Radeon HD 7790 vs ATI HD 4870

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 4870 and Radeon HD 7790, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

ATI HD 4870
2008
1 GB GDDR5, 150 Watt
3.56

HD 7790 outperforms ATI HD 4870 by a whopping 125% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking713513
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.272.96
Power efficiency1.656.55
ArchitectureTeraScale (2005−2013)GCN 2.0 (2013−2017)
GPU code nameRV770Bonaire
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date25 June 2008 (16 years ago)22 March 2013 (11 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$299 $149

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

HD 7790 has 996% better value for money than ATI HD 4870.

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 cores800896
Core clock speed750 MHz1000 MHz
Number of transistors956 million2,080 million
Manufacturing process technology55 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)150 Watt85 Watt
Texture fill rate30.0056.00
Floating-point processing power1.2 TFLOPS1.792 TFLOPS
ROPs1616
TMUs4056

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).

InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length250 mm183 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pin1x 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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount1 GB1 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit128 Bit
Memory clock speed900 MHz1500 MHz
Memory bandwidth115.2 GB/s96 GB/s

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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x S-Video1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
HDMI-+

API compatibility

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

DirectX10.1 (10_1)12 (12_0)
Shader Model4.16.3
OpenGL3.34.6
OpenCL1.12.0
VulkanN/A1.2.131

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.

ATI HD 4870 3.56
HD 7790 8.01
+125%

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.

ATI HD 4870 1375
HD 7790 3090
+125%

Gaming performance

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

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 3.56 8.01
Recency 25 June 2008 22 March 2013
Chip lithography 55 nm 28 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 150 Watt 85 Watt

HD 7790 has a 125% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 4 years, a 96.4% more advanced lithography process, and 76.5% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 7790 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 4870 in performance tests.


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

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ATI Radeon HD 4870
Radeon HD 4870
AMD Radeon HD 7790
Radeon HD 7790

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.


3.3 226 votes

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Questions & comments

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