Radeon HD 5850 vs Radeon HD 8970M

When choosing between Radeon HD 5850 and Radeon HD 8970M, it is worth examining the specifications of the models in detail. Do they meet the recommended requirements of modern games and software? Storage capacity, form factor, TDP, available ports, warranty and manufacturer support are all important. For example, the size of a PC case can limit the maximum thickness and length of the card. Often, instead of the factory overclocked card and RGB backlight, it is better to choose a reference model with a more efficient GPU. And make sure that your current power supply unit has the correct connection pins (using adapters is not recommended). This GPUs compare tool is meant to help you to choose the best graphics card for your build. Let's find out the difference between Radeon HD 5850 and Radeon HD 8970M.

Radeon HD 8970M is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon HD 8970M 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 HD 8970M here:

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 5850 Radeon HD 8970M
Power consumption (TDP) 151 Watt 100 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 2x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 4 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort No outputs
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  • Radeon HD 5850 has 51% more power consumption, than Radeon HD 8970M.
  • Radeon HD 5850 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon HD 8970M uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • Radeon HD 8970M has 3 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 5850.
  • Radeon HD 5850 is used in Desktops, and Radeon HD 8970M - in Laptops.
  • Radeon HD 5850 is build with Terascale 2 architecture, and Radeon HD 8970M - with GCN.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon HD 8970M is 125 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 5850.
  • Radeon HD 5850 is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 8970M - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 8970M is 2800 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 5850.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 9−10 20−22
ultra / 1080p 5−6 12−14
QHD / 1440p 0−1 6−7
4K / 2160p 5−6
low / 720p 21−24 35−40
medium / 1080p 12−14 24−27
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 8970M in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 100% more, than Radeon HD 5850.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 5850 Radeon HD 8970M
Architecture Terascale 2 GCN
Code name Cypress Neptune
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 30 September 2009 15 May 2013
Pipelines 1440 1280
Core clock speed 725 MHz 850 MHz
Boost Clock 900 MHz
Transistor count 2,154 million 2,800 million
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 52.20 72.00
Floating-point performance 2,088.0 gflops 2,304 gflops
Length 241 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 2000 MHz 4800 MHz
Memory bandwidth 128.0 GB/s 153.6 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 11.2 (11_0) 12 (11_1)
Shader Model 5.0 5.1
OpenGL 4.4 4.6
OpenCL 1.2 1.2
Vulkan N/A 1.2.131
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 273 Mh/s
Laptop size large
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