GeForce RTX 4090 vs Radeon HD 7870

Place in the ranking	408	1
Place by popularity	not in top-100	6
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	2.96	18.56
Power efficiency	4.73	15.30
Architecture	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)	Ada Lovelace (2022−2024)
GPU code name	Pitcairn	AD102
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	5 March 2012 (12 years ago)	20 September 2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$349	$1,599

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RTX 4090 has 527% better value for money than HD 7870.

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	1280	16384
Core clock speed	1000 MHz	2235 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	2520 MHz
Number of transistors	2,800 million	76,300 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	175 Watt	450 Watt
Texture fill rate	80.00	1,290
Floating-point processing power	2.56 TFLOPS	82.58 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	176
TMUs	80	512
Tensor Cores	no data	512
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	128

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	241 mm	304 mm
Width	2-slot	3-slot
Supplementary power connectors	2x 6-pin	1x 16-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	GDDR6X
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	24 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	384 Bit
Memory clock speed	1200 MHz	1313 MHz
Memory bandwidth	153.6 GB/s	1.01 TB/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 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Eyefinity	+	-
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	3.0
Vulkan	1.2.131	1.3
CUDA	-	8.9

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 12.02

RTX 4090 100.00
+732%

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 4620

RTX 4090 38445
+732%

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

HD 7870 6194

RTX 4090 104598
+1589%

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

HD 7870 21348

RTX 4090 137609
+545%

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:

900p	84 −674%	650−700 +674%
Full HD	66 −291%	258 +291%
1440p	21−24 −838%	197 +838%
4K	16−18 −794%	143 +794%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	5.29 +17.2%	6.20 −17.2%
1440p	16.62 −105%	8.12 +105%
4K	21.81 −95.1%	11.18 +95.1%

HD 7870 has 17% lower cost per frame in 1080p
RTX 4090 has 105% lower cost per frame in 1440p
RTX 4090 has 95% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	21−24 −864%	212 +864%
Cyberpunk 2077	21−24 −878%	225 +878%
Elden Ring	35−40 −592%	249 +592%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	35−40 −200%	110−120 +200%
Counter-Strike 2	21−24 −877%	215 +877%
Cyberpunk 2077	21−24 −383%	111 +383%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 −1056%	555 +1056%
Metro Exodus	30−35 −439%	178 +439%
Red Dead Redemption 2	30−35 −403%	150−160 +403%
Valorant	45−50 −1657%	826 +1657%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	35−40 −200%	110−120 +200%
Counter-Strike 2	21−24 −805%	199 +805%
Cyberpunk 2077	21−24 −365%	107 +365%
Dota 2	40−45 −365%	200 +365%
Elden Ring	35−40 −1200%	468 +1200%
Far Cry 5	45−50 −217%	149 +217%
Fortnite	65−70 −346%	300−350 +346%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 −1042%	548 +1042%
Grand Theft Auto V	40−45 −305%	174 +305%
Metro Exodus	30−35 −455%	183 +455%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	90−95 −139%	210−220 +139%
Red Dead Redemption 2	30−35 −403%	150−160 +403%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	35−40 −383%	170−180 +383%
Valorant	45−50 −1549%	750−800 +1549%
World of Tanks	160−170 −68.1%	270−280 +68.1%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	35−40 −200%	110−120 +200%
Counter-Strike 2	21−24 −741%	185 +741%
Cyberpunk 2077	21−24 −357%	105 +357%
Dota 2	40−45 −421%	224 +421%
Far Cry 5	45−50 −355%	210−220 +355%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 −1033%	544 +1033%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	90−95 −139%	210−220 +139%
Valorant	45−50 −1347%	680 +1347%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	16−18 −913%	162 +913%
Elden Ring	18−20 −1806%	343 +1806%
Grand Theft Auto V	16−18 −847%	161 +847%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	65−70 −154%	170−180 +154%
Red Dead Redemption 2	10−11 −830%	90−95 +830%
World of Tanks	85−90 −507%	500−550 +507%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	24−27 −263%	85−90 +263%
Counter-Strike 2	10−12 −1282%	152 +1282%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 −756%	77 +756%
Far Cry 5	27−30 −493%	160−170 +493%
Forza Horizon 4	27−30 −1711%	507 +1711%
Metro Exodus	24−27 −508%	152 +508%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 −1647%	262 +1647%
Valorant	30−33 −1807%	572 +1807%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	7−8 −2271%	166 +2271%
Dota 2	21−24 −750%	187 +750%
Elden Ring	8−9 −2375%	198 +2375%
Grand Theft Auto V	21−24 −750%	187 +750%
Metro Exodus	7−8 −1857%	137 +1857%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	35−40 −497%	200−210 +497%
Red Dead Redemption 2	8−9 −700%	60−65 +700%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	21−24 −750%	187 +750%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	10−12 −727%	90−95 +727%
Counter-Strike 2	7−8 −2043%	150−160 +2043%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −1233%	40 +1233%
Dota 2	21−24 −932%	227 +932%
Far Cry 5	14−16 −600%	100−110 +600%
Fortnite	12−14 −638%	95−100 +638%
Forza Horizon 4	16−18 −1675%	284 +1675%
Valorant	12−14 −2933%	364 +2933%

This is how HD 7870 and RTX 4090 compete in popular games:

RTX 4090 is 674% faster in 900p
RTX 4090 is 291% faster in 1080p
RTX 4090 is 838% faster in 1440p
RTX 4090 is 794% faster in 4K

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

in Valorant, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RTX 4090 is 2933% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

Without exception, RTX 4090 surpassed HD 7870 in all 63 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	12.02	100.00
Recency	5 March 2012	20 September 2022
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	24 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	175 Watt	450 Watt

HD 7870 has 157.1% lower power consumption.

RTX 4090, on the other hand, has a 731.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 10 years, a 1100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 460% more advanced lithography process.

The GeForce RTX 4090 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 7870 in performance tests.

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