AMD Radeon 520 vs AMD Radeon HD 7970

VS
Performance
Radeon 520
2,016.52% of 104,598
Radeon HD 7970285% better
7,7707% of 104,598

The Radeon HD 7970 has 285% better performance than the Radeon 520 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
Radeon 520
No data available
Radeon HD 7970
14.159% of 161.45

The Radeon HD 7970 has 9% of the performance per dollar compared to the leader for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark: AMD Radeon RX 7600.

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Summary

#

About the AMD Radeon 520 GPU

The AMD Radeon 520 is an end-of-life mobile graphics card that released in Q2 2017. It is built on the GCN 1.0 GPU microarchitecture (codename Banks) and is manufactured on a 28 nm process.

Memory

The 520 has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 1,125 MHz memory clock and a 64 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 36 Gb/s, which affects how fast it can transfer data to and from memory. GPU memory stores temporary data that helps the GPU with complex math and graphics operations. More memory is generally better, as not having enough can cause performance bottlenecks.

Cores and Clock Speeds

The 520 includes 320 stream processors (SPs), the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 1,030 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 20 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 8 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

AMD recommends a power supply of at least 250 W to handle the GPU's thermal design power (TDP) of 50 W.

Benchmark Performance

The 520 has the 361st best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 1.93% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.

About the AMD Radeon HD 7970 GPU

The AMD Radeon HD 7970 is an end-of-life desktop graphics card that released in Q1 2012 with a MSRP of $549. It is built on the GCN 1.0 GPU microarchitecture (codename Tahiti) and is manufactured on a 28 nm process.

Memory

The HD 7970 has 3 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 1,375 MHz memory clock and a 384 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 264 Gb/s, which affects how fast it can transfer data to and from memory. GPU memory stores temporary data that helps the GPU with complex math and graphics operations. More memory is generally better, as not having enough can cause performance bottlenecks.

Cores and Clock Speeds

The HD 7970 includes 2,048 stream processors (SPs), the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 925 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 128 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 32 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The HD 7970 occupies 2 PCIe expansion slots. It supports DVI, HDMI 1.4a, mini-DisplayPort 1.2 display connections. AMD recommends a power supply of at least 600 W to handle the GPU's thermal design power (TDP) of 250 W.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The HD 7970 has the 211th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 7.43% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 7,770 score and $549 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 14.15. This is the 92nd best in value for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

General Info

General overview of the GPU, including details like its manufacturer, release date, launch price, and current production status.

InfoRadeon 520Radeon HD 7970
ManufacturerAMDAMD
ArchitectureGCN 1.0GCN 1.0
Market SegmentMobileDesktop
Release DateQ2 2017Q1 2012
Launch Price (MSRP)--$549
Production StatusEnd-of-lifeEnd-of-life
ShopCheck PriceCheck Price

Gaming Performance

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Select a game to compare FPS metrics

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Destiny 2
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Display FPS for BioShock Infinite
BioShock Infinite
Display FPS for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
CS: GO

FPS Benchmarks

This table showcases the average frame rate (FPS) achieved both GPUs in at various resolutions. Frame rate is a crucial indicator of how smoothly the GPU can run the game. A higher FPS generally translates to a smoother gameplay experience.

  • Frames Per Second
FPS data for Destiny 2
Destiny 2
Radeon 520Radeon HD 7970
Low - 720p
18 FPS
--
Medium - 1080p
9 FPS
--
High - 1080p
--
--
Ultra - 1080p
--
--
QHD - 1440p
--
--
4K UHD - 2160p
--
--
FPS Source: Notebookcheck

Compare Frames Per Second (FPS)

The average frame rate (FPS) in can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative performance. Generally, higher FPS results in a smoother gameplay experience.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon 520 orRadeon HD 7970
GPUFrames Per Second
Radeon R9 M37520.2+115%
Radeon RX 540 Mobile18.8+100%
GeForce MX11017.7+88%
GeForce 930MX13.1+39%
Radeon 53011.6+23%
Radeon 5209.4

Compare Cost Per Frame

The average cost per frame in can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative value. Generally, a lower cost per frame implies better value for your money.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon 520 orRadeon HD 7970
GPUCost Per Frame
Our database does not have enough data to compare the FPS per dollar with other GPUs.

Benchmark Performance

#
Performance
Radeon 520
2,016.52% of 104,598
Radeon HD 7970285% better
7,7707% of 104,598

The Radeon HD 7970 has 285% better performance than the Radeon 520 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The Radeon 520 is ranked 361st with a score of 2,016.5, and the Radeon HD 7970 is ranked 211th with a score of 7,770.

