Chipversus Index
Jump to Section

GeForce 820A vs Mobility Radeon HD 3870

CPUCPUGPUGPU
NVIDIA

GeForce 820A

2014Core: 1082 MHzBoost: 1150 MHz
Buy on Amazon
VS
AMD

Mobility Radeon HD 3870

2010Core: 700 MHz
Buy on Amazon

GeForce 820A vs Mobility Radeon HD 3870 Performance Spectrum

GeForce 820A
0.5 GB 33
556
+1.5%
brand logoGeForce 610M
brand logoGeForce GT 705
brand logoGeForce 710A
brand logoGeForce 9800 GTX+
brand logoGeForce GTX 760 Ti
brand logoGeForce GTX 1060 6 GB
brand logoGeForce GTX 1070 Ti
brand logoGeForce RTX 2080 SUPER
Mobility Radeon HD 3870
0.5 GB 50
548
0.0%
brand logoRadeon HD 2900 GT
brand logoMobility Radeon HD 3850
brand logoRadeon R5 M230
brand logoMobility Radeon HD 5000 Serisi
brand logoRadeon HD 8990
brand logoRadeon RX 7600M
brand logoRadeon RX 7600M XT
brand logoRadeon RX 6700 XT

About G3D Mark

G3D Mark is a standard benchmark that measures graphics performance in real-world gaming scenarios. It simplifies comparing cards from different brands, where higher scores directly correlate with better fps and smoother gaming experiences.

GeForce 820A vs Mobility Radeon HD 3870: Pros, Cons & Final Verdict

See where each GPU makes more sense in practice: raw FPS, VRAM, features, power draw, pricing, and long-term headroom.

GeForce 820A

2014

Why buy it

  • ✅Costs $29 less on MSRP ($100 MSRP vs $129 MSRP).
  • ✅Delivers 30.9% more G3D Mark for each dollar spent, at 5.6 vs 4.2 G3D/$ ($100 MSRP vs $129 MSRP).
  • ✅Draws 33W instead of 50W, a 17W reduction.

Trade-offs

  • ❌2014 hardware with 512 MB of VRAM is already well past its comfortable zone for modern gaming, so it is hard to recommend now.

Mobility Radeon HD 3870

2010

Why buy it

  • ✅Competitive enough if your priority is price, power, or specific feature preference.

Trade-offs

  • ❌2010 hardware with 512 MB of VRAM is already well past its comfortable zone for modern gaming, so it is hard to recommend now.
  • ❌
    29% HIGHER MSRP
    $129 MSRPvs$100 MSRP
  • ❌Lower G3D Mark per dollar, at 4.2 vs 5.6 G3D/$ ($129 MSRP vs $100 MSRP).
  • ❌51.5% higher power demand at 50W vs 33W.

Quick Answers

Which GPU is faster for gaming right now?
GeForce 820A is the faster gaming card right now based on the synthetic data we have. It leads by 1.5% in PassMark G3D (556 vs 548), which is the best performance signal available in this matchup.
Which GPU is the safer long-term pick for 2026 and beyond?
GeForce 820A is the safer long-term pick for 2026 and beyond. The case is simple: a 28nm process instead of 40nm and a newer 2014 generation instead of 2010. That makes it the less risky pick as game demands keep moving.
Which GPU is the better buy today?
GeForce 820A makes the most sense to buy today. It is $29 cheaper on MSRP at $100 vs $129, and it leads G3D-per-dollar by 30.9% (5.6 vs 4.2), so the value case lines up with the gaming result.

GeForce 820A vs Mobility Radeon HD 3870 Technical Specifications

Side-by-side specs, architecture details, clocks, memory, power, and platform differences.

NVIDIA

GeForce 820A

The GeForce 820A is manufactured by NVIDIA. It was released in July 22 2014. It features the Maxwell architecture. The core clock ranges from 1082 MHz to 1150 MHz. It has 256 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 33W. Manufactured using 28 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 556 points.

AMD

Mobility Radeon HD 3870

The Mobility Radeon HD 3870 is manufactured by AMD. It was released in January 7 2010. It features the TeraScale 2 architecture. The core clock speed is 700 MHz. It has 800 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 50W. Manufactured using 40 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 548 points.

