Radeon R9 285 vs HD 7950

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 7950 and Radeon R9 285, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

HD 7950
2012
3 GB GDDR5, 200 Watt
12.36

R9 285 outperforms HD 7950 by a considerable 40% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking402315
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation2.478.76
Power efficiency4.246.26
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)GCN 3.0 (2014−2019)
GPU code nameTahitiTonga
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date31 January 2012 (12 years ago)2 September 2014 (10 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$449 $249

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

R9 285 has 255% better value for money than HD 7950.

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 cores17921792
Compute units28no data
Core clock speedno data918 MHz
Boost clock speed1250 MHzno data
Number of transistors4,313 million5,000 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)200 Watt190 Watt
Texture fill rate89.60102.8
Floating-point processing power2.867 TFLOPS3.29 TFLOPS
ROPs3232
TMUs112112

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).

Bus supportPCIe 3.0 x16no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length267 mm221 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pin2x 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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount3 GB2 GB
Memory bus width384 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1250 MHz1375 MHz
Memory bandwidth240 GB/s176.0 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 HDMI 1.4a, 1x DisplayPort 1.2
Eyefinity+-
Number of Eyefinity displays6no data
HDMI++

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

AppAcceleration+-
CrossFire+-
FreeSync+-
PowerTune+-
ZeroCore+-

API compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 1112 (12_0)
Shader Model5.16.5
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL1.22.1
Vulkan-1.2.170

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 7950 12.36
R9 285 17.34
+40.3%

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 7950 4764
R9 285 6680
+40.2%

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 7950 7500
R9 285 8570
+14.3%

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 12.36 17.34
Recency 31 January 2012 2 September 2014
Maximum RAM amount 3 GB 2 GB
Power consumption (TDP) 200 Watt 190 Watt

HD 7950 has a 50% higher maximum VRAM amount.

R9 285, on the other hand, has a 40.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, and 5.3% lower power consumption.

The Radeon R9 285 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 7950 in performance tests.


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

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


AMD Radeon HD 7950
Radeon HD 7950
AMD Radeon R9 285
Radeon R9 285

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.


4 421 vote

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4.2 77 votes

Rate Radeon R9 285 on a scale of 1 to 5:

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Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.