Radeon HD 7970 vs RX 5500

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon RX 5500 and Radeon HD 7970, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

RX 5500
2019
4 GB GDDR6, 110 Watt
21.96
+67.3%

RX 5500 outperforms HD 7970 by an impressive 67% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking264395
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluationno data2.38
Power efficiency14.123.71
ArchitectureRDNA 1.0 (2019−2020)GCN 1.0 (2012−2020)
GPU code nameNavi 14Tahiti
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designno datareference
Release date7 October 2019 (5 years ago)9 January 2012 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)no data$549

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

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

no data

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 cores14082048
Boost clock speed1845 MHz925 MHz
Number of transistors6,400 million4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology7 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)110 Watt300 Watt
Texture fill rate162.4118.4
Floating-point processing power5.196 TFLOPS3.789 TFLOPS
ROPs3232
TMUs88128

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 supportno dataPCIe 2.1 x16
InterfacePCIe 4.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length180 mm275 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 8-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 typeGDDR6GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount4 GB6 GB
Memory bus width128 Bit384 Bit
Memory clock speed14000 MHz1375 MHz
Memory bandwidth224.0 GB/s264 GB/s
Shared memory--
Resizable BAR+-

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 DisplayPort1x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, 2x mini-DisplayPort 1.2
Eyefinity-+
HDMI++

Supported technologies

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

CrossFire-+
FreeSync-+

API and SDK compatibility

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

DirectX12.0 (12_1)DirectX® 11
Shader Modelno data6.5 (5.1)
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCLno data2.1 (1.2)

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 5500 21.96
+67.3%
HD 7970 13.13

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 5500 8778
+67.3%
HD 7970 5248

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:

900p170−180
+61.9%
105
−61.9%
Full HD150−160
+61.3%
93
−61.3%

Cost per frame, $

1080pno data5.90

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Hogwarts Legacy 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Far Cry 5 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Fortnite 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Hogwarts Legacy 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Valorant 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 212
+0%
212
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Dota 2 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Far Cry 5 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Fortnite 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Hogwarts Legacy 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Metro Exodus 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Valorant 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Dota 2 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Far Cry 5 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Hogwarts Legacy 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Valorant 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Fortnite 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 95−100
+0%
95−100
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 20−22
+0%
20−22
+0%
Metro Exodus 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Valorant 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Hogwarts Legacy 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Fortnite 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Hogwarts Legacy 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Metro Exodus 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Valorant 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Dota 2 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Far Cry 5 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Hogwarts Legacy 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Fortnite 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%

This is how RX 5500 and HD 7970 compete in popular games:

  • RX 5500 is 62% faster in 900p
  • RX 5500 is 61% faster in 1080p

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 66 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 21.96 13.13
Recency 7 October 2019 9 January 2012
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 6 GB
Chip lithography 7 nm 28 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 110 Watt 300 Watt

RX 5500 has a 67.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 7 years, a 300% more advanced lithography process, and 172.7% lower power consumption.

HD 7970, on the other hand, has a 50% higher maximum VRAM amount.

The Radeon RX 5500 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 7970 in performance tests.

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AMD Radeon RX 5500
Radeon RX 5500
AMD Radeon HD 7970
Radeon HD 7970

Other comparisons

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Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


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