ATI Radeon HD 3850 vs RX 470

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon RX 470 and Radeon HD 3850, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

RX 470
2016
4 GB GDDR5, 120 Watt
20.57
+1957%

RX 470 outperforms ATI HD 3850 by a whopping 1957% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking2721113
Place by popularity42not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation17.580.04
Power efficiency12.040.94
ArchitectureGCN 4.0 (2016−2020)TeraScale (2005−2013)
GPU code nameEllesmereRV670
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date4 August 2016 (8 years ago)19 November 2007 (17 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$179 $179

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.

RX 470 has 43850% 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 cores2048320
Core clock speed926 MHz668 MHz
Boost clock speed1206 MHzno data
Number of transistors5,700 million666 million
Manufacturing process technology14 nm55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)120 Watt75 Watt
Texture fill rate154.410.69
Floating-point processing power4.94 TFLOPS0.4275 TFLOPS
ROPs3216
TMUs12816

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).

InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length241 mm208 mm
Width2-slot1-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin1x 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 typeGDDR5GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount4 GB1 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1650 MHz830 MHz
Memory bandwidth211.2 GB/s53.12 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 Connectors1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort2x 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 and SDK compatibility

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

DirectX12 (12_0)10.1 (10_1)
Shader Model6.44.1
OpenGL4.63.3
OpenCL2.0N/A
Vulkan1.2.131N/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.

RX 470 20.57
+1957%
ATI HD 3850 1.00

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 HD69
+2200%
3−4
−2200%
1440p38
+3700%
1−2
−3700%
4K37
+3600%
1−2
−3600%

Cost per frame, $

1080p2.59
+2200%
59.67
−2200%
1440p4.71
+3700%
179.00
−3700%
4K4.84
+3600%
179.00
−3600%
  • RX 470 has 2200% lower cost per frame in 1080p
  • RX 470 has 3700% lower cost per frame in 1440p
  • RX 470 has 3600% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Atomic Heart 50−55
+2550%
2−3
−2550%
Counter-Strike 2 35−40
+3600%
1−2
−3600%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+2000%
2−3
−2000%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Atomic Heart 50−55
+2550%
2−3
−2550%
Battlefield 5 80−85
+2600%
3−4
−2600%
Counter-Strike 2 35−40
+3600%
1−2
−3600%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+2000%
2−3
−2000%
Far Cry 5 65−70
+2133%
3−4
−2133%
Fortnite 100−110
+1960%
5−6
−1960%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+2567%
3−4
−2567%
Forza Horizon 5 55−60
+2650%
2−3
−2650%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 71
+2267%
3−4
−2267%
Valorant 140−150
+1986%
7−8
−1986%

Full HD
High Preset

Atomic Heart 50−55
+2550%
2−3
−2550%
Battlefield 5 80−85
+2600%
3−4
−2600%
Counter-Strike 2 35−40
+3600%
1−2
−3600%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 230−240
+2250%
10−11
−2250%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+2000%
2−3
−2000%
Dota 2 110−120
+2100%
5−6
−2100%
Far Cry 5 65−70
+2133%
3−4
−2133%
Fortnite 88
+2100%
4−5
−2100%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+2567%
3−4
−2567%
Forza Horizon 5 55−60
+2650%
2−3
−2650%
Grand Theft Auto V 73
+2333%
3−4
−2333%
Metro Exodus 40−45
+2050%
2−3
−2050%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 50
+2400%
2−3
−2400%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 70
+2233%
3−4
−2233%
Valorant 140−150
+1986%
7−8
−1986%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 80−85
+2600%
3−4
−2600%
Counter-Strike 2 35−40
+3600%
1−2
−3600%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+2000%
2−3
−2000%
Dota 2 110−120
+2100%
5−6
−2100%
Far Cry 5 61
+2950%
2−3
−2950%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+2567%
3−4
−2567%
Forza Horizon 5 55−60
+2650%
2−3
−2650%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 40
+3900%
1−2
−3900%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 40
+3900%
1−2
−3900%
Valorant 140−150
+1986%
7−8
−1986%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Fortnite 59
+2850%
2−3
−2850%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 21−24
+2000%
1−2
−2000%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 140−150
+2267%
6−7
−2267%
Grand Theft Auto V 33
+3200%
1−2
−3200%
Metro Exodus 24−27
+2500%
1−2
−2500%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 170−180
+2063%
8−9
−2063%
Valorant 180−190
+2188%
8−9
−2188%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 55−60
+2700%
2−3
−2700%
Cyberpunk 2077 18−20 0−1
Far Cry 5 43
+2050%
2−3
−2050%
Forza Horizon 4 50−55
+2400%
2−3
−2400%
Forza Horizon 5 35−40
+3400%
1−2
−3400%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
+3100%
1−2
−3100%

1440p
Epic Preset

Fortnite 45−50
+2200%
2−3
−2200%

4K
High Preset

Atomic Heart 16−18 0−1
Counter-Strike 2 9−10 0−1
Grand Theft Auto V 33
+3200%
1−2
−3200%
Metro Exodus 16−18 0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 27−30
+2800%
1−2
−2800%
Valorant 110−120
+2140%
5−6
−2140%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 30−33
+2900%
1−2
−2900%
Counter-Strike 2 9−10 0−1
Cyberpunk 2077 8−9 0−1
Dota 2 86
+2050%
4−5
−2050%
Far Cry 5 21−24
+2100%
1−2
−2100%
Forza Horizon 4 35−40
+3400%
1−2
−3400%
Forza Horizon 5 18−20 0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 20−22 0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Fortnite 17 0−1

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

  • RX 470 is 2200% faster in 1080p
  • RX 470 is 3700% faster in 1440p
  • RX 470 is 3600% faster in 4K

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 20.57 1.00
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 1957% 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.

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AMD Radeon RX 470
Radeon RX 470
ATI Radeon HD 3850
Radeon HD 3850

Other comparisons

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Community ratings

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4.2 4539 votes

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