HD Graphics 500 vs Radeon HD 7970

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 7970 with HD Graphics 500, including specs and performance data.

HD 7970
2011
6 GB GDDR5, 300 Watt
13.62
+1669%

HD 7970 outperforms HD Graphics 500 by a whopping 1669% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking3801152
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation2.45no data
Power efficiency3.738.80
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)Generation 9.0 (2015−2016)
GPU code nameTahitiApollo Lake GT1
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Designreferenceno data
Release date22 December 2011 (13 years ago)1 September 2015 (9 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$549 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 cores204896
Core clock speedno data200 MHz
Boost clock speed925 MHz650 MHz
Number of transistors4,313 million189 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)300 Watt10 Watt
Texture fill rate118.47.800
Floating-point processing power3.789 TFLOPS0.1248 TFLOPS
ROPs322
TMUs12812

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 x16Ring Bus
Length274 mmno data
Width2-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pinno data

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 typeGDDR5DDR3L/LPDDR3/LPDDR4
Maximum RAM amount6 GB8 GB
Memory bus width384 BitSystem Shared
Memory clock speed1375 MHzSystem Shared
Memory bandwidth264 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-DisplayPortPortable Device Dependent
Eyefinity+-
HDMI+-

Supported technologies

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

CrossFire+-
FreeSync+-
Quick Syncno data+

API compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 1112 (12_1)
Shader Model5.16.4
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL1.23.0
Vulkan-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 7970 13.62
+1669%
HD Graphics 500 0.77

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 7970 5248
+1661%
HD Graphics 500 298

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 7970 7770
+1512%
HD Graphics 500 482

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 7970 6862
+1793%
HD Graphics 500 363

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

HD 7970 43795
+1356%
HD Graphics 500 3007

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:

900p105
+2000%
5−6
−2000%
Full HD91
+810%
10
−810%
1440p16−18
+1500%
1
−1500%

Cost per frame, $

1080p6.03no data
1440p34.31no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+600%
3−4
−600%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
+520%
5−6
−520%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+2100%
1−2
−2100%
Battlefield 5 40−45
+2100%
2−3
−2100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+800%
3−4
−800%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+600%
3−4
−600%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+3100%
1−2
−3100%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+3600%
1−2
−3600%
Forza Horizon 4 85−90
+1680%
5−6
−1680%
Hitman 3 24−27
+420%
5−6
−420%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
+483%
12−14
−483%
Metro Exodus 45−50
+2200%
2−3
−2200%
Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40 0−1
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 40−45
+633%
6−7
−633%
Watch Dogs: Legion 70−75
+139%
30−35
−139%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
+520%
5−6
−520%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+2100%
1−2
−2100%
Battlefield 5 40−45
+2100%
2−3
−2100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+800%
3−4
−800%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+600%
3−4
−600%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+3100%
1−2
−3100%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+3600%
1−2
−3600%
Forza Horizon 4 85−90
+1680%
5−6
−1680%
Hitman 3 24−27
+420%
5−6
−420%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
+483%
12−14
−483%
Metro Exodus 45−50
+2200%
2−3
−2200%
Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40 0−1
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 40−45
+633%
6−7
−633%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
+230%
10−11
−230%
Watch Dogs: Legion 70−75
+139%
30−35
−139%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
+520%
5−6
−520%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+2100%
1−2
−2100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+800%
3−4
−800%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+600%
3−4
−600%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+3100%
1−2
−3100%
Forza Horizon 4 85−90
+1680%
5−6
−1680%
Hitman 3 24−27
+420%
5−6
−420%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
+483%
12−14
−483%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 40−45
+633%
6−7
−633%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
+230%
10−11
−230%
Watch Dogs: Legion 70−75
+139%
30−35
−139%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40 0−1

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 24−27 0−1
Far Cry New Dawn 21−24
+2000%
1−2
−2000%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16 0−1
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−11 0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16 0−1
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+600%
1−2
−600%
Far Cry 5 16−18
+1500%
1−2
−1500%
Forza Horizon 4 65−70
+2200%
3−4
−2200%
Hitman 3 16−18
+129%
7−8
−129%
Horizon Zero Dawn 27−30
+600%
4−5
−600%
Metro Exodus 21−24
+2200%
1−2
−2200%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 21−24
+2200%
1−2
−2200%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16 0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion 80−85
+4100%
2−3
−4100%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 21−24
+633%
3−4
−633%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 12−14 0−1
Far Cry New Dawn 10−11 0−1
Hitman 3 9−10 0−1
Horizon Zero Dawn 65−70
+2100%
3−4
−2100%
Metro Exodus 12−14 0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 12−14 0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 8−9
+700%
1−2
−700%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 6−7 0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 7−8 0−1
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3 0−1
Far Cry 5 7−8 0−1
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
+1700%
1−2
−1700%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 12−14 0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion 5−6 0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
+500%
2−3
−500%

This is how HD 7970 and HD Graphics 500 compete in popular games:

  • HD 7970 is 2000% faster in 900p
  • HD 7970 is 810% faster in 1080p
  • HD 7970 is 1500% faster in 1440p

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the HD 7970 is 4100% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, HD 7970 surpassed HD Graphics 500 in all 35 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 13.62 0.77
Recency 22 December 2011 1 September 2015
Maximum RAM amount 6 GB 8 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 14 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 300 Watt 10 Watt

HD 7970 has a 1668.8% higher aggregate performance score.

HD Graphics 500, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 3 years, a 33.3% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 100% more advanced lithography process, and 2900% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 7970 is our recommended choice as it beats the HD Graphics 500 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 7970 is a desktop card while HD Graphics 500 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
Radeon HD 7970
Intel HD Graphics 500
HD Graphics 500

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.


4.1 303 votes

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2.8 707 votes

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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.