GeForce GTX 480 vs Radeon HD 7870

When choosing between GeForce GTX 480 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 480 and Radeon HD 7870.

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 480 Radeon HD 7870
Power consumption (TDP) 250 Watt 175 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 6-pin & 8-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1536 MB 2 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x mini-HDMI
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  • GeForce GTX 480 has 42% more power consumption, than Radeon HD 7870.
  • GeForce GTX 480 has 1534 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 7870.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • GeForce GTX 480 is build with Fermi architecture, and Radeon HD 7870 - with GCN.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon HD 7870 is 300 MHz higher, than GeForce GTX 480.
  • GeForce GTX 480 is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 7870 - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 7870 is 2952 MHz higher, than GeForce GTX 480.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 21−24 24−27
ultra / 1080p 12−14 14−16
QHD / 1440p 6−7 9−10
4K / 2160p 5−6 6−7
low / 720p 40−45 45−50
medium / 1080p 24−27 30−33
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 7870 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 15% more, than GeForce GTX 480.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 480 Radeon HD 7870
Architecture Fermi GCN
Code name GF100 Pitcairn XT
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 7 December 2010 5 March 2012
Pipelines 480 1280
Core clock speed 700 MHz 1000 MHz
Transistor count 3,100 million 2800 Million
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 42 billion/sec
Floating-point performance 1,345.0 gflops
Length 10.5" (267 mm) (26.7 cm)
Memory bus width 384 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 1848 MHz (3696 data rate) 4800 MHz
Memory bandwidth 177.4 GB/s
Shared memory - -
DirectX 12 (11_0) DirectX 11.1, Shader 5.1
Shader Model 5.1
OpenGL 4.2
OpenCL 1.1
Vulkan N/A
CUDA +
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight) 0.39 kh/s
CUDA cores 480
Bus support 16x PCI-E 2.0
Height 4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
SLI options +
Multi monitor support +
HDMI +
HDCP +
Maximum VGA resolution 2048x1536
Audio input for HDMI Internal
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 117 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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