GeForce GTX 260 vs Radeon HD 7870

When choosing between GeForce GTX 260 and Radeon HD 7870, 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 GeForce GTX 260 and Radeon HD 7870.

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 260 Radeon HD 7870
Power consumption (TDP) 182 Watt 175 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 2x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR3 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 896 MB 2 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x S-Video
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  • GeForce GTX 260 has 4% more power consumption, than Radeon HD 7870.
  • GeForce GTX 260 has 894 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 7870.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • GeForce GTX 260 is build with Tesla 2.0 architecture, and Radeon HD 7870 - with GCN.
  • Core clock speed of GeForce GTX 260 is 242 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7870.
  • GeForce GTX 260 is manufactured by 65 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 7870 - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 7870 is 3801 MHz higher, than GeForce GTX 260.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 3−4 24−27
ultra / 1080p 1−2 14−16
QHD / 1440p 0−1 9−10
4K / 2160p 6−7
low / 720p 14−16 45−50
medium / 1080p 5−6 30−33
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 7870 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 383% more, than GeForce GTX 260.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 260 Radeon HD 7870
Architecture Tesla 2.0 GCN
Code name GT200 Pitcairn XT
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 16 June 2008 5 March 2012
Pipelines 192 1280
Core clock speed 1242 MHz 1000 MHz
Transistor count 1,400 million 2800 Million
Manufacturing process technology 65 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 36.9 billion/sec
Floating-point performance 476.9 gflops
Length 10.5" (267 mm) (26.7 cm)
Memory bus width 448 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 999 MHz 4800 MHz
Memory bandwidth 111.9 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 11.1 (10_0) DirectX 11.1, Shader 5.1
Shader Model 4.0
OpenGL 2.1
OpenCL 1.1
Vulkan N/A
CUDA +
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight) 0.39 kh/s
CUDA cores 192
Height 4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
SLI options +
Multi monitor support +
HDMI +
Maximum VGA resolution 2048x1536
Audio input for HDMI S/PDIF
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 30 Mh/s
Eyefinity +
Decred / DCR (Decred) 0.63 Gh/s
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 16.6 Mh/s
Zcash / ZEC (Equihash) 145 Sol/s
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