Radeon HD 7970 vs Radeon HD 8790M

In this comparison between Radeon HD 7970 and Radeon HD 8790M 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 7970 will be the best choice, for others Radeon HD 8790M will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Radeon HD 8790M is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon HD 8790M is only used in laptop graphics. It has 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 Radeon HD 8790M here:

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 7970 Radeon HD 8790M
Power consumption (TDP) 300 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 MXM-A (3.0)
Supplementary power connectors 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin None
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 3 GB 2 GB
Display Connectors 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort No outputs
  Check Price Check Price
  • Radeon HD 7970 is connected by PCIe 3.0 x16, and Radeon HD 8790M uses MXM-A (3.0) interface.
  • Radeon HD 7970 has 1 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 8790M.
  • Radeon HD 7970 is used in Desktops, and Radeon HD 8790M - in Laptops.
  • Radeon HD 7970 and Radeon HD 8790M are build with GCN architecture.
  • Radeon HD 7970 and Radeon HD 8790M are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 8790M is 3125 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7970.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 35−40 3−4
ultra / 1080p 21−24 1−2
QHD / 1440p 16−18 0−1
4K / 2160p 10−11
low / 720p 60−65 14−16
medium / 1080p 40−45 6−7
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 7970 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 583% more, than Radeon HD 8790M.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 7970 Radeon HD 8790M
Architecture GCN GCN
Code name Tahiti XT Mars XTX
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 22 December 2011 16 November 2012
Pipelines 2048 384
Core clock speed 850 MHz
Boost Clock 925 MHz 900 MHz
Transistor count 4,313 million 950 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 118.4 21.60
Floating-point performance 3,789 gflops 691.2 gflops
Length 274 mm
Memory bus width 384 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 1375 MHz 4500 MHz
Memory bandwidth 264 GB/s 64 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) 485 Mh/s 80 Mh/s
Laptop size medium sized
Eyefinity +
Design reference
CrossFire +
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 20.71 Mh/s
  Check Price Check Price