Radeon HD 4870 vs Radeon R9 M470X

If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between Radeon HD 4870 and Radeon R9 M470X, 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 stacks up against Radeon R9 M470X, check out specs charts below.

Radeon R9 M470X is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon R9 M470X 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 R9 M470X here:

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 4870 Radeon R9 M470X
Power consumption (TDP) 150 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 2x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 4 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x S-Video No outputs
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  • Radeon HD 4870 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon R9 M470X uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • Radeon R9 M470X has 3 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 4870.
  • Radeon HD 4870 is used in Desktops, and Radeon R9 M470X - in Laptops.
  • Radeon HD 4870 is build with TeraScale architecture, and Radeon R9 M470X - with GCN 2.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon R9 M470X is 350 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 4870.
  • Radeon HD 4870 is manufactured by 55 nm process technology, and Radeon R9 M470X - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon R9 M470X is 2400 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 4870.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 3−4 16−18
ultra / 1080p 1−2 10−11
QHD / 1440p 0−1 4−5
low / 720p 14−16 35−40
medium / 1080p 6−7 21−24
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 M470X in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 250% more, than Radeon HD 4870.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 4870 Radeon R9 M470X
Architecture TeraScale GCN 2
Code name RV770 Emerald
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 25 June 2008 14 May 2016
Pipelines 800 896
Core clock speed 750 MHz 1100 MHz
Boost Clock 1100 MHz
Transistor count 956 million 2,080 million
Manufacturing process technology 55 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 30.00 61.60
Floating-point performance 1,200.0 gflops 1,971 gflops
Length 250 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 3600 MHz 6000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 115.2 GB/s 96 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 10.1 (10_1) 12 (12_0)
Shader Model 4.1 6.3
OpenGL 3.3 4.6
OpenCL 1.1 2.0
Vulkan N/A 1.2.131
Laptop size large
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