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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 vs AMD Radeon HD 6870

NVIDIA
VS
AMD
Performance
GeForce GTX 4703% better
4,3424% of 104,937
Radeon HD 6870
4,2184% of 104,937

The GeForce GTX 470 has 3% better performance than the Radeon HD 6870 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 470
12.448% of 161.45
Radeon HD 687042% better
17.6511% of 161.45

The Radeon HD 6870 has 42% 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

About the AMD Radeon HD 6870 GPU

The Radeon HD 6870 is an end-of-life desktop graphics card by AMD. It launched in Q4 2010 with a suggested retail price of $239. Its Barts chip that powers the GPU uses the TeraScale 2 architecture and is fabricated on the 40 nm process.

This GPU is paired with 1,024 MB of GDDR5 VRAM. Its 1,050 MHz memory clock and 256 bit interface gives it a bandwidth of 134.4 Gb/s. This impacts how much data it can store, and how fast it transfers the data to and from memory.

The HD 6870 is a dual slot graphics card, taking up 2 PCIe slots. It supports DVI, HDMI 1.3a, mini-DisplayPort 1.1 display ports. This desktop card has a TDP of 151 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.

The Radeon HD 6870 has the 266th highest 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 540 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 4.02% 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 89th 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.

InfoGeForce GTX 470Radeon HD 6870
ManufacturerNVIDIAAMD
ArchitectureFermiTeraScale 2
Market SegmentDesktopDesktop
Release DateQ1 2010Q4 2010
Launch Price (MSRP)$349$239
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 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 Dota 2 - Reborn
Dota 2 - Reborn
GeForce GTX 470Radeon HD 6870
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:GeForce GTX 470 orRadeon HD 6870
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:GeForce GTX 470 orRadeon HD 6870
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

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Performance
GeForce GTX 4703% better
4,3424% of 104,937
Radeon HD 6870
4,2184% of 104,937

The GeForce GTX 470 has 3% better performance than the Radeon HD 6870 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The GeForce GTX 470 is ranked 263rd with a score of 4,342, and the Radeon HD 6870 is ranked 266th with a score of 4,218.

Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 470
12.448% of 161.45
Radeon HD 687042% better
17.6511% of 161.45

The Radeon HD 6870 has 42% better value for the money than the GeForce GTX 470 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The GeForce GTX 470 is ranked 92nd with a performance per dollar of 12.44, and the Radeon HD 6870 is ranked 89th with a performance per dollar of 17.65.

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:GeForce GTX 470 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:GeForce GTX 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
BenchmarkGeForce GTX 470Radeon HD 6870
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
25,757
26,437
(+2.64%)
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
2,757.5
3,141
(+13.91%)
3DMark 11 Performance Score
4,718
(+3.75%)
4,547.5
PassMark G3D Mark
3,107
(+40.02%)
2,219
PassMark G2D Mark
412
(+1.48%)
406
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.

SpecGeForce GTX 470Radeon HD 6870
CodenameGF100Barts
ArchitectureFermiTeraScale 2
Process Size40 nm40 nm
Transistors3,100 million1,700 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.

SpecGeForce GTX 470Radeon HD 6870
Memory Size1,280 MB1,024 MB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth133.9 Gb/s134.4 Gb/s
Memory Clock837 MHz1,050 MHz
Memory Interface320 bit256 bit
L1 Cache64 KB8 KB
L2 Cache640 KB512 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.

SpecGeForce GTX 470Radeon HD 6870
Slots2 slots2 slots
Bus InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)215 W151 W
Suggested PSU550 W450 W
Power Connectors2x 6-pin2x 6-pin
OutputsDVI, mini-HDMI 1.3aDVI, HDMI 1.3a, mini-DisplayPort 1.1

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.

SpecGeForce GTX 470Radeon HD 6870
Stream Processors (SP)--1,120
CUDA Cores448--
Compute Units (CU)--14
Stream Multiprocessors (SM)14--
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)5656
Render Output Units (ROP)4032
Core Clock Speed607 MHz900 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.

SpecGeForce GTX 470Radeon HD 6870
Pixel Fill Rate17.02 GPixel/s28.8 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate34.05 GTexel/s50.4 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance1,089 GFLOPS2.02 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance136.1 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.

SpecGeForce GTX 470Radeon HD 6870
DirectX12 (11_0)11.2 (11_0)
OpenCL1.11.2
OpenGL4.64.4
Shader Model5.15.0

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