Radeon HD 7850 vs Radeon HD 7970M

In this comparison between Radeon HD 7850 and Radeon HD 7970M 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 7850 will be the best choice, for others Radeon HD 7970M will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Radeon HD 7970M is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon HD 7970M 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 7970M here:

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 7850 Radeon HD 7970M
Power consumption (TDP) 225 Watt 100 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 MXM-B (3.0)
Supplementary power connectors 1x 6-pin None
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 2 GB
Display Connectors 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort No outputs
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  • Radeon HD 7850 has 125% more power consumption, than Radeon HD 7970M.
  • Radeon HD 7850 is connected by PCIe 3.0 x16, and Radeon HD 7970M uses MXM-B (3.0) interface.
  • Radeon HD 7850 and Radeon HD 7970M have maximum RAM of 2 GB.
  • Radeon HD 7850 is used in Desktops, and Radeon HD 7970M - in Laptops.
  • Radeon HD 7850 is build with GCN 1.0 architecture, and Radeon HD 7970M - with GCN.
  • Radeon HD 7850 and Radeon HD 7970M are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 7970M is 3600 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7850.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 18−20 18−20
ultra / 1080p 10−12 10−12
QHD / 1440p 5−6 5−6
4K / 2160p 4−5 4−5
low / 720p 35−40 35−40
medium / 1080p 24−27 21−24
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 7850 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 6% more, than Radeon HD 7970M.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 7850 Radeon HD 7970M
Architecture GCN 1.0 GCN
Code name Pitcairn Wimbledon XT
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 5 March 2012 1 May 2012
Pipelines 1024 1280
Core clock speed 850 MHz
Boost Clock 1000 MHz
Transistor count 2,800 million 2,800 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 55.04 68.00
Floating-point performance 1,761 gflops 2,176 gflops
Length 210 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 1200 MHz 4800 MHz
Memory bandwidth 153.6 GB/s 153.6 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 12 (11_1)
Shader Model 5.1 5.1
OpenGL 4.6 4.6
OpenCL 1.2 1.2
Vulkan 1.2.131
FreeSync +
Bus support PCIe 2.1 x16
HDMI +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 249 Mh/s 254 Mh/s
Laptop size large
Eyefinity +
Design reference
CrossFire +
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 12.5 Mh/s
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