Radeon HD 4870 X2 vs Radeon HD 8870M

If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between Radeon HD 4870 X2 and Radeon HD 8870M, there are a couple of things to consider. Cards with more VRAM in general perform better and allow you to play on higher graphics settings. Size also makes a difference. A model with a large heatsink can occupy up to three expansion slots on a motherboard. Be sure you have enough room in your PC case. When comparing GPUs with different architectures, more processing cores and even higher TFLOPS will not always translate to better performance. To help you decide which GPU you need, we have measured frame rates in a number of popular games. For more on how the Radeon HD 4870 X2 stacks up against Radeon HD 8870M, check out specs charts below.

Radeon HD 8870M is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon HD 8870M 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 8870M here:

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 4870 X2 Radeon HD 8870M
Power consumption (TDP) 286 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5, DDR3
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 2 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x S-Video No outputs
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  • Radeon HD 4870 X2 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon HD 8870M uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • Radeon HD 8870M has 1 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 4870 X2.
  • Radeon HD 4870 X2 is used in Desktops, and Radeon HD 8870M - in Laptops.
  • Radeon HD 4870 X2 is build with TeraScale architecture, and Radeon HD 8870M - with GCN.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon HD 8870M is 25 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 4870 X2.
  • Radeon HD 4870 X2 is manufactured by 55 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 8870M - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 8870M is 900 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 4870 X2.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 3−4 7−8
ultra / 1080p 1−2 4−5
QHD / 1440p 0−1 0−1
low / 720p 14−16 18−20
medium / 1080p 6−7 9−10
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 8870M in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 66% more, than Radeon HD 4870 X2.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 4870 X2 Radeon HD 8870M
Architecture TeraScale GCN
Code name R700 Venus
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 12 August 2008 18 December 2012
Pipelines 800 640
Core clock speed 700 MHz 725 MHz
Boost Clock 775 MHz
Transistor count 956 million 1,500 million
Manufacturing process technology 55 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 28.00 31.00
Floating-point performance 2x 1,120.0 gflops 992.0 gflops
Length 267 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 3600 MHz 4500 MHz
Memory bandwidth 115.2 GB/s 72 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 10.1 (10_1) 12 (11_1)
Shader Model 4.1 5.1
OpenGL 3.3 4.6
OpenCL 1.1 1.2
Vulkan N/A 1.2.131
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 107 Mh/s
Laptop size large
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