Radeon HD 7870 vs Radeon HD 7970

When choosing between Radeon HD 7870 and Radeon HD 7970, 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 Radeon HD 7870 and Radeon HD 7970.

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 7870 Radeon HD 7970
Power consumption (TDP) 175 Watt 300 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 3 GB
Display Connectors 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 7970 has 71% more power consumption, than Radeon HD 7870.
  • Radeon HD 7970 has 1 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 7870.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • Radeon HD 7870 and Radeon HD 7970 are build with GCN architecture.
  • Radeon HD 7870 and Radeon HD 7970 are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 7870 is 3425 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7970.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 24−27 35−40
ultra / 1080p 14−16 21−24
QHD / 1440p 9−10 16−18
4K / 2160p 6−7 10−11
low / 720p 45−50 60−65
medium / 1080p 30−33 40−45
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 7970 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 45% more, than Radeon HD 7870.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 7870 Radeon HD 7970
Architecture GCN GCN
Code name Pitcairn XT Tahiti XT
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 5 March 2012 22 December 2011
Pipelines 1280 2048
Core clock speed 1000 MHz
Boost Clock 925 MHz
Transistor count 2800 Million 4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 118.4
Floating-point performance 3,789 gflops
Length 274 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 384 Bit
Memory clock speed 4800 MHz 1375 MHz
Memory bandwidth 264 GB/s
Shared memory - -
DirectX DirectX 11.1, Shader 5.1
Shader Model 5.1
OpenGL 4.6
OpenCL 1.2
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight) 0.39 kh/s
FreeSync +
Bus support PCIe 2.1 x16
HDMI +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 485 Mh/s
Eyefinity + +
Design reference
CrossFire +
Decred / DCR (Decred) 0.63 Gh/s
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 16.6 Mh/s 20.71 Mh/s
Zcash / ZEC (Equihash) 145 Sol/s
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