Radeon HD 7870 vs RX 470 Mobile

Place in the ranking	299	403
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	9.68	2.91
Power efficiency	14.86	4.77
Architecture	GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)
GPU code name	Ellesmere	Pitcairn
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	4 August 2016 (8 years ago)	5 March 2012 (12 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$549.99	$349

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 470 Mobile has 233% better value for money than HD 7870.

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 cores	2048	1280
Core clock speed	926 MHz	1000 MHz
Boost clock speed	1074 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	5,700 million	2,800 million
Manufacturing process technology	14 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	85 Watt	175 Watt
Texture fill rate	137.5	80.00
Floating-point processing power	4.399 TFLOPS	2.56 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	32
TMUs	128	80

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 size	large	no data
Interface	MXM-B (3.0)	PCIe 3.0 x16
Length	no data	241 mm
Width	no data	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	no data	2x 6-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	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	8 GB	2 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1750 MHz	1200 MHz
Memory bandwidth	224.0 GB/s	153.6 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 Connectors	No outputs	1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
Eyefinity	-	+
HDMI	-	+

Supported technologies

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

FreeSync

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_0)	12 (11_1)
Shader Model	6.4	5.1
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	2.0	1.2
Vulkan	1.2.131	1.2.131

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:

900p	120−130 +42.9%	84 −42.9%
Full HD	100−110 +47.1%	68 −47.1%

Cost per frame, $

1080p

5.50

5.13

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

30−33
+57.9%

18−20

−57.9%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	40−45 +50%	27−30 −50%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	30−35 +68.4%	18−20 −68.4%
Battlefield 5	60−65 +63.2%	35−40 −63.2%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	35−40 +58.3%	24−27 −58.3%
Cyberpunk 2077	30−33 +57.9%	18−20 −57.9%
Far Cry 5	40−45 +57.1%	27−30 −57.1%
Far Cry New Dawn	50−55 +54.5%	30−35 −54.5%
Forza Horizon 4	110−120 +47.5%	80−85 −47.5%
Hitman 3	35−40 +60.9%	21−24 −60.9%
Horizon Zero Dawn	90−95 +43.8%	60−65 −43.8%
Metro Exodus	65−70 +62.5%	40−45 −62.5%
Red Dead Redemption 2	50−55 +54.5%	30−35 −54.5%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	60−65 +59%	35−40 −59%
Watch Dogs: Legion	85−90 +29%	65−70 −29%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	40−45 +50%	27−30 −50%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	30−35 +68.4%	18−20 −68.4%
Battlefield 5	60−65 +63.2%	35−40 −63.2%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	35−40 +58.3%	24−27 −58.3%
Cyberpunk 2077	30−33 +57.9%	18−20 −57.9%
Far Cry 5	40−45 +57.1%	27−30 −57.1%
Far Cry New Dawn	50−55 +54.5%	30−35 −54.5%
Forza Horizon 4	110−120 +47.5%	80−85 −47.5%
Hitman 3	35−40 +60.9%	21−24 −60.9%
Horizon Zero Dawn	90−95 +43.8%	60−65 −43.8%
Metro Exodus	65−70 +62.5%	40−45 −62.5%
Red Dead Redemption 2	50−55 +54.5%	30−35 −54.5%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	60−65 +59%	35−40 −59%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	40−45 +43.3%	30−33 −43.3%
Watch Dogs: Legion	85−90 +29%	65−70 −29%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	40−45 +50%	27−30 −50%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	30−35 +68.4%	18−20 −68.4%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	35−40 +58.3%	24−27 −58.3%
Cyberpunk 2077	30−33 +57.9%	18−20 −57.9%
Far Cry 5	40−45 +57.1%	27−30 −57.1%
Forza Horizon 4	110−120 +47.5%	80−85 −47.5%
Hitman 3	35−40 +60.9%	21−24 −60.9%
Horizon Zero Dawn	90−95 +43.8%	60−65 −43.8%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	60−65 +59%	35−40 −59%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	40−45 +115%	20 −115%
Watch Dogs: Legion	85−90 +29%	65−70 −29%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

50−55
+54.5%

30−35

−54.5%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	35−40 +56.5%	21−24 −56.5%
Far Cry New Dawn	27−30 +61.1%	18−20 −61.1%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	18−20 +58.3%	12−14 −58.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	16−18 +113%	8−9 −113%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	21−24 +61.5%	12−14 −61.5%
Cyberpunk 2077	10−12 +83.3%	6−7 −83.3%
Far Cry 5	21−24 +57.1%	14−16 −57.1%
Forza Horizon 4	100−110 +79.3%	55−60 −79.3%
Hitman 3	21−24 +46.7%	14−16 −46.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn	35−40 +52%	24−27 −52%
Metro Exodus	35−40 +84.2%	18−20 −84.2%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	35−40 +100%	18−20 −100%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	21−24 +75%	12−14 −75%
Watch Dogs: Legion	110−120 +50.7%	75−80 −50.7%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

30−35
+55%

20−22

−55%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	18−20 +72.7%	10−12 −72.7%
Far Cry New Dawn	14−16 +55.6%	9−10 −55.6%
Hitman 3	14−16 +75%	8−9 −75%
Horizon Zero Dawn	95−100 +73.2%	55−60 −73.2%
Metro Exodus	20−22 +81.8%	10−12 −81.8%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18−20 +90%	10−11 −90%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−12 +57.1%	7−8 −57.1%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	9−10 +80%	5−6 −80%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10−11 +66.7%	6−7 −66.7%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +100%	2−3 −100%
Far Cry 5	10−11 +66.7%	6−7 −66.7%
Forza Horizon 4	24−27 +62.5%	16−18 −62.5%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	21−24 +110%	10−11 −110%
Watch Dogs: Legion	8−9 +60%	5−6 −60%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

16−18
+54.5%

10−12

−54.5%

This is how RX 470 Mobile and HD 7870 compete in popular games:

RX 470 Mobile is 43% faster in 900p
RX 470 Mobile is 47% faster in 1080p

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

in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RX 470 Mobile is 115% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

Without exception, RX 470 Mobile surpassed HD 7870 in all 72 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	18.17	12.02
Recency	4 August 2016	5 March 2012
Maximum RAM amount	8 GB	2 GB
Chip lithography	14 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	85 Watt	175 Watt

RX 470 Mobile has a 51.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 4 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 100% more advanced lithography process, and 105.9% lower power consumption.

The Radeon RX 470 Mobile is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 7870 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon RX 470 Mobile is a notebook card while Radeon HD 7870 is a desktop one.

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