Radeon RX 7900 GRE vs HD 7870 XT

Place in the ranking	417	22
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	3.63	67.09
Power efficiency	4.33	18.51
Architecture	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)	RDNA 3.0 (2022−2024)
GPU code name	Tahiti	Navi 31
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	19 November 2012 (12 years ago)	27 July 2023 (1 year ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$270	$549

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 7900 GRE has 1748% better value for money than HD 7870 XT.

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	5120
Core clock speed	925 MHz	1287 MHz
Boost clock speed	975 MHz	2245 MHz
Number of transistors	4,313 million	57,700 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	185 Watt	260 Watt
Texture fill rate	93.60	718.4
Floating-point processing power	2.995 TFLOPS	45.98 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	160
TMUs	96	320
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	80

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 4.0 x16
Length	267 mm	276 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	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	16 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1500 MHz	2250 MHz
Memory bandwidth	192.0 GB/s	576.0 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 Connectors	1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort	1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, 1x USB Type-C
HDMI	+	+

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (11_1)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	5.1	6.8
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	2.2
Vulkan	1.2.131	1.3

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 11.63

RX 7900 GRE 69.90
+501%

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

RX 7900 GRE 26865
+501%

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

HD 7870 XT 6390

RX 7900 GRE 54610
+755%

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 HD	30−35 −597%	209 +597%
1440p	21−24 −524%	131 +524%
4K	12−14 −575%	81 +575%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	9.00 −243%	2.63 +243%
1440p	12.86 −207%	4.19 +207%
4K	22.50 −232%	6.78 +232%

RX 7900 GRE has 243% lower cost per frame in 1080p
RX 7900 GRE has 207% lower cost per frame in 1440p
RX 7900 GRE has 232% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	160−170 +0%	160−170 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	208 +0%	208 +0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	160−170 +0%	160−170 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	92 +0%	92 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	487 +0%	487 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	180−190 +0%	180−190 +0%
Metro Exodus	149 +0%	149 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	120−130 +0%	120−130 +0%
Valorant	350−400 +0%	350−400 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	160−170 +0%	160−170 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	79 +0%	79 +0%
Dota 2	164 +0%	164 +0%
Far Cry 5	100 +0%	100 +0%
Fortnite	270−280 +0%	270−280 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	403 +0%	403 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	180−190 +0%	180−190 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	164 +0%	164 +0%
Metro Exodus	138 +0%	138 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	210−220 +0%	210−220 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	120−130 +0%	120−130 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	170−180 +0%	170−180 +0%
Valorant	350−400 +0%	350−400 +0%
World of Tanks	270−280 +0%	270−280 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	160−170 +0%	160−170 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	74 +0%	74 +0%
Far Cry 5	130−140 +0%	130−140 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	353 +0%	353 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	180−190 +0%	180−190 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	210−220 +0%	210−220 +0%
Valorant	350−400 +0%	350−400 +0%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Dota 2	130 +0%	130 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	130 +0%	130 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	170−180 +0%	170−180 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	90−95 +0%	90−95 +0%
World of Tanks	450−500 +0%	450−500 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	85−90 +0%	85−90 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	49 +0%	49 +0%
Far Cry 5	160−170 +0%	160−170 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	252 +0%	252 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	130−140 +0%	130−140 +0%
Metro Exodus	128 +0%	128 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	156 +0%	156 +0%
Valorant	300−350 +0%	300−350 +0%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
Dota 2	151 +0%	151 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	151 +0%	151 +0%
Metro Exodus	71 +0%	71 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	200−210 +0%	200−210 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	60−65 +0%	60−65 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	151 +0%	151 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	90−95 +0%	90−95 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	22 +0%	22 +0%
Far Cry 5	100−110 +0%	100−110 +0%
Fortnite	95−100 +0%	95−100 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	131 +0%	131 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	80−85 +0%	80−85 +0%
Valorant	170−180 +0%	170−180 +0%

This is how HD 7870 XT and RX 7900 GRE compete in popular games:

RX 7900 GRE is 597% faster in 1080p
RX 7900 GRE is 524% faster in 1440p
RX 7900 GRE is 575% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

there's a draw in 62 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	11.63	69.90
Recency	19 November 2012	27 July 2023
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	16 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	185 Watt	260 Watt

HD 7870 XT has 40.5% lower power consumption.

RX 7900 GRE, on the other hand, has a 501% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 10 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 460% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 7900 GRE is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 7870 XT in performance tests.

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