Radeon HD 7870 vs Apple M1 8-Core GPU

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Apple M1 8-Core GPU with Radeon HD 7870, including specs and performance data.

Apple M1 8-Core GPU
2020
14.49
+20.8%

Apple M1 8-Core GPU outperforms HD 7870 by a significant 21% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking360405
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluationno data2.99
Power efficiencyno data4.70
Architectureno dataGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)
GPU code nameno dataPitcairn
Market segmentLaptopDesktop
Release date10 November 2020 (4 years ago)5 March 2012 (12 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)no data$349

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores81280
Core clock speed1278 MHz1000 MHz
Number of transistorsno data2,800 million
Manufacturing process technology5 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)no data175 Watt
Texture fill rateno data80.00
Floating-point processing powerno data2.56 TFLOPS
ROPsno data32
TMUsno data80

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Interfaceno dataPCIe 3.0 x16
Lengthno data241 mm
Widthno data2-slot
Supplementary power connectorsno data2x 6-pin

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeno dataGDDR5
Maximum RAM amountno data2 GB
Memory bus widthno data256 Bit
Memory clock speedno data1200 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data153.6 GB/s
Shared memory+-

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectorsno data1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
Eyefinity-+
HDMI-+

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectXno data12 (11_1)
Shader Modelno data5.1
OpenGLno data4.6
OpenCLno data1.2
Vulkan-1.2.131

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

900p100−110
+19%
84
−19%
Full HD29
−138%
69
+138%

Cost per frame, $

1080pno data5.06

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+15.8%
18−20
−15.8%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
+14.3%
27−30
−14.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+21.1%
18−20
−21.1%
Battlefield 5 45−50
+21.1%
35−40
−21.1%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+16.7%
24−27
−16.7%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+15.8%
18−20
−15.8%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+17.9%
27−30
−17.9%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+18.2%
30−35
−18.2%
Forza Horizon 4 90−95
+15%
80−85
−15%
Hitman 3 27−30
+17.4%
21−24
−17.4%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
+12.5%
60−65
−12.5%
Metro Exodus 45−50
+17.5%
40−45
−17.5%
Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
+18.2%
30−35
−18.2%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 45−50
+17.9%
35−40
−17.9%
Watch Dogs: Legion 75−80
+10.1%
65−70
−10.1%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
+14.3%
27−30
−14.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+21.1%
18−20
−21.1%
Battlefield 5 45−50
+21.1%
35−40
−21.1%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+16.7%
24−27
−16.7%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+15.8%
18−20
−15.8%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+17.9%
27−30
−17.9%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+18.2%
30−35
−18.2%
Forza Horizon 4 90−95
+15%
80−85
−15%
Hitman 3 27−30
+17.4%
21−24
−17.4%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
+12.5%
60−65
−12.5%
Metro Exodus 45−50
+17.5%
40−45
−17.5%
Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
+18.2%
30−35
−18.2%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 45−50
+17.9%
35−40
−17.9%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
+13.3%
30−33
−13.3%
Watch Dogs: Legion 75−80
+10.1%
65−70
−10.1%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
+14.3%
27−30
−14.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+21.1%
18−20
−21.1%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+16.7%
24−27
−16.7%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+15.8%
18−20
−15.8%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+17.9%
27−30
−17.9%
Forza Horizon 4 90−95
+15%
80−85
−15%
Hitman 3 27−30
+17.4%
21−24
−17.4%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
+12.5%
60−65
−12.5%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 45−50
+17.9%
35−40
−17.9%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
+70%
20
−70%
Watch Dogs: Legion 75−80
+10.1%
65−70
−10.1%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
+18.2%
30−35
−18.2%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 27−30
+17.4%
21−24
−17.4%
Far Cry New Dawn 21−24
+22.2%
18−20
−22.2%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
+16.7%
12−14
−16.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−12
+37.5%
8−9
−37.5%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
+15.4%
12−14
−15.4%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+16.7%
6−7
−16.7%
Far Cry 5 16−18
+14.3%
14−16
−14.3%
Forza Horizon 4 70−75
+24.1%
55−60
−24.1%
Hitman 3 16−18
+13.3%
14−16
−13.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 27−30
+16%
24−27
−16%
Metro Exodus 24−27
+26.3%
18−20
−26.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 24−27
+26.3%
18−20
−26.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
+25%
12−14
−25%
Watch Dogs: Legion 85−90
+16%
75−80
−16%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 21−24
+15%
20−22
−15%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 14−16
+27.3%
10−12
−27.3%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−11
+11.1%
9−10
−11.1%
Hitman 3 10−11
+25%
8−9
−25%
Horizon Zero Dawn 65−70
+23.2%
55−60
−23.2%
Metro Exodus 12−14
+18.2%
10−12
−18.2%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 12−14
+30%
10−11
−30%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 8−9
+14.3%
7−8
−14.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 7−8
+40%
5−6
−40%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 7−8
+16.7%
6−7
−16.7%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Far Cry 5 8−9
+33.3%
6−7
−33.3%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
+18.8%
16−18
−18.8%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 12−14
+30%
10−11
−30%
Watch Dogs: Legion 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
+18.2%
10−12
−18.2%

This is how Apple M1 8-Core GPU and HD 7870 compete in popular games:

  • Apple M1 8-Core GPU is 19% faster in 900p
  • HD 7870 is 138% faster in 1080p

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the Apple M1 8-Core GPU is 70% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Apple M1 8-Core GPU is ahead in 70 tests (97%)
  • there's a draw in 2 tests (3%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 14.49 12.00
Recency 10 November 2020 5 March 2012
Chip lithography 5 nm 28 nm

Apple M1 8-Core GPU has a 20.8% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 8 years, and a 460% more advanced lithography process.

The Apple M1 8-Core GPU is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 7870 in performance tests.

Be aware that Apple M1 8-Core GPU is a notebook card while Radeon HD 7870 is a desktop one.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

Vote for your favorite

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Apple M1 8-Core GPU
M1 8-Core GPU
AMD Radeon HD 7870
Radeon HD 7870

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


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Questions & comments

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