Radeon RX 580 2048SP vs HD 7970 GHz Edition

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Primary details

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

Place in the rankingnot rated276
Place by popularitynot in top-10052
Power efficiencyno data9.11
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)
GPU code nameTahitiPolaris 20
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date22 June 2012 (12 years ago)15 October 2018 (6 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$499 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 cores20482048
Core clock speedno data1168 MHz
Boost clock speed1050 MHz1284 MHz
Number of transistors4,313 million5,700 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)250 Watt150 Watt
Texture fill rate134.4164.4
Floating-point processing power4.301 TFLOPS5.259 TFLOPS
ROPs3232
TMUs128128

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 2.1 x16no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length274 mm241 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin1x 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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount3 GB8 GB
Memory bus width384 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1500 MHz1750 MHz
Memory bandwidth288 GB/s224.0 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-DisplayPort1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
Eyefinity+-
HDMI++

Supported technologies

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

CrossFire+-
FreeSync+-

API compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 1112 (12_0)
Shader Model5.16.4
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL1.22.0
Vulkan-1.2.131

Pros & cons summary


Recency 22 June 2012 15 October 2018
Maximum RAM amount 3 GB 8 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 14 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 250 Watt 150 Watt

RX 580 2048SP has an age advantage of 6 years, a 166.7% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 100% more advanced lithography process, and 66.7% lower power consumption.

We couldn't decide between Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition and Radeon RX 580 2048SP. We've got no test results to judge.


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 7970 GHz Edition
Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition
AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP
Radeon RX 580 2048SP

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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Community ratings

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