Radeon HD 7870 XT vs Radeon HD 7970

Find out if it is worth upgrading your current GPU setup by comparing Radeon HD 7870 XT and Radeon HD 7970. 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 Radeon HD 7870 XT and Radeon HD 7970. 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

  Radeon HD 7870 XT Radeon HD 7970
Power consumption (TDP) 185 Watt 300 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 2x 6-pin 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 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 7970 has 62% more power consumption, than Radeon HD 7870 XT.
  • Both video cards are using PCIe 3.0 x16 interface connection to a motherboard.
  • Radeon HD 7970 has 1 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 7870 XT.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • Radeon HD 7870 XT is build with GCN 1.0 architecture, and Radeon HD 7970 - with GCN.
  • Radeon HD 7870 XT and Radeon HD 7970 are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Radeon HD 7970 is 7 mm longer, than Radeon HD 7870 XT.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 7870 XT is 4625 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7970.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 35−40 35−40
ultra / 1080p 21−24 21−24
QHD / 1440p 16−18 16−18
4K / 2160p 10−11 10−11
low / 720p 60−65 60−65
medium / 1080p 40−45 40−45
Radeon HD 7870 XT and Radeon HD 7970 have the same average FPS in Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 7870 XT Radeon HD 7970
Architecture GCN 1.0 GCN
Code name Tahiti Tahiti XT
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 19 November 2012 22 December 2011
Pipelines 1536 2048
Core clock speed 925 MHz
Boost Clock 975 MHz 925 MHz
Transistor count 4,313 million 4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 93.60 118.4
Floating-point performance 2,995 gflops 3,789 gflops
Length 267 mm 274 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 384 Bit
Memory clock speed 6000 MHz 1375 MHz
Memory bandwidth 192.0 GB/s 264 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 12 (11_1)
Shader Model 5.1 5.1
OpenGL 4.6 4.6
OpenCL 1.2 1.2
Vulkan 1.2.131
FreeSync +
Bus support PCIe 2.1 x16
HDMI +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 346 Mh/s 485 Mh/s
Eyefinity +
Design reference
CrossFire +
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 14.5 Mh/s 20.71 Mh/s
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