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Radeon HD 4870 512MB vs Radeon HD 6970
Intro
The Radeon HD 4870 512MB comes with a core clock speed of 750 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 900 MHz. It also features a 256-bit memory bus, and uses a 55 nm design. It features 800(160x5) SPUs, 40 TAUs, and 16 ROPs.Compare that to the Radeon HD 6970, which makes use of a 40 nm design. AMD has clocked the core frequency at 880 MHz. The GDDR5 memory is set to run at a frequency of 1375 MHz on this particular model. It features 1536 SPUs as well as 96 TAUs and 32 Rasterization Operator Units.
Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks
Power Consumption (Max TDP)
| Radeon HD 4870 512MB |
|
150 Watts |
| Radeon HD 6970 |
|
250 Watts |
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Memory Bandwidth
As far as performance goes, the Radeon HD 6970 should theoretically be much superior to the Radeon HD 4870 512MB in general. (explain)
| Radeon HD 6970 |
|
176000 MB/sec |
| Radeon HD 4870 512MB |
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115200 MB/sec |
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Texel Rate
The Radeon HD 6970 should be quite a bit (more or less 182%) more effective at AF than the Radeon HD 4870 512MB. (explain)| Radeon HD 6970 |
|
84480 Mtexels/sec |
| Radeon HD 4870 512MB |
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30000 Mtexels/sec |
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Pixel Rate
If using a high screen resolution is important to you, then the Radeon HD 6970 is a better choice, by far. (explain)| Radeon HD 6970 |
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28160 Mpixels/sec |
| Radeon HD 4870 512MB |
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12000 Mpixels/sec |
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Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.
Price Comparison
Radeon HD 4870 512MBAmazon.com
Check prices at:
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Radeon HD 6970Amazon.com
Check prices at:
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Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.
Specifications
| Model | Radeon HD 4870 512MB | Radeon HD 6970 |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | AMD | AMD |
| Year | Jun 25, 2008 | December 2010 |
| Code Name | RV770 XT | Cayman XT |
| Memory | 512 MB | 2048 MB |
| Core Speed | 750 MHz | 880 MHz |
| Memory Speed | 3600 MHz | 5500 MHz |
| Power (Max TDP) | 150 watts | 250 watts |
| Bandwidth | 115200 MB/sec | 176000 MB/sec |
| Texel Rate | 30000 Mtexels/sec | 84480 Mtexels/sec |
| Pixel Rate | 12000 Mpixels/sec | 28160 Mpixels/sec |
| Unified Shaders | 800(160x5) | 1536 |
| Texture Mapping Units | 40 | 96 |
| Render Output Units | 16 | 32 |
| Bus Type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Bus Width | 256-bit | 256-bit |
| Fab Process | 55 nm | 40 nm |
| Transistors | 956 million | 2640 million |
| Bus | PCIe 2.0 x16 | PCIe x16 |
| DirectX Version | DirectX 10.1 | DirectX 11 |
| OpenGL Version | OpenGL 3.0 | OpenGL 4.1 |
Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.
Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.
Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip could possibly record to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.
Radeon HD 4870 512MBAmazon.com
Check prices at:
|
Radeon HD 6970Amazon.com
Check prices at:
|
Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.
|
Comments
2 Responses to “Radeon HD 4870 512MB vs Radeon HD 6970”[...] you will see a good performance, just from the 4 series to 6 series jump. Heres a great comparison Radeon HD 4870 512MB vs Radeon HD 6970 – Performance Comparison Benchmarks @ Hardware Compare All in all you wouldnt be disappointed or ripped off getting a 6970. I7 950 D0@ 4.1Ghz [...]
4870 is best card