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AMD Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition) vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470

AMD
VS
NVIDIA
Performance
Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)43% better
6,1946% of 104,937
GeForce GTX 470
4,3424% of 104,937

The Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition) has 43% better performance than the GeForce GTX 470 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)43% better
17.7511% of 161.45
GeForce GTX 470
12.448% of 161.45

The Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition) has 43% better value for the money than the GeForce GTX 470 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

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Summary

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About the AMD Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition) GPU

The Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition) is an end-of-life desktop graphics card by AMD. It launched in Q1 2012 with a suggested retail price of $349. Its Pitcairn chip that powers the GPU uses the GCN 1.0 architecture and is fabricated on the 28 nm process.

Memory

This GPU is paired with 2 GB of GDDR5 VRAM. Its 1,200 MHz memory clock and 256 bit interface gives it a bandwidth of 153.6 Gb/s. This impacts how much data it can store, and how fast it transfers the data to and from memory.

Compatibility

The HD 7870 (GHz Edition) is a dual slot graphics card, taking up 2 PCIe slots. It supports DVI, HDMI 1.4a, mini-DisplayPort 1.2 display ports. This desktop card has a TDP of 175 W. AMD recommends using a power supply of at least 450 W with this card. A power supply lower than this might result in system crashes and potentially damage your hardware.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition) has the 223rd highest 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 540 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 5.90% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 6,194 score and $349 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 17.75. This is the 88th best in value for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

About the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 GPU

The GeForce GTX 470 is an end-of-life desktop graphics card by NVIDIA. It launched in Q1 2010 with a suggested retail price of $349. Its GF100 chip that powers the GPU uses the Fermi architecture and is fabricated on the 40 nm process.

Memory

This GPU is paired with 1,280 MB of GDDR5 VRAM. Its 837 MHz memory clock and 320 bit interface gives it a bandwidth of 133.9 Gb/s. This impacts how much data it can store, and how fast it transfers the data to and from memory.

Compatibility

The GTX 470 is a dual slot graphics card, taking up 2 PCIe slots. It supports DVI, mini-HDMI 1.3a display ports. This desktop card has a TDP of 215 W. NVIDIA recommends using a power supply of at least 550 W with this card. A power supply lower than this might result in system crashes and potentially damage your hardware.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The GeForce GTX 470 has the 263rd highest 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 540 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 4.14% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 4,342 score and $349 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 12.44. 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 HD 7870 (GHz Edition)GeForce GTX 470
ManufacturerAMDNVIDIA
ArchitectureGCN 1.0Fermi
Market SegmentDesktopDesktop
Release DateQ1 2012Q1 2010
Launch Price (MSRP)$349$349
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 Dota 2 - Reborn
Dota 2 - Reborn
Display FPS for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3
Display FPS for BioShock Infinite
BioShock Infinite

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 Dota 2 - Reborn
Dota 2 - Reborn
Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)GeForce GTX 470
Low - 720p
--
--
Medium - 768p
--
--
High - 1080p
--
--
Ultra - 1080p
--
64 FPS
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 HD 7870 (GHz Edition) orGeForce GTX 470
GPUFrames Per Second
Radeon R9 290X136+113%
Radeon R9 FURY130+103%
GeForce GTX 1050 Ti125+95%
GeForce GTX 1050116+81%
GeForce GTX 165092+44%
GeForce GTX 47064

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 7870 (GHz Edition) orGeForce GTX 470
GPUCost Per Frame
GeForce GTX 16601.23-77%
GeForce GTX 16501.62-70%
Radeon R9 280X2.18-60%
Radeon R9 290X4.04-26%
Radeon R9 FURY4.22-23%
GeForce GTX 4705.45

Benchmark Performance

#
Performance
Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)43% better
6,1946% of 104,937
GeForce GTX 470
4,3424% of 104,937

The Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition) has 43% better performance than the GeForce GTX 470 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition) is ranked 223rd with a score of 6,194, and the GeForce GTX 470 is ranked 263rd with a score of 4,342.

Performance per dollar
Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)43% better
17.7511% of 161.45
GeForce GTX 470
12.448% of 161.45

The Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition) has 43% better value for the money than the GeForce GTX 470 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition) is ranked 88th with a performance per dollar of 17.75, and the GeForce GTX 470 is ranked 92nd with a performance per dollar of 12.44.

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 7870 (GHz Edition) 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 7870 (GHz Edition) 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 7870 (GHz Edition)GeForce GTX 470
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
--
25,757
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
--
2,757.5
3DMark 11 Performance Score
6,190
(+31.2%)
4,718
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit
120.1
--
PassMark G3D Mark
4,641
(+49.37%)
3,107
PassMark G2D Mark
584
(+41.75%)
412
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 7870 (GHz Edition)GeForce GTX 470
CodenamePitcairnGF100
ArchitectureGCN 1.0Fermi
Process Size28 nm40 nm
Transistors2,800 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 7870 (GHz Edition)GeForce GTX 470
Memory Size2 GB1,280 MB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth153.6 Gb/s133.9 Gb/s
Memory Clock1,200 MHz837 MHz
Memory Interface256 bit320 bit
L1 Cache16 KB64 KB
L2 Cache512 KB640 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 7870 (GHz Edition)GeForce GTX 470
Slots2 slots2 slots
Bus InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)175 W215 W
Suggested PSU450 W550 W
Power Connectors2x 6-pin2x 6-pin
OutputsDVI, HDMI 1.4a, mini-DisplayPort 1.2DVI, 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 7870 (GHz Edition)GeForce GTX 470
Stream Processors (SP)1,280--
CUDA Cores--448
Compute Units (CU)20--
Stream Multiprocessors (SM)--14
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)8056
Render Output Units (ROP)3240
Core Clock Speed1,000 MHz607 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 7870 (GHz Edition)GeForce GTX 470
Pixel Fill Rate32 GPixel/s17.02 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate80 GTexel/s34.05 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance2.56 TFLOPS1,089 GFLOPS
FP64 Performance160 GFLOPS136.1 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 7870 (GHz Edition)GeForce GTX 470
DirectX12 (11_1)12 (11_0)
OpenCL2.1 (1.2)1.1
OpenGL4.64.6
Shader Model6.5 (5.1)5.1

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