GeForce GTX 970M vs Radeon HD 7850

In this comparison between GeForce GTX 970M and Radeon HD 7850 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 GeForce GTX 970M will be the best choice, for others Radeon HD 7850 will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

GeForce GTX 970M is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: GeForce GTX 970M 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 GeForce GTX 970M here:

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 970M Radeon HD 7850
Power consumption (TDP) 225 Watt
Interface MXM-B (3.0) PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors None 1x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 6 GB 2 GB
Display Connectors No outputs 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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  • GeForce GTX 970M is connected by MXM-B (3.0), and Radeon HD 7850 uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • GeForce GTX 970M has 4 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 7850.
  • GeForce GTX 970M is used in Laptops, and Radeon HD 7850 - in Desktops.
  • GeForce GTX 970M is build with Maxwell architecture, and Radeon HD 7850 - with GCN 1.0.
  • GeForce GTX 970M and Radeon HD 7850 are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of GeForce GTX 970M is 1300 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7850.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 35−40 18−20
ultra / 1080p 21−24 10−12
QHD / 1440p 16−18 5−6
4K / 2160p 10−11 4−5
low / 720p 60−65 35−40
medium / 1080p 40−45 24−27
The average gaming FPS of GeForce GTX 970M in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 88% more, than Radeon HD 7850.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 970M Radeon HD 7850
Architecture Maxwell GCN 1.0
Code name GM204 Pitcairn
Type Laptop Desktop
Release date 7 October 2014 5 March 2012
Pipelines 1280 1024
Core clock speed 924 MHz
Boost Clock 1038 MHz 1000 MHz
Transistor count 5,200 million 2,800 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 83.04 55.04
Floating-point performance 2,657 gflops 1,761 gflops
Length 210 mm
Memory bus width 192 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 2500 MHz 1200 MHz
Memory bandwidth 120 GB/s 153.6 GB/s
Shared memory -
G-SYNC support +
DirectX 12 (12_1)
Shader Model 6.4 5.1
OpenGL 4.5 4.6
OpenCL 1.1 1.2
Vulkan 1.1.126
CUDA +
FreeSync +
CUDA cores 1280
Bus support PCI Express 3.0 PCIe 2.1 x16
SLI options +
HDMI + +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 314 Mh/s 249 Mh/s
Laptop size large
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support +
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder +
Optimus +
Eyefinity +
Design reference
CrossFire +
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 12.5 Mh/s
GameStream +
GeForce ShadowPlay +
GPU Boost 2.0
GameWorks +
BatteryBoost +
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