Radeon HD 7870 vs R9 390X

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 390X and Radeon HD 7870, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

R9 390X
2015
0 MB GDDR5, 275 Watt
24.42
+104%

R9 390X outperforms HD 7870 by a whopping 104% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking227405
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation10.082.99
Power efficiency6.094.70
ArchitectureGCN 2.0 (2013−2017)GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)
GPU code nameGrenadaPitcairn
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date18 June 2015 (9 years ago)5 March 2012 (12 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$429 $349

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

R9 390X has 237% better value for money than HD 7870.

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 cores28161280
Core clock speedno data1000 MHz
Boost clock speed1050 MHzno data
Number of transistors6,200 million2,800 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)275 Watt175 Watt
Texture fill rate184.880.00
Floating-point processing power5.914 TFLOPS2.56 TFLOPS
ROPs6432
TMUs17680

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 3.0no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length275 mm241 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1 x 6-pin, 1 x 8-pin2x 6-pin
Bridgeless CrossFire+-

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
High bandwidth memory (HBM)-no data
Maximum RAM amount0 MB2 GB
Memory bus width512 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1050 MHz1200 MHz
Memory bandwidth384 GB/s153.6 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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
Eyefinity++
Number of Eyefinity displays6no data
HDMI++
DisplayPort support+-

Supported technologies

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

CrossFire+-
FreeSync+-
PowerTune+-
TrueAudio+-
VCE+-
DDMA audio+no data

API compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 1212 (11_1)
Shader Model6.35.1
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL2.01.2
Vulkan+1.2.131
Mantle+-

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.

R9 390X 24.42
+104%
HD 7870 12.00

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.

R9 390X 9411
+103%
HD 7870 4625

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.

R9 390X 17944
+190%
HD 7870 6194

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.

R9 390X 35807
+67.7%
HD 7870 21348

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:

900p170−180
+102%
84
−102%
Full HD91
+31.9%
69
−31.9%
4K48
+129%
21−24
−129%

Cost per frame, $

1080p4.715.06
4K8.9416.62

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+111%
18−20
−111%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 50−55
+92.9%
27−30
−92.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45
+121%
18−20
−121%
Battlefield 5 80−85
+111%
35−40
−111%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 50−55
+108%
24−27
−108%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+111%
18−20
−111%
Far Cry 5 55−60
+100%
27−30
−100%
Far Cry New Dawn 60−65
+93.9%
30−35
−93.9%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
+80%
80−85
−80%
Hitman 3 45−50
+113%
21−24
−113%
Horizon Zero Dawn 110−120
+76.6%
60−65
−76.6%
Metro Exodus 80−85
+110%
40−45
−110%
Red Dead Redemption 2 60−65
+93.9%
30−35
−93.9%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 80−85
+113%
35−40
−113%
Watch Dogs: Legion 100−110
+47.8%
65−70
−47.8%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 50−55
+92.9%
27−30
−92.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45
+121%
18−20
−121%
Battlefield 5 80−85
+111%
35−40
−111%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 50−55
+108%
24−27
−108%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+111%
18−20
−111%
Far Cry 5 55−60
+100%
27−30
−100%
Far Cry New Dawn 60−65
+93.9%
30−35
−93.9%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
+80%
80−85
−80%
Hitman 3 45−50
+113%
21−24
−113%
Horizon Zero Dawn 110−120
+76.6%
60−65
−76.6%
Metro Exodus 80−85
+110%
40−45
−110%
Red Dead Redemption 2 60−65
+93.9%
30−35
−93.9%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 80−85
+113%
35−40
−113%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 108
+260%
30−33
−260%
Watch Dogs: Legion 100−110
+47.8%
65−70
−47.8%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 50−55
+92.9%
27−30
−92.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45
+121%
18−20
−121%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 50−55
+108%
24−27
−108%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+111%
18−20
−111%
Far Cry 5 55−60
+100%
27−30
−100%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
+80%
80−85
−80%
Hitman 3 45−50
+113%
21−24
−113%
Horizon Zero Dawn 110−120
+76.6%
60−65
−76.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 80−85
+113%
35−40
−113%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 41
+105%
20
−105%
Watch Dogs: Legion 100−110
+47.8%
65−70
−47.8%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 60−65
+93.9%
30−35
−93.9%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 45−50
+100%
21−24
−100%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+106%
18−20
−106%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 24−27
+108%
12−14
−108%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 24−27
+200%
8−9
−200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+115%
12−14
−115%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+150%
6−7
−150%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+100%
14−16
−100%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
+141%
55−60
−141%
Hitman 3 27−30
+93.3%
14−16
−93.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
+100%
24−27
−100%
Metro Exodus 45−50
+142%
18−20
−142%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 50−55
+179%
18−20
−179%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−33
+150%
12−14
−150%
Watch Dogs: Legion 130−140
+85.3%
75−80
−85.3%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 40−45
+105%
20−22
−105%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 24−27
+118%
10−12
−118%
Far Cry New Dawn 18−20
+111%
9−10
−111%
Hitman 3 18−20
+138%
8−9
−138%
Horizon Zero Dawn 120−130
+125%
55−60
−125%
Metro Exodus 27−30
+155%
10−12
−155%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 29
+190%
10−11
−190%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
+114%
7−8
−114%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
+160%
5−6
−160%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
+133%
6−7
−133%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
+200%
2−3
−200%
Far Cry 5 12−14
+117%
6−7
−117%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+106%
16−18
−106%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−33
+200%
10−11
−200%
Watch Dogs: Legion 10−12
+120%
5−6
−120%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 21−24
+90.9%
10−12
−90.9%

This is how R9 390X and HD 7870 compete in popular games:

  • R9 390X is 102% faster in 900p
  • R9 390X is 32% faster in 1080p
  • R9 390X is 129% faster in 4K

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

  • in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the R9 390X is 260% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, R9 390X surpassed HD 7870 in all 72 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 24.42 12.00
Recency 18 June 2015 5 March 2012
Power consumption (TDP) 275 Watt 175 Watt

R9 390X has a 103.5% higher aggregate performance score, and an age advantage of 3 years.

HD 7870, on the other hand, has 57.1% lower power consumption.

The Radeon R9 390X is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 7870 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 R9 390X
Radeon R9 390X
AMD Radeon HD 7870
Radeon HD 7870

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.


4.3 262 votes

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Questions & comments

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