260M SLI
3.23

Radeon HD 8870M outperforms GeForce GTX 260M SLI by 31% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

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

Place in performance ranking701637
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Value for money0.920.72
ArchitectureG9x (2007−2010)GCN (2011−2017)
GPU code nameNB9E-GTXVenus
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date2 March 2009 (15 years old)18 December 2012 (11 years old)
Current price$149 $338
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 260M SLI has 28% better value for money than HD 8870M.

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 cores224640
Core clock speed550 MHz725 MHz
Boost clock speedno data775 MHz
Number of transistors1508 Million1,500 million
Manufacturing process technology55 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)150 Wattno data
Texture fill rateno data31.00
Floating-point performanceno data992.0 gflops

Size and compatibility

Information on GeForce GTX 260M SLI and Radeon HD 8870M 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 sizelargelarge
Interfaceno dataPCIe 3.0 x16

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 typeGDDR3GDDR5, DDR3
Maximum RAM amount2 GB2 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit128 Bit
Memory clock speed950 MHz4500 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data72 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 dataNo outputs

API support

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

DirectX1012 (11_1)
Shader Modelno data5.1
OpenGLno data4.6
OpenCLno data1.2
Vulkanno data1.2.131
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.

GTX 260M SLI 3.23
HD 8870M 4.23
+31%

Radeon HD 8870M outperforms GeForce GTX 260M SLI by 31% 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%

GTX 260M SLI 8959
HD 8870M 11715
+30.8%

Radeon HD 8870M outperforms GeForce GTX 260M SLI by 31% 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:

900p30−35
−40%
42
+40%
Full HD24−27
−37.5%
33
+37.5%

Performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
−16.7%
7−8
+16.7%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 5−6
−40%
7−8
+40%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2
−200%
3−4
+200%
Battlefield 5 8−9
−50%
12−14
+50%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 12−14
−15.4%
14−16
+15.4%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
−16.7%
7−8
+16.7%
Far Cry 5 5−6
−60%
8−9
+60%
Far Cry New Dawn 5−6
−60%
8−9
+60%
Forza Horizon 4 9−10
−44.4%
12−14
+44.4%
Hitman 3 6−7
−50%
9−10
+50%
Horizon Zero Dawn 5−6
−60%
8−9
+60%
Red Dead Redemption 2 7−8
−14.3%
8−9
+14.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
−10%
10−12
+10%
Watch Dogs: Legion 2−3
−150%
5−6
+150%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 5−6
−40%
7−8
+40%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2
−200%
3−4
+200%
Battlefield 5 8−9
−50%
12−14
+50%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 12−14
−15.4%
14−16
+15.4%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
−16.7%
7−8
+16.7%
Far Cry 5 5−6
−60%
8−9
+60%
Far Cry New Dawn 5−6
−60%
8−9
+60%
Forza Horizon 4 9−10
−44.4%
12−14
+44.4%
Hitman 3 6−7
−50%
9−10
+50%
Horizon Zero Dawn 5−6
−60%
8−9
+60%
Metro Exodus 4−5
−50%
6−7
+50%
Red Dead Redemption 2 7−8
−14.3%
8−9
+14.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
−10%
10−12
+10%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 7−8
−28.6%
9−10
+28.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion 2−3
−150%
5−6
+150%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 5−6
−40%
7−8
+40%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2
−200%
3−4
+200%
Battlefield 5 8−9
−50%
12−14
+50%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
−16.7%
7−8
+16.7%
Far Cry 5 5−6
−60%
8−9
+60%
Far Cry New Dawn 5−6
−60%
8−9
+60%
Forza Horizon 4 9−10
−44.4%
12−14
+44.4%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 7−8
−28.6%
9−10
+28.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion 2−3
−150%
5−6
+150%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 6−7
−16.7%
7−8
+16.7%
Hitman 3 6−7
−33.3%
8−9
+33.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 10−11
−10%
10−12
+10%
Metro Exodus 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Red Dead Redemption 2 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Far Cry 5 5−6
−40%
7−8
+40%
Forza Horizon 4 2−3
−150%
5−6
+150%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 3−4
−33.3%
4−5
+33.3%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Hitman 3 3−4
−33.3%
4−5
+33.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 0−1 1−2

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Cyberpunk 2077 0−1 0−1
Far Cry 5 4−5
−25%
5−6
+25%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
−16.7%
7−8
+16.7%

This is how GTX 260M SLI and HD 8870M compete in popular games:

900p resolution:

  • HD 8870M is 40% faster than GTX 260M SLI

1080p resolution:

  • HD 8870M is 37.5% faster than GTX 260M SLI

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

  • in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the HD 8870M is 200% faster than the GTX 260M SLI.

All in all, in popular games:

  • HD 8870M is ahead in 52 tests (91%)
  • there's a draw in 5 tests (9%)

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 3.23 4.23
Recency 2 March 2009 18 December 2012
Chip lithography 55 nm 28 nm

The Radeon HD 8870M is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 260M SLI 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.


NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M SLI
GeForce GTX 260M SLI
AMD Radeon HD 8870M
Radeon HD 8870M

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2.7 7 votes

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4.7 11 votes

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Questions and comments

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