AMD Radeon HD 7970 vs AMD Radeon RX 470

VS
Performance
Radeon HD 7970
7,7707% of 104,598
Radeon RX 470127% better
17,624.517% of 104,598

The Radeon RX 470 has 127% better performance than the Radeon HD 7970 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
Radeon HD 7970
14.159% of 161.45
Radeon RX 470596% better
98.4661% of 161.45

The Radeon RX 470 has 596% better value for the money than the Radeon HD 7970 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

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Summary

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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.

About the AMD Radeon RX 470 GPU

The AMD Radeon RX 470 is a desktop graphics card that launched in Q3 2016 with a MSRP of $179. It is built on the GCN 4.0 GPU microarchitecture (codename Ellesmere) and is manufactured on a 14 nm process.

Memory

The RX 470 has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 1,650 MHz memory clock and a 256 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 211.2 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 RX 470 includes 2,048 stream processors (SPs), the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 926 MHz and can dynamically boost its clock speed up to 1,206 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 RX 470 occupies 2 PCIe expansion slots. It supports HDMI 2.0b, DisplayPort 1.4a display connections. AMD recommends a power supply of at least 300 W to handle the GPU's thermal design power (TDP) of 120 W.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The RX 470 has the 126th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 16.85% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 17,624.5 score and $179 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 98.46. This is the 16th 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 7970Radeon RX 470
ManufacturerAMDAMD
ArchitectureGCN 1.0GCN 4.0
Market SegmentDesktopDesktop
Release DateQ1 2012Q3 2016
Launch Price (MSRP)$549$179
Production StatusEnd-of-lifeActive
ShopCheck PriceCheck Price

Gaming Performance

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Select a game to compare FPS metrics

Display FPS for F1 2020
F1 2020
Display FPS for Dirt Rally 2.0
Dirt Rally 2.0
Display FPS for Far Cry New Dawn
Far Cry New Dawn
Display FPS for Strange Brigade
Strange Brigade
Display FPS for Assassin´s Creed Origins
Assassin´s Creed Origins
Display FPS for Fortnite
Fortnite
Display FPS for X-Plane 11
X-Plane 11

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 F1 2020
F1 2020
Radeon HD 7970Radeon RX 470
Low - 720p
--
--
Medium - 1080p
--
--
High - 1080p
--
--
Ultra - 1080p
--
74 FPS
QHD - 1440p
--
53 FPS
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 7970 orRadeon RX 470

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 7970 orRadeon RX 470

Benchmark Performance

#
Performance
Radeon HD 7970
7,7707% of 104,598
Radeon RX 470127% better
17,624.517% of 104,598

The Radeon RX 470 has 127% better performance than the Radeon HD 7970 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The Radeon HD 7970 is ranked 211th with a score of 7,770, and the Radeon RX 470 is ranked 126th with a score of 17,624.5.

Performance per dollar
Radeon HD 7970
14.159% of 161.45
Radeon RX 470596% better
98.4661% of 161.45

The Radeon RX 470 has 596% better value for the money than the Radeon HD 7970 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The Radeon HD 7970 is ranked 92nd with a performance per dollar of 14.15, and the Radeon RX 470 is ranked 16th with a performance per dollar of 98.46.

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 7970 or
GPUBenchmark Performance
Radeon R9 390X17,944+131%
Radeon RX 48017,919+131%
Radeon RX 47017,624.5+127%
GeForce GTX 98017,604.5+127%
Radeon R9 FURY17,543+126%
GeForce GTX 9508,351+7%
GeForce GTX 7607,962+2%
Radeon HD 79707,770
Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)6,194-20%
GeForce GTX 750 Ti5,378-31%

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 7970 or
GPUPerformance Per Dollar
GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER114.62+710%
Radeon RX 570112.23+693%
Radeon RX 47098.46+596%
GeForce GTX 166096.18+580%
GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER95.98+578%
Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)17.75+25%
Radeon HD 687017.65+25%
Radeon HD 797014.15
GeForce GTX 59013.11-7%
GeForce GTX 47012.44-12%

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 7970Radeon RX 470
3DMark Time Spy Graphics
--
3,624
3DMark Time Spy Score
--
3,756
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
43,795
68,475
(+56.35%)
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
6,862
11,884.5
(+73.19%)
3DMark 11 Performance Score
7,323
13,831.5
(+88.88%)
PassMark G3D Mark
5,248
8,004
(+52.52%)
PassMark G2D Mark
738
(+1.1%)
730
Unigine Heaven 3.0 DirectX 11
77.8
--
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 7970Radeon RX 470
CodenameTahitiEllesmere
ArchitectureGCN 1.0GCN 4.0
Process Size28 nm14 nm
Transistors4,313 million5,700 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 7970Radeon RX 470
Memory Size3 GB4 GB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth264 Gb/s211.2 Gb/s
Memory Clock1,375 MHz1,650 MHz
Memory Interface384 bit256 bit
L1 Cache16 KB16 KB
L2 Cache768 KB2 MB

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 7970Radeon RX 470
Slots2 slots2 slots
Bus InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)250 W120 W
Suggested PSU600 W300 W
Power Connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin1x 6-pin
OutputsDVI, HDMI 1.4a, mini-DisplayPort 1.2HDMI 2.0b, DisplayPort 1.4a

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 7970Radeon RX 470
Stream Processors (SP)2,0482,048
Compute Units (CU)3232
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)128128
Render Output Units (ROP)3232
Core Clock Speed925 MHz926 MHz
Core Clock Speed (Boost)--1,206 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 7970Radeon RX 470
Pixel Fill Rate29.6 GPixel/s38.59 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate118.4 GTexel/s154.4 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance3.79 TFLOPS4.94 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance947.2 GFLOPS308.7 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 7970Radeon RX 470
DirectX12 (11_1)12 (12_0)
OpenCL2.1 (1.2)2.1
OpenGL4.64.6
Shader Model6.5 (5.1)6.7

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