ATI Radeon HD 3870 vs HD 8970M

Place in the ranking	448	994
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	no data	0.06
Power efficiency	6.99	0.95
Architecture	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)	TeraScale (2005−2013)
GPU code name	Neptune	RV670
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	14 May 2013 (11 years ago)	19 November 2007 (17 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$269

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 cores	1280	320
Core clock speed	850 MHz	777 MHz
Boost clock speed	900 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	2,800 million	666 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	106 Watt
Texture fill rate	72.00	12.43
Floating-point processing power	2.304 TFLOPS	0.4973 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	16
TMUs	80	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).

Laptop size	large	no data
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 2.0 x16
Length	no data	241 mm
Width	no data	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	no data	1x 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 type	GDDR5	GDDR4
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	512 MB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1200 MHz	1126 MHz
Memory bandwidth	153.6 GB/s	72.06 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

No outputs

2x DVI, 1x S-Video

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (11_1)	10.1 (10_1)
Shader Model	5.1	4.1
OpenGL	4.6	3.3
OpenCL	1.2	N/A
Vulkan	1.2.131	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 8970M 10.05
+598%

ATI HD 3870 1.44

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 8970M 3876
+598%

ATI HD 3870 555

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:

Full HD

51
+629%

7−8

−629%

Cost per frame, $

1080p

no data

38.43

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

16−18

+700%

2−3
−700%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	24−27 +700%	3−4 −700%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	14−16 +650%	2−3 −650%
Battlefield 5	30−35 +675%	4−5 −675%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	20−22 +900%	2−3 −900%
Cyberpunk 2077	16−18 +700%	2−3 −700%
Far Cry 5	21−24 +667%	3−4 −667%
Far Cry New Dawn	27−30 +600%	4−5 −600%
Forza Horizon 4	65−70 +644%	9−10 −644%
Hitman 3	18−20 +850%	2−3 −850%
Horizon Zero Dawn	55−60 +686%	7−8 −686%
Metro Exodus	30−35 +700%	4−5 −700%
Red Dead Redemption 2	27−30 +600%	4−5 −600%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	30−35 +725%	4−5 −725%
Watch Dogs: Legion	60−65 +600%	9−10 −600%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	24−27 +700%	3−4 −700%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	14−16 +650%	2−3 −650%
Battlefield 5	30−35 +675%	4−5 −675%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	20−22 +900%	2−3 −900%
Cyberpunk 2077	16−18 +700%	2−3 −700%
Far Cry 5	21−24 +667%	3−4 −667%
Far Cry New Dawn	27−30 +600%	4−5 −600%
Forza Horizon 4	65−70 +644%	9−10 −644%
Hitman 3	18−20 +850%	2−3 −850%
Horizon Zero Dawn	55−60 +686%	7−8 −686%
Metro Exodus	30−35 +700%	4−5 −700%
Red Dead Redemption 2	27−30 +600%	4−5 −600%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	30−35 +725%	4−5 −725%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	82 +720%	10−11 −720%
Watch Dogs: Legion	60−65 +600%	9−10 −600%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	24−27 +700%	3−4 −700%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	14−16 +650%	2−3 −650%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	20−22 +900%	2−3 −900%
Cyberpunk 2077	16−18 +700%	2−3 −700%
Far Cry 5	21−24 +667%	3−4 −667%
Forza Horizon 4	65−70 +644%	9−10 −644%
Hitman 3	18−20 +850%	2−3 −850%
Horizon Zero Dawn	55−60 +686%	7−8 −686%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	30−35 +725%	4−5 −725%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18 +800%	2−3 −800%
Watch Dogs: Legion	60−65 +600%	9−10 −600%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

27−30

+600%

4−5
−600%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	20−22 +900%	2−3 −900%
Far Cry New Dawn	14−16 +650%	2−3 −650%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−11 +900%	1−2 −900%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	6−7	0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10−11 +900%	1−2 −900%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6	0−1
Far Cry 5	12−14 +1100%	1−2 −1100%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 +650%	6−7 −650%
Hitman 3	12−14 +1200%	1−2 −1200%
Horizon Zero Dawn	21−24 +600%	3−4 −600%
Metro Exodus	14−16 +650%	2−3 −650%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	12−14 +1200%	1−2 −1200%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−11 +900%	1−2 −900%
Watch Dogs: Legion	60−65 +611%	9−10 −611%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

16−18

+750%

2−3
−750%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	9−10 +800%	1−2 −800%
Far Cry New Dawn	7−8 +600%	1−2 −600%
Hitman 3	6−7	0−1
Horizon Zero Dawn	40−45 +617%	6−7 −617%
Metro Exodus	8−9 +700%	1−2 −700%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	8−9 +700%	1−2 −700%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	6−7	0−1
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	4−5	0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2	0−1
Far Cry 5	5−6	0−1
Forza Horizon 4	12−14 +1200%	1−2 −1200%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	7−8 +600%	1−2 −600%
Watch Dogs: Legion	4−5	0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

10−11
+900%

1−2

−900%

This is how HD 8970M and ATI HD 3870 compete in popular games:

HD 8970M is 629% faster in 1080p

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	10.05	1.44
Recency	14 May 2013	19 November 2007
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	512 MB
Chip lithography	28 nm	55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	106 Watt

HD 8970M has a 597.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 5 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 96.4% more advanced lithography process, and 6% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 8970M is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 3870 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 8970M is a notebook card while Radeon HD 3870 is a desktop one.

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