Performance per dollar
Radeon 520
No data available
Radeon HD 7970
14.159% of 161.45

The Radeon HD 7970 has 22% of the performance per dollar compared to the leader for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.

Radeon HD 7970's 14.15 performance per dollar ranks it 0th among the other benchmarked GPUs in our database.

Relative Performance

The average score in the benchmark test can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative performance. Generally, powerful GPUs tend to have higher scores.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon 520 or
GPUBenchmark Performance
GeForce GTX 9508,351+314%
GeForce GTX 7607,962+295%
Radeon HD 79707,770+285%
Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)6,194+207%
GeForce GTX 750 Ti5,378+167%
Radeon HD 7750M2,085+3%
Radeon R7 M3602,029+1%
Radeon 5202,016.5
GeForce GTX 470M2,002.5-1%
FirePro M40001,981-2%

Relative Value For Money

The average performance per dollar in the benchmark test can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative value. A higher score implies a better value for your money.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon 520 orRadeon HD 7970

Benchmark Scores

This table showcases the average performance scores achieved by both GPUs across industry-standard benchmark tests. These scores provide a valuable insight into overall performance. Powerful GPUs tend to have higher scores.

  • Popular
BenchmarkRadeon 520Radeon HD 7970
3DMark Time Spy Graphics
397
--
3DMark Time Spy Score
454.5
--
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
8,412.5
43,795
(+420.59%)
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
1,319
6,862
(+420.24%)
3DMark 11 Performance Score
2,232
7,323
(+228.09%)
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit
35.6
--
PassMark G3D Mark
865
5,248
(+506.71%)
PassMark G2D Mark
207
738
(+256.52%)
Unigine Heaven 3.0 DirectX 11
12
77.8
(+548.33%)
Unigine Heaven 3.0 OpenGL
9.2
--
Benchmarks Source: Notebookcheck

Technical Specs

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Graphics Processor

General information about the graphics processing unit like their architecture, manufacturing process size, and transistor count. Newer GPU architectures generally bring efficiency improvements and may introduce technologies that enhance graphical capabilities.

SpecRadeon 520Radeon HD 7970
CodenameBanksTahiti
ArchitectureGCN 1.0GCN 1.0
Process Size28 nm28 nm
Transistors690 million4,313 million

Memory Details

Memory specifications like their capacity, bandwidth, and clock speeds. GPU memory stores graphics data like frames, textures, and shadows which helps display rendered images. These specs are crucial for graphics-intense applications like gaming and 3D modeling.

SpecRadeon 520Radeon HD 7970
Memory Size2 GB3 GB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth36 Gb/s264 Gb/s
Memory Clock1,125 MHz1,375 MHz
Memory Interface64 bit384 bit
L1 Cache16 KB16 KB
L2 Cache128 KB768 KB

Board Compatibility

Compatibility information like their slot size, bus interface, power consumption, and display support. These specs are useful for verifying compatibility with your motherboard, power supply, and monitor.

SpecRadeon 520Radeon HD 7970
Slots--2 slots
Bus InterfacePCIe 3.0 x8PCIe 3.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)50 W250 W
Suggested PSU250 W600 W
Power Connectors--1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
OutputsNo outputsDVI, HDMI 1.4a, mini-DisplayPort 1.2

Cores & Clock Speeds

Processing power information like its cores and clock speed. These specs impact how fast they can process graphics. Each type of core or component serves a specific computational purpose.

SpecRadeon 520Radeon HD 7970
Stream Processors (SP)3202,048
Compute Units (CU)532
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)20128
Render Output Units (ROP)832
Core Clock Speed1,030 MHz925 MHz

Theoretical Performance

Theoretical performance numbers derived from the raw specifications of the different components like core count and clock speeds. While these provide a glimpse into peak processing power, they do not represent real-world performance.

SpecRadeon 520Radeon HD 7970
Pixel Fill Rate8.24 GPixel/s29.6 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate20.6 GTexel/s118.4 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance659.2 GFLOPS3.79 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance41.2 GFLOPS947.2 GFLOPS

API Support

Graphics API versions supported by these graphics cards. APIs evolve over time, introducing new features and functionalities. Older GPUs may not support recent versions.

SpecRadeon 520Radeon HD 7970
DirectX12 (11_1)12 (11_1)
OpenCL2.1 (1.2)2.1 (1.2)
OpenGL4.64.6
Shader Model6.5 (5.1)6.5 (5.1)

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* Performance rating, performance per dollar, and rankings are based on the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark and MSRP.