Radeon HD 5970 vs Radeon RX 560

In this comparison between Radeon HD 5970 and Radeon RX 560 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 5970 will be the best choice, for others Radeon RX 560 will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 5970 Radeon RX 560
Power consumption (TDP) 294 Watt 75 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x8
Supplementary power connectors 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin None
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 4 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x mini-DisplayPort 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 5970 has 292% more power consumption, than Radeon RX 560.
  • Radeon HD 5970 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon RX 560 uses PCIe 3.0 x8 interface.
  • Radeon RX 560 has 3 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 5970.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • Radeon HD 5970 is build with TeraScale 2 architecture, and Radeon RX 560 - with GCN 4.0.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon RX 560 is 450 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 5970.
  • Radeon HD 5970 is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon RX 560 - by 14 nm process technology.
  • Radeon HD 5970 is 135 mm longer, than Radeon RX 560.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon RX 560 is 3000 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 5970.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 10−12 18−20
ultra / 1080p 6−7 10−12
QHD / 1440p 1−2 5−6
4K / 2160p 4−5
low / 720p 24−27 35−40
medium / 1080p 14−16 21−24
The average gaming FPS of Radeon RX 560 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 72% more, than Radeon HD 5970.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 5970 Radeon RX 560
Architecture TeraScale 2 GCN 4.0
Code name Hemlock Polaris 21
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 18 November 2009 18 April 2017
Pipelines 1600 1024
Core clock speed 725 MHz 1175 MHz
Boost Clock 1275 MHz
Transistor count 2,154 million 3,000 million
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 14 nm
Texture fill rate 58.00 81.60
Floating-point performance 2x 2,320.0 gflops 2,611 gflops
Length 305 mm 170 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 4000 MHz 7000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 128.0 GB/s 112.0 GB/s
DirectX 11.2 (11_0) 12 (12_0)
Shader Model 5.0 6.4
OpenGL 4.4 4.6
OpenCL 1.2 2.0
Vulkan N/A 1.2.131
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