Radeon HD 8970M vs Radeon RX 480 mobile

When choosing between Radeon HD 8970M and Radeon RX 480 mobile, 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 8970M and Radeon RX 480 mobile.

Radeon HD 8970M and Radeon RX 480 mobile are Laptop Graphics Cards

Note: Radeon HD 8970M and Radeon RX 480 mobile are only used in laptop graphics. They have 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 or Radeon RX 480 mobile here:

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 8970M Radeon RX 480 mobile
Power consumption (TDP) 100 Watt 100 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 MXM-B (3.0)
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 8 GB
Display Connectors No outputs No outputs
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  • Both graphics cards have the same power consumption of 100 Watt.
  • Radeon HD 8970M is connected by PCIe 3.0 x16, and Radeon RX 480 mobile uses MXM-B (3.0) interface.
  • Radeon RX 480 mobile has 4 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 8970M.
  • Both cards are used in Laptops.
  • Radeon HD 8970M is build with GCN architecture, and Radeon RX 480 mobile - with Polaris.
  • Radeon HD 8970M is manufactured by 28 nm process technology, and Radeon RX 480 mobile - by 14 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon RX 480 mobile is 3200 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 8970M.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 20−22 12−14
ultra / 1080p 12−14 7−8
QHD / 1440p 6−7 0−1
4K / 2160p 5−6
low / 720p 35−40 27−30
medium / 1080p 24−27 14−16
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 8970M in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 50% more, than Radeon RX 480 mobile.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 8970M Radeon RX 480 mobile
Architecture GCN Polaris
Code name Neptune Polaris
Type Laptop Laptop
Release date 15 May 2013 1 August 2016
Pipelines 1280 2304
Core clock speed 850 MHz
Boost Clock 900 MHz 1077 MHz
Transistor count 2,800 million 5,700 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 14 nm
Texture fill rate 72.00 155.1
Floating-point performance 2,304 gflops 4,963 gflops
Memory bus width 256 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 4800 MHz 8000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 153.6 GB/s 256.0 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 large
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