Radeon HD 7970 vs R9 270

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 270 and Radeon HD 7970, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

R9 270
2013
2 GB GDDR5, 150 Watt
11.17

HD 7970 outperforms R9 270 by a significant 22% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking422380
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation5.052.45
Power efficiency5.113.73
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)
GPU code nameCuracaoTahiti
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferencereference
Release date13 November 2013 (11 years ago)22 December 2011 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$179 $549

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

R9 270 has 106% better value for money than HD 7970.

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 cores12802048
Boost clock speed925 MHz925 MHz
Number of transistors2,800 million4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)150 Watt300 Watt
Texture fill rate74.00118.4
Floating-point processing power2.368 TFLOPS3.789 TFLOPS
ROPs3232
TMUs80128

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).

Bus supportPCIe 3.0PCIe 2.1 x16
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length210 mm274 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1 x 6-pin1x 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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2 GB6 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit384 Bit
Memory clock speedno data1375 MHz
Memory bandwidth179.2 GB/s264 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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
Eyefinity++
HDMI++
DisplayPort support+-

Supported technologies

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

CrossFire++
FreeSync++
HD3D+-
LiquidVR+-
TressFX+-
TrueAudio+-
UVD+-
DDMA audio+no data

API compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 12DirectX® 11
Shader Model5.15.1
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan+-

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.

R9 270 11.17
HD 7970 13.62
+21.9%

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. 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.

R9 270 4306
HD 7970 5248
+21.9%

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.

R9 270 5930
HD 7970 6862
+15.7%

Unigine Heaven 4.0

This is an old DirectX 11 benchmark, a newer version of Unigine 3.0 with relatively small differences. It displays a fantasy medieval town sprawling over several flying islands. The benchmark is still sometimes used, despite its significant age, as it was released back in 2013.

R9 270 711
HD 7970 985
+38.5%

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:

900p85−90
−23.5%
105
+23.5%
Full HD70−75
−30%
91
+30%

Cost per frame, $

1080p2.566.03

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Battlefield 5 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%
Hitman 3 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Metro Exodus 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Battlefield 5 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%
Hitman 3 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Metro Exodus 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%
Hitman 3 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Far Cry 5 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Hitman 3 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Metro Exodus 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Hitman 3 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Metro Exodus 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Far Cry 5 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%

This is how R9 270 and HD 7970 compete in popular games:

  • HD 7970 is 24% faster in 900p
  • HD 7970 is 30% faster in 1080p

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 11.17 13.62
Recency 13 November 2013 22 December 2011
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 6 GB
Power consumption (TDP) 150 Watt 300 Watt

R9 270 has an age advantage of 1 year, and 100% lower power consumption.

HD 7970, on the other hand, has a 21.9% higher aggregate performance score, and a 200% higher maximum VRAM amount.

The Radeon HD 7970 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 270 in performance tests.


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

Vote for your favorite

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AMD Radeon R9 270
Radeon R9 270
AMD Radeon HD 7970
Radeon HD 7970

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.


3.9 602 votes

Rate Radeon R9 270 on a scale of 1 to 5:

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4.1 303 votes

Rate Radeon HD 7970 on a scale of 1 to 5:

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Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.