AMD Radeon HD 6870 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480

VS
Performance
Radeon HD 6870
4,2184% of 104,598
GeForce GTX 48019% better
5,0145% of 104,598

The GeForce GTX 480 has 19% better performance than the Radeon HD 6870 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
Radeon HD 687076% better
17.6511% of 161.45
GeForce GTX 480
10.056% of 161.45

The Radeon HD 6870 has 76% better value for the money than the GeForce GTX 480 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

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Summary

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About the AMD Radeon HD 6870 GPU

The AMD Radeon HD 6870 is an end-of-life desktop graphics card that released in Q4 2010 with a MSRP of $239. It is built on the TeraScale 2 GPU microarchitecture (codename Barts) and is manufactured on a 40 nm process.

Memory

The HD 6870 has 1,024 MB of GDDR5 memory, with a 1,050 MHz memory clock and a 256 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 134.4 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 6870 includes 1,120 stream processors (SPs), the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 900 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 56 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 32 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The HD 6870 occupies 2 PCIe expansion slots. It supports DVI, HDMI 1.3a, mini-DisplayPort 1.1 display connections. AMD recommends a power supply of at least 450 W to handle the GPU's thermal design power (TDP) of 151 W.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The HD 6870 has the 269th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 4.03% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 4,218 score and $239 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 17.65. This is the 91st best in value for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

About the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 GPU

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 is an end-of-life desktop graphics card that released in Q1 2010 with a MSRP of $499. It is built on the Fermi GPU microarchitecture (codename GF100) and is manufactured on a 40 nm process.

Memory

The GTX 480 has 1,536 MB of GDDR5 memory, with a 924 MHz memory clock and a 384 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 177.4 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 GTX 480 includes 480 CUDA cores, the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 700 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 60 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 48 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The GTX 480 occupies 2 PCIe expansion slots. It supports DVI, mini-HDMI 1.3a display connections. NVIDIA 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 GTX 480 has the 248th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 4.79% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 5,014 score and $499 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 10.05. This is the 101st 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 HD 6870GeForce GTX 480
ManufacturerAMDNVIDIA
ArchitectureTeraScale 2Fermi
Market SegmentDesktopDesktop
Release DateQ4 2010Q1 2010
Launch Price (MSRP)$239$499
Production StatusEnd-of-lifeEnd-of-life
ShopCheck PriceCheck Price

Gaming Performance

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Select a game to compare FPS metrics

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 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
CS: GO
Radeon HD 6870GeForce GTX 480
Low - 768p
--
--
Medium - 768p
--
--
High - 768p
--
--
Ultra - 1080p
189 FPS
--
QHD - 1440p
--
--
4K UHD
--
--
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 HD 6870 orGeForce GTX 480
GPUFrames Per Second
Radeon R9 FURY268+42%
GeForce GTX 1050250+32%
GeForce GTX 680224+19%
Radeon HD 7970212.2+12%
GeForce GTX 660 Ti191.6+1%
Radeon HD 6870189
Radeon HD 7770 (GHz Edition)128.2-32%
Radeon HD 645029.4-84%

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 HD 6870 orGeForce GTX 480

Benchmark Performance

#
Performance
Radeon HD 6870
4,2184% of 104,598
GeForce GTX 48019% better
5,0145% of 104,598

The GeForce GTX 480 has 19% better performance than the Radeon HD 6870 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The Radeon HD 6870 is ranked 269th with a score of 4,218, and the GeForce GTX 480 is ranked 248th with a score of 5,014.

Performance per dollar
Radeon HD 687076% better
17.6511% of 161.45
GeForce GTX 480
10.056% of 161.45

The Radeon HD 6870 has 76% better value for the money than the GeForce GTX 480 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The Radeon HD 6870 is ranked 91st with a performance per dollar of 17.65, and the GeForce GTX 480 is ranked 101st with a performance per dollar of 10.05.

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 HD 6870 or

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 HD 6870 or

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 HD 6870GeForce GTX 480
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
26,437
--
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
3,141
--
3DMark 11 Performance Score
4,547.5
4,982
(+9.55%)
PassMark G3D Mark
2,216
4,107
(+85.33%)
PassMark G2D Mark
412
450
(+9.22%)
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 HD 6870GeForce GTX 480
CodenameBartsGF100
ArchitectureTeraScale 2Fermi
Process Size40 nm40 nm
Transistors1,700 million3,100 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 HD 6870GeForce GTX 480
Memory Size1,024 MB1,536 MB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth134.4 Gb/s177.4 Gb/s
Memory Clock1,050 MHz924 MHz
Memory Interface256 bit384 bit
L1 Cache8 KB64 KB
L2 Cache512 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 HD 6870GeForce GTX 480
Slots2 slots2 slots
Bus InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)151 W250 W
Suggested PSU450 W600 W
Power Connectors2x 6-pin1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
OutputsDVI, HDMI 1.3a, mini-DisplayPort 1.1DVI, mini-HDMI 1.3a

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 HD 6870GeForce GTX 480
Stream Processors (SP)1,120--
CUDA Cores--480
Compute Units (CU)14--
Stream Multiprocessors (SM)--15
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)5660
Render Output Units (ROP)3248
Core Clock Speed900 MHz700 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 HD 6870GeForce GTX 480
Pixel Fill Rate28.8 GPixel/s21.03 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate50.4 GTexel/s42.06 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance2.02 TFLOPS1,345 GFLOPS
FP64 Performance--168.1 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 HD 6870GeForce GTX 480
DirectX11.2 (11_0)12 (11_0)
OpenCL1.21.1
OpenGL4.44.6
Shader Model5.05.1

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