Radeon HD 8970M vs Radeon RX 5500 XT

In this comparison between Radeon HD 8970M and Radeon RX 5500 XT 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 8970M will be the best choice, for others Radeon RX 5500 XT will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Radeon HD 8970M is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon HD 8970M 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 8970M here:

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 8970M Radeon RX 5500 XT
Power consumption (TDP) 100 Watt 130 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 PCIe 4.0 x8
Supplementary power connectors 1x 8-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 8 GB
Display Connectors No outputs 1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
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  • Radeon RX 5500 XT has 30% more power consumption, than Radeon HD 8970M.
  • Radeon HD 8970M is connected by PCIe 3.0 x16, and Radeon RX 5500 XT uses PCIe 4.0 x8 interface.
  • Radeon RX 5500 XT has 4 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 8970M.
  • Radeon HD 8970M is used in Laptops, and Radeon RX 5500 XT - in Desktops.
  • Radeon HD 8970M is build with GCN architecture, and Radeon RX 5500 XT - with RDNA 1.0.
  • Radeon HD 8970M is manufactured by 28 nm process technology, and Radeon RX 5500 XT - by 7 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon RX 5500 XT is 9200 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 8970M.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 20−22 45−50
ultra / 1080p 12−14 30−35
QHD / 1440p 6−7 24−27
4K / 2160p 5−6 14−16
low / 720p 35−40 70−75
medium / 1080p 24−27 55−60
The average gaming FPS of Radeon RX 5500 XT in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 127% more, than Radeon HD 8970M.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 8970M Radeon RX 5500 XT
Architecture GCN RDNA 1.0
Code name Neptune Navi 14
Type Laptop Desktop
Release date 15 May 2013 12 December 2019
Pipelines 1280 1408
Core clock speed 850 MHz
Boost Clock 900 MHz 1845 MHz
Transistor count 2,800 million 6,400 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 7 nm
Texture fill rate 72.00 162.4
Floating-point performance 2,304 gflops
Length 180 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 4800 MHz 14000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 153.6 GB/s 224.0 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 12 (11_1) 12 (12_1)
Shader Model 5.1 6.5
OpenGL 4.6 4.6
OpenCL 1.2 2.0
Vulkan 1.2.131 1.2.131
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 273 Mh/s
Laptop size large
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