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GeForce GTX 1050 3 GB Max-Q vs Radeon HD 7870 XT

Primary details

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

Place in performance ranking388not rated
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation3.46no data
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2012−2020)Pascal (2016−2021)
GPU code nameTahitiGP107
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Release date19 November 2012 (11 years ago)1 February 2019 (5 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$270 no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Detailed specifications

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores1536768
Core clock speed925 MHz1366 MHz
Boost clock speed975 MHz1442 MHz
Number of transistors4,313 million3,300 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)185 Watt75 Watt
Texture fill rate93.6069.22
Floating-point performance2.995 gflops2.215 gflops

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 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length267 mmno data
Width2-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pinNone

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 GB3 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit96 Bit
Memory clock speed6000 MHz7008 MHz
Memory bandwidth192.0 GB/s84.1 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 Connectors1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPortNo outputs
HDMI+-

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (11_1)12 (12_1)
Shader Model5.16.4
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan1.2.1311.2.131
CUDA-6.1

Pros & cons summary


Recency 19 November 2012 1 February 2019
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 3 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 14 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 185 Watt 75 Watt

GTX 1050 3 GB Max-Q has an age advantage of 6 years, a 50% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 100% more advanced lithography process, and 146.7% lower power consumption.

We couldn't decide between Radeon HD 7870 XT and GeForce GTX 1050 3 GB Max-Q. We've got no test results to judge.

Be aware that Radeon HD 7870 XT is a desktop card while GeForce GTX 1050 3 GB Max-Q 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

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AMD Radeon HD 7870 XT
Radeon HD 7870 XT
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 3 GB Max-Q
GeForce GTX 1050 3 GB Max-Q

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.


4.3 32 votes

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4.1 23 votes

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Questions & comments

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