AMD Radeon RX 470 vs AMD Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)

VS
Performance
Radeon RX 470185% better
17,624.517% of 104,737
Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)
6,1946% of 104,737

The Radeon RX 470 has 185% better performance than the Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition) for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
Radeon RX 470455% better
98.4661% of 161.45
Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)
17.7511% of 161.45

The Radeon RX 470 has 455% better value for the money than the Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition) for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

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Summary

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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 16.83% 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.

About the AMD Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition) GPU

The AMD Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition) is an end-of-life desktop graphics card that released in Q1 2012 with a MSRP of $349. It is built on the GCN 1.0 GPU microarchitecture (codename Pitcairn) and is manufactured on a 28 nm process.

Memory

The HD 7870 has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 1,200 MHz memory clock and a 256 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 153.6 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 7870 includes 1,280 stream processors (SPs), the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 1,000 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 80 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 32 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The HD 7870 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 450 W to handle the GPU's thermal design power (TDP) of 175 W.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The HD 7870 has the 226th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 5.91% 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 90th 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 RX 470Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)
ManufacturerAMDAMD
ArchitectureGCN 4.0GCN 1.0
Market SegmentDesktopDesktop
Release DateQ3 2016Q1 2012
Launch Price (MSRP)$179$349
Production StatusActiveEnd-of-life
ShopCheck PriceCheck Price

Gaming Performance

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Select a game to compare FPS metrics

Display FPS for F1 2020
F1 2020
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Dirt Rally 2.0
Display FPS for Far Cry New Dawn
Far Cry New Dawn
Display FPS for Strange Brigade
Strange Brigade
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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 RX 470Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)
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 RX 470 orRadeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)

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 RX 470 orRadeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)

Benchmark Performance

#
Performance
Radeon RX 470185% better
17,624.517% of 104,737
Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)
6,1946% of 104,737

The Radeon RX 470 has 185% better performance than the Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition) for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The Radeon RX 470 is ranked 126th with a score of 17,624.5, and the Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition) is ranked 226th with a score of 6,194.

Performance per dollar
Radeon RX 470455% better
98.4661% of 161.45
Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)
17.7511% of 161.45

The Radeon RX 470 has 455% better value for the money than the Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition) for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The Radeon RX 470 is ranked 16th with a performance per dollar of 98.46, and the Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition) is ranked 90th with a performance per dollar of 17.75.

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 RX 470 or
GPUBenchmark Performance
Radeon R9 390X17,944+2%
Radeon RX 48017,919+2%
Radeon RX 47017,624.5
GeForce GTX 98017,604.5-0%
Radeon R9 FURY17,543-0%
GeForce GTX 7607,962-55%
Radeon HD 79707,770-56%
Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)6,194-65%
GeForce GTX 750 Ti5,378-69%
GeForce GTX 4805,014-72%

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 RX 470 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 RX 470Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)
3DMark Time Spy Graphics
3,624
--
3DMark Time Spy Score
3,756
--
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
68,475
--
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
11,884.5
--
3DMark 11 Performance Score
13,831.5
(+123.45%)
6,190
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit
--
120.1
PassMark G3D Mark
8,006
(+72.73%)
4,635
PassMark G2D Mark
717
(+19.7%)
599
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 RX 470Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)
CodenameEllesmerePitcairn
ArchitectureGCN 4.0GCN 1.0
Process Size14 nm28 nm
Transistors5,700 million2,800 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 RX 470Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)
Memory Size4 GB2 GB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth211.2 Gb/s153.6 Gb/s
Memory Clock1,650 MHz1,200 MHz
Memory Interface256 bit256 bit
L1 Cache16 KB16 KB
L2 Cache2 MB512 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 RX 470Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)
Slots2 slots2 slots
Bus InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)120 W175 W
Suggested PSU300 W450 W
Power Connectors1x 6-pin2x 6-pin
OutputsHDMI 2.0b, DisplayPort 1.4aDVI, 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 RX 470Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)
Stream Processors (SP)2,0481,280
Compute Units (CU)3220
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)12880
Render Output Units (ROP)3232
Core Clock Speed926 MHz1,000 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 RX 470Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)
Pixel Fill Rate38.59 GPixel/s32 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate154.4 GTexel/s80 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance4.94 TFLOPS2.56 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance308.7 GFLOPS160 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 RX 470Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)
DirectX12 (12_0)12 (11_1)
OpenCL2.12.1 (1.2)
OpenGL4.64.6
Shader Model6.76.5 (5.1)

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