Radeon RX 640 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 rated616
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Power efficiencyno data7.29
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)
GPU code nameTahitiPolaris 23
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Designreferenceno data
Release date22 June 2012 (12 years ago)13 May 2019 (5 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 cores2048640
Core clock speedno data1082 MHz
Boost clock speed1050 MHz1218 MHz
Number of transistors4,313 million2,200 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)250 Watt50 Watt
Texture fill rate134.448.72
Floating-point processing power4.301 TFLOPS1.559 TFLOPS
ROPs3216
TMUs12840

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).

Laptop sizeno datalarge
Bus supportPCIe 2.1 x16no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x8
Length274 mmno data
Width2-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount3 GB2 GB
Memory bus width384 Bit64 Bit
Memory clock speed1500 MHz1500 MHz
Memory bandwidth288 GB/s48 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 Connectors1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPortNo outputs
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 13 May 2019
Maximum RAM amount 3 GB 2 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 14 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 250 Watt 50 Watt

HD 7970 GHz Edition has a 50% higher maximum VRAM amount.

RX 640, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 6 years, a 100% more advanced lithography process, and 400% lower power consumption.

We couldn't decide between Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition and Radeon RX 640. We've got no test results to judge.

Be aware that Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition is a desktop card while Radeon RX 640 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 7970 GHz Edition
Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition
AMD Radeon RX 640
Radeon RX 640

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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Community ratings

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4 49 votes

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Questions & comments

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