Mobility Radeon HD 3870 vs Radeon HD 7650A

AMD

Mobility Radeon HD 3870

2010Core: 700 MHz
Similar parts
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VS
AMD

Radeon HD 7650A

2012Core: 600 MHz
Similar parts
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Mobility Radeon HD 3870 vs Radeon HD 7650A Performance Spectrum

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.

Mobility Radeon HD 3870 vs Radeon HD 7650A: 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 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).

Radeon HD 7650A

2012

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).
  • More future proof: TeraScale 2 (2009−2015) on 40nm 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.

Quick Answers

Which GPU is faster for gaming right now?
Radeon HD 7650A 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?
Mobility Radeon HD 3870 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 7650A 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. If you are mainly targeting 1080p and some 1440p, Radeon HD 7650A is the easier value choice. If you care more about 1080p and some 1440p headroom, Mobility Radeon HD 3870 has the stronger long-term case.

Mobility Radeon HD 3870 vs Radeon HD 7650A Technical Specifications

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

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.

AMD

Radeon HD 7650A

The Radeon HD 7650A is manufactured by AMD. It was released in January 5 2012. It features the TeraScale 2 architecture. The core clock speed is 600 MHz. It has 480 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 45W. Manufactured using 40 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 556 points.

Graphics Performance

The Mobility Radeon HD 3870 scores 548 and the Radeon HD 7650A reaches 556 in the G3D Mark benchmark — just a 1.5% difference, making them near-identical in rasterization performance. The Mobility Radeon HD 3870 is built on TeraScale 2 while the Radeon HD 7650A uses TeraScale 2, both on a 40 nm process. Shader units: 800 (Mobility Radeon HD 3870) vs 480 (Radeon HD 7650A). Raw compute: 1.12 TFLOPS (Mobility Radeon HD 3870) vs 0.576 TFLOPS (Radeon HD 7650A).

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 3870Radeon HD 7650A
G3D Mark Score
548
556+1%
Architecture
TeraScale 2
TeraScale 2
Process Node
40 nm
40 nm
Shading Units
800+67%
480
Compute (TFLOPS)
1.12 TFLOPS+94%
0.576 TFLOPS
ROPs
16+100%
8
TMUs
40+67%
24
L1 Cache
80 KB+67%
48 KB
L2 Cache
256 KB
256 KB
Frame Generation
FSR upscaling
FSR upscaling

Advanced Features (DLSS/FSR)

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 3870Radeon HD 7650A
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 3870 and 128-bit on the Radeon HD 7650A.

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 3870Radeon HD 7650A
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
256 KB
🔌

Power & Dimensions

The Mobility Radeon HD 3870 draws 50W versus the Radeon HD 7650A's 45W — a 10.5% difference. The Radeon HD 7650A is more power-efficient. Recommended PSU: 350W (Mobility Radeon HD 3870) vs 350W (Radeon HD 7650A). Power connectors: PCIe-powered vs 1x 6-pin.

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 3870Radeon HD 7650A
TDP
50W
45W-10%
Recommended PSU
350W
350W
Power Connector
PCIe-powered
1x 6-pin
Length
1mm
Slots
0
Perf/Watt
11.0
12.4+13%
💰

Value Analysis

At launch, the Mobility Radeon HD 3870 came in at $129, while the Radeon HD 7650A launched at $100. On MSRP, Radeon HD 7650A was 22.5% cheaper ($29 less). Performance per dollar on MSRP (G3D Mark / MSRP): 4.2 (Mobility Radeon HD 3870) vs 5.6 (Radeon HD 7650A) — the Radeon HD 7650A offers 33.3% better value. The newer card here is Radeon HD 7650A (2012 vs 2010).

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 3870Radeon HD 7650A
MSRP
$129
$100-22%
Performance per Dollar
4.2
5.6+33%
Codename
Broadway
Turks
Release
January 7 2010
January 5 2012
Ranking
#846
#870

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