Radeon HD 5870 vs Radeon HD 7870 XT

In this comparison between Radeon HD 5870 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 HD 5870 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

  Radeon HD 5870 Radeon HD 7870 XT
Power consumption (TDP) 188 Watt 185 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 2x 6-pin 2x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 2 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 5870 has 1% more power consumption, than Radeon HD 7870 XT.
  • Radeon HD 5870 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon HD 7870 XT uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • Radeon HD 7870 XT has 1 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 5870.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • Radeon HD 5870 is build with TeraScale 2 architecture, and Radeon HD 7870 XT - with GCN 1.0.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon HD 7870 XT is 75 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 5870.
  • Radeon HD 5870 is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 7870 XT - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Radeon HD 5870 is 15 mm longer, than Radeon HD 7870 XT.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 7870 XT is 1200 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 5870.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 10−12 35−40
ultra / 1080p 6−7 21−24
QHD / 1440p 1−2 16−18
4K / 2160p 10−11
low / 720p 24−27 60−65
medium / 1080p 14−16 40−45
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 7870 XT in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 227% more, than Radeon HD 5870.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 5870 Radeon HD 7870 XT
Architecture TeraScale 2 GCN 1.0
Code name Cypress Tahiti
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 23 September 2009 19 November 2012
Pipelines 1600 1536
Core clock speed 850 MHz 925 MHz
Boost Clock 975 MHz
Transistor count 2,154 million 4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 68.00 93.60
Floating-point performance 2,720.0 gflops 2,995 gflops
Length 282 mm 267 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 4800 MHz 6000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 153.6 GB/s 192.0 GB/s
DirectX 11.2 (11_0) 12 (11_1)
Shader Model 5.0 5.1
OpenGL 4.4 4.6
OpenCL 1.2 1.2
Vulkan N/A 1.2.131
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 346 Mh/s
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 14.5 Mh/s
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