Radeon RX 5700 XT vs HD 8970M

Place in performance ranking	415	75
Place by popularity	not in top-100	61
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	11.62	100.00
Architecture	GCN (2011−2017)	Navi / RDNA (2019−2020)
GPU code name	Neptune	Navi 10
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	15 May 2013 (11 years ago)	7 July 2019 (4 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$399
Current price	$135	$111 (0.3x MSRP)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 5700 XT has 761% better value for money than HD 8970M.

Detailed specifications

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 cores	1280	2560
Core clock speed	850 MHz	1605 MHz
Boost clock speed	900 MHz	1905 MHz
Number of transistors	2,800 million	10,300 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	225 Watt
Texture fill rate	72.00	304.8
Floating-point performance	2,304 gflops	no data

Form factor & compatibility

Information on Radeon HD 8970M and Radeon RX 5700 XT compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop video cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility). 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 size	large	no data
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16
Length	no data	272 mm
Width	no data	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	no data	1x 6-pin + 1x 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 type	GDDR5	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	8 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	4800 MHz	14000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	153.6 GB/s	448.0 GB/s
Shared memory	-	no data

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 Connectors	No outputs	1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
HDMI	no data	+

Supported technologies

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

VR Ready	no data	+
Multi Monitor	no data	+

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (11_1)	12 (12_1)
Shader Model	5.1	6.5
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	2.0
Vulkan	1.2.131	+

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 8970M 10.04

RX 5700 XT 43.07
+329%

RX 5700 XT outperforms HD 8970M by 329% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

Benchmark coverage: 25%

HD 8970M 3876

RX 5700 XT 16633
+329%

RX 5700 XT outperforms HD 8970M by 329% in Passmark.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

HD 8970M 6818

RX 5700 XT 35823
+425%

RX 5700 XT outperforms HD 8970M by 425% in 3DMark 11 Performance GPU.

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 8970M 18667

RX 5700 XT 83961
+350%

RX 5700 XT outperforms HD 8970M by 350% in 3DMark Vantage Performance.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

HD 8970M 5039

RX 5700 XT 26189
+420%

RX 5700 XT outperforms HD 8970M by 420% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

HD 8970M 31027

RX 5700 XT 146093
+371%

RX 5700 XT outperforms HD 8970M by 371% in 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU.

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 HD	54 −126%	122 +126%
1440p	16−18 −363%	74 +363%
4K	10−12 −370%	47 +370%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

16−18

no data

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21−24	no data
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	14−16	no data
Battlefield 5	30−35	no data
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	20−22	no data
Cyberpunk 2077	16−18	no data
Far Cry 5	21−24	no data
Far Cry New Dawn	27−30	no data
Forza Horizon 4	45−50	no data
Hitman 3	18−20	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	40−45	no data
Metro Exodus	30−35	no data
Red Dead Redemption 2	27−30	no data
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	30−35	no data
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40	no data

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21−24	no data
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	14−16	no data
Battlefield 5	30−35	no data
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	20−22	no data
Cyberpunk 2077	16−18	no data
Far Cry 5	21−24	no data
Far Cry New Dawn	27−30	no data
Forza Horizon 4	45−50	no data
Hitman 3	18−20	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	40−45	no data
Metro Exodus	30−35	no data
Red Dead Redemption 2	27−30	no data
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	30−35	no data
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	31	no data
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40	no data

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21−24	no data
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	14−16	no data
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	20−22	no data
Cyberpunk 2077	16−18	no data
Far Cry 5	21−24	no data
Forza Horizon 4	45−50	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	40−45	no data
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	30−35	no data
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18	no data
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40	no data

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

27−30

no data

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	20−22	no data
Far Cry New Dawn	16−18	no data

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−11	no data
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	6−7	no data
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	12−14	no data
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6	no data
Far Cry 5	16−18	no data
Forza Horizon 4	18−20	no data
Hitman 3	12−14	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	21−24	no data
Metro Exodus	14−16	no data
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	12−14	no data
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−11	no data
Watch Dogs: Legion	5−6	no data

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

16−18

no data

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	9−10	no data
Far Cry New Dawn	7−8	no data
Hitman 3	6−7	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	10−11	no data
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	5−6	no data
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	8−9	no data

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	6−7	no data
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	4−5	no data
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6	no data
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2	no data
Far Cry 5	5−6	no data
Forza Horizon 4	12−14	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	10−11	no data
Metro Exodus	10−11	no data
Watch Dogs: Legion	3−4	no data

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

10−11

no data

This is how HD 8970M and RX 5700 XT compete in popular games:

RX 5700 XT is 126% faster in 1080p
RX 5700 XT is 363% faster in 1440p
RX 5700 XT is 370% faster in 4K

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	10.04	43.07
Recency	15 May 2013	7 July 2019
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	8 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	225 Watt