GeForce GTX 480 vs Radeon HD 7870 XT

In this comparison between GeForce GTX 480 and Radeon HD 7870 XT 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 480 will be the best choice, for others Radeon HD 7870 XT will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 480 Radeon HD 7870 XT
Power consumption (TDP) 250 Watt 185 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 6-pin & 8-pin 2x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1536 MB 2 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x mini-HDMI 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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  • GeForce GTX 480 has 35% more power consumption, than Radeon HD 7870 XT.
  • GeForce GTX 480 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon HD 7870 XT uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • GeForce GTX 480 has 1534 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 7870 XT.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • GeForce GTX 480 is build with Fermi architecture, and Radeon HD 7870 XT - with GCN 1.0.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon HD 7870 XT is 225 MHz higher, than GeForce GTX 480.
  • GeForce GTX 480 is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 7870 XT - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Radeon HD 7870 XT is 257 mm longer, than GeForce GTX 480.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 7870 XT is 4152 MHz higher, than GeForce GTX 480.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 21−24 35−40
ultra / 1080p 12−14 21−24
QHD / 1440p 6−7 16−18
4K / 2160p 5−6 10−11
low / 720p 40−45 60−65
medium / 1080p 24−27 40−45
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 7870 XT in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 68% more, than GeForce GTX 480.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 480 Radeon HD 7870 XT
Architecture Fermi GCN 1.0
Code name GF100 Tahiti
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 7 December 2010 19 November 2012
Pipelines 480 1536
Core clock speed 700 MHz 925 MHz
Boost Clock 975 MHz
Transistor count 3,100 million 4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 42 billion/sec 93.60
Floating-point performance 1,345.0 gflops 2,995 gflops
Length 10.5" (267 mm) (26.7 cm) 267 mm
Memory bus width 384 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 1848 MHz (3696 data rate) 6000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 177.4 GB/s 192.0 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 12 (11_0) 12 (11_1)
Shader Model 5.1 5.1
OpenGL 4.2 4.6
OpenCL 1.1 1.2
Vulkan N/A 1.2.131
CUDA +
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
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