Radeon HD 8870M vs GeForce GTX 660

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 660 with Radeon HD 8870M, including specs and performance data.

GTX 660
2012
2 GB GDDR5, 140 Watt
10.37
+144%

GTX 660 outperforms HD 8870M by a whopping 144% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking437677
Place by popularity58not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation3.28no data
Power efficiency5.16no data
ArchitectureKepler (2012−2018)GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)
GPU code nameGK106Venus
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Release date6 September 2012 (12 years ago)1 April 2013 (11 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$229 no data

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 cores960640
Core clock speed980 MHz725 MHz
Boost clock speed1033 MHz775 MHz
Number of transistors2,540 million1,500 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)140 Wattno data
Texture fill rate82.5631.00
Floating-point processing power1.981 TFLOPS0.992 TFLOPS
ROPs2416
TMUs8040

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).

Laptop sizeno datalarge
Bus supportPCI Express 3.0no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length241 mmno data
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pinno data
SLI options+-

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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2 GB2 GB
Memory bus width192-bit GDDR5128 Bit
Memory clock speed6.0 GB/s1125 MHz
Memory bandwidth144.2 GB/s72 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 ConnectorsOne Dual Link DVI-I, One Dual Link DVI-D, One HDMI, One DisplayPortNo outputs
Multi monitor support4 displaysno data
HDMI+-
HDCP+-
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
Audio input for HDMIInternalno data

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

3D Blu-Ray+-
3D Gaming+-
3D Vision+-

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (11_0)12 (11_1)
Shader Model5.15.1
OpenGL4.34.6
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan1.1.1261.2.131
CUDA+-

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

GTX 660 10.37
+144%
HD 8870M 4.25

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

GTX 660 4000
+144%
HD 8870M 1638

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

GTX 660 5040
+132%
HD 8870M 2169

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
+138%
42
−138%
Full HD47
+46.9%
32
−46.9%

Cost per frame, $

1080p4.87no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Battlefield 5 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Far Cry 5 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Hitman 3 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Metro Exodus 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Battlefield 5 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Far Cry 5 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Hitman 3 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Metro Exodus 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Far Cry 5 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Hitman 3 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Far Cry 5 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Hitman 3 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Metro Exodus 0−1 0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Hitman 3 0−1 0−1
Horizon Zero Dawn 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Metro Exodus 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 0−1 0−1
Far Cry 5 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%

This is how GTX 660 and HD 8870M compete in popular games:

  • GTX 660 is 138% faster in 900p
  • GTX 660 is 47% faster in 1080p

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 65 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 10.37 4.25
Recency 6 September 2012 1 April 2013

GTX 660 has a 144% higher aggregate performance score.

HD 8870M, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 6 months.

The GeForce GTX 660 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 8870M in performance tests.

Be aware that GeForce GTX 660 is a desktop card while Radeon HD 8870M is a notebook 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

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660
GeForce GTX 660
AMD Radeon HD 8870M
Radeon HD 8870M

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.


3.7 4261 vote

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4.7 11 votes

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Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.