GeForce GTX 490 vs Radeon HD 7870 XT
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 411 | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 3.49 | no data |
| Power efficiency | 4.36 | no data |
| Architecture | GCN 1.0 (2011−2020) | Fermi (2010−2014) |
| GPU code name | Tahiti | GF100 |
| Market segment | Desktop | Desktop |
| Release date | 19 November 2012 (12 years ago) | no data (2024 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $270 | no data |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
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 cores | 1536 | 480 |
| Core clock speed | 925 MHz | 608 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 975 MHz | no data |
| Number of transistors | 4,313 million | 3,100 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 28 nm | 40 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 185 Watt | 365 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 93.60 | 36.48 |
| Floating-point processing power | 2.995 TFLOPS | 1.166 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 32 | 48 |
| TMUs | 96 | 60 |
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).
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 2.0 x16 |
| Length | 267 mm | 279 mm |
| Width | 2-slot | 2-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | 2x 6-pin | 2x 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 type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 2 GB | 1536 MB |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 384 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 1500 MHz | 854 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 192.0 GB/s | 164.0 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 Connectors | 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort | 3x DVI, 1x mini-DisplayPort |
| HDMI | + | - |
API compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 (11_1) | 12 (11_0) |
| Shader Model | 5.1 | 5.1 |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | 1.2 | 1.1 |
| Vulkan | 1.2.131 | N/A |
| CUDA | - | 2.0 |
Pros & cons summary
| Maximum RAM amount | 2 GB | 1536 MB |
| Chip lithography | 28 nm | 40 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 185 Watt | 365 Watt |
HD 7870 XT has a 33.3% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 42.9% more advanced lithography process, and 97.3% lower power consumption.
We couldn't decide between Radeon HD 7870 XT and GeForce GTX 490. We've got no test results to judge.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Comparisons with similar GPUs
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