Maxwell GPU Surface Book vs Radeon HD 7870M

Find out if it is worth upgrading your current GPU setup by comparing Maxwell GPU Surface Book and Radeon HD 7870M. 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 Maxwell GPU Surface Book and Radeon HD 7870M. 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.

Maxwell GPU Surface Book and Radeon HD 7870M are Laptop Graphics Cards

Note: Maxwell GPU Surface Book and Radeon HD 7870M are only used in laptop graphics. They have lower GPU clock speed compared to the desktop variant, which results in lower power consumption, but also 10-30% lower gaming performance. Check available laptop models with Maxwell GPU Surface Book or Radeon HD 7870M here:

Main Specs

  Maxwell GPU Surface Book Radeon HD 7870M
Power consumption (TDP) 45 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 2 GB
Display Connectors No outputs
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  • Radeon HD 7870M has 1 GB more memory, than Maxwell GPU Surface Book.
  • Both cards are used in Laptops.
  • Maxwell GPU Surface Book is build with Maxwell architecture, and Radeon HD 7870M - with GCN.
  • Core clock speed of Maxwell GPU Surface Book is 154 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7870M.
  • Maxwell GPU Surface Book and Radeon HD 7870M are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Maxwell GPU Surface Book is 1012 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7870M.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 8−9 6−7
ultra / 1080p 5−6 4−5
QHD / 1440p 0−1 0−1
low / 720p 20−22 16−18
medium / 1080p 10−12 8−9
The average gaming FPS of Maxwell GPU Surface Book in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 22% more, than Radeon HD 7870M.

Full Specs

  Maxwell GPU Surface Book Radeon HD 7870M
Architecture Maxwell GCN
Code name Surface Book Heathrow XT
Type Laptop Laptop
Release date 1 October 2015 24 April 2012
Pipelines 384 640
Core clock speed 954 MHz 800 MHz
Boost Clock 993 MHz
Transistor count 1,500 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 32.00
Floating-point performance 1,024 gflops
Memory bus width 64 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 5012 MHz 4000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 64 GB/s
Shared memory - -
DirectX DirectX 12 (FL 11_0), Shader 5.0 12 (11_1)
Shader Model 5.1
OpenGL 4.6
OpenCL 1.2
Vulkan 1.2.131
CUDA +
Laptop size large
Optimus +
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