Mobility Radeon HD 3850 vs Radeon HD 8470D

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.

Mobility Radeon HD 3850 vs Radeon HD 8470D FPS Benchmarks

Predicted gaming performance across popular games. Tested paired with Ryzen 7 9800X3D to isolate GPU performance.

Search any supported game below to compare 1080p FPS for both components.

Mobility Radeon HD 3850 vs Radeon HD 8470D: Pros, Cons & Final Verdict

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

Mobility Radeon HD 3850

2010

Why buy it

✅Draws 50W instead of 200W, a 150W reduction.

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.
❌
200% HIGHER MSRP
$150 MSRPvs$50 MSRP
❌Lower G3D Mark per dollar, at 2.4 vs 7.5 G3D/$ ($150 MSRP vs $50 MSRP).

Radeon HD 8470D

2012

Why buy it

✅Costs $100 less on MSRP ($50 MSRP vs $150 MSRP).
✅Delivers 206.6% more G3D Mark for each dollar spent, at 7.5 vs 2.4 G3D/$ ($50 MSRP vs $150 MSRP).
✅More future proof: GCN 1.0 (2012−2020) on 28nm with a newer platform for upcoming games.

Trade-offs

❌2012 hardware with 512 MB of VRAM is already well past its comfortable zone for modern gaming, so it is hard to recommend now.
❌300% higher power demand at 200W vs 50W.

Quick Answers

Which GPU is faster for gaming right now?

Radeon HD 8470D is the faster gaming card right now based on the synthetic data we have. It leads by 2.2% in PassMark G3D (374 vs 366), which is the best performance signal available in this matchup.

Which GPU is the safer long-term pick for 2026 and beyond?

Mobility Radeon HD 3850 is the safer long-term pick for 2026 and beyond because it comes out ahead on the available hardware-headroom signals for this matchup.

Which GPU is the better buy today?

Radeon HD 8470D makes the most sense to buy today. It is $100 cheaper on MSRP at $50 vs $150, and it leads G3D-per-dollar by 206.6% (7.5 vs 2.4), so the value case lines up with the gaming result. If you are mainly targeting 1080p and some 1440p, Radeon HD 8470D is the easier value choice. If you care more about 1080p and some 1440p headroom, Mobility Radeon HD 3850 has the stronger long-term case.

Mobility Radeon HD 3850 vs Radeon HD 8470D Technical Specifications

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

Mobility Radeon HD 3850

The Mobility Radeon HD 3850 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: 366 points.

Radeon HD 8470D

The Radeon HD 8470D is manufactured by AMD. It was released in March 5 2012. It features the GCN 1.0 architecture. The core clock speed is 1000 MHz. It has 1280 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 200W. Manufactured using 28 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 374 points. Launch price was $349.

⚡

Graphics Performance

The Mobility Radeon HD 3850 scores 366 and the Radeon HD 8470D reaches 374 in the G3D Mark benchmark — just a 2.2% difference, making them near-identical in rasterization performance. The Mobility Radeon HD 3850 is built on TeraScale 2 while the Radeon HD 8470D uses GCN 1.0, both on 40 nm vs 28 nm. Shader units: 800 (Mobility Radeon HD 3850) vs 1,280 (Radeon HD 8470D). Raw compute: 1.12 TFLOPS (Mobility Radeon HD 3850) vs 2.56 TFLOPS (Radeon HD 8470D).

Feature	Mobility Radeon HD 3850	Radeon HD 8470D
G3D Mark Score	366	374+2%
Architecture	TeraScale 2	GCN 1.0
Process Node	40 nm	28 nm
Shading Units	800	1280+60%
Compute (TFLOPS)	1.12 TFLOPS	2.56 TFLOPS+129%
ROPs	16	32+100%
TMUs	40	80+100%
L1 Cache	80 KB	320 KB+300%
L2 Cache	256 KB	512 KB+100%
Frame Generation	FSR upscaling	FSR upscaling

✨

Advanced Features (DLSS/FSR)

Feature	Mobility Radeon HD 3850	Radeon HD 8470D
Upscaling Tech	FSR Upscaling / FSR 4	FSR Upscaling / FSR 4
Frame Generation	Not Supported	Not Supported
Ray Reconstruction	No	No
Low Latency	AMD Anti-Lag	AMD Anti-Lag

💾

Video Memory (VRAM)

Both cards ship with 512 MB of GDDR5. Memory bus width is 128-bit on the Mobility Radeon HD 3850 and 128-bit on the Radeon HD 8470D. L2 Cache: 256 KB (Mobility Radeon HD 3850) vs 512 KB (Radeon HD 8470D) — the Radeon HD 8470D has significantly larger on-die cache to reduce VRAM reliance.

Feature	Mobility Radeon HD 3850	Radeon HD 8470D
VRAM Capacity	0.5 GB	0.5 GB
Memory Type	GDDR5	GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth	Unknown	Unknown
Bus Width	128-bit	128-bit
L2 Cache	256 KB	512 KB+100%

🔌

Power & Dimensions

The Mobility Radeon HD 3850 draws 50W versus the Radeon HD 8470D's 200W — a 120% difference. The Mobility Radeon HD 3850 is more power-efficient. Recommended PSU: 350W (Mobility Radeon HD 3850) vs 350W (Radeon HD 8470D). Power connectors: PCIe-powered vs 1x 6-pin.

Feature	Mobility Radeon HD 3850	Radeon HD 8470D
TDP	50W-75%	200W
Recommended PSU	350W	350W
Power Connector	PCIe-powered	1x 6-pin
Perf/Watt	7.3+284%	1.9

💰

Value Analysis

At launch, the Mobility Radeon HD 3850 came in at $150, while the Radeon HD 8470D launched at $50. On MSRP, Radeon HD 8470D was 66.7% cheaper ($100 less). Performance per dollar on MSRP (G3D Mark / MSRP): 2.4 (Mobility Radeon HD 3850) vs 7.5 (Radeon HD 8470D) — the Radeon HD 8470D offers 212.5% better value. The newer card here is Radeon HD 8470D (2012 vs 2010).

Feature	Mobility Radeon HD 3850	Radeon HD 8470D
MSRP	$150	$50-67%
Performance per Dollar	2.4	7.5+213%
Codename	Broadway	Pitcairn
Release	January 7 2010	March 5 2012
Ranking	#846	#460

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