Radeon RX 6900 XT vs ATI HD 4870

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 4870 and Radeon RX 6900 XT, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

ATI HD 4870
2008
1 GB GDDR5, 150 Watt
3.58

RX 6900 XT outperforms ATI HD 4870 by a whopping 1839% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking72023
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.3129.89
Power efficiency1.6415.86
ArchitectureTeraScale (2005−2013)RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code nameRV770Navi 21
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date25 June 2008 (16 years ago)28 October 2020 (4 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$299 $999

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 6900 XT has 9542% 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 cores8005120
Core clock speed750 MHz1825 MHz
Boost clock speedno data2250 MHz
Number of transistors956 million26,800 million
Manufacturing process technology55 nm7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)150 Watt300 Watt
Texture fill rate30.00720.0
Floating-point processing power1.2 TFLOPS23.04 TFLOPS
ROPs16128
TMUs40320
Ray Tracing Coresno 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).

InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x16
Length250 mm267 mm
Width2-slot3-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pin2x 8-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 typeGDDR5GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount1 GB16 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed900 MHz2000 MHz
Memory bandwidth115.2 GB/s512.0 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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x S-Video1x HDMI, 2x DisplayPort, 1x USB Type-C
HDMI-+

API compatibility

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

DirectX10.1 (10_1)12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model4.16.5
OpenGL3.34.6
OpenCL1.12.1
VulkanN/A1.2

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 3.58
RX 6900 XT 69.42
+1839%

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 1380
RX 6900 XT 26751
+1838%

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:

Full HD10−12
−1860%
196
+1860%
1440p6−7
−2067%
130
+2067%
4K4−5
−1925%
81
+1925%

Cost per frame, $

1080p29.905.10
1440p49.837.68
4K74.7512.33

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 117
+0%
117
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 169
+0%
169
+0%
Battlefield 5 220−230
+0%
220−230
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Far Cry 5 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 230−240
+0%
230−240
+0%
Hitman 3 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 250−260
+0%
250−260
+0%
Metro Exodus 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 290−300
+0%
290−300
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 279
+0%
279
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 142
+0%
142
+0%
Battlefield 5 220−230
+0%
220−230
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Far Cry 5 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 230−240
+0%
230−240
+0%
Hitman 3 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 250−260
+0%
250−260
+0%
Metro Exodus 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 290−300
+0%
290−300
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 140−150
+0%
140−150
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 98
+0%
98
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 137
+0%
137
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Far Cry 5 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 248
+0%
248
+0%
Hitman 3 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 283
+0%
283
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 290−300
+0%
290−300
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 164
+0%
164
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 121
+0%
121
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 160−170
+0%
160−170
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 99
+0%
99
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 109
+0%
109
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Far Cry 5 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 270−280
+0%
270−280
+0%
Hitman 3 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 224
+0%
224
+0%
Metro Exodus 117
+0%
117
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 190−200
+0%
190−200
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 230−240
+0%
230−240
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Hitman 3 83
+0%
83
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 220−230
+0%
220−230
+0%
Metro Exodus 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 122
+0%
122
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 68
+0%
68
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 66
+0%
66
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Far Cry 5 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 162
+0%
162
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 54
+0%
54
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 75−80
+0%
75−80
+0%

This is how ATI HD 4870 and RX 6900 XT compete in popular games:

  • RX 6900 XT is 1860% faster in 1080p
  • RX 6900 XT is 2067% faster in 1440p
  • RX 6900 XT is 1925% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 3.58 69.42
Recency 25 June 2008 28 October 2020
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 16 GB
Chip lithography 55 nm 7 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 150 Watt 300 Watt

ATI HD 4870 has 100% lower power consumption.

RX 6900 XT, on the other hand, has a 1839.1% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 12 years, a 1500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 685.7% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 6900 XT 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 RX 6900 XT
Radeon RX 6900 XT

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.


3.3 227 votes

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Questions & comments

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