NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 vs AMD Radeon HD 6870

VS
Performance
GeForce GTX 48019% better
5,0145% of 104,598
Radeon HD 6870
4,2184% 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
GeForce GTX 480
10.056% of 161.45
Radeon HD 687076% better
17.6511% 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 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.

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.

General Info

General overview of the GPU, including details like its manufacturer, release date, launch price, and current production status.

InfoGeForce GTX 480Radeon HD 6870
ManufacturerNVIDIAAMD
ArchitectureFermiTeraScale 2
Market SegmentDesktopDesktop
Release DateQ1 2010Q4 2010
Launch Price (MSRP)$499$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 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
GeForce GTX 480Radeon HD 6870
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:GeForce GTX 480 orRadeon HD 6870
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:GeForce GTX 480 orRadeon HD 6870

Benchmark Performance

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

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

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

Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 480
10.056% of 161.45
Radeon HD 687076% better
17.6511% 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 GeForce GTX 480 is ranked 101st with a performance per dollar of 10.05, and the Radeon HD 6870 is ranked 91st 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 480 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 480 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 480Radeon HD 6870
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
--
26,437
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
--
3,141
3DMark 11 Performance Score
4,982
(+9.55%)
4,547.5
PassMark G3D Mark
4,107
(+85.33%)
2,216
PassMark G2D Mark
450
(+9.22%)
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.

SpecGeForce GTX 480Radeon 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 480Radeon HD 6870
Memory Size1,536 MB1,024 MB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth177.4 Gb/s134.4 Gb/s
Memory Clock924 MHz1,050 MHz
Memory Interface384 bit256 bit
L1 Cache64 KB8 KB
L2 Cache768 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 480Radeon HD 6870
Slots2 slots2 slots
Bus InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)250 W151 W
Suggested PSU600 W450 W
Power Connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-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 480Radeon HD 6870
Stream Processors (SP)--1,120
CUDA Cores480--
Compute Units (CU)--14
Stream Multiprocessors (SM)15--
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)6056
Render Output Units (ROP)4832
Core Clock Speed700 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 480Radeon HD 6870
Pixel Fill Rate21.03 GPixel/s28.8 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate42.06 GTexel/s50.4 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance1,345 GFLOPS2.02 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance168.1 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 480Radeon 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.