GeForce GTX 680 vs Radeon HD 7870

In this comparison between GeForce GTX 680 and Radeon HD 7870 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 680 will be the best choice, for others Radeon HD 7870 will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 680 Radeon HD 7870
Power consumption (TDP) 195 Watt 175 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors Two 6-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 2048 MB 2 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
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  • GeForce GTX 680 has 11% more power consumption, than Radeon HD 7870.
  • GeForce GTX 680 has 2046 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 7870.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • GeForce GTX 680 is build with Kepler architecture, and Radeon HD 7870 - with GCN.
  • Core clock speed of GeForce GTX 680 is 6 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7870.
  • GeForce GTX 680 and Radeon HD 7870 are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of GeForce GTX 680 is 1200 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7870.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 35−40 24−27
ultra / 1080p 21−24 14−16
QHD / 1440p 16−18 9−10
4K / 2160p 10−11 6−7
low / 720p 60−65 45−50
medium / 1080p 40−45 30−33
The average gaming FPS of GeForce GTX 680 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 45% more, than Radeon HD 7870.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 680 Radeon HD 7870
Architecture Kepler GCN
Code name GK104 Pitcairn XT
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 22 March 2012 5 March 2012
Pipelines 1536 1280
Core clock speed 1006 MHz 1000 MHz
Boost Clock 1058 MHz
Transistor count 3,540 million 2800 Million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 128.8 billion/sec
Floating-point performance 3,090.4 gflops
Length 10.0" (25.4 cm)
Memory bus width 256-bit GDDR5 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 6000 MHz 4800 MHz
Memory bandwidth 192.2 GB/s
Shared memory - -
DirectX 12 (11_0) DirectX 11.1, Shader 5.1
Shader Model 5.1
OpenGL 4.2
OpenCL 1.2
Vulkan 1.1.126
CUDA +
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight) 0.39 kh/s
CUDA cores 1536
Bus support PCI Express 3.0
Height 4.376" (11.1 cm)
SLI options +
Multi monitor support 4 displays
HDMI +
HDCP +
Maximum VGA resolution 2048x1536
Audio input for HDMI Internal
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 121 Mh/s
Eyefinity +
Decred / DCR (Decred) 0.63 Gh/s
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 15 Mh/s 16.6 Mh/s
Zcash / ZEC (Equihash) 145 Sol/s
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