Mobility Radeon HD 5850 vs Radeon HD 7970

When comparing Mobility Radeon HD 5850 and Radeon HD 7970, we look primarily at benchmarks and game tests. But it is not only about the numbers. Often you can find third-party models with higher clock speeds, better cooling, or a customizable RGB lighting. Not all of them will have all the features you need. Another thing to consider is the port selection. Most graphics cards have at least one DisplayPort and HDMI interface, but some monitors require DVI. Before you buy, check the TDP of the graphics card - this characteristic will help you estimate the consumption of the graphics card. You may even have to upgrade your PSU to meet its requirements. An important factor when choosing between Mobility Radeon HD 5850 and Radeon HD 7970 is the price. Does the additional cost justify the performance hit? Our comparison should help you make the right decision.

Mobility Radeon HD 5850 is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Mobility Radeon HD 5850 is only used in laptop graphics. It has lower GPU clock speed compared to the desktop variant, which results in lower power consumption, but also 10-30% lower gaming performance. Check available laptop models with Mobility Radeon HD 5850 here:

Main Specs

  Mobility Radeon HD 5850 Radeon HD 7970
Power consumption (TDP) 30 Watt 300 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
Memory type DDR3, GDDR3, GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 3 GB
Display Connectors No outputs 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 7970 has 900% more power consumption, than Mobility Radeon HD 5850.
  • Mobility Radeon HD 5850 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon HD 7970 uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • Radeon HD 7970 has 2 GB more memory, than Mobility Radeon HD 5850.
  • Mobility Radeon HD 5850 is used in Laptops, and Radeon HD 7970 - in Desktops.
  • Mobility Radeon HD 5850 is build with Terascale 2 architecture, and Radeon HD 7970 - with GCN.
  • Mobility Radeon HD 5850 is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 7970 - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Mobility Radeon HD 5850 is 625 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7970.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 5−6 35−40
ultra / 1080p 3−4 21−24
QHD / 1440p 0−1 16−18
4K / 2160p 10−11
low / 720p 14−16 60−65
medium / 1080p 7−8 40−45
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 7970 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 485% more, than Mobility Radeon HD 5850.

Full Specs

  Mobility Radeon HD 5850 Radeon HD 7970
Architecture Terascale 2 GCN
Code name Broadway-PRO Tahiti XT
Type Laptop Desktop
Release date 7 January 2010 22 December 2011
Pipelines 800 2048
Core clock speed 625 MHz
Boost Clock 925 MHz
Transistor count 1,040 million 4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 20.00 118.4
Floating-point performance 800.0 gflops 3,789 gflops
Length 274 mm
Memory bus width 128 Bit 384 Bit
Memory clock speed 2000 MHz 1375 MHz
Memory bandwidth 64 GB/s 264 GB/s
Shared memory - -
DirectX 11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model 5.0 5.1
OpenGL 4.4 4.6
OpenCL 1.2 1.2
Vulkan N/A
FreeSync +
Bus support PCIe 2.1 x16
HDMI +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 485 Mh/s
Laptop size large
Eyefinity +
Design reference
CrossFire +
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 20.71 Mh/s
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