Radeon RX 470 vs VII

Place in the ranking	85	258
Place by popularity	not in top-100	55
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	25.81	17.63
Power efficiency	10.20	12.19
Architecture	GCN 5.1 (2018−2022)	GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)
GPU code name	Vega 20	Ellesmere
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	7 February 2019 (5 years ago)	4 August 2016 (8 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$699	$179

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

Radeon VII has 46% better value for money than RX 470.

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	3840	2048
Core clock speed	1400 MHz	926 MHz
Boost clock speed	1750 MHz	1206 MHz
Number of transistors	13,230 million	5,700 million
Manufacturing process technology	7 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	295 Watt	120 Watt
Texture fill rate	420.0	154.4
Floating-point processing power	13.44 TFLOPS	4.94 TFLOPS
ROPs	64	32
TMUs	240	128

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 3.0 x16
Length	280 mm	241 mm
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	2x 8-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	HBM2	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	16 GB	4 GB
Memory bus width	4096 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1000 MHz	1650 MHz
Memory bandwidth	1024 GB/s	211.2 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 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a	1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
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_1)	12 (12_0)
Shader Model	6.7	6.4
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	2.1	2.0
Vulkan	1.3	1.2.131

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.

Radeon VII 43.17
+106%

RX 470 20.99

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.

Radeon VII 16654
+106%

RX 470 8096

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

Radeon VII 37881
+115%

RX 470 17625

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.

Radeon VII 27449
+131%

RX 470 11885

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

Radeon VII 146094
+113%

RX 470 68475

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Ice Storm Graphics is an obsolete benchmark, part of 3DMark suite. Ice Storm was used to measure entry level laptops and Windows-based tablets performance. It utilizes DirectX 11 feature level 9 to display a battle between two space fleets near a frozen planet in 1280x720 resolution. Discontinued in January 2020, it is now superseded by 3DMark Night Raid.

Radeon VII 430170
+13%

RX 470 380689

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	123 +73.2%	71 −73.2%
1440p	77 +87.8%	41 −87.8%
4K	57 +58.3%	36 −58.3%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	5.68	2.52
1440p	9.08	4.37
4K	12.26	4.97

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

75−80
+133%

30−35

−133%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	76 +65.2%	45−50 −65.2%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	99 +183%	35−40 −183%
Battlefield 5	160 +132%	65−70 −132%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	85−90 +102%	40−45 −102%
Cyberpunk 2077	75−80 +133%	30−35 −133%
Far Cry 5	116 +137%	45−50 −137%
Far Cry New Dawn	113 +102%	55−60 −102%
Forza Horizon 4	227 +77.3%	120−130 −77.3%
Hitman 3	81 +97.6%	40−45 −97.6%
Horizon Zero Dawn	170−180 +76%	100−105 −76%
Metro Exodus	130−140 +86.1%	70−75 −86.1%
Red Dead Redemption 2	126 +125%	55−60 −125%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	196 +92.2%	102 −92.2%
Watch Dogs: Legion	214 +128%	90−95 −128%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	157 +241%	45−50 −241%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	82 +134%	35−40 −134%
Battlefield 5	150 +117%	65−70 −117%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	85−90 +102%	40−45 −102%
Cyberpunk 2077	75−80 +133%	30−35 −133%
Far Cry 5	90 +83.7%	45−50 −83.7%
Far Cry New Dawn	102 +82.1%	55−60 −82.1%
Forza Horizon 4	227 +77.3%	120−130 −77.3%
Hitman 3	79 +92.7%	40−45 −92.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn	170−180 +76%	100−105 −76%
Metro Exodus	130−140 +86.1%	70−75 −86.1%
Red Dead Redemption 2	95−100 +75%	55−60 −75%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	97 +10.2%	88 −10.2%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	85−90 +89.4%	45−50 −89.4%
Watch Dogs: Legion	211 +124%	90−95 −124%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	63 +37%	45−50 −37%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	72 +106%	35−40 −106%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	85−90 +102%	40−45 −102%
Cyberpunk 2077	75−80 +133%	30−35 −133%
Far Cry 5	71 +44.9%	45−50 −44.9%
Forza Horizon 4	130 +1.6%	120−130 −1.6%
Hitman 3	75 +82.9%	40−45 −82.9%
Horizon Zero Dawn	95 +28.4%	74 −28.4%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	84 +25.4%	67 −25.4%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	75 +87.5%	40 −87.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion	63 −49.2%	90−95 +49.2%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

119
+113%

55−60

−113%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	85−90 +113%	40−45 −113%
Far Cry New Dawn	65−70 +106%	30−35 −106%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	45−50 +124%	21−24 −124%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	57 +200%	18−20 −200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	50−55 +122%	21−24 −122%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 +200%	12−14 −200%
Far Cry 5	50−55 +108%	24−27 −108%
Forza Horizon 4	230−240 +101%	110−120 −101%
Hitman 3	66 +164%	24−27 −164%
Horizon Zero Dawn	80 +50.9%	53 −50.9%
Metro Exodus	83 +80.4%	46 −80.4%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	61 +19.6%	51 −19.6%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	65−70 +171%	24−27 −171%
Watch Dogs: Legion	200 +62.6%	120−130 −62.6%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

86
+146%

35−40

−146%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	58 +176%	21−24 −176%
Far Cry New Dawn	46 +188%	16−18 −188%
Hitman 3	46 +188%	16−18 −188%
Horizon Zero Dawn	190−200 +78.7%	100−110 −78.7%
Metro Exodus	55−60 +148%	21−24 −148%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	54 +145%	21−24 −145%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	44 +267%	12−14 −267%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	35 +218%	10−12 −218%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	27−30 +155%	10−12 −155%
Cyberpunk 2077	16−18 +300%	4−5 −300%
Far Cry 5	31 +182%	10−12 −182%
Forza Horizon 4	77 +166%	27−30 −166%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	33 +32%	25 −32%
Watch Dogs: Legion	29 +222%	9−10 −222%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

43
+139%

18−20

−139%

This is how Radeon VII and RX 470 compete in popular games:

Radeon VII is 73% faster in 1080p
Radeon VII is 88% faster in 1440p
Radeon VII is 58% faster in 4K

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

in Cyberpunk 2077, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the Radeon VII is 300% faster.
in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RX 470 is 49% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

Radeon VII is ahead in 71 test (99%)
RX 470 is ahead in 1 test (1%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	43.17	20.99
Recency	7 February 2019	4 August 2016
Maximum RAM amount	16 GB	4 GB
Chip lithography	7 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	295 Watt	120 Watt

Radeon VII has a 105.7% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 100% more advanced lithography process.

RX 470, on the other hand, has 145.8% lower power consumption.

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

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