ATI Radeon HD 3870 vs HD 7870 XT

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 7870 XT and Radeon HD 3870, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

HD 7870 XT
2012
2 GB GDDR5, 185 Watt
11.60
+706%

HD 7870 XT outperforms ATI HD 3870 by a whopping 706% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking414996
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation3.610.06
Power efficiency4.300.93
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)TeraScale (2005−2013)
GPU code nameTahitiRV670
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date19 November 2012 (12 years ago)19 November 2007 (17 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$270 $269

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

HD 7870 XT has 5917% better value for money than ATI HD 3870.

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 cores1536320
Core clock speed925 MHz777 MHz
Boost clock speed975 MHzno data
Number of transistors4,313 million666 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)185 Watt106 Watt
Texture fill rate93.6012.43
Floating-point processing power2.995 TFLOPS0.4973 TFLOPS
ROPs3216
TMUs9616

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 2.0 x16
Length267 mm241 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 typeGDDR5GDDR4
Maximum RAM amount2 GB512 MB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1500 MHz1126 MHz
Memory bandwidth192.0 GB/s72.06 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-DisplayPort2x DVI, 1x S-Video
HDMI+-

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (11_1)10.1 (10_1)
Shader Model5.14.1
OpenGL4.63.3
OpenCL1.2N/A
Vulkan1.2.131N/A

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.

HD 7870 XT 11.60
+706%
ATI HD 3870 1.44

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.

HD 7870 XT 4469
+705%
ATI HD 3870 555

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 11.60 1.44
Recency 19 November 2012 19 November 2007
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 512 MB
Chip lithography 28 nm 55 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 185 Watt 106 Watt

HD 7870 XT has a 705.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 5 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 96.4% more advanced lithography process.

ATI HD 3870, on the other hand, has 74.5% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 7870 XT is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 3870 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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AMD Radeon HD 7870 XT
Radeon HD 7870 XT
ATI Radeon HD 3870
Radeon HD 3870

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.


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Questions & comments

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