ATI Radeon HD 3850 vs RX 470

Place in the ranking	267	1109
Place by popularity	42	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	17.17	0.04
Power efficiency	12.08	0.93
Architecture	GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)	TeraScale (2005−2013)
GPU code name	Ellesmere	RV670
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	4 August 2016 (8 years ago)	19 November 2007 (17 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$179	$179

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 470 has 42825% better value for money than ATI HD 3850.

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	320
Core clock speed	926 MHz	668 MHz
Boost clock speed	1206 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	5,700 million	666 million
Manufacturing process technology	14 nm	55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	120 Watt	75 Watt
Texture fill rate	154.4	10.69
Floating-point processing power	4.94 TFLOPS	0.4275 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	16
TMUs	128	16

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).

Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 2.0 x16
Length	241 mm	208 mm
Width	2-slot	1-slot
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin	1x 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	GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	1 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1650 MHz	830 MHz
Memory bandwidth	211.2 GB/s	53.12 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	1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort	2x DVI, 1x S-Video
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)	10.1 (10_1)
Shader Model	6.4	4.1
OpenGL	4.6	3.3
OpenCL	2.0	N/A
Vulkan	1.2.131	N/A

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.

RX 470 20.10
+1972%

ATI HD 3850 0.97

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.

RX 470 8096
+1965%

ATI HD 3850 392

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	71 +2267%	3−4 −2267%
1440p	39 +3800%	1−2 −3800%
4K	38 +3700%	1−2 −3700%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	2.52 +2267%	59.67 −2267%
1440p	4.59 +3800%	179.00 −3800%
4K	4.71 +3700%	179.00 −3700%

RX 470 has 2267% lower cost per frame in 1080p
RX 470 has 3800% lower cost per frame in 1440p
RX 470 has 3700% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	35−40 +3700%	1−2 −3700%
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45 +2000%	2−3 −2000%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	65−70 +2100%	3−4 −2100%
Counter-Strike 2	35−40 +3700%	1−2 −3700%
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45 +2000%	2−3 −2000%
Forza Horizon 4	105 +2000%	5−6 −2000%
Forza Horizon 5	55−60 +2700%	2−3 −2700%
Metro Exodus	74 +2367%	3−4 −2367%
Red Dead Redemption 2	45−50 +2300%	2−3 −2300%
Valorant	85−90 +2025%	4−5 −2025%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	65−70 +2100%	3−4 −2100%
Counter-Strike 2	35−40 +3700%	1−2 −3700%
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45 +2000%	2−3 −2000%
Dota 2	48 +2300%	2−3 −2300%
Far Cry 5	52 +2500%	2−3 −2500%
Fortnite	110−120 +2100%	5−6 −2100%
Forza Horizon 4	88 +2100%	4−5 −2100%
Forza Horizon 5	55−60 +2700%	2−3 −2700%
Grand Theft Auto V	73 +2333%	3−4 −2333%
Metro Exodus	34 +3300%	1−2 −3300%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	71 +2267%	3−4 −2267%
Red Dead Redemption 2	45−50 +2300%	2−3 −2300%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	65−70 +2133%	3−4 −2133%
Valorant	85−90 +2025%	4−5 −2025%
World of Tanks	230−240 +2280%	10−11 −2280%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	65−70 +2100%	3−4 −2100%
Counter-Strike 2	35−40 +3700%	1−2 −3700%
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45 +2000%	2−3 −2000%
Dota 2	70−75 +2367%	3−4 −2367%
Far Cry 5	65−70 +2200%	3−4 −2200%
Forza Horizon 4	67 +2133%	3−4 −2133%
Forza Horizon 5	55−60 +2700%	2−3 −2700%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	59 +2850%	2−3 −2850%
Valorant	85−90 +2025%	4−5 −2025%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	33 +3200%	1−2 −3200%
Grand Theft Auto V	33 +3200%	1−2 −3200%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	110−120 +2280%	5−6 −2280%
Red Dead Redemption 2	18−20	0−1
World of Tanks	140−150 +2267%	6−7 −2267%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	40−45 +2050%	2−3 −2050%
Cyberpunk 2077	16−18	0−1
Far Cry 5	55−60 +2800%	2−3 −2800%
Forza Horizon 4	51 +2450%	2−3 −2450%
Forza Horizon 5	30−35 +3200%	1−2 −3200%
Metro Exodus	46 +2200%	2−3 −2200%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	30−33 +2900%	1−2 −2900%
Valorant	55−60 +2650%	2−3 −2650%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	10−11	0−1
Dota 2	33 +3200%	1−2 −3200%
Grand Theft Auto V	33 +3200%	1−2 −3200%
Metro Exodus	16−18	0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	62 +3000%	2−3 −3000%
Red Dead Redemption 2	12−14	0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	33 +3200%	1−2 −3200%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	21−24 +2000%	1−2 −2000%
Counter-Strike 2	10−11	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8	0−1
Dota 2	86 +2050%	4−5 −2050%
Far Cry 5	27−30 +2600%	1−2 −2600%
Fortnite	25 +2400%	1−2 −2400%
Forza Horizon 4	25 +2400%	1−2 −2400%
Forza Horizon 5	16−18	0−1
Valorant	24−27 +2500%	1−2 −2500%

This is how RX 470 and ATI HD 3850 compete in popular games:

RX 470 is 2267% faster in 1080p
RX 470 is 3800% faster in 1440p
RX 470 is 3700% faster in 4K

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	20.10	0.97
Recency	4 August 2016	19 November 2007
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	1 GB
Chip lithography	14 nm	55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	120 Watt	75 Watt

RX 470 has a 1972.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 8 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 292.9% more advanced lithography process.

ATI HD 3850, on the other hand, has 60% lower power consumption.

The Radeon RX 470 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 3850 in performance tests.

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