⚡

Graphics Performance

The GeForce 820A scores 556 and the Mobility Radeon HD 3870 reaches 548 in the G3D Mark benchmark — just a 1.5% difference, making them near-identical in rasterization performance. The GeForce 820A is built on Maxwell while the Mobility Radeon HD 3870 uses TeraScale 2, both on 28 nm vs 40 nm. Shader units: 256 (GeForce 820A) vs 800 (Mobility Radeon HD 3870). Raw compute: 0.5888 TFLOPS (GeForce 820A) vs 1.12 TFLOPS (Mobility Radeon HD 3870).

FeatureGeForce 820AMobility Radeon HD 3870
G3D Mark Score
556+1%
548
Architecture
Maxwell
TeraScale 2
Process Node
28 nm
40 nm
Shading Units
256
800+213%
Compute (TFLOPS)
0.5888 TFLOPS
1.12 TFLOPS+90%
ROPs
8
16+100%
TMUs
16
40+150%
L1 Cache
128 KB+60%
80 KB
L2 Cache
1 MB+300%
0.25 MB
✨

Advanced Features (DLSS/FSR)

The GeForce 820A gets NVIDIA DLSS, which still tends to look cleaner in motion. The Mobility Radeon HD 3870 leans on FSR, which is flexible and widely supported, but usually a bit rougher at the same settings.

FeatureGeForce 820AMobility Radeon HD 3870
Upscaling Tech
Upscaling support
FSR Upscaling / FSR 4
Frame Generation
Not Supported
Not Supported
Ray Reconstruction
No
No
Low Latency
NVIDIA Reflex
AMD Anti-Lag
💾

Video Memory (VRAM)

Both cards ship with 512 MB of GDDR5. Memory bus width is 128-bit on the GeForce 820A and 128-bit on the Mobility Radeon HD 3870. L2 Cache: 1 MB (GeForce 820A) vs 0.25 MB (Mobility Radeon HD 3870) — the GeForce 820A has significantly larger on-die cache to reduce VRAM reliance.

FeatureGeForce 820AMobility Radeon HD 3870
VRAM Capacity
0.5 GB
0.5 GB
Memory Type
GDDR5
GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth
Unknown
Unknown
Bus Width
128-bit
128-bit
L2 Cache
1 MB+300%
0.25 MB
🖥️

Display & API Support

DirectX support: 12 (11_0) (GeForce 820A) vs 10.1 (Mobility Radeon HD 3870). Maximum simultaneous displays: 2 vs 0.

FeatureGeForce 820AMobility Radeon HD 3870
DirectX
12 (11_0)+19%
10.1
Max Displays
2
0
🎬

Media & Encoding

Hardware encoder: N/A (GeForce 820A) vs UVD (Mobility Radeon HD 3870). Decoder: PureVideo HD (VP5) vs UVD.

FeatureGeForce 820AMobility Radeon HD 3870
Encoder
N/A
UVD
Decoder
PureVideo HD (VP5)
UVD
Codecs
H.264,VC-1,MPEG-2
—
🔌

Power & Dimensions

The GeForce 820A draws 33W versus the Mobility Radeon HD 3870's 50W — a 41% difference. The GeForce 820A is more power-efficient. Recommended PSU: 350W (GeForce 820A) vs 350W (Mobility Radeon HD 3870). Power connectors: Legacy vs PCIe-powered. Card length: 0mm vs 1mm, occupying 0 vs 0 slots.

FeatureGeForce 820AMobility Radeon HD 3870
TDP
33W-34%
50W
Recommended PSU
350W
350W
Power Connector
Legacy
PCIe-powered
Length
0mm
1mm
Height
0mm
—
Slots
0
0
Temp (Load)
70
—
Perf/Watt
16.8+53%
11.0
💰

Value Analysis

At launch, the GeForce 820A came in at $100, while the Mobility Radeon HD 3870 launched at $129. On MSRP, GeForce 820A was 22.5% cheaper ($29 less). Performance per dollar on MSRP (G3D Mark / MSRP): 5.6 (GeForce 820A) vs 4.2 (Mobility Radeon HD 3870) — the GeForce 820A offers 33.3% better value. The newer card here is GeForce 820A (2014 vs 2010).

FeatureGeForce 820AMobility Radeon HD 3870
MSRP
$100-22%
$129
Performance per Dollar
5.6+33%
4.2
Codename
GM108
Broadway
Release
July 22 2014
January 7 2010
Ranking
#832
#846
Search GeForce 820A on AmazonSearch Mobility Radeon HD 3870 on Amazon

Affiliate Disclosure

ChipVERSUS is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. We may earn a commission on qualifying purchases made through our links. This comes at no additional cost to you and helps support our work in providing comprehensive PC building guides and tools.

Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.