ATI Radeon HD 5870 vs HD 7990

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 7990 and Radeon HD 5870, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

HD 7990
2013
3 GB GDDR5, 375 Watt
14.42
+151%

HD 7990 outperforms ATI HD 5870 by a whopping 151% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking356591
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation1.470.55
Power efficiency2.772.21
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code nameMaltaCypress
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date24 April 2013 (11 years ago)23 September 2009 (15 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$999 $399

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

HD 7990 has 167% better value for money than ATI HD 5870.

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 cores20481600
Core clock speed950 MHz850 MHz
Boost clock speed1000 MHzno data
Number of transistors4,313 million2,154 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)375 Watt188 Watt
Texture fill rate128.068.00
Floating-point processing power4.096 TFLOPS2.72 TFLOPS
ROPs3232
TMUs12880

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).

InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length307 mm282 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 8-pin2x 6-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 GB1 GB
Memory bus width384 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1500 MHz1200 MHz
Memory bandwidth288.0 GB/s153.6 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, 4x mini-DisplayPort2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
HDMI-+

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (11_1)11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model5.15.0
OpenGL4.64.4
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan1.2.131N/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 7990 14.42
+151%
ATI HD 5870 5.75

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 7990 5565
+151%
ATI HD 5870 2220

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 7990 15540
+514%
ATI HD 5870 2530

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 14.42 5.75
Recency 24 April 2013 23 September 2009
Maximum RAM amount 3 GB 1 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 375 Watt 188 Watt

HD 7990 has a 150.8% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 3 years, a 200% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 42.9% more advanced lithography process.

ATI HD 5870, on the other hand, has 99.5% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 7990 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 5870 in performance tests.


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 7990
Radeon HD 7990
ATI Radeon HD 5870
Radeon HD 5870

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 52 votes

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3.9 225 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.