Graphics card comparison
Radeon HD 7970 vs Radeon R9 380X
AMD
Radeon HD 7970
3072 Mb GDDR5
Released 22 Dec 2011
DESKTOP
VS
AMD
Radeon R9 380X
4096 Mb GDDR5
Released 19 Nov 2015
DESKTOP
Summary
Synthetic performance index
- Radeon HD 7970100%
- Radeon R9 380X124%
Relative performance
Gaming performance index
- Radeon HD 7970100%
- Radeon R9 380X120%
Relative performance
Reasons to consider the Radeon HD 7970
- 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- Based on an outdated architecture (AMD GCN), there may be no performance optimizations for current games and applications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 380X
- 20% higher gaming performance.
- 60 watts lower power draw. This might be a strong point if your current power supply is not enough to handle the Radeon HD 7970 .
- This is a much newer product, it might have better long term support.
- Supports Direct3D 12 Async Compute
- Supports FreeSync
- Supports ReLive (allows game streaming/recording with minimum performance penalty)
- Supports TrueAudio
- Based on an outdated architecture (AMD GCN), there may be no performance optimizations for current games and applications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 380X
The Radeon R9 380X is the better performing card based on the game benchmark suite used (3 combinations of games and resolutions).
Specifications
Core configuration
| Radeon HD 7970 | Radeon R9 380X |
|---|
| GPU Name | Tahiti (Tahiti XT) | Antigua (Antigua XT) |
| Fab Process | 28 nm | 28 nm |
| Die Size | 352 mm² | 366 mm² |
| Transistors | 4,313 million | 5,000 million |
| Shaders | 2048 | 2048 |
| Compute Units | 32 | 32 |
| Core clock | 925 MHz | 970 MHz |
| ROPs | 32 | 32 |
| TMUs | 128 | 128 |
Memory configuration
| Radeon HD 7970 | Radeon R9 380X |
|---|
| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Bus Width | 384 bit | 256 bit |
| Memory Speed | 1375 MHz
5500 MHz effective | 1425 MHz
5700 MHz effective |
| Memory Size | 3072 Mb | 4096 Mb |
Additional details
| Radeon HD 7970 | Radeon R9 380X |
|---|
| TDP | 250 watts | 190 watts |
| Release Date | 22 Dec 2011 | 19 Nov 2015 |
Raw performance comparison
Pixel Rate
- Radeon HD 797029.60 GP/s
- Radeon R9 380X31.04 GP/s
GigaPixels - higher is better
Texel Rate
- Radeon HD 7970118.00 GT/s
- Radeon R9 380X124.20 GT/s
GigaTexels - higher is better
Memory bandwidth
- Radeon HD 7970264.00 GB/s
- Radeon R9 380X182.40 GB/s
GB/s - higher is better
Single precision performance
- Radeon HD 79703789.00 GFLOPs
- Radeon R9 380X3973.00 GFLOPs
GFLOPs - higher is better
Synthetic benchmarks
3DMark 11
- Radeon HD 797010760
- Radeon R9 380X13410
Points (higher is better)
Game benchmarks
Bioshock Infinite
DX11, Ultra, DDOD, FXAA
- Radeon HD 797039
- Radeon R9 380X56
FPS (higher is better)
Grand Theft Auto V
DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF, 2xMSAA
- Radeon HD 797039
- Radeon R9 380X42
FPS (higher is better)
Grand Theft Auto V
DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF, 2xMSAA
- Radeon HD 797054
- Radeon R9 380X60
FPS (higher is better)