Radeon Pro Vega II vs HD 7870

Place in the ranking	407	102
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	3.00	16.89
Power efficiency	4.72	5.88
Architecture	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)	GCN 5.1 (2018−2022)
GPU code name	Pitcairn	Vega 20
Market segment	Desktop	Workstation
Release date	5 March 2012 (12 years ago)	3 June 2019 (5 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$349	$2,199

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

Pro Vega II has 463% 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	4096
Core clock speed	1000 MHz	1574 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	1720 MHz
Number of transistors	2,800 million	13,230 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	175 Watt	475 Watt
Texture fill rate	80.00	440.3
Floating-point processing power	2.56 TFLOPS	14.09 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	64
TMUs	80	256

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	Apple MPX
Length	241 mm	no data
Width	2-slot	Quad-slot
Supplementary power connectors	2x 6-pin	None

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	HBM2
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	32 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	4096 Bit
Memory clock speed	1200 MHz	806 MHz
Memory bandwidth	153.6 GB/s	825.3 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 2.0b, 4x Thunderbolt
Eyefinity	+	-
HDMI	+	+

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (11_1)	12 (12_1)
Shader Model	5.1	6.7
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	2.1
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 12.01

Pro Vega II 40.56
+238%

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

Pro Vega II 15596
+238%

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 −233%	280−290 +233%
Full HD	66 −233%	220−230 +233%

Cost per frame, $

1080p

5.29

+89%

10.00
−89%

HD 7870 has 89% lower cost per frame in 1080p

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	21−24 −218%	70−75 +218%
Cyberpunk 2077	21−24 −226%	75−80 +226%
Elden Ring	35−40 −214%	110−120 +214%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	35−40 −233%	130−140 +233%
Counter-Strike 2	21−24 −218%	70−75 +218%
Cyberpunk 2077	21−24 −226%	75−80 +226%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 −233%	160−170 +233%
Metro Exodus	30−35 −233%	110−120 +233%
Red Dead Redemption 2	30−35 −223%	100−105 +223%
Valorant	45−50 −219%	150−160 +219%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	35−40 −233%	130−140 +233%
Counter-Strike 2	21−24 −218%	70−75 +218%
Cyberpunk 2077	21−24 −226%	75−80 +226%
Dota 2	40−45 −226%	140−150 +226%
Elden Ring	35−40 −214%	110−120 +214%
Far Cry 5	45−50 −219%	150−160 +219%
Fortnite	65−70 −233%	230−240 +233%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 −233%	160−170 +233%
Grand Theft Auto V	40−45 −226%	140−150 +226%
Metro Exodus	30−35 −233%	110−120 +233%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	90−95 −233%	300−310 +233%
Red Dead Redemption 2	30−35 −223%	100−105 +223%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	35−40 −233%	120−130 +233%
Valorant	45−50 −219%	150−160 +219%
World of Tanks	160−170 −231%	550−600 +231%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	35−40 −233%	130−140 +233%
Counter-Strike 2	21−24 −218%	70−75 +218%
Cyberpunk 2077	21−24 −226%	75−80 +226%
Dota 2	40−45 −226%	140−150 +226%
Far Cry 5	45−50 −219%	150−160 +219%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 −233%	160−170 +233%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	90−95 −233%	300−310 +233%
Valorant	45−50 −219%	150−160 +219%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	16−18 −213%	50−55 +213%
Elden Ring	18−20 −233%	60−65 +233%
Grand Theft Auto V	16−18 −224%	55−60 +224%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	65−70 −233%	230−240 +233%
Red Dead Redemption 2	10−11 −200%	30−33 +200%
World of Tanks	85−90 −229%	280−290 +229%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	24−27 −233%	80−85 +233%
Counter-Strike 2	10−12 −218%	35−40 +218%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 −233%	30−33 +233%
Far Cry 5	27−30 −233%	90−95 +233%
Forza Horizon 4	27−30 −221%	90−95 +221%
Metro Exodus	24−27 −220%	80−85 +220%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 −233%	50−55 +233%
Valorant	30−33 −233%	100−105 +233%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	7−8 −200%	21−24 +200%
Dota 2	21−24 −218%	70−75 +218%
Elden Ring	8−9 −238%	27−30 +238%
Grand Theft Auto V	21−24 −218%	70−75 +218%
Metro Exodus	7−8 −200%	21−24 +200%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	35−40 −214%	110−120 +214%
Red Dead Redemption 2	8−9 −238%	27−30 +238%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	21−24 −218%	70−75 +218%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	10−12 −218%	35−40 +218%
Counter-Strike 2	7−8 −200%	21−24 +200%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −233%	10−11 +233%
Dota 2	21−24 −218%	70−75 +218%
Far Cry 5	14−16 −233%	50−55 +233%
Fortnite	12−14 −208%	40−45 +208%
Forza Horizon 4	16−18 −213%	50−55 +213%
Valorant	12−14 −233%	40−45 +233%

This is how HD 7870 and Pro Vega II compete in popular games:

Pro Vega II is 233% faster in 900p
Pro Vega II is 233% faster in 1080p

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	12.01	40.56
Recency	5 March 2012	3 June 2019
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	32 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	175 Watt	475 Watt

HD 7870 has 171.4% lower power consumption.

Pro Vega II, on the other hand, has a 237.7% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 7 years, a 1500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 300% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon Pro Vega II is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 7870 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 7870 is a desktop card while Radeon Pro Vega II is a workstation one.

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