ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 vs HD 7970

Place in the ranking	375	913
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	2.38	0.04
Power efficiency	3.77	0.77
Architecture	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)	TeraScale (2005−2013)
GPU code name	Tahiti	R680
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Design	reference	no data
Release date	22 December 2011 (12 years ago)	26 January 2008 (16 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$549	$449

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

HD 7970 has 5850% better value for money than ATI HD 3870 X2.

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 cores	2048	320
Core clock speed	no data	825 MHz
Boost clock speed	925 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	4,313 million	666 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	300 Watt	165 Watt
Texture fill rate	118.4	13.20
Floating-point processing power	3.789 TFLOPS	0.528 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	16
TMUs	128	16

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 support	PCIe 2.1 x16	no data
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 2.0 x16
Length	274 mm	267 mm
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin	1x 6-pin + 1x 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 type	GDDR5	GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount	6 GB	512 MB
Memory bus width	384 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1375 MHz	901 MHz
Memory bandwidth	264 GB/s	57.66 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 Connectors	1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort	2x DVI, 1x S-Video
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.

DirectX	DirectX® 11	10.1 (10_1)
Shader Model	5.1	4.1
OpenGL	4.6	3.3
OpenCL	1.2	N/A
Vulkan	-	N/A

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 13.60
+643%

ATI HD 3870 X2 1.83

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
+641%

ATI HD 3870 X2 708

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:

900p	105 +650%	14−16 −650%
Full HD	89 +790%	10−12 −790%

Cost per frame, $

1080p

6.17

44.90

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

21−24
+950%

2−3

−950%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	30−35 +675%	4−5 −675%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	21−24 +1000%	2−3 −1000%
Battlefield 5	40−45 +780%	5−6 −780%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	27−30 +800%	3−4 −800%
Cyberpunk 2077	21−24 +950%	2−3 −950%
Far Cry 5	30−35 +700%	4−5 −700%
Far Cry New Dawn	35−40 +825%	4−5 −825%
Forza Horizon 4	85−90 +790%	10−11 −790%
Hitman 3	24−27 +767%	3−4 −767%
Horizon Zero Dawn	70−75 +678%	9−10 −678%
Metro Exodus	45−50 +667%	6−7 −667%
Red Dead Redemption 2	35−40 +660%	5−6 −660%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	40−45 +780%	5−6 −780%
Watch Dogs: Legion	70−75 +722%	9−10 −722%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	30−35 +675%	4−5 −675%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	21−24 +1000%	2−3 −1000%
Battlefield 5	40−45 +780%	5−6 −780%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	27−30 +800%	3−4 −800%
Cyberpunk 2077	21−24 +950%	2−3 −950%
Far Cry 5	30−35 +700%	4−5 −700%
Far Cry New Dawn	35−40 +825%	4−5 −825%
Forza Horizon 4	85−90 +790%	10−11 −790%
Hitman 3	24−27 +767%	3−4 −767%
Horizon Zero Dawn	70−75 +678%	9−10 −678%
Metro Exodus	45−50 +667%	6−7 −667%
Red Dead Redemption 2	35−40 +660%	5−6 −660%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	40−45 +780%	5−6 −780%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	30−35 +725%	4−5 −725%
Watch Dogs: Legion	70−75 +722%	9−10 −722%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	30−35 +675%	4−5 −675%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	21−24 +1000%	2−3 −1000%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	27−30 +800%	3−4 −800%
Cyberpunk 2077	21−24 +950%	2−3 −950%
Far Cry 5	30−35 +700%	4−5 −700%
Forza Horizon 4	85−90 +790%	10−11 −790%
Hitman 3	24−27 +767%	3−4 −767%
Horizon Zero Dawn	70−75 +678%	9−10 −678%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	40−45 +780%	5−6 −780%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	30−35 +725%	4−5 −725%
Watch Dogs: Legion	70−75 +722%	9−10 −722%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

35−40

+660%

5−6
−660%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	24−27 +767%	3−4 −767%
Far Cry New Dawn	21−24 +950%	2−3 −950%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 +1300%	1−2 −1300%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	10−11 +900%	1−2 −900%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	14−16 +1300%	1−2 −1300%
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8	0−1
Far Cry 5	16−18 +700%	2−3 −700%
Forza Horizon 4	65−70 +667%	9−10 −667%
Hitman 3	16−18 +700%	2−3 −700%
Horizon Zero Dawn	27−30 +833%	3−4 −833%
Metro Exodus	21−24 +667%	3−4 −667%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	21−24 +667%	3−4 −667%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 +1300%	1−2 −1300%
Watch Dogs: Legion	80−85 +740%	10−11 −740%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

21−24
+1000%

2−3

−1000%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	12−14 +1200%	1−2 −1200%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−11 +900%	1−2 −900%
Hitman 3	9−10 +800%	1−2 −800%
Horizon Zero Dawn	65−70 +725%	8−9 −725%
Metro Exodus	12−14 +1200%	1−2 −1200%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 +1100%	1−2 −1100%

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 +800%	2−3 −800%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	12−14 +1100%	1−2 −1100%
Watch Dogs: Legion	5−6	0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

12−14
+1100%

1−2

−1100%

This is how HD 7970 and ATI HD 3870 X2 compete in popular games:

HD 7970 is 650% faster in 900p
HD 7970 is 790% faster in 1080p

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	13.60	1.83
Recency	22 December 2011	26 January 2008
Maximum RAM amount	6 GB	512 MB
Chip lithography	28 nm	55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	300 Watt	165 Watt

HD 7970 has a 643.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 3 years, a 1100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 96.4% more advanced lithography process.

ATI HD 3870 X2, on the other hand, has 81.8% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 7970 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 3870 X2 in performance tests.

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