Radeon RX 7800 XT vs HD 8970M Crossfire

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 8970M Crossfire with Radeon RX 7800 XT, including specs and performance data.

HD 8970M Crossfire
2012
200 Watt
18.70

RX 7800 XT outperforms HD 8970M Crossfire by a whopping 236% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking29130
Place by popularitynot in top-10085
Cost-effectiveness evaluationno data67.67
Power efficiency6.4816.56
ArchitectureGCN (2012−2015)RDNA 3.0 (2022−2024)
GPU code nameNeptune CFNavi 32
Market segmentLaptopDesktop
Release date1 May 2012 (12 years ago)25 August 2023 (1 year ago)
Launch price (MSRP)no data$499

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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 cores25603840
Core clock speed850 MHz1295 MHz
Boost clock speed900 MHz2430 MHz
Number of transistorsno data28,100 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)200 Watt263 Watt
Texture fill rateno data583.2
Floating-point processing powerno data37.32 TFLOPS
ROPsno data96
TMUsno data240
Ray Tracing Coresno data60

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
Interfaceno dataPCIe 4.0 x16
Lengthno data267 mm
Widthno data2-slot
Supplementary power connectorsno data2x 8-pin

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 typeGDDR5GDDR6
Maximum RAM amountno data16 GB
Memory bus width2x 256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed4800 MHz2438 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data624.1 GB/s
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 data1x HDMI 2.1a, 3x DisplayPort 2.1
HDMI-+

API compatibility

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

DirectX11.112 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Modelno data6.7
OpenGLno data4.6
OpenCLno data2.2
Vulkan-1.3

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 8970M Crossfire 18.70
RX 7800 XT 62.90
+236%

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 8970M Crossfire 12424
RX 7800 XT 65611
+428%

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 8970M Crossfire 34215
RX 7800 XT 134322
+293%

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 8970M Crossfire 10354
RX 7800 XT 49707
+380%

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 8970M Crossfire 70114
RX 7800 XT 202773
+189%

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Ice Storm Graphics is an obsolete benchmark, part of 3DMark suite. Ice Storm was used to measure entry level laptops and Windows-based tablets performance. It utilizes DirectX 11 feature level 9 to display a battle between two space fleets near a frozen planet in 1280x720 resolution. Discontinued in January 2020, it is now superseded by 3DMark Night Raid.

HD 8970M Crossfire 269832
RX 7800 XT 745990
+176%

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 HD65
−237%
219
+237%
1440p35−40
−263%
127
+263%
4K21−24
−252%
74
+252%

Cost per frame, $

1080pno data2.28
1440pno data3.93
4Kno data6.74

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
−760%
258
+760%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 40−45
−314%
178
+314%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 30−35
−594%
222
+594%
Battlefield 5 60−65
−216%
190−200
+216%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 35−40
−192%
110−120
+192%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
−543%
193
+543%
Far Cry 5 45−50
−151%
110−120
+151%
Far Cry New Dawn 50−55
−196%
150−160
+196%
Forza Horizon 4 110−120
−93.3%
230−240
+93.3%
Hitman 3 35−40
−235%
120−130
+235%
Horizon Zero Dawn 90−95
−151%
230−240
+151%
Metro Exodus 65−70
−135%
150−160
+135%
Red Dead Redemption 2 50−55
−131%
110−120
+131%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 60−65
−306%
250−260
+306%
Watch Dogs: Legion 85−90
−68.5%
150−160
+68.5%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 40−45
−507%
261
+507%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 30−35
−466%
181
+466%
Battlefield 5 60−65
−216%
190−200
+216%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 35−40
−192%
110−120
+192%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
−437%
161
+437%
Far Cry 5 45−50
−151%
110−120
+151%
Far Cry New Dawn 50−55
−196%
150−160
+196%
Forza Horizon 4 110−120
−93.3%
230−240
+93.3%
Hitman 3 35−40
−235%
120−130
+235%
Horizon Zero Dawn 90−95
−151%
230−240
+151%
Metro Exodus 65−70
−135%
150−160
+135%
Red Dead Redemption 2 50−55
−131%
110−120
+131%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 60−65
−532%
398
+532%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 40−45
−207%
130−140
+207%
Watch Dogs: Legion 85−90
−68.5%
150−160
+68.5%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 40−45
−202%
130
+202%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 30−35
−394%
158
+394%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 35−40
−192%
110−120
+192%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
−393%
148
+393%
Far Cry 5 45−50
−151%
110−120
+151%
Forza Horizon 4 110−120
−86.6%
222
+86.6%
Hitman 3 35−40
−235%
120−130
+235%
Horizon Zero Dawn 90−95
−195%
274
+195%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 60−65
−440%
340
+440%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 40−45
−365%
200
+365%
Watch Dogs: Legion 85−90
−62.9%
145
+62.9%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 50−55
−131%
110−120
+131%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 35−40
−278%
140−150
+278%
Far Cry New Dawn 27−30
−238%
95−100
+238%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 18−20
−526%
119
+526%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 16−18
−629%
124
+629%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 21−24
−252%
70−75
+252%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−12
−782%
97
+782%
Far Cry 5 21−24
−232%
70−75
+232%
Forza Horizon 4 100−110
−158%
270−280
+158%
Hitman 3 21−24
−309%
90−95
+309%
Horizon Zero Dawn 35−40
−456%
217
+456%
Metro Exodus 35−40
−323%
148
+323%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 35−40
−539%
243
+539%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 21−24
−568%
147
+568%
Watch Dogs: Legion 110−120
−106%
230−240
+106%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 30−35
−228%
100−110
+228%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 18−20
−284%
70−75
+284%
Far Cry New Dawn 14−16
−336%
60−65
+336%
Hitman 3 14−16
−286%
50−55
+286%
Horizon Zero Dawn 95−100
−128%
220−230
+128%
Metro Exodus 20−22
−370%
90−95
+370%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 18−20
−521%
118
+521%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−12
−709%
89
+709%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−11
−620%
72
+620%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−11
−350%
45−50
+350%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
−1000%
44
+1000%
Far Cry 5 10−11
−330%
40−45
+330%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
−531%
164
+531%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 21−24
−519%
130
+519%
Watch Dogs: Legion 8−9
−738%
67
+738%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 16−18
−276%
60−65
+276%

This is how HD 8970M Crossfire and RX 7800 XT compete in popular games:

  • RX 7800 XT is 237% faster in 1080p
  • RX 7800 XT is 263% faster in 1440p
  • RX 7800 XT is 252% faster in 4K

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

  • in Cyberpunk 2077, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RX 7800 XT is 1000% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, RX 7800 XT surpassed HD 8970M Crossfire in all 72 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 18.70 62.90
Recency 1 May 2012 25 August 2023
Chip lithography 28 nm 5 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 200 Watt 263 Watt

HD 8970M Crossfire has 31.5% lower power consumption.

RX 7800 XT, on the other hand, has a 236.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 11 years, and a 460% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 7800 XT is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 8970M Crossfire in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 8970M Crossfire is a notebook card while Radeon RX 7800 XT is a desktop one.


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 8970M Crossfire
Radeon HD 8970M Crossfire
AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT
Radeon RX 7800 XT

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.


4.8 4 votes

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Questions & comments

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