Graphics card comparison
Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition vs Radeon R9 270X
AMD
Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition
2048 Mb GDDR5
Released 5 Mar 2012
DESKTOP
VS
AMD
Radeon R9 270X
2048 Mb GDDR5
Released 8 Oct 2013
DESKTOP
Summary
Synthetic performance index
- Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition100%
- Radeon R9 270X104%
Relative performance
Gaming performance index
- Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition100%
- Radeon R9 270X111%
Relative performance
Reasons to consider the Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition
- Supports Direct3D 12 Async Compute
- Supports ReLive (allows game streaming/recording with minimum performance penalty)
- Supports Mantle
- Based on an outdated architecture (AMD GCN), there may be no performance optimizations for current games and applications
Reasons to consider the Radeon R9 270X
- 11% higher gaming performance.
- This is a much newer product, it might have better long term support.
- Supports Direct3D 12 Async Compute
- Supports ReLive (allows game streaming/recording with minimum performance penalty)
- Supports Mantle
- Based on an outdated architecture (AMD GCN), there may be no performance optimizations for current games and applications
Our verdict
HWSpot recommends the Radeon R9 270X
The Radeon R9 270X is the better performing card based on the game benchmark suite used (6 combinations of games and resolutions).
Specifications
Core configuration
| Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition | Radeon R9 270X |
|---|
| GPU Name | Pitcairn (Pitcairn XT) | Curacao (Curacao XT) |
| Fab Process | 28 nm | 28 nm |
| Die Size | 212 mm² | 212 mm² |
| Transistors | 2,800 million | 2,800 million |
| Shaders | 1280 | 1280 |
| Compute Units | 20 | 20 |
| Core clock | 1000 MHz | 1000 MHz |
| ROPs | 32 | 32 |
| TMUs | 80 | 80 |
Memory configuration
| Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition | Radeon R9 270X |
|---|
| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Bus Width | 256 bit | 256 bit |
| Memory Speed | 1200 MHz
4800 MHz effective | 1400 MHz
5600 MHz effective |
| Memory Size | 2048 Mb | 2048 Mb |
Additional details
| Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition | Radeon R9 270X |
|---|
| TDP | 175 watts | 180 watts |
| Release Date | 5 Mar 2012 | 8 Oct 2013 |
Raw performance comparison
Pixel Rate
- Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition32.00 GP/s
- Radeon R9 270X32.00 GP/s
GigaPixels - higher is better
Texel Rate
- Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition80.00 GT/s
- Radeon R9 270X80.00 GT/s
GigaTexels - higher is better
Memory bandwidth
- Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition154.00 GB/s
- Radeon R9 270X179.00 GB/s
GB/s - higher is better
Single precision performance
- Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition2560.00 GFLOPs
- Radeon R9 270X2560.00 GFLOPs
GFLOPs - higher is better
Synthetic benchmarks
3DMark 11
- Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition8290
- Radeon R9 270X8700
Points (higher is better)
Game benchmarks
Battlefield 4
DX11, Ultra Quality,2x MSAA,16x AF, HBAO
- Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition50
- Radeon R9 270X53
FPS (higher is better)
Bioshock Infinite
DX11, Ultra Quality,DDOD, FX AA
- Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition44
- Radeon R9 270X52
FPS (higher is better)
Crysis 3
DX11,Very High Quality, FXAA
- Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition30
- Radeon R9 270X33
FPS (higher is better)
Hitman Absolution
DX11, High Quality, 2x MSAA, 16x AF
- Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition49
- Radeon R9 270X52
FPS (higher is better)
Medal Of Honor Warfighter
DX11, Ultra Quality, 4xMSAA
- Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition43
- Radeon R9 270X48
FPS (higher is better)
Metro Last Light
DX11, AAA standard, 16xAF, Motion Blur normal, Tesselation normal
- Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition32
- Radeon R9 270X38
FPS (higher is better)