Radeon Vega 7 vs HD 7870

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 7870 with Radeon Vega 7, including specs and performance data.

HD 7870
2012
2 GB GDDR5, 175 Watt
12.02
+61.1%

HD 7870 outperforms Vega 7 by an impressive 61% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking403529
Place by popularitynot in top-10039
Cost-effectiveness evaluation2.91no data
Power efficiency4.7911.56
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)GCN 5.1 (2018−2022)
GPU code namePitcairnCezanne
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Release date5 March 2012 (12 years ago)13 April 2021 (3 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$349 no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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 cores1280448
Core clock speed1000 MHz300 MHz
Boost clock speedno data1900 MHz
Number of transistors2,800 million9,800 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)175 Watt45 Watt
Texture fill rate80.0053.20
Floating-point processing power2.56 TFLOPS1.702 TFLOPS
ROPs328
TMUs8028

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 x16IGP
Length241 mmno data
Width2-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pinNone

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 typeGDDR5System Shared
Maximum RAM amount2 GBSystem Shared
Memory bus width256 BitSystem Shared
Memory clock speed1200 MHzSystem Shared
Memory bandwidth153.6 GB/sno data
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 Connectors1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPortNo outputs
Eyefinity+-
HDMI+-

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (11_1)12 (12_1)
Shader Model5.16.4
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL1.22.1
Vulkan1.2.1311.2

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
+61.1%
Vega 7 7.46

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
+18%
Vega 7 5249

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:

900p84
+68%
50−55
−68%
Full HD68
+209%
22
−209%
1440p45−50
+60.7%
28
−60.7%
4K30−35
+50%
20
−50%

Cost per frame, $

1080p5.13no data
1440p7.76no data
4K11.63no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 18−20
+90%
10−11
−90%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 27−30
+75%
16−18
−75%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 18−20
+90%
10−11
−90%
Battlefield 5 35−40
+81%
21−24
−81%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 24−27
+71.4%
14−16
−71.4%
Cyberpunk 2077 18−20
+90%
10−11
−90%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+75%
16−18
−75%
Far Cry New Dawn 30−35
+83.3%
18−20
−83.3%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+77.8%
45−50
−77.8%
Hitman 3 21−24
+64.3%
14−16
−64.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 60−65
+82.9%
35−40
−82.9%
Metro Exodus 40−45
+66.7%
24−27
−66.7%
Red Dead Redemption 2 30−35
+83.3%
18−20
−83.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 35−40
+62.5%
24−27
−62.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion 65−70
+72.5%
40−45
−72.5%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 27−30
+75%
16−18
−75%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 18−20
+90%
10−11
−90%
Battlefield 5 35−40
+81%
21−24
−81%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 24−27
+71.4%
14−16
−71.4%
Cyberpunk 2077 18−20
+90%
10−11
−90%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+75%
16−18
−75%
Far Cry New Dawn 30−35
+83.3%
18−20
−83.3%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+77.8%
45−50
−77.8%
Hitman 3 21−24
+64.3%
14−16
−64.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 60−65
+82.9%
35−40
−82.9%
Metro Exodus 40−45
+66.7%
24−27
−66.7%
Red Dead Redemption 2 30−35
+83.3%
18−20
−83.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 35−40
+62.5%
24−27
−62.5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−33
+66.7%
18−20
−66.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion 65−70
+72.5%
40−45
−72.5%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 27−30
+75%
16−18
−75%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 18−20
+90%
10−11
−90%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 24−27
+71.4%
14−16
−71.4%
Cyberpunk 2077 18−20
+90%
10−11
−90%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+75%
16−18
−75%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+77.8%
45−50
−77.8%
Hitman 3 21−24
+64.3%
14−16
−64.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 60−65
+82.9%
35−40
−82.9%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 35−40
+62.5%
24−27
−62.5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 20
+66.7%
12−14
−66.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion 65−70
+72.5%
40−45
−72.5%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 30−35
+83.3%
18−20
−83.3%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 21−24
+64.3%
14−16
−64.3%
Far Cry New Dawn 18−20
+80%
10−11
−80%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 12−14
+71.4%
7−8
−71.4%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 8−9
+100%
4−5
−100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 12−14
+62.5%
8−9
−62.5%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
+100%
3−4
−100%
Far Cry 5 14−16
+75%
8−9
−75%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
+65.7%
35−40
−65.7%
Hitman 3 14−16
+66.7%
9−10
−66.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn 24−27
+78.6%
14−16
−78.6%
Metro Exodus 18−20
+90%
10−11
−90%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 18−20
+90%
10−11
−90%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 12−14
+71.4%
7−8
−71.4%
Watch Dogs: Legion 75−80
+66.7%
45−50
−66.7%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 20−22
+66.7%
12−14
−66.7%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 10−12
+83.3%
6−7
−83.3%
Far Cry New Dawn 9−10
+80%
5−6
−80%
Hitman 3 8−9
+100%
4−5
−100%
Horizon Zero Dawn 55−60
+86.7%
30−33
−86.7%
Metro Exodus 10−12
+83.3%
6−7
−83.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 10−11
+66.7%
6−7
−66.7%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 7−8
+75%
4−5
−75%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 5−6
+66.7%
3−4
−66.7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 6−7
+100%
3−4
−100%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%
Far Cry 5 6−7
+100%
3−4
−100%
Forza Horizon 4 16−18
+77.8%
9−10
−77.8%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
+66.7%
6−7
−66.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion 5−6
+66.7%
3−4
−66.7%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 10−12
+83.3%
6−7
−83.3%

This is how HD 7870 and Vega 7 compete in popular games:

  • HD 7870 is 68% faster in 900p
  • HD 7870 is 209% faster in 1080p
  • HD 7870 is 61% faster in 1440p
  • HD 7870 is 50% faster in 4K

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 12.02 7.46
Recency 5 March 2012 13 April 2021
Chip lithography 28 nm 7 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 175 Watt 45 Watt

HD 7870 has a 61.1% higher aggregate performance score.

Vega 7, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 9 years, a 300% more advanced lithography process, and 288.9% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 7870 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon Vega 7 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 7870 is a desktop card while Radeon Vega 7 is a notebook one.


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
Radeon HD 7870
AMD Radeon Vega 7
Radeon Vega 7

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.


3.7 640 votes

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3.8 1942 votes

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Questions & comments

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