Mobility Radeon HD 4870
Quadro K420
Mobility Radeon HD 4870 vs Quadro K420 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 4870 vs Quadro K420 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.
Path of Exile 2
Counter-Strike 2
League of Legends
Mobility Radeon HD 4870 vs Quadro K420: 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 4870
2009Why buy it
- ✅Draws 30W instead of 108W, a 78W reduction.
Trade-offs
- ❌2009 hardware with 1 GB of VRAM is already well past its comfortable zone for modern gaming, so it is hard to recommend now.
- ❌99.3% HIGHER MSRP$299 MSRPvs$150 MSRP
- ❌Lower G3D Mark per dollar, at 2.4 vs 4.8 G3D/$ ($299 MSRP vs $150 MSRP).
Quadro K420
2014Why buy it
- ✅Costs $149 less on MSRP ($150 MSRP vs $299 MSRP).
- ✅Delivers 101% more G3D Mark for each dollar spent, at 4.8 vs 2.4 G3D/$ ($150 MSRP vs $299 MSRP).
- ✅More future proof: Kepler (2012−2018) on 28nm with a newer platform for upcoming games.
Trade-offs
- ❌2014 hardware with 1 GB of VRAM is already well past its comfortable zone for modern gaming, so it is hard to recommend now.
- ❌260% higher power demand at 108W vs 30W.
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Mobility Radeon HD 4870 vs Quadro K420 Technical Specifications
Side-by-side specs, architecture details, clocks, memory, power, and platform differences.
Mobility Radeon HD 4870
The Mobility Radeon HD 4870 is manufactured by AMD. It was released in January 9 2009. It features the TeraScale architecture. The core clock speed is 550 MHz. It has 800 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 30W. Manufactured using 55 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 720 points.
Quadro K420
The Quadro K420 is manufactured by NVIDIA. It was released in July 22 2014. It features the Kepler architecture. The core clock ranges from 771 MHz to 784 MHz. It has 1344 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 108W. Manufactured using 28 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 726 points. Launch price was $854.99.
Graphics Performance
The Mobility Radeon HD 4870 scores 720 and the Quadro K420 reaches 726 in the G3D Mark benchmark — just a 0.8% difference, making them near-identical in rasterization performance. The Mobility Radeon HD 4870 is built on TeraScale while the Quadro K420 uses Kepler, both on 55 nm vs 28 nm. Shader units: 800 (Mobility Radeon HD 4870) vs 1,344 (Quadro K420). Raw compute: 0.88 TFLOPS (Mobility Radeon HD 4870) vs 2.107 TFLOPS (Quadro K420).
| Feature | Mobility Radeon HD 4870 | Quadro K420 |
|---|---|---|
| G3D Mark Score | 720 | 726 |
| Architecture | TeraScale | Kepler |
| Process Node | 55 nm | 28 nm |
| Shading Units | 800 | 1344+68% |
| Compute (TFLOPS) | 0.88 TFLOPS | 2.107 TFLOPS+139% |
| ROPs | 16 | 32+100% |
| TMUs | 40 | 112+180% |
| L1 Cache | 160 KB+43% | 112 KB |
| L2 Cache | 256 KB | 512 KB+100% |
Advanced Features (DLSS/FSR)
| Feature | Mobility Radeon HD 4870 | Quadro K420 |
|---|---|---|
| Upscaling Tech | FSR Upscaling / FSR 4 | Upscaling support |
| Frame Generation | Not Supported | Not Supported |
| Ray Reconstruction | No | No |
| Low Latency | AMD Anti-Lag | Standard |
Video Memory (VRAM)
Both cards ship with 1 GB of GDDR5. Memory bus width is 64-bit on the Mobility Radeon HD 4870 and 64-bit on the Quadro K420. L2 Cache: 256 KB (Mobility Radeon HD 4870) vs 512 KB (Quadro K420) — the Quadro K420 has significantly larger on-die cache to reduce VRAM reliance.
| Feature | Mobility Radeon HD 4870 | Quadro K420 |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM Capacity | 1 GB | 1 GB |
| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Bus Width | 64-bit | 64-bit |
| L2 Cache | 256 KB | 512 KB+100% |
Power & Dimensions
The Mobility Radeon HD 4870 draws 30W versus the Quadro K420's 108W — a 113% difference. The Mobility Radeon HD 4870 is more power-efficient. Recommended PSU: 350W (Mobility Radeon HD 4870) vs 350W (Quadro K420). Power connectors: PCIe-powered vs PCIe-powered.
| Feature | Mobility Radeon HD 4870 | Quadro K420 |
|---|---|---|
| TDP | 30W-72% | 108W |
| Recommended PSU | 350W | 350W |
| Power Connector | PCIe-powered | PCIe-powered |
| Slots | 0 | — |
| Perf/Watt | 24.0+258% | 6.7 |
Value Analysis
At launch, the Mobility Radeon HD 4870 came in at $299, while the Quadro K420 launched at $150. On MSRP, Quadro K420 was 49.8% cheaper ($149 less). Performance per dollar on MSRP (G3D Mark / MSRP): 2.4 (Mobility Radeon HD 4870) vs 4.8 (Quadro K420) — the Quadro K420 offers 100% better value. The newer card here is Quadro K420 (2014 vs 2009).
| Feature | Mobility Radeon HD 4870 | Quadro K420 |
|---|---|---|
| MSRP | $299 | $150-50% |
| Performance per Dollar | 2.4 | 4.8+100% |
| Codename | M98 | GK104 |
| Release | January 9 2009 | July 22 2014 |
| Ranking | #927 | #475 |
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