GeForce GTX 260 vs Radeon HD 7870 XT

Find out if it is worth upgrading your current GPU setup by comparing GeForce GTX 260 and Radeon HD 7870 XT. Here you can take a closer look at graphics cards specs, such as core clock speed, memory type and size, display connectors, etc. The price, overall benchmark and gaming performances are usually defining factors when it comes to choosing between GeForce GTX 260 and Radeon HD 7870 XT. Make sure that the graphics card has compatible dimensions and will properly fit in your new or current computer case. Also these graphics cards may have different system power recommendations, so take that into consideration and upgrade your PSU if necessary.

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 260 Radeon HD 7870 XT
Power consumption (TDP) 182 Watt 185 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 2x 6-pin 2x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR3 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 896 MB 2 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x S-Video 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 7870 XT has 1% more power consumption, than GeForce GTX 260.
  • GeForce GTX 260 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon HD 7870 XT uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • GeForce GTX 260 has 894 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 7870 XT.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • GeForce GTX 260 is build with Tesla 2.0 architecture, and Radeon HD 7870 XT - with GCN 1.0.
  • Core clock speed of GeForce GTX 260 is 317 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7870 XT.
  • GeForce GTX 260 is manufactured by 65 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 7870 XT - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Radeon HD 7870 XT is 257 mm longer, than GeForce GTX 260.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 7870 XT is 5001 MHz higher, than GeForce GTX 260.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 3−4 35−40
ultra / 1080p 1−2 21−24
QHD / 1440p 0−1 16−18
4K / 2160p 10−11
low / 720p 14−16 60−65
medium / 1080p 5−6 40−45
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 7870 XT in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 583% more, than GeForce GTX 260.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 260 Radeon HD 7870 XT
Architecture Tesla 2.0 GCN 1.0
Code name GT200 Tahiti
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 16 June 2008 19 November 2012
Pipelines 192 1536
Core clock speed 1242 MHz 925 MHz
Boost Clock 975 MHz
Transistor count 1,400 million 4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology 65 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 36.9 billion/sec 93.60
Floating-point performance 476.9 gflops 2,995 gflops
Length 10.5" (267 mm) (26.7 cm) 267 mm
Memory bus width 448 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 999 MHz 6000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 111.9 GB/s 192.0 GB/s
DirectX 11.1 (10_0) 12 (11_1)
Shader Model 4.0 5.1
OpenGL 2.1 4.6
OpenCL 1.1 1.2
Vulkan N/A 1.2.131
CUDA +
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 346 Mh/s
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 14.5 Mh/s
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