Radeon HD 7850 vs Radeon HD 8790M

When choosing between Radeon HD 7850 and Radeon HD 8790M, it is worth examining the specifications of the models in detail. Do they meet the recommended requirements of modern games and software? Storage capacity, form factor, TDP, available ports, warranty and manufacturer support are all important. For example, the size of a PC case can limit the maximum thickness and length of the card. Often, instead of the factory overclocked card and RGB backlight, it is better to choose a reference model with a more efficient GPU. And make sure that your current power supply unit has the correct connection pins (using adapters is not recommended). This GPUs compare tool is meant to help you to choose the best graphics card for your build. Let's find out the difference between Radeon HD 7850 and Radeon HD 8790M.

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 7850 Radeon HD 8790M
Power consumption (TDP) 225 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 MXM-A (3.0)
Supplementary power connectors 1x 6-pin None
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 2 GB
Display Connectors 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort No outputs
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  • Radeon HD 7850 is connected by PCIe 3.0 x16, and Radeon HD 8790M uses MXM-A (3.0) interface.
  • Radeon HD 7850 and Radeon HD 8790M have maximum RAM of 2 GB.
  • Radeon HD 7850 is used in Desktops, and Radeon HD 8790M - in Laptops.
  • Radeon HD 7850 is build with GCN 1.0 architecture, and Radeon HD 8790M - with GCN.
  • Radeon HD 7850 and Radeon HD 8790M are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 8790M is 3300 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7850.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 18−20 3−4
ultra / 1080p 10−12 1−2
QHD / 1440p 5−6 0−1
4K / 2160p 4−5
low / 720p 35−40 14−16
medium / 1080p 24−27 6−7
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 7850 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 283% more, than Radeon HD 8790M.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 7850 Radeon HD 8790M
Architecture GCN 1.0 GCN
Code name Pitcairn Mars XTX
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 5 March 2012 16 November 2012
Pipelines 1024 384
Core clock speed 850 MHz
Boost Clock 1000 MHz 900 MHz
Transistor count 2,800 million 950 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 55.04 21.60
Floating-point performance 1,761 gflops 691.2 gflops
Length 210 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 1200 MHz 4500 MHz
Memory bandwidth 153.6 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) 249 Mh/s 80 Mh/s
Laptop size medium sized
Eyefinity +
Design reference
CrossFire +
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 12.5 Mh/s
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