Radeon 550X vs Radeon HD 7870 XT

In this comparison between Radeon 550X 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 Radeon 550X will be the best choice, for others Radeon HD 7870 XT will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.
Radeon 550X
Radeon HD 7870 XT

Main Specs

  Radeon 550X Radeon HD 7870 XT
Power consumption (TDP) 50 Watt 185 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x8 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors None 2x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 2 GB
Display Connectors 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
 
  • Radeon HD 7870 XT has 270% more power consumption, than Radeon 550X.
  • Radeon 550X is connected by PCIe 3.0 x8, and Radeon HD 7870 XT uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • Radeon 550X and Radeon HD 7870 XT have maximum RAM of 2 GB.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • Radeon 550X is build with GCN 4.0 architecture, and Radeon HD 7870 XT - with GCN 1.0.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon 550X is 157 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7870 XT.
  • Radeon 550X is manufactured by 14 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 7870 XT - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Radeon HD 7870 XT is 122 mm longer, than Radeon 550X.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon 550X is 1000 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7870 XT.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 7−8 35−40
ultra / 1080p 4−5 21−24
QHD / 1440p 0−1 16−18
4K / 2160p 10−11
low / 720p 16−18 60−65
medium / 1080p 9−10 40−45
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 7870 XT in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 355% more, than Radeon 550X.

Full Specs

  Radeon 550X Radeon HD 7870 XT
Architecture GCN 4.0 GCN 1.0
Code name Lexa Tahiti
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 27 March 2019 19 November 2012
Pipelines 512 1536
Core clock speed 1082 MHz 925 MHz
Boost Clock 1218 MHz 975 MHz
Transistor count 2,200 million 4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology 14 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 38.98 93.60
Floating-point performance 2,995 gflops
Length 145 mm 267 mm
Memory bus width 128 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 7000 MHz 6000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 112.0 GB/s 192.0 GB/s
DirectX 12 (12_0) 12 (11_1)
Shader Model 6.4 5.1
OpenGL 4.6 4.6
OpenCL 2.0 1.2
Vulkan 1.2.131 1.2.131
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 346 Mh/s
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 14.5 Mh/s