Arc A580 vs Radeon HD 7970M

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 7970M with Arc A580, including specs and performance data.

HD 7970M
2012
2 GB GDDR5, 100 Watt
9.26

Arc A580 outperforms HD 7970M by a whopping 228% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking475184
Place by popularitynot in top-10066
Power efficiency6.3511.91
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)Generation 12.7 (2022−2023)
GPU code nameWimbledonDG2-512
Market segmentLaptopDesktop
Release date24 April 2012 (12 years ago)10 October 2023 (1 year ago)

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 cores12803072
Core clock speed850 MHz1700 MHz
Boost clock speedno data2000 MHz
Number of transistors2,800 million21,700 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm6 nm
Power consumption (TDP)100 Watt175 Watt
Texture fill rate68.00384.0
Floating-point processing power2.176 TFLOPS12.29 TFLOPS
ROPs3296
TMUs80192
Tensor Coresno data384
Ray Tracing Coresno data24

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 sizelargeno data
InterfaceMXM-B (3.0)PCIe 4.0 x16
Widthno data2-slot
Supplementary power connectorsNone2x 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 typeGDDR5GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount2 GB8 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1200 MHz2000 MHz
Memory bandwidth153.6 GB/s512.0 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 ConnectorsNo outputs1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 2.0
HDMI-+

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (11_1)12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model5.16.6
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL1.23.0
Vulkan1.2.1311.3

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 7970M 9.26
Arc A580 30.41
+228%

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 7970M 3568
Arc A580 11717
+228%

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 7970M 5645
Arc A580 35210
+524%

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

HD 7970M 21938
Arc A580 95677
+336%

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 7970M 4694
Arc A580 27574
+487%

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 7970M 31869
Arc A580 113974
+258%

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:

900p84
−221%
270−280
+221%
Full HD60
−71.7%
103
+71.7%
1440p16−18
−238%
54
+238%
4K9−10
−256%
32
+256%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
−221%
45−50
+221%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 21−24
−368%
103
+368%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
−554%
85
+554%
Battlefield 5 27−30
−375%
130−140
+375%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 18−20
−342%
80−85
+342%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
−221%
45−50
+221%
Far Cry 5 21−24
−324%
85−90
+324%
Far Cry New Dawn 24−27
−292%
100−110
+292%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
−223%
190−200
+223%
Hitman 3 16−18
−424%
85−90
+424%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
−235%
170−180
+235%
Metro Exodus 27−30
−368%
130−140
+368%
Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
−280%
95−100
+280%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−33
−413%
150−160
+413%
Watch Dogs: Legion 60−65
−120%
130−140
+120%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 21−24
−364%
102
+364%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
−462%
73
+462%
Battlefield 5 27−30
−375%
130−140
+375%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 18−20
−342%
80−85
+342%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
−221%
45−50
+221%
Far Cry 5 21−24
−324%
85−90
+324%
Far Cry New Dawn 24−27
−292%
100−110
+292%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
−223%
190−200
+223%
Hitman 3 16−18
−424%
85−90
+424%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
−235%
170−180
+235%
Metro Exodus 27−30
−368%
130−140
+368%
Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
−280%
95−100
+280%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−33
−613%
214
+613%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24−27
−244%
85−90
+244%
Watch Dogs: Legion 60−65
−120%
130−140
+120%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 21−24
−191%
64
+191%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
−392%
64
+392%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 18−20
−342%
80−85
+342%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
−221%
45−50
+221%
Far Cry 5 21−24
−324%
85−90
+324%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
−42.6%
87
+42.6%
Hitman 3 16−18
−424%
85−90
+424%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
−114%
109
+114%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−33
−490%
177
+490%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24−27
−172%
68
+172%
Watch Dogs: Legion 60−65
+0%
60
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
−280%
95−100
+280%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 18−20
−350%
80−85
+350%
Far Cry New Dawn 14−16
−357%
60−65
+357%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 9−10
−500%
54
+500%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 5−6
−920%
51
+920%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 9−10
−444%
45−50
+444%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
−200%
12−14
+200%
Far Cry 5 10−12
−336%
45−50
+336%
Forza Horizon 4 35−40
−490%
230−240
+490%
Hitman 3 12−14
−358%
55−60
+358%
Horizon Zero Dawn 18−20
−358%
87
+358%
Metro Exodus 12−14
−600%
91
+600%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
−1200%
130
+1200%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 8−9
−588%
55
+588%
Watch Dogs: Legion 55−60
−241%
190−200
+241%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 14−16
−380%
70−75
+380%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 8−9
−425%
40−45
+425%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
−483%
35−40
+483%
Hitman 3 5−6
−580%
30−35
+580%
Horizon Zero Dawn 35−40
−408%
180−190
+408%
Metro Exodus 7−8
−671%
50−55
+671%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 6−7
−917%
61
+917%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 5−6
−600%
35
+600%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 4−5
−650%
30
+650%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4−5
−575%
27−30
+575%
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2
−200%
3−4
+200%
Far Cry 5 5−6
−400%
24−27
+400%
Forza Horizon 4 10−12
−409%
56
+409%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 5−6
−1360%
73
+1360%
Watch Dogs: Legion 3−4
−800%
27
+800%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 9−10
−311%
35−40
+311%

This is how HD 7970M and Arc A580 compete in popular games:

  • Arc A580 is 221% faster in 900p
  • Arc A580 is 72% faster in 1080p
  • Arc A580 is 238% faster in 1440p
  • Arc A580 is 256% faster in 4K

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

  • in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the Arc A580 is 1360% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Arc A580 is ahead in 65 tests (98%)
  • there's a draw in 1 test (2%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 9.26 30.41
Recency 24 April 2012 10 October 2023
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 8 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 6 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 100 Watt 175 Watt

HD 7970M has 75% lower power consumption.

Arc A580, on the other hand, has a 228.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 11 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 366.7% more advanced lithography process.

The Arc A580 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 7970M in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 7970M is a notebook card while Arc A580 is a desktop one.


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

Vote for your favorite

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AMD Radeon HD 7970M
Radeon HD 7970M
Intel Arc A580
Arc A580

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.


4.2 43 votes

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4.2 283 votes

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Questions & comments

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