Radeon HD 4870 vs Radeon R7 M270

In this comparison between Radeon HD 4870 and Radeon R7 M270 you will find out which graphics card performs better in today's games. Bear in mind that third-party versions may have more efficient cooling and higher clock speeds. This will increase cards' performance, though not by much. In addition to raw power you should also take into account the dimensions. Thicker models simply will not fit into a small mini-ITX case. The resolution of your monitor also affects the choice, since 4K gameplay requires a more powerful GPU. And don't overspend on the graphics card. Other parts of your build may also need to be upgraded, save some money for the CPU or power supply. For some people Radeon HD 4870 will be the best choice, for others Radeon R7 M270 will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Radeon R7 M270 is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon R7 M270 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 Radeon R7 M270 here:

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 4870 Radeon R7 M270
Power consumption (TDP) 150 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x8
Supplementary power connectors 2x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR5 Not Listed
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x S-Video No outputs
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  • Radeon HD 4870 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon R7 M270 uses PCIe 3.0 x8 interface.
  • Radeon HD 4870 is used in Desktops, and Radeon R7 M270 - in Laptops.
  • Radeon HD 4870 is build with TeraScale architecture, and Radeon R7 M270 - with GCN.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon R7 M270 is 75 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 4870.
  • Radeon HD 4870 is manufactured by 55 nm process technology, and Radeon R7 M270 - by 28 nm process technology.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 3−4 0−1
ultra / 1080p 1−2
QHD / 1440p 0−1 0−1
low / 720p 14−16 1−2
medium / 1080p 6−7 0−1
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 4870 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 1400% more, than Radeon R7 M270.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 4870 Radeon R7 M270
Architecture TeraScale GCN
Code name RV770 Opal XT / Mars
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 25 June 2008 7 January 2014
Pipelines 800 384
Core clock speed 750 MHz 825 MHz
Transistor count 956 million 950 million
Manufacturing process technology 55 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 30.00 19.80
Floating-point performance 1,200.0 gflops 633.6 gflops
Length 250 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 3600 MHz
Memory bandwidth 115.2 GB/s 28.8 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 10.1 (10_1)
Shader Model 4.1 5.1
OpenGL 3.3 4.4
OpenCL 1.1 Not Listed
Vulkan N/A
FreeSync +
Bus support PCIe 3.0
Laptop size medium sized
HD3D +
PowerTune +
DualGraphics +
ZeroCore +
Switchable graphics +
Mantle +
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