Radeon HD 8970M vs Radeon RX 560X

If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between Radeon HD 8970M and Radeon RX 560X, 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 8970M stacks up against Radeon RX 560X, check out specs charts below.

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 560X
Power consumption (TDP) 100 Watt 75 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x8
Supplementary power connectors None
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 4 GB
Display Connectors No outputs 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 8970M has 33% more power consumption, than Radeon RX 560X.
  • Radeon HD 8970M is connected by PCIe 3.0 x16, and Radeon RX 560X uses PCIe 3.0 x8 interface.
  • Radeon HD 8970M and Radeon RX 560X have maximum RAM of 4 GB.
  • Radeon HD 8970M is used in Laptops, and Radeon RX 560X - in Desktops.
  • Radeon HD 8970M is build with GCN architecture, and Radeon RX 560X - with GCN 4.0.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon RX 560X is 325 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 8970M.
  • Radeon HD 8970M is manufactured by 28 nm process technology, and Radeon RX 560X - by 14 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon RX 560X is 2200 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 8970M.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 20−22 18−20
ultra / 1080p 12−14 10−11
QHD / 1440p 6−7 4−5
4K / 2160p 5−6 4−5
low / 720p 35−40 35−40
medium / 1080p 24−27 21−24
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 8970M in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 12% more, than Radeon RX 560X.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 8970M Radeon RX 560X
Architecture GCN GCN 4.0
Code name Neptune Polaris 21
Type Laptop Desktop
Release date 15 May 2013 11 April 2018
Pipelines 1280 1024
Core clock speed 850 MHz 1175 MHz
Boost Clock 900 MHz 1275 MHz
Transistor count 2,800 million 3,000 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 14 nm
Texture fill rate 72.00 81.60
Floating-point performance 2,304 gflops 2,611 gflops
Length 170 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 4800 MHz 7000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 153.6 GB/s 112.0 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 12 (11_1) 12 (12_0)
Shader Model 5.1 6.4
